How Can Believers Deepen Their Intimacy with the Lord？ — Alan Baker

Intimacy with Christ Through Obedience

There's a lady I knew, I heard about, she had a tremendous walk with God. She seemed to have a very close, intimate union with Christ. And I said, well, why is this? How come you seem to be so close and intimate with the Beloved?

Responding to the Holy Spirit's Gentle Promptings

And she said this, I simply obey what I believe is the smallest fluttering of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is symbolically, within the Scriptures, is a dove. And that's one of the most gentlest birds there is.

So it's easily frightened away, very easily. And so it's like the Holy Spirit, it's very easily frightened away. She said this, I have to obey what I believe is that gentle fluttering, that movement of the Holy Spirit.

Discerning God's Voice and Practicing Obedience

And in that, she became to hear and become more sensitive to the voice of God. Which ultimately brings into the fact obedience. Often he's speaking to us and we tend to brush it aside. Or sometimes we question it.

Sometimes we put it, argue in our mind, is this the voice of God? Which is right. We need to, if it lines up with the word of God, yes, we need to do that. But sometimes the hallmark of the Holy Spirit is that it's illogical.

It is illogical. And often he tests me that way. He would say, go and do this. And then before I go and do it, he says, I'm testing you. I'm testing you where you're going to be obedient to me in this.

Deepening Intimacy Through Time and Discipline

So how can we deepen our intimacy with him? I think first and foremost, being obedient to that movement of the Holy Spirit. And it may, and then he's disciplined. So much of our lives in Western society is bombarded by the media.

Bombarded by the cell phones, bombarded by TV, bombarded by the internet. We had to make radical choices. If we want to be intimate with the beloved, he needs time. That means time. And that means taking out some things which we think we need to get some rest or get some different aspects.

Rejecting Media Distractions and Idolatry

TV. TV can become an idol. And how can we allow the internet, or particularly the cable network into our homes, which pours in filth of the world. We had to take a stand and say, no, I choose not to be influenced by that.

I want to spend time with the beloved. And it takes choices. It takes discipline. But the key, I believe, is being obedient. Being obedient. Obedience is very, very key, particularly in these end times.

Radical Choices, Fasting, and Personal Fellowship

Okay, I was stuck in Chile and I almost never got out. But he did it. He told me that we got out on the right day in the right time. Being obedient to his promptings. So, discipline, obedience, and making choices.

Radical choices. I would suggest that sometimes we need to fast. We need to fast our cell phones. Okay, if we wake up in the morning and the first thing we do is check our cell phones, then there's something wrong.

Because we need to be connected with the messiah. And how much time do we spend on the internet? How much time do we spend gratifying ourselves? So that's choices we had to make. We had to make choices in order to have an intimate personal relationship with him.