GROWING IN INTIMACY WITH JESUS BY JENNA

God showed me how it pleases Him to walk habitually with Him. I had read this in my Amplified Bible, “Noah walked habitually with God.” Genesis 6:9 and “Enoch walked habitually with God.” Genesis 5:24. Their habits pleased God we read in Hebrews 11:5-7.

One of my favorite hymns is “In The Garden.” It tells of a love relationship with God and how He walks with us and He talks with us and we’re never alone because He is always with us. He is forever and always right with us—we don’t have to do a thing. We don’t have to earn the right to keep His company; we don’t have to be good enough. The Lord Jesus is Emmanuel—God with us.

Sometimes those little daily devotion books lead us astray because we are led to believe that once we do our devotions, or have our “Daily Quiet Time”, our “Fifteen Minutes Alone with God” or “Time in the Secret Place” that we are good to go—we’ve done our duty and spent an allotted time focusing on God so now we can go merrily on our way for the rest of the day.

Awareness of the presence 24/7 of my beloved Lord Jesus, and CONTINUALLY enjoying His favor, love, abundant life and everlasting joy, has been the most profound discovery of my life. My favorite verse of the Bible is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. “You show me the path of life; in Your Presence is the fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11, Acts 2:28) My favorite translation of the Bible is the Amplified which says, “You enrapture me, diffusing my soul with joy.”

Jesus told us the reason He came to earth was to bring us abundant life. He never said He bought us a ticket to heaven. Life with Him is abundant and it is NOW—eternity has already begun. There is no waiting line! Whoohooo!!!

Over the years I see a progression in my relationship with the Lord Jesus. At first I knew Him as Savior and Redeemer. About two years later I came to know Him as Lord and Master and I saw myself as His servant because I owed Him my life. At some point Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servant, I call you friend.” He became my closest and most loving friend to confide in and trust with my secrets. Next I learned that I had been adopted and He wanted to be more than friends—we’re family! We share the same bloodline—the same D.N.A. or Divine Nature of Abba. “We have received adoption in the Holy Spirit and our spirit testifies we are children of God in the bliss of which we cry, Abba! Father!” See Romans 8:15, 16.

The Lord has spoken to me through His Word that I am His treasure. He actually calls me, “Darling.” I am a part of His Bride preparing for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I am one of the pure virgins keeping my lamp burning for Him. My heart resonates with the Song of Solomon. My songs of worship are often love songs for my beloved Jesus, my Groom. His heart resonates with our love and gratitude and devotion. I believe His love language is consecration. He wants us to only have eyes for Him and to rejoice in Him always.

The Word tells us that He inhabits or dwells in the praises of His people. (Psalm 22:3) Have you experienced His presence so sweet and close as you worship Him and sing to Him with all your heart in love and gratitude? To taste and see and experience the Lord’s goodness changes us forever.

About four years ago I saw a woman dancing during worship. I asked her to teach me everything she knew. Christlyn taught me Israeli circle dancing, but more than that she taught me how King David danced with abandon before the Lord and didn’t care what people thought. (2Sam.6:14) David commanded the people to follow his example and “Praise Him with dance.” (Psalm 149:3,150:4) As I began to dance with my beloved Lord Jesus in worship, I experienced His presence and His pleasure like never before. To dance with the lover of my soul as a form of worship is one of my favorite things!

Sometimes I worship dance with colorful flags. Flagging before a congregation is a form of leading in worship. Sometimes I feel like Miriam leading in a victory dance (Exodus 15:20). Last fall I was privileged to dance and flag for a conference called The Healing Explosion in Canada with Georgian and Winnie Banov. Andrea York (one of our Kingdom Bloggers) and I flagged onstage while Georgian played his fiddle! I was front right and Andrea was front left. Wow! It was glorious and joyous! Winnie Banov had a most awesome and life-changing message about how she discovered there are some things missing in our modern translations of the Bible. There are supposed to be these two little letters “co” before certain words. We are co-crucified, co-buried, co-resurrected, co-enthroned and co-heirs with Jesus! To be seated IN the heavenlies with our Groom and to know ALL He has is ours, our rightful inheritance—these are truths that make you want to dance and celebrate with ecstatic joy!

I started this writing telling you about how I learned it pleases God to walk with Him habitually. Well, now I have learned to DANCE with Him habitually. Hahaha! Whether I am at Zumba, Folk Dance Class, Clogging, Swing Dance, Hula or Tap Dance—I’m dancing with Jesus!

