Hi, I’m Tammy Hernandez, author of Soul Beliefs: Removing The Obstacles That Prevent Breakthrough And Intimacy With God. Welcome to God Today. I’ve got an important question for you. Are you experiencing intimacy with God? Now notice that I did not ask you if you were committed or dedicated or sold out. I asked if you’re experiencing intimacy with the Father. Or are you like me, who for many years, really felt more like I was just a difficult project that God needed to fix. I thought every challenge that I faced or every difficulty was God simply testing me and trying to change me. Are we in process? Of course we are. Will the Father reveal areas of our lives that He wants to work in? Yes. But, if you don’t believe 100% that God loves you now, as much as He ever will love you, you might be tempted to view Him more as a project manager with an intense deadline, rather than the very good Father, the loving Father that He really is.
Now, I know talking like this can make religious people get really nervous, because they’re concerned that I’m promoting a loose lifestyle or even being flippant about our behavior, but I’m not. I’m talking to the person who loves God, who is following the Lord and trying to honor Him in what they do, but yet they’re still not accepting or experiencing that intimacy because they’re beating themselves up, and quite honestly, being judge and jury for themselves, and maybe even for others. They’re struggling with not being able to run into His presence, not being able to really receive His love. We have a real enemy and he absolutely does not want us to be intimate with our Father, so he’ll work overtime to try to keep us from experiencing the heart of God. And it is exactly there, close to the heart of the Father, where we really can experience His love and even receive His correction. The truth is, if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ, you have been adopted by the Father, a Father that wanted you so badly that he paid the greatest of prices just to make you His own.
I love Galatians 4:5, Romans 8:15, and Ephesians1:5. Now, Ephesians, I want to read to you. This is in The Passion Translation. It says, “For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace –– for the same love that He has for his Beloved One, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure!” Did you catch that? “–– for the same love that he has for his Beloved One, Jesus he has for us,” he has for you. You are a greatly loved son or daughter. You’re not a project with which God looks at with dread or frustration. He loves you. And notice too, that it said “this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure.” Look, I understand that we can get frustrated with ourselves. When God shows me something in my life, I literally just want it gone. And I want it gone immediately, but it’s really important for us to fully grasp that God loves us now. He doesn’t wait for you and I to have it all together. You can run to Him when you need help or when you’re tempted, because He loves you.
Let’s pray. God, I pray that you will make Ephesians 1:5 so real to us. Help us to not allow anything to keep us from your heart. You are for us and not against us, and close to your heart is exactly where you want us to be. We want to experience more and more intimacy with you. So we pray that you’ll expose any areas where we’re believing things that are not true. We love and bless you in the Name of Jesus. Amen.