Showing posts with label Closeness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Closeness. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Known Personally By Your Name

I remember a guy who was looking for a referee and had to meet a lecturer he admired. To his dismay, the lecturer said he did not know him. The guy insisted that he had always attended the lecturer's courses and even had a good score in the exams. The lecturer simply replied, "there were too many of you, I cannot even recall your face."

There are many situations that are similar to this where it seems you may not be "significant". Just to mention a few, it could be like working in a very big organization, being part of a large congregation, or being the smallest or youngest in a group. It might seem like alot of effort is required from you before you can be noticed or even known.

Today your loving Father says "I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name"  [Exodus 33:17, AMP]. In the midst of billions, He knows your name and He knows you personally. He knows everything about you and He even sees your life ahead. It is not by your works or your righteousness that He has chosen to know you. Not that your works are not valuable before Him. As a Father who took time to create you, you do not need extra effort to make Him know you.

As you make your requests known to Him, go boldly into His Throne of Grace. Remember that He knows you personally, and by your name. His response to your request is not generic but specific and customized for you.
Suggestions for Prayer: Thank God for the personalized relationship He has with you. Ask Him to show you how you could improve on the experiential relationship you have with Him.


Remain Blessed.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Sharing Plans and Secrets

Draw close to Me

Somewhere inside Me
I long for that point in time
When we discuss on things
Other than your needs;
I long for you to draw close to me
That I may share those things I want to reveal
Going beyond you
But things about Me and My plans for the future;
I long to see you bridge this gap
Caused by your guilt, fear and insecurity
But come boldly into my throne of Grace
And commune deeply with Me;
But it all depends on you
To draw close to Me
To come clean, purified, and free
As Jesus Christ has made you.

The Inspiration
It can be very annoying when you are the last to know about a well-known gist. Especially when it concerns you. Also hurting is when you think you are someone’s best friend but for some reason you do not get to hear about the main thing happening in his life until it is almost over. I had a similar experience. In my own case, what broke the camel’s back was that one lady whom I introduced to my friend was the first to know about his secret things. And she knew in details all the milestones of his plans. My first reaction was to say, “But I thought I was your best friend? How could everyone know about this before me?” Instead I said, “Congrats, this is just one of the fulfillments of His promises to you. And I will always remain your friend to witness more of these.” Then I went aside to analyze what happened.

Results
1. I was not around for my friend. We were time and a lot of space away.
2. I did not keep up the communication. I let a communication gap come in.
3. I assumed what I had done in the past was enough to keep the fire going on.

I realized that this is same with our relationship with God. We are made in God’s image. This means He can also feel, want to be friends with someone, want to share His secrets and plans with someone, etc. But that someone has to be there for Him. And being close to Him at one point then estranging one’s self is not enough to keep the relationship blossoming as it used to.

The Bible says “The secret things belong to the Lord our God…” [Deut 29:29]. But thank God that “even the mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations is now made manifest to His saints…” [Colossians 1:26].

God is ready to share His plans and secrets with us. Let’s take for instance His relationship with Abraham when He said “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do… For I know him”…But Abraham stood yet before the LORD…And Abraham drew near [Genesis 18: 17 – 23]. How awesome it is to know that God has shared His plan and His secret with man. And He says He knew him. These verses of scripture says “And Abraham drew near” [Genesis 18:23}. This pre-empties what I learnt from my experience with my friend “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you” [James 4:8]. It is good for you to draw close to God [73:28].

God does share His secrets. The secret of the Lord is with the righteous [Psalms 25:14; Proverbs 3:32; Daniel 2:22; Romans 16:25-26]. He can share with you His plans and His secrets.

Once again, what I learnt from this experience was to draw close to Him so He will draw close to me.
1. I have to be there, i.e. available for Him. If I am not there, He will probably share what He usually shares with me with someone else. Such a person could even be one who may have just got to know Him but is always with Him.
2. I have to keep on communicating with Him and sharing my own secrets and plans with Him. The relationship should not be one-sided.
3. I will not assume that what we had shared in the past was enough to keep the friendship. For the relationship to grow, I need to consciously work towards making the relationship blossom.

Same applies to my friendship here on earth.

I don’t know about you but for me, it is “Operation Drawing Closer”.

For further reading on drawing close to God, see