Intimacy With God (John Wimber)

Intimacy With God

“Do not leave my cry unanswered. Whisper words of truth in my heart. For you alone speak truth.” — Saint Augustine

Intimacy begins with personal relationship. You can’t be emotionally intimate with someone you don’t know. The New Testament gives us a glimpse into the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. Even after a full day of preaching, healing, casting out demons, dealing with hostile religious leaders, and hearing of the death of a loved one, Jesus couldn’t wait to head off by himself and spend the whole night talking with his Father (Matthew 14:23). He loved to be alone with his Dad.

God has something similar in mind for you and me. The joy of the Son was to do the will of the Father. It is our joy to do the will of the Father and the Son. In doing so, we fulfill the purposes of God in this world, part of which is to develop an intimate relationship with you and me.

Have you ever watched your kids playing out in the backyard? You knew everything they did but they still told you about it. It was fun reliving it with them. Your spiritual Father enjoys the same kinds of interaction. It pleases him to talk to you and to hear from you. He likes to hear your perspective on the things that have happened in your life.

A common mentality today that is expressed in much of our theology, says, in effect, if you have the right standing before God, and if you know the right scripture, and you quote it properly back to God in a certain manner, then you’ll get the results you want. In effect, you can tell God what to do.

That teaching, in my opinion, violates the nature of intimacy. It changes the nature of the relationship from a child climbing in his Father’s lap, to an attorney standing before a judge and arguing for a position you’re holding.

Prayer begins and ends in relationship with God. It has to do with the very relationship Jesus had with the Father. In this relationship, we can come as his children and say, “Daddy, I’ve got a need. I’ve got a problem.” David, in the Psalms, is a good example. He goes to God when he is happy, when things are going well. But he also goes to God when he is depressed and confused. David, the man after God’s heart, had intimacy with God.

John Wimber, Prayer: Intimate Communication (Anaheim: Vineyard Ministries International, 1997), 4.

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