From Kara: We are now in our 10th week of our internship and time has flown by! We only have two more weeks to go before we are finished with track one. The Lord has shown me so much of Who He is and has greatly expanded my view of His heart, the heart for His people, and the end times. But even yet, I still feel like we've only begun. So, after much prayer, Brendon and I have felt lead to continue our internship with International House of Prayer to participate in their second track. This track will take us into mid December and we will celebrate Christmas with the Wiksell side before heading back for good to ol' Vancouver. However, as always, the Lord is free to change our plans to His desire.
This past week, the Lord used an amazing teaching by Matt Candler titled "Introduction to Intimacy with God" to stoke the flame of my heart to drawing near to Him. It also helped put a finger on why there have been many times in my Christian walk when I have felt restless, unsatisfied, frustrated, and bored. This was a two part teaching where he and his wife Dana tag-teamed the topic of intimacy with God and further understanding the heart of Jesus as Bridegroom towards his Bride the Church. (The following has been borrowed from his notes).
Matt presented the idea that the greatest crisis of our day in the church is found in the depth (or lack) of relationship with Jesus; that much of the church's activities, organizations, and focuses are often shallow, hollow, and void of the true intimacy of a REAL and PERSONAL relationship with our Savior. Matt stated that there are three interrelated facets in cultivating this intimacy: 1) His invitation to us 2) Substance found in relational knowledge 3) Overflow of this knowledge in love, communion, and pleasure with Him. His main thesis was that Jesus is a person/identity who is to be known relationally which can only be in attaining knowledge of him. This knowledge, however, is not purely academic/cognitive, but experientially based out of the foundation of love that draws us to deeper degrees of understanding and desire for Him. Matt stated the following:
"When applied to intimacy with God, the substance of knowledge is found IN THE FACE OF CHRIST (2 Cor. 4:6) and brought INTO A RELATIONAL CONTEXT THROUGH PRAYER."
"The treasure of the knowledge of God is not a question of purchasing the right teaching series, attending a certain service, living a particular place, experiencing a vision, or finding a specific book. Scripture makes it very clear that the height of God's self-disclosure (revelation) is found in beholding the Godman, Jesus."
"In the this light of the pandemic of burn-out and disillusionment within the body of Christ becomes less enigmatic. One can invest themselves with great fervor in religious activities but their spiritual growth will be stunted and their heart unsatisfied if their pursuit is not an overtly relational one centered on the man Christ Jesus."
Wow. I've felt that! Burnout, religious activity (thinking I was doing an activity because I loved the Lord only to truly be doing it to please man and to gain approval from God), disappointment, becoming jaded, and bored. I have tried numerous things, as well, to beat all of the above. And really, my heart's true desire is to come into intimacy with JESUS in "prayerful, adoring study of the person and work of Christ within the context of obedience." (Matt Candler).
After being a Christian for almost 20 years and hearing multiple teachings and right words of truth devoted to topics similar to this, I felt like this one actually sank a little deeper than the rest. Perhaps the Lord needed these past 10 weeks to soften the soil of my heart in order to make it go deeper this time. I hope it goes deeper still.
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