WHISPERS OF LOVE: EXPERIENCE AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

By Precious Oli

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Do you want to experience an intimate relationship with God? We are blessed and opportune to have a guest writer in the house today, enjoy this piece from her.
Emotions. The very thing that make us human. You can have happiness, pride, excitement, relief. Every emotion is considered good, but what would you be if you didn’t feel hurt, or pain or despair? You can’t have the good without the bad for there’s no light without darkness. The trick is to balance them so the bad doesn’t seem so terrible and you can truly appreciate the good. This is a part of my life that I never love to talk about,the storms inside. The damage and triggers of my past.
It was a near death experience. Charles was the seventh in two years, at first I thought I had seen all I ever wanted, he was tall, light skinned and handsome! Just the way I like it! Having met him on the mainland bridge while I worked out, we exchanged numbers and bid each other goodbye. The next Saturday, the next and the next I saw him again and again and I wondered who was stalking who. The way he bits his lower lip as he stared at me always sends shivers down my spine. Not too long he invited me over to his house and as the days went by I began to feel unsatisfied and empty again. The same feeling I had with the other six able bodied men that made me quit the relationship without thinking twice.
I tried all I could to handle the situation because I loved him and wanted to make it work with everything I had but the more efforts I put to make sure I was whole, the much emptier I became, the more unsatisfied I was by the day and gradually he began to act funny. This time around the table turned, I was always the one walking away but this time Charles walked away without looking back. I pleaded for him to return but my pleas fell on deaf ears, I wept till my eyes became red and sore.
I picked up my phone to call Tessy, she was my best friend and I always made use of her shoulders whenever the tears came pouring. By the time she came to my house she met me unconscious and rushed me to the hospital immediately. While I laid on the hospital bed for a fortnight, there came this screaming whispers of love in my subconscious. I began to bind and cast! I laid on the bed quite often but each time I made attempt to think of Charles there was this still small voice that assured me that satisfaction and wholeness wasn’t found in anything physical. Not like I wasn’t aware but I tried all I could to push the voice away, the harder I tried, the louder I heard the voice in my mind.
At that stage in my life I was not an ardentbeliever, let’s just say I was just self-righteous. I sought for satisfaction and wholeness in things that were mundane and weren’t eternal and it really affected my spiritual growth.
Dear Young Lady,
Ignoring the third person in the holy trinity is ignoring God himself! Restlessness, pains, unsatisfaction and ceaseless tears are the consequencies of not having an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. Intimacy with the Holy Spirit allows him to talk to you in details and also to shield you from impending doom.
The outward display in our local churches in terms of miracles, signs and wonders aren’t just what the Holy Spirit can do. He is much more than just a miracle worker. Let us not be wrong by forgetting his distinctiveness as a personality, we need to understand his heart, what grieves him and what makes him happy.
Intimacy with God is the way to true fulfillment. Having an intimate relationship with God means realizing that ABUNDANT life will never be found in ANOTHER PERSON/THING. If it were, then a scriptural command to love romantically would be our greatest calling. Instead, it’s to love God most (Matt. 22:37-40). In His love, we can find fulfillment that no human can provide.
 Steps To Experience An Intimate Relationship With God.

• Embrace the Truth That Intimacy With God Has No Contenders

A lady was lonely and frustrated that God hadn’t delivered her greatest desire: a husband. Never married and 40, she was tired of praying and waiting and waiting and waiting, but most of all she was convinced that her life was somehow less-than. “Being single is not the abundant life!” she stated emphatically.
I certainly identified with the sometimes heart-wrenching emotions of feeling like the only girl without a date to the prom. I empathized with her loneliness, her cries late at night when only God can hear and her zillion prayers for a man she wasn’t even sure exists. But the absence of abundant life?
Our conversation sent me running for my Bible where I found John 10:10.
“The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.”
The word life jumped off the page. I had to look up its meaning. In the definition, I found the prescription for my friend’s sickness of heart: God Himself is the abundant life that both she and I seek—not relationship with a man. The Greek word for life is zoe (the original language) and means:
“life, referring to the principle of life in the spirit and the soul. (emphasis mine). [Zoe is] all the highest and best that Christ is, which He gives to the Saints. The highest blessedness of the creature.”
The first step to developing an intimate (and fulfilling) love relationship with God is to admit that the abundant life He promises will never be found in another person. Instead, as the definition of zoe (life) shows, true abundant life is internal and it’s found in Christ alone.
Don’t get me wrong; God created us to experience human love, and romance can add a wonderful dimension to life. But romantic love will never be able to trump an intimate love relationship with God. Frankly, God likes it this way because He doesn’t want any contenders for your heart; He’s jealous for your affection (Ex. 34:14).

• Accept That A Fulfilling Intimate Love Relationship With God Is Personal

Some things with God are so personal, so intimate, that they cannot be described with words, they can only be felt with the heart. This is how true intimacy with God is; we feel that no one else can really understand the special bond that we share with Him because it’s altogether personal.
This describes my relationship with Christ. He has comforted me as I have cried, directed me, taught me, rebuked me, guided me and loved me. There have been times when I have thought that my heart would burst with emotion for Him. Who could understand the depth of my relationship with Him but me and my Savior?  This is true intimacy with God: when we feel that no one else would totally understand even if we try to explain, because relationship with God is personal.

• Talk With God

Just as close relationship with another person requires conversation, so relationship with God is the same. Conversing with Him happens through reading the Bible (His main way of communicating with those who love Him) and prayer (a two-way conversation between you and God).
When you pray, God is not asking for a formula; He doesn’t want you to pretend to be something that you are not. He doesn’t want you to only praise Him, never ask Him for anything, or to say particular phrases to make yourself sound “religious.” Instead, He just wants you to tell Him what is on your heart and mind, just as you would with a trusted friend (1 Peter 5:6-8).
As you pray, you will learn how to hear God’s voice. Just as Jesus says those who know Him do (John 10:27-29). However, remember that it takes time to learn how to accurately hear Him. Sometimes you may know He is speaking to you through the Holy Spirit, other times you may not be sure.
But the more you understand who God is through His Word, your mind is changed. The more you will be able to discern when He is speaking to you and when He is not (Rom. 12:2).

• Spend Time With Others Who Believe In Christ

When I look back on my relationship with Jesus, I’m not sure where I would be without believers who pointed me to him.
 Being in close relationship with others who know Him is  vital in developing an intimate love relationship with Him. Jesus prayed that those who know Him would experience the same kind of unity that He experiences with His Father.
If you don’t know anyone who you can develop a close relationship with in this way, reach out. Ask around for a spiritual mentor. Become a part of a Bible study at a Bible-believing church, or join a Christian discipleship group.

• Be Patient

In conclusion remember that just as developing intimacy with another person takes time, so it is with relationship with God. Grow to trust Him and believe what He says in His Word more and more. Likewise.your love affair with Him will become increasingly fulfilling. Furthermore, the abundance of Zoe will grow inside your spirit and soul.

Precious Oli

Precious Ngozika Oli is the Lead Minister of Frontline Christian Ministries, Co-owner of FULL OF GRACE Publisher, the editor-in-chief of Heels Magazine. She is a faith and lifestyle blogger, a Blogging/ book publishing coach and an entrepreneur. As a teacher of the word of God; she seeks to help Christians build a consistent walk with God, identify their purpose and attain a stature of maturity in the image of Christ If you wish to get in touch, email me at preciousjewelblog@gmail.com