I say, “Yes, Lord, Thank You, Lord.” all day long.

Walking with Jesus is where I belong!

And every time I get a chance,

I say to my Beloved, “Shall we dance?”

John Lennon was right...God is all you need.

I'm going to take a little different angle on my favorite Bible verse than I did back in a January post. While the previously posted reason for 1 John 4:8 being my personal favorite still resonate very strongly for me, I've come to understand more clearly just how this passage completely ties the Bible together.

 My post today may come across as an apologetic position to justify the existence of God. Please believe that is not my intent. While my points will have apologetic tone, the deeper understanding I now have on just how important the statement God is love  is for all Christians has only added to my overall peace and personal joy in my daily walk. 

One of the struggles during my 'dark years' away from God's intended path for my life was reconciling the concept of the Trinity. Is God one or three? How can three be one? I just couldn't wrap my head around it all. Granted, this is a challenging concept for even the most learned theologians, and I believe that's because at the heart of the matter is a philosophical answer and not one based on total logic...well...at least human logic.

God is eternal. Always has been and always will be. Yet another difficult concept for the finite and limited minds of man. Yet we are eternal beings from birth (or conception depending on your position on that subject matter). The word love in the original text of this verse is the word agape. Now, I'm not going to break down into 'Christianese' and rehash the differences between Greek words agape, phileo, eros and storge which are all translated into English as the word love (click here). What I will state, however, is that  agape is not the word we associate with emotions or feelings, but rather a word that by nature implies an action is prompted (aka 'action model' in aforementioned 'Christianese').

God is agape. God is eternal. Therefore, God has always had someone or something to love. But what is older than or as old as God?

Some years ago, I heard an explanation of the following fundamental principle that, at the time, sounded like flawed logic to me. I've since come to realize the explanation far better explains the nature of the Trinity than any other one I'd heard before or since that time. Let's look at the traditional Scutum Fidei or Shield of the Trinity:

  

Working from the Scriptures that state God is love (my favorite verse) and God is eternal (Genesis 1:1 and Romans 1:20 to name a few), the nature of the Trinity actually answers more questions than are created when put into context. God is three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so inside the Godhead you have one Person who loves (Father), one Person being loved (Son) and the very spirit of love (Holy Spirit). God is love, God always has been love, God always will be love...and that fact doesn't rely on absolutely any other element.

Does this explanation exempt the Son from also loving? Absolutely not. The nature of the relationship being Father and Son is given to us by God in terms we can actually relate or dare I say understand...to a degree. I never forget that He is God, and I will never understand the complete nature of his majesty.

So, I've shared yet another reason why 1 John 4:8 is one of my very favorite verses. I do actually have more...but we'll save those for the next go around on favorite verse. God bless!

Pregnant with Hope

A favorite verse huh?  

What if I can’t pick one?  

I mean seriously, there are verses that speak to me at different times for different reasons.  My favorite verse(s) are sort of like those topical verse things – when you are ________ read ___________. 

When I am really feeling low, I like “Jesus wept.”  Jesus allowed Himself to experience His humanity by weeping.  He struggled with Himself and with His Father in the Garden.  He expressed His anguish on the cross with “why have You forsaken Me?  If Jesus, our example can be real and vulnerable, I can too.

When I am struggling with the future, I like “He who began a good work in you shall complete it.”  If you read my Sounds of Hope blog, you know I get bummed and frustrated and have all sorts of angst about my future.  This verse reminds me that it’s not over until it is over.

I could go on and on with this – sometimes the verse “The gift makes room for itself” gives me a jolt of hope.  Or other times, I ponder at length what does deep calls to deep mean – I’ve had people pray it over me so many times that it sort of echoes in my brain.  Last week, I think I discovered one of the things it means – someone said that my Sounds of Hope blog reaches into her soul and I say exactly what she feels. 

But if I were to pick one verse today, it would be Romans 8:24: For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

Listen to how Eugene Peterson translates this in The Message:That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us.

I'm pregnant with dreams and desires for effective ministry. When God first laid on my heart to start The Age of Hope Ministries many years ago, He gave me that middle phrase – but hope that is seen is no hope at all.  If you’ve ever hit a place where you hope is gone, you know it is more devastating than most anything else we can experience.  

We need hope to keep going.  But when we see it, it’s not hope.  Waiting is very hard for me and I’ve been waiting for a lot of things a very, very, very long time.  But in the waiting, I hold on to the unseen hope.