God wants to have a deep, personal, intimate relationship with each of us.  Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour, the living God, wants to live in us and transform us through the power of His Holy Spirit, but He will never force Himself on us.   We must choose to trust in Him and invite Him into our lives.

Is your life a series of brief encounters with God or do you feel you are living intimately with your Saviour Jesus Christ in an existence which is totally surrendered to His holy will?

This post is a reflection on some of the challenges Jesus overcame in my life to help me to live in an intimate relationship with Him.  I feel really privileged to have discovered the great love of God and to know with total certainty that Jesus is now living with me and in me.  Jesus has made me so aware of His holy presence that I find myself speaking to Him all day long, sometimes with words and sometimes without words in a way that only He can understand.

My day begins now with an awareness that I am in God’s holy presence.  I awake to greet Jesus and I plan my day with Him.  I am so grateful that Jesus has taken me into His tender embrace.  He has filled me with complete confidence in His providence and His divine assistance.  I know He has a plan for me and that I need to listen to Him in order to discern and fulfill His holy will.

To live in an intimate communion with God we must give God the highest place of honour in our life.  We must trust in Him with all our hearts.  We must humble ourselves to God’s greatness and with humility acknowledge our fragility and fallibility while we acknowledge God’s power and infallibility.  We make mistakes, but God does not.

God invites us into the intimacy of His Sacred Heart, inviting us to get to know Him and to draw very, very near to Him with the absolute confidence that He will transform us into His very likeness, little by little.

My spiritual conversion occurred over ten years ago.  I searched for God and He answered me.  I searched for understanding and He taught me.  I longed for His love and He embraced me.  I was worried and anxious and He consoled me and comforted me.  In the silence of my heart, I heard Him urging me to trust Him and to believe in Him.

There were many barriers that stood between us and slowly and surely God removed each obstacle that stood in the way of our intimacy.

Challenge #1:  Ignorance of God’s Word

The first challenge God addressed was ignorance.  I had never read the Bible and I was not going to Church and so I did not understand what God really wanted.  My conversion began with a great grace from God.  Jesus spoke to my heart and asked me a question:  “what is love?”  I thought I knew what love was, so I replied:  “It’s a feeling”.  To this God replied, “wrong”.  So I asked, “what is it then?” And God said, “Love is a choice.”

It was as though God at that moment illumined my mind.  I write about it because I know the grace I received was not for me alone.  I understand now that in each and every choice we make we prove whether or not we are people of love.

As I began to open the Scriptures, God challenged me to understand that if I was only kind to the people who were kind to me then I would fail Him.  God wanted so much more!

“And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” Luke 6:33-35

Challenge #2:  Repentance and Forgiveness Needed

Sin separates us from God, but confessing our sins paves the way to the beginning of new relationship with Our Saviour Jesus.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

My journey back to God began with my confession that I had failed Him in so many ways.  I gave God my heart broken by sorrow for my sins and Jesus embraced me.  “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”  Psalm 51:17

When we repent of our sins God receives us, His prodigal children, with great joy.   The spiritual journey begins when we confess and repent.  I also realized I needed to forgive those who had hurt me, even if they would not say the words that would help me to heal:  “I am sorry!”  So I prayed for the grace to be able to forgive those who had broken my trust and hurt me.

Challenge #3:  Need to Trust God Completely

When we don’t yet know God, we trust ourselves.  We figure we must rely on our own talents and abilities. What a great burden it is to try to have all the answers.  What a relief it is to realize we can give Jesus our problems and know that He is so pleased to provide His divine assistance.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:6

“But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” Psalm 52:8

Challenge #4:  Patience Required

God knows what’s best for us.  Most of us desire instant solutions.  We live in a world of instant communications.  If I text you, you can reply in seconds.  We can be foolishly conditioned to expect that our communion with God will produce instant answers.

We must be prepared to wait on God, to trust in His wisdom, to be ready to atone for our sins and to be fully confident that God will provide us with the wisdom and courage we need to overcome whatever issues we are facing.

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” Psalm  27:14

Challenge #5:  Time with God

With busy lives, we can be deluded into thinking we have no time to truly dedicate to God, but true intimacy with God requires that we live every moment with Him.  God is with us when we dress our children for school. God is with us when we put them to bed at night.  God is with us when we cook our meals.  God is with us through every detail of our day and every moment is a moment to give Him glory.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God– even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.”1 Corinthians 10: 31-33

We must also ask ourselves whether we are focusing our lives on the right priorities.  Can we give up something to create a special memory with God that will give Him glory?

I have found going to Mass during the week is a very special way to worship Jesus as I receive Him through the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

I have found that stopping everyday at 3pm, the time Jesus died for us, to contemplate His Passion and to pray for the whole world is a special time I have with God that allows His love for me to penetrate my heart as I thank Him for His great sacrifice.

Think about the way you spend your day and see if there are ways you can be more intimate with God.  For example, if you take the bus or subway what do you do?  Could you pray, read the Bible or a spiritual reflection, listen to quiet music that would help you think about God and reflect on your choices?  Could you just in the silence of the moment listen to God’s voice within you?

Challenge #6 – Faith and Love in Action

We can say we believe in God, but we are not truly believers until that faith begins to witness.  Remember, “love is a choice”, so if we are truly disciples of Jesus our faith must be full of good works.

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”  James 2:18

Challenge #7 – Spiritual Food and Prayer

For many years I did not go to Church because I had lost sight of the miracle of the Eucharist.  Since I returned to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, my life has changed.  I know my Saviour is with me and that we are now one.

“For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”  John 6:55- 58

Jesus wants a personal, intimate relationship with you.  Let Him into your life and give Him your heart with total confidence that He will help you to heal, to grow and to thrive, one day at a time.

Please join The Mercy Movement, a global Christian prayer movement that is uniting Christians of all denominations at the foot of the Cross in prayer and contemplation of the Passion of Christ, each and everyday, at the time Jesus died for us, 3pm (in our local time zones)  At this time, we remember the greatest love the world has ever known and will ever know — the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ!  Believe in the power of ONE Body of Christ united in the love of Jesus in remembrance of His Passion and infinite sacrifice, praying for the salvation of all souls as we call upon the Holy Spirit to draw us all closer to God.