Intimacy with God Faith

have you ever wanted to go to a new place in God in a new level and maybe get to know him just a little bit more how do you do that it's very simple it's called intimacy with God and today we're gonna dive deeper right here a revival radio TV on just how to do that in every generation there have been revivals massive moves of the Spirit that changed the course of history in every revival there were believers like you who chose to answer the call to become the one their generation discover your call to be the one generation we're about to take you face to face with history guys were talking about intimacy glad you with me again today pastor Greg Stevens Linda Lane we're gonna talk about a fun topic and today I want you to get your Bible and your notebook and whatever else you need to take notes hit the DVR record and take some notes a because we're gonna get into one of my favorite subjects and that is something that's so needed in the church which sounds kind of funny but it's Sony and that is guys intimacy with God what does that really mean so before we get into I want to read scripture and then I know you've got a definition that I want you to start off with and that is in 1st Corinthians 2 verses 9 and 10 but as it is written eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him now you got that love him so verse 10 tells you what it is God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the spirit searches all things and the deep things of God Greg what's a deep thing well first of all the define intimacy because I have to define everything yes yes what I don't teacher in you I I want to know what I'm dealing with intimacy and just in the regular dictionary says close familiarity close yeah and that's what happens with revivals in it gene yeah she'll spirit gets close or we get close to him we're not talking suburb relationships here no affection and confidence yeah you when should we get to get close to him you have a confidence in him all right and that he is who he said he is and he'll do what he said you'll do exactly right any so okay Greg let's take that next in verse 10 2nd Corinthians to the deep things of God that's where I always want to be but what is the deep things of God it's revealed as you get close for example with Peter Peter he Jesus asked him one day who do men say that I am and they began to say this and that the other and then Peter said something he said you are the Messiah the son you are the son of the Living God and he said flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you so that's one of the deep things it came up out of his spirit man and wasn't something he thought of it rhyme up from that intimacy and that fellowship you know things did scene and things they witnessed and things that he he had handled himself that's what happened and you know that's really kind of the crux of what we're talking about today you know you can have principles of faith you can have principles of peace principles of prosperity but the principles don't take the place of the person that's true John Wimber said if you want to have a time where the earth moves the glory comes down you have to breathe Jesus no and what and breathing Jesus means a lot of different things but you know I I like what he said and if I remember right in that quotes is you can't be intimate with someone you don't know that's true if I never you know my wife Terry you've seen her we if I'm not if I come home and go straight to my bedroom and go to bed you know and do that every night sooner or later our relationship is going to suffer thank you Oh like hey I don't even know you what are you thinking what's going on and that you can't just kind of like hey let me tell you here's a list this is what's happening you know that's not real communication that's not intimacy that's just a list so understanding and being intimate with God is spending that time and you and I were talking earlier Gregg about not just not just giving God your your grocery list of all those things that you want it's hearing back Kenneth Copeland said this he said you haven't prayed until you've listened I really like that yeah because we don't just go in there mean and say say say say say say this and then never wait for his response you have to wait Brian's response to listen to him there's seven principles of intimacy and the number one is knowledge and you just mentioned it you have to have a knowledge of that person you have to build a knowledge of that person proverbs 30 verse three in the passion translation says I've yet to learn that wisdom that comes from the full and intimate knowledge of you the Holy One there's a there's a wisdom that comes from having a knowledge of him innocent but gene you touched on a minute ago with faith it's not just knowledge here it's experiential knowledge the spending time with that person well that's what all of our intercessors I mean anytime you have a revival you have intercessors you have people who have taken the time to break up that fallow ground but they also take that time to get to know God you know Frank Bardhaman he started off and he didn't even have the baptism Holy Spirit he's out there just praying and and everyone in the whole neighborhood can hear him praying and wailing and crying and everything else but then when he gets the baptism Holy Spirit it takes him to a whole different realm and now all of a sudden they're hearing all of this these tongues or seeing miracles happen there it's just it's just completely different it's a lot of people know a lot of facts about him but it's not just knowing facts it's knowing his way it's knowing his voice my sheep know my voice I know that they'll not listen to you know there's there's a book and I don't normally hold up books because everybody thinks that's the only book I'm promoting but this book is a book pastor Terry has some great material on prayer that you can get on our website but this is a book yeah in DVDs CDs teachings this book from by Lynn Hammond it's it's an older book called the master is calling it's it's a book that I read and I got you know there are some books that just kind of like the meat from the time you open the the first page you know you're like oh man this is great but if she's talking about what real prayer in spirit lamb prayer really is and that's that that's that intimate place that you don't get by reading your list and going down so why aren't why are we talking about all of this well she said something in her book and I'm gonna say quote she goes