Intimacy

I stopped by the store on January 2 to pick up a few things and the first things I noticed were baked goods from the store's bakery just inside the door. These items were of a certain theme, Valentine's Day. 

Now I may not be the brightest red crayon in the box, but I do know that Valentines Day is SIX WEEKS AWAY!!!

Does anyone really buy these things now and save them that long?

However, it wasn't just baked goods, the flower section carried the theme, the stationary section had their VD cards on the end caps, even the healthy food section was highlighting their "heart" healthy grub.

I realize that this is how the marketing world works. It's always on to the next thing.

Then I thought, well just maybe it takes some people 6 weeks to get the hint to do something nice for their partner.

Really?!? Well, maybe. 

Does getting an item on THAT DAY really prove someone's love of you?

What is love? For years, centuries and eons, people have been trying to define it. Love is:

Most people think of love as intimacy. And true, it is. This one word probably best defines love. But what is intimacy?

I heard a preacher once say, "Remember, intimacy is In to me see." It is really looking INTO another person, really having an understanding of everything about them. Knowing what hurts, what heals, what they need without saying, what they feel without sharing. It means hearing their heart with your heart.

And intimacy isn't just for two people in love. Yes, they definitely must have it, but intimacy is the lifeblood of a true and honest relationship. 

We are to have intimacy with God. We are to have intimacy with Jesus. We are required intimacy with the Spirit that lives in us. And we are to have intimacy one with another.

When we have intimacy with others we have:

1. Anticipation- Are you anxious to be with them, see them, hear from them?

2. We long to be one- Do you want to be as much like the other person as you can?

3. Everlasting love-Do you have love that doesn't fade or shrink away from tough times?

4. Longing- Do you have a deep need to be near that person?

5. Abiding love- Does your love have staying power?

6. Complete love- Do you love with all of yourself, beyond emotions?

7. Joyful praise- Do you sing to Or about the one you love?

It is my prayer that each of us know this love. I hope you love God intimately. I hope you love His Son intimately. I am praying that the Spirit and yourself share this bond. 

I also hope that you now or at one time, have known or will know the intimacy with a loving, caring, kind man. 

But My biggest prayer is to have a friendship that is biblically intimate. A woman to share my deepest self with, one that will love me enough to share her deepest self with me. 

A sister-friend is my desire. And I pray that you all have one too.

God loves us very much and He desires intimacy with us.

Isaiah 65:24- anticipation- “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”

John 17:22-23- being one- “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Jeremiah 31:3- Everlasting love-  "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

Psalm 42:1-2- longing- “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”

John 15:4-6- Abide together- “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

Deuteronomy 6:5- love completely- “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Zephaniah 3:17- Sing over you- “ He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”