Intimacy and our true identity are inextricably linked.

We each have a God given need to be connected and that need is seen visibly today with Smart phones, Facebook and Twitter giving us instant access to friends and family, work and the world.

I love to connect with people and so make use of all three but I like to connect at a depth and prefer to actually be with someone. Quality time, touch and words are my main love languages.

Face-to-Face encounters are at risk of being hijacked. I saw a humorous yet sad reminder of this. Two people out for a coffee and one says to the other “Would you mind me strapping your iphone to my head so that at least I can pretend you are looking at me and listening to me when I am talking to you?”

But our real need is to be connected with our Father

We were made for intimacy. It’s no surprise therefore that the enemy does everything to distract us from connecting with God by leading us to find satisfaction in lesser affections.

When I first heard the phrase “Intimacy with God”, it attracted me but at the same time was quite foreign. I thought it was an experience for people who set themselves apart for God like mystics or at least those who were very mature believers.

But I’ve come to see it is for every follower and friend of Jesus. It's what our Sonship is all about. We were made for relationship and to know intimate connection with our Father. Intimacy and our true identity are inextricably linked.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1

‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him’

And in Psalm 139

‘O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me, your knowledge of me is too wonderful’.

So why when I know this do I allow other things to get in the way whilst all the time having an ache to connect more deeply with my Father. When I remember those times of connection I have experienced I long for more of the same and even greater.

Like David who said, “my flesh yearns for you”, there can be a physical ache for more of Him.

I love how it’s my Father who is pursuing me and even in my battle with distractions he knows how to get my attention because he knows the way I will recognise his voice. Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”

When this happens its like he is wooing us to intimacy. In such moments we are spoilt for anything less.

So it doesn’t come from trying harder or being more disciplined to spend more time with him although a discipline is involved but most of all it is responding to his invitations to keep coming aside with him.

He knows us inside and out and loves us more than we can comprehend.

When I realise the voice of my Father calling to me I want to run to him and respond,

There are times when I read his word and I know its true and there are times when its as though he is right there speaking to me and in those moments I feel such a deep connection with Him and my heart is aroused with intimacy because he is so near.

Just this week He spoke in several ways that got my attention.

A few days ago I was deeply impacted by the funeral of a lady who played a significant part in my life when I first became a Christian. 40 plus years ago she and her husband ‘adopted me into their family’ and loved me in such a way that it led me to ask the question. What did they have that I didn’t?

This lady and her husband had been missionaries in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania since the early 50’s and with their 6 children had experienced trials and challenges not unlike that of Paul in Acts. Close to death, storms, fires, hardships and going without yet always praising and giving thanks to God. As I sat in the service being reminded of the simple gospel that this lady had displayed right to the end I was moved to tears and provoked by the legacy she had left to her family and so many more who had encountered her example. She was described as a prayer warrior, a strong woman, like Deborah, a mother in Israel and someone who had finished the race well.

I knew God was speaking to me through her example….

The following day I read this paragraph in a book by Paul Manwaring “What on Earth is Glory’

‘We mustn’t waste our victories. Each one of them has given us a key to access heaven and bring it to earth in our lives and in the lives of others. Wise stewards don’t simply walk around with the keys, wherever they have access they are about their master’s business’

Again I knew God was speaking to me…

The next day as I was reading the word I read this verse in 2 Tim 2:4

Preach the word in season and out of season…As for you always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.

This verse God has highlighted to me before in a very personal way and so I definitely knew God was speaking to me. This connection with the Father created an intimacy that led me to act from a place of identity.

It led me to speak to my sister in law the next day. After praying first in my room I decided to ask her at breakfast if she would consider going on an Alpha Course. She has always laughed at our attempts to win her but this time she admitted she had been thinking more about it lately and that an 80-year-old friend of hers had even offered to go with her. I then got to pray for her painful knee and she experienced heat, a lessening of pain and increased mobility. She got to experience God loving her.

My identity is first as a daughter much loved but I am also called to be an evangelist and created to live supernaturally. I had heard the encouragement of my Father saying... Go Claire!