Enter the 7 Levels of Intimacy with God

Having Things in Common

As believers, we have the same Lord and Savior but also the same enemy. Therefore, we must believe that everything that affects or hurts God affects or hurts us. And anyone who is God’s enemy is our enemy as well, and vice versa. But what do we have in common with God? Most people see God as someone very distant with whom they share nothing, but the truth is, we share more commonalities with God than we think.

To begin with, all people come from God. He is our originator, and the Word says He made us. “So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27 AMP). That alone joins us to Him in an eternal way, which remains a mystery for religion and science. However, the most precious thing we have in common with the Father is Jesus. Today, we have in common His blood, His forgiveness and salvation, His acceptance, and the love that embraces us upon seeking a relationship with Him.

“Until people have the revelation of who they are and where they come from, they cannot have fellowship with God.”

This is the first level of fellowship where what we have in common with Him is genuinely transcendent; however, our fellowship remains incomplete if we only stay at this level. While it is a fact, sharing things in common with God only keeps us at the relationship’s surface. The depth comes with the following levels of fellowship.

Joined Together

Once we establish the things we have in common with God and they become a revelation in our hearts, we can move on to the second level of fellowship, whereby we are joined together with God through a covenant. Without a covenant of commitment, we can’t have a relationship with God. This covenant is not only established through the blood of Christ, but by the spiritual sacrifice we make when we decide to leave the things of the world, die to our flesh, and consecrate ourselves to God. It is a progressive covenant that must come from us because God wants to ensure that we will rely on and always go to Him, no matter the circumstance. The covenant is the glue that sticks us together with God, creating an unbreakable bond founded on mutual trust.

“Without a covenant of commitment, we cannot have fellowship with God.”

The same applies to other believers in a parallel perspective. “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:4-5). The purpose of being joined together is to supply, help each other, nourish, minister, grow spiritually, and achieve maximum unity as the body of Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

If you have already received the revelation that God is your creator and you come from Him, this is the time to make a covenant with Him. I encourage you to commit yourself to God right now in a covenant of mutual surrender; then you will become one with God.

Partnership

The next level of fellowship is partnering with God. A partnership in the business world consists of joint ownership of something, where all parties equally assume the profits, risks, and losses. When God created man, He gave him the power to rule and subdue the earth (see Genesis 1:27-28). However, upon committing the first sin, Adam lost that authority. Jesus regained it when He came to this earth while also bringing the kingdom of God.

When the kingdom was established on earth, responsibilities between man and God emerged, and a partnership was formed. That way, when Jesus returