Intimacy with God

Do you desire for God to use you in powerful ways for His Kingdom? In order for this to happen, you can’t escape an essential element: having constant spiritual intimacy with the Lord.

A great picture of this is in the Gospel of Matthew, where we read about the transfiguration. You remember — The Lord takes Peter, James, and John up to the mountain where Jesus is transfigured into His true state of glory.

Peter gets so excited, he just starts talking. But God says, “Peter, this is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” Through this amazing story, we see that intimacy comes from spending time with God and listening to His Son.

The Lord chose Peter, James, and John to experience that closeness for a special purpose. After they came down from the mountain, they were different men. They went on to greatly influence their generation, and future generations, for the purposes of God.

Just as God the Father exhorted the disciples to listen to Jesus, He says the same thing to us: “Listen to me,” He says. “I’ve got so much to tell you. I want to teach you. I want to build you up. I want to use you in a mighty way in this generation.”

When we have that kind of closeness with the Lord, we can’t help but draw people to His heart.