setting your mind is like setting the sail on a boat and getting your prayer life in order is you know you can go a certain direction but when you and let the wind blow it along which the Holy Spirit prompts us exactly it laser focus is exactly where you want to go and your purpose for getting there and that's what I want to talk about I mean every revival that we talk about whether it was in the 1500s - today there's an element of prayer but as well as prayer because we know that by a great prayer revival of 1857 everything else in history that we've read there's a place where there's a total surrender to the Holy Spirit and usually Greg that means it's outside our comfort zone it's outside our denominational lines it's outside everything because if true surrender and giving the Holy Spirit place to move is a place it's a little frightening but that's where there's the most pain that's where point number two of intimacy is interdependence and so what does that mean it means let's set our sail so somebody has to put the sail up so that the wind can catch it but then when the sail is up you're just a little letting the wind of the Spirit take you but you're you're holding the rudder and you're guiding and working with the wind and that's what people do in revival they they set the sail and they're there but they're still they're still Manning the boat and cooperating with the Holy Spirit pastor Terry's prayer sessions lately one of the she always will do a little bit of teaching plus the prayer and she was talking exactly about what you're mentioning here get into that flow let the spirit flow through you and then people will come up and they'll pray with her but it's like get into the flow of what the Spirit is you know when you're talking about that flow in the in prayer you can't make yourself be in the flow it's like you ever have someone's go how you just need to relax oh okay so you know you can't just relax there there's a process of doing that and that's where the whole intimacy part of being letting God talk to you like you said being able to listen and rather cope and the quote you know that you read us is being able to hear what God's saying to you and then little by little you will be in the flow this is one of the reasons that I'm telling you that was I didn't realize it at the time working with my good friend pastor Benny Hinn and I know you watched the program and I'm glad you do but when he talked about I was with him backstage and he was hearing everything all kinds of comments and oh we think you're the greatest and you know and I was like oh please I'm just being real here can I just be real with you and me it was just kind of nauseating and I'm like looking at all these people out there my hot you got 20,000 people sitting out there you know it's not you and odds are a lot of them no it's not you yet they're still here because of you how do you not get that pressure how do you not let that just be a crushing way because at that time I couldn't comprehend it then what he would do Craig Linda he would go out there and he would spend time and praise and worship mainly worship because praise but he would come out at the transition place between praise and worship and at that point of worship is when we entered into that secret place that holy place that place where you are intimate with God and he wouldn't move that's probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from him is don't get hurry and stay with it until the Holy Spirit leads you into the next thing he's getting everybody in a corporate atmosphere for the faith in that room because there's people of all different spiritual levels and some that some believers that's right and so he's getting everybody in a corporate frame and it's that interdependence thing again he's not he knows he can't do this on his own he needs the Holy Spirit he needs everybody else agreeing with him I'm reminded of this is a strange analogy maybe Daniel in the lion's den he's able he's not there on his own accord he didn't choose to go there that sure but he lays down with beasts that are supposed to kill him and that's the inner dependency upon the presence of God and the Spirit of God in him to just rest and be at peace even in the worst circumstance when you have that connection to God there's that protection there's that that communication Doug Bonner told me of a guy named sad who sunder sing and he would go out into the wilderness and there's a quote about he would be around lions and tigers and Panthers and bears and and and yet he was safe they were his friend and he was you know he had a friendship and they were they were saved with him and it was just like that's that connection the trust with God because we have well and that's really a byproduct of being intimate having that intimacy you cannot be hey we know Moses came down off the mountain everybody knew he'd been with God yeah yeah there's a on his face yeah so I mean I believe that's just a manifestation of someone being close to God yeah so John Wimber touched a pulse the people just were hungry for that intimacy and so I was in the college class that it was affiliated back then there's started off with ten people and just almost overnight it exposed it why did it explode people were hungry it was just like we want to hear so it was it the hunger or was it because there was an atmosphere that they felt like they can move into he said that people could breathe Christ that there this experience could change every moment of your day and your week and the students they wanted to hear that they wanted to have that connection with the Lord the class just went from 10:00 to 12:00 200 just almost overnight and the whole rest of the church way and you know Greg that's so the that same story in different ways is replays over and over anytime people feel that there's an inside track to say and I want to get oh the Holy Spirit's moving over here they flood that's because we all as human beings we have a inbred nature to want the supernatural I saw it at word of faith years ago here in Dallas right in the middle of the Bible school that morning and it broke out into a revival that was all summer long with normal haze in the Bible school that morning is started with praise and worship and the students and it went all afternoon why and then that thing went all summer long even here right at Kath couple Bible College the the kids will get in there and start and praise and worship and on worship night we saw it all of a sudden it's just like hit there's there's an anointing for