The Word - April 10, 2012 - INTIMACY WITH GOD

"O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you, my entire being longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; How I praise you! (Psalm 63:1-30).

Have you ever stopped to realize how important it is to have your own personal revelation of God? Not simply to rely on what someone else has told you or what you read in a book, or even what you heard in church. All that is necessary and mostly good, but it is not even close to being enough.

There must come a time when you've seen God for yourself; when you come to know Him first-hand. When you have had such a dramatic revelation of God that nothing else will ever satisfy you but God Himself.

How about you? Is your relationship with your Heavenly Father a "one on one kind?" Or perhaps you are like the young pastor who asked me the question: "How do you know when God is speaking to you?"

There are many different ways He speaks, always through His Word, sometimes through the ministry of a friend, sometimes through a worship song. Then there are times when He speaks to your heart and the sound is like thunder, and then those times when He simply whispers your name.

You see, He always bends low to listen when in repentance for sin, we cry out to Him. And you know? He always forgives us and allows us to feel the sweet breath of His, "Go and sin no more." One thing for sure; like David of old, there are those times when we need to cry out in worshipful awe, "I've seen you in the sanctuary....and my soul longs for you more than it does for water."