Awakening your inner self to commune with God.

There is no such thing as a superficial relationship with God. God is Spirit and as such we can only communicate with Him and have relationship with Him by our spirit, or what we can call our "inner self". I have prayed for many years and asked God to teach me how to have a relationship with Him. I am still learning, but thank God, I do have a truly intimate relationship with Him. This is what God wants with all of us! According to His word, our relationship with Him is supposed to be a deep and passionate love relationship! Just take a look at Ephesians 5:25-32... Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church"....... Paul compares the intimacy of the husband and wife relationship to the intimacy we as the church are supposed to share with Jesus Christ, who is God and is One with God the Father. We are to be so close that we are One with Him. We are given a promise in His word that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. James 4:8, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.." Our Father God created us for fellowship. God is Love and it is His nature to love and love deeply. Psalm 42 is a psalm of yearning for God in the midst of distresses, in verse 7 it says, "Deep calls unto deep". This means that the depths of God calls unto the deep places in man. He invites us to know Him. However, in order to know Him we must be able to open up our heart, our inner self to Him. God called David a man after His own heart. The reason He says this is because David knew how to open up his inner self and commune with God. David joyously spent time in God's presence, it was his one true desire. Listen to David speak of spending time with his Father. In Psalm 27:4 David says, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple". David desired above all else to spend time alone with God. This is also the desire of our Father towards us. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." So how do we open the door? I believe that the answer to that can be found in Psalm 46:10, which happens to be my favorite scripture of all. It says, "Be Still and know that I am God." In order to get the full meaning of this verse lets look at the original hebrew words used here and their full meanings. First, it says to "Be Still", the word Still there is the hebrew word, raphah. This means to be quiet, to relax and to let go. If you are married and have a healthy relationship with your spouse you are able to relax with them, let your hair down and be yourself with them. You are able to let go of your self-consciousness and just enjoy being with them. Next, the verse says, "and Know that I am God". The hebrew word translated as "know" is the word yada. This means, to perceive and see, find out and discern, to recognize, be acquainted with intimately (carnally), to reveal oneself. This is the exact same word that is used in chapter 4 of Genesis where it says that Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived a child. So think about it. God is telling us to relax and let go of our worries and cares. He is saying, "I want to be intimate with you. I want to know who you are, and I want you to know who I Am." He wants us to know and experience His presence. Every Day He wants to reveal His love to us in a real, tangible way! The bible calls God's presence the secret place. It is here that we find shelter and comfort and strength. Psalm 31 says that God will hide those who trust in Him in the secret of His presence. Psalm 91 says that those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. The word for shadow there means, shade as protection, a defence. When we learn to open up our hearts to Him we bring Him great pleasure and joy. He is then able to fill us with Himself! In Ephesians 3:16-19 Paul prays that we are rooted and grounded in God's love so that we can grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.!! Being full of God means being full of Love, and according to God's word, Love never fails. Love is the most poweful force in all the universe. I don't know about you but I want to be full of God and full of His love. I know that He loves me and I can trust Him because he sent his only Son to die for me so that we could have an intimate relationship. Let us ask God to teach us and help us and show us how to open up our hearts to Him so that we can be filled to overflowing with His love and joy and peace.