something more and and be closer to him the Apostle John is recalled the disciple whom the Lord loved well he's the one that said that about but he was always the one who you see him reclining on Jesus chest on his shoulder on the night before he was betrayed I mean he was that close he wanted to get not just his hand for a gift or handout but he wanted to be in his face yeah and you know it's I was thinking as you were saying that pastor Greg about Kathryn Kuhlman who you know I'm still as much as we've studied still captivated by her and you know that quote that I like I quote all the time was her comment back to someone who was asking I think she even said it in the service a few times about he's more real to me than you are and that really is a great quote about intimacy when the Holy Spirit and your relationship with God is more real than the people in the room suddenly we've entered into a dimension or a deep thing like we read you're entering into supernatural realm well I'm going back to my points of intimacy growing in intimacy number three is care and I'm gonna read you a verse of the flesh and Psalm 37 29 says the faithful lovers of God will inherit the earth and enjoy every promise of God's care dwelling in peace forever and the the faithful lovers of God Kathryn Kuhlman loved Jesus well she stood on that train station and there was that decision that she had to make was she going to keep going on with the superficial way she'd been living or was Jesus going to be more real to her and there was that deep passion and hunger that said I need Jesus how do I care for Jesus how do I do that I mean he has everything and the way you do that is you serve his people how does he need us that's how he needs us how does he need us he needs us to be responsive he needs us to care for what he cares about he needs us to - you know it's like a marriage relationship you need to be responsive right need to care not just say you care but demonstrate that you care well Misha carrying comes to mind for me because he was shown a vision and he saw these all the peoples of the world and just like you have at a football game where you zoom in on them he saw their hurting desolate needing something wretched faces and then the Lord said wait and he showed Dimas again the same people and they saw them reflecting the joy of the Lord the passion of love for the Christ and the thing was is God lead out to Dimas a vision for the Full Gospel business men's international so we've had we always know what we need but if we ever ask the question Lord what do you need Jesus what do you need come to me because there are prayers that he prayed and in John chapter 17 and particular that were his prayers why don't we be the answer here's here's how you want to get intimate with him you be the answer to one of his prayers instead of asking him to meet one of yours if you I mean how do I do that if you'll get interested in what he's interested in and the number one priority is the lost with him the number one and then and seeing people healed seeing people blessed you get interested in what he's interested in and you go and you meet that need say father he said pray for laborers to go forth into the harvest say I want to be a laborer today Lord direct me I'm gonna set the sail on my boat and the Holy Spirit will direct me on how I should move and and I will be an answer to somebody's prayer today you bring somebody across my path and I will be the one today there's intimacy well that's right and I think about when Daniel kolenda was on and I've heard him talking about what you said Greg about getting involved when he's where God's at and there's a man that all he does is drive the tent from one place in Africa to the next yeah you know and he has to fight everything from bandits to you know soldiers that want something to people be just being robbed and stolen in truck you know I mean that's part of it isn't it Greg don't you think that's part of it is being able to be involved as dependent upon as dependent as we are upon him he's dependent upon us because he's how was he dependent on them he's not here he's the head of the body the head of the church but he's not here it's us now with his anointing in the earth and we're supposed to go and represent him believe in King David said this in Psalms 115 7 he said the dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into the silence he understood that you had to be the one you had to reach out in prayer in faith you had to make that connection with God that it was gonna all change when you were on the other side you know I think about what we were saying the other day where it's like okay now you got this huge tent meeting you know 3,000 people and and you were saying gene how you gotta be willing to start small except that you may just be talking to the guy at the grocery store you may be talking to the person in the class sitting next to you here it is the fourth one and growth of intimacy is trust trust requires unanswered questions there's going to come a point in your growth in Jesus Christ that he's going to ask you to do something that doesn't make sense and you're gonna have to trust him whether it's sewing a large gift whether it's going and praying for that person over there whether it's no matter what it is he's gonna ask you to get out of your comfort zone in a revival meeting he's going to push a point to where will you trust me and like I said before a trust requires unanswered questions elder Jacob Knapp that's who comes to mind with what you're saying step out of your comfort zone trust this guy he just wanted to do something for God and so he he just he got intimate with the Lord he just he started taking that time the thing is is that when he talked to people they accepted Christ and the guy literally stopped counting when it hit a hundred thousand people saved he just stopped counting that's in the late 1700s right yeah he was from 1799 to 1874 so Greg if we're if we're really walking down this and we're supposed to if his yoke is easy and his burden light then it has nothing to do with our works it has everything to do with our availability so that word I used to trust there a second ago the very first place that's used the very first place faith is used in the Bible is better translated trust and it's with Abraham it's the Hebrew word and muna it's not Abraham did things wrong man I mean he got her wrong bad twice he's selling off Sarah you know to somebody I'll give you a complex right that that's not going to build it yeah but but the thing