Intimacy with Jesus
by Joe Burke

Why did Jesus die on the cross?   What was His motivation?  Was it just simple obedience to the Father?  NO!  It was the deep burning desire of His heart to die for you.  Jesus has longed passionately to be with you from before the beginnings of the world.  He has beheld your face for eons of years.  He has a deep affectionate longing for you that has consumed Him for billions of years.  His love for you is beyond comprehension.  He has an extravagant passion for you.  He has been waiting for you from age upon age.  All His incredible love has been building up, waiting patiently for you to be born.

In Songs 4:9 Jesus says to you:
"You have ravished my heart… my bride."

Ravish means to be overcome with emotions of Joy and Delight!   Jesus is overwhelmed with emotions of joy and delight at the sight and thought of you.  When Jesus died on the cross, the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom, signifying that intimate access to the Father was available to all.  No longer would God be untouchable, unapproachable, and wholly separated from His people.  Jesus came charging out of the Holy of Holies through the rent temple veil looking for YOU!  He burns with deep desire and unbridled passion for YOU!

Eph 3:18-19 says:
"You will be able to grasp fully with all the holy ones, the
breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love,
and experience that love which surpasses all knowledge,
so that you may attain to the fullness of God Himself."

Can't you hear the Holy Spirit crying out to you - You are meant to experience the totality of God's love for you, all of it without measure, unlimited and never ceasing!  Christianity is not meant to be only head knowledge.  The Holy Spirit is saying that if you had total, complete knowledge of all the teachings of the Church and that's all you had, with no personal experience of Jesus' love, you would be missing the whole ball game!

When we experience personally the passionate love of Jesus for us, the Christian journey is no longer a struggle to overcome obstacles.  It becomes an invitation to enter into a love affair with the One who burns with the deepest desire and affectionate longing for us.  When we enter this intimacy with Jesus, the overriding goal of our life is to fall deeply in love with Jesus.  We become truly free.  We then understand what it's like to rise up on eagles wings and soar in the heavens with Jesus.

Jesus is saying to you, I don't want to be a causal date, I don't want to be one among many, I want more than an occasional kiss, an annual embrace at some retreat, I WANT A BRIDE!  It's breaking my heart, it's bringing me deep distress, I want a bride!  Let us consummate this relationship, let us be in an intimate embrace, and let us be intimate friends.  I want a bride but I won't force my love upon you.  I want my people to freely choose to invite me into their lives.  I want a bride who desires to be alone with me in prayer.  I want a bride who is intimate with me and who listens to my voice in the Holy Scriptures.  I want a bride who will allow me to draw them deeply into my presence where I can pour out my love upon them.  I want a bride who will worship me in spirit and in truth, face to face in complete freedom.

Whoever freely chooses to be intimate with me
will experience the truth of 2 Cor 3:17:
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom All of us
gazing on the Lord's glory with unveiled faces are being
transformed from glory to glory into His very image by
the Lord who is the Spirit."

Lord Jesus, we ask for the grace to give our lives totally to you.  We repent of all of our self-centeredness and sin that separates us from you.  We desire to gaze on your glory with unveiled faces and be transformed from glory to glory.  We want to be intimate with you.  We give you permission to do whatever it takes to bring us to this intimacy.  Amen