Intimacy With The Father And The Son (John Wimber)

Intimacy With The Father And The Son

Intimacy must begin with an intimate understanding of who you are talking to. As a young Christian, I had the misconception of God the Father as someone rather austere and far off  in the heavens. I had the notion that one of the reasons that Jesus sat before the throne of God all the time was that he had to appease God, because God really wasn’t happy with all these rascals that Jesus was bringing home. Jesus, I thought, had to talk the Father into it like some children do with their parents. Well, Scripture doesn’t teach anything like that.

I wasn’t the first ever to struggle with a wrong understanding of who God is. In the times of Isaiah, Israel was told, “Here is your God!”  (Isaiah 40:9) as if they, too, had forgotten God’s essential character. Isaiah then described God with two striking, but complementary, word pictures.

First, Isaiah describes God as a powerful King who rules and reigns and is in control of every circumstance of life. “See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him ” (Isaiah 40:10).

Then Isaiah describes God as a tender and gentle Shepherd, caring for and protecting his flock so that they have all they need. “See,…He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young”  (Isaiah 40:11).

Sandwiched between these two graphic pictures of power and protection, control and care, majesty and tenderness, are the words, “his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him .” In other words, when you come to know God rightly, that relationship is all the reward you need. Knowing the Father is our reward. Intimacy with God flows from rightly knowing him and is its own reward, because it leads to an ever deepening intimacy. “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good, ” the Psalmist emphasizes (Psalm 73:28 NASB).

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ came at the Father’s beckoning and direction to do the work of the Father and extend the Father’s love to the world. He did so through his death and resurrection, which was in the Father’s heart and mind from the very outset. Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension opened the way into God’s presence to enjoy intimacy with him (Hebrews 10:19-24). So, when you come as a child of God to the Father in prayer, you need to see yourself as completely welcome in his presence, because that’s the way our Father sees it.

John Wimber, Prayer: Intimate Communication (Anaheim: Vineyard Ministries International, 1997), 4-5.

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