is is regardless of what his works were he got it right Jesus tells a parable about a guy who has the right heart so what you're saying is even though he messed up his trust his faith is what did it and it's really Jean not his faith anyway we've been given the measure of faith the faith that we have been given to us by grace and that's why it's by grace through faith all right by faith that it meet be by granulars say hide together when you were saved you got to have as your a face you absolutely have you don't even have to get it right the first time when Sarah got told she was gonna have a baby she laughed she's so did Abraham they both did but yet in Hebrews it says it's accounted as righteousness to the bulk of them and here's how it happened Linda it says Sara herself received strength to conceive because she judged him faithful that promised she sat down one day and went through all of the things that God said he was gonna do and she realized you were faithful then you were faithful then you were faithful then and we need to do the same thing and and I think you know that's the whole point is it's not by your feelings mmm let me ask you this Craig have you ever had so you've been a believer for a long time even as a minister of the gospel and a pastor did you ever have to continue to get out of your comfort box oh yeah a comfort zone yeah all the time yeah he can't can requires that of you does it absolutely because just when you think you're getting comfortable and you say God I'm not tired I'm tired of services like this I'm tired of the same old same old same old it's when I realized probably I've probably missed one that he told me to do yeah I probably let it slide or didn't do there was one time I was preaching for a church I was a guest there and I got in my spirit I want you to pray for people with eye issues I thinks I've been believing for something with my own eyes and so I did and then as I was going down to get ready you know I don't know six seven people going to pray for this there's this little lady she's probably 4 foot 11 and I heard in my spirit spit in her eyes like I did I'm thinking but you know you know the voice of the Lord I heard it again and I skipped her I set up ma'am I'm coming back to you I did Gina skipped her I don't know if anybody else got anything or not because then I'm in my head now about her I got to come back to her and I'm going down the thing and I come back around I heard it again will you do what I asked you to do Mary gave us the instructions with Jesus whatever he tells you to do do it do it and I said every head bowed every eye and I had everybody shut their eyes I said pastor you too uh sure you too and I said Lord they're gonna run me out of here and I doesn't sound like a lot of faith does it and I spit in my hands even that told the sound people kill my mic I said the authority of the name of Jesus what you did I'm doing cuz she told me to do it I laid my hands on as she screamed like this blood-curdling scream and boom to the ground and when they got her up she could see Wow right and that story was she'd been in the Holocaust she's a little Jewish woman and got hit by a rifle but when she was a child and blinded this eye and was this other eye was nearly blind yeah as a result over the years and she was totally could see out of both eyes totally now that only happened one time right my life it's not it's that's not an everyday thing but it was learning to trust you actually did what he told you I did you know it's terrified this Sunday they're sitting on the platform and pastor George and I was I was supposed to talk about the offering and I'm think I saw you I'm going through my offering message and I kept getting something different to do and I'm like okay you know this is not on the format this is not what we're supposed to do I've only got a few minutes I knew you were timing me so I you know when I got up there I mean this whole thing was about somebody with neck issues and somebody named Marilyn not my dear God please so then I'm sitting there in my seat trying to justify yeah there's probably a Marilyn in here anybody here named Marilyn and there's nobody I'm like oh let there be one there was one you know but that's that is not my comfort zone see I doing like when you had the next thing and you had different people stand up I would just stand in there and I look down the row on my row and I saw this man and I heard that same voice I heard when I heard spit in her I say you get down there and you minister to him and I immediately was like well there's people there and I heard it again you go and I took off okay I spread it almost to get to him but why do we assume that it was easy for Jesus to grab mud and put it on the blind man's eyes or to do half of the other amazing things that he did I mean he's learning he has an intimate relationship with the father and he trusts him he cares for him he's built the trailblazing this is a relationship with him even to the point that his friend dies and the Spirit of the Lord said stay here and was on safety and he did his first response was he cried he knew in his head what was and he knew in his spirit what was gonna come but he but it was a trap they were gonna kill him all right it's stone him and so he stayed and it was obedient and so when he shows up at his friend's family they're like you're late you're too late where you been you know if you really care see that would be the pressure on us oh yeah really cared you would have been here three days ago yeah but no he was following he'd set his sail on that boat yes following the wind of the Holy Spirit god that's the timing he has the timeline he knows when things have to be done and how have to be done and it wasn't based upon his feeling because he cried that day right was it based upon his feeling was it based upon his attitude he was just being obedient to what the word what what the father was saying for him to do wasn't any emotion in it or anything else that was being obedient to that meeting [Music] it's really an exciting adventure to go and see what God wants us to do and how how history kind of unfolds in front of us we've seen so many things you know my goal is to take as many people with us if I can encourage one person to go back and see what history shows us about revival it sparks a fire and it sparks something into the people that see it and that brings a revival

Channel: Revival RadioTV

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Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 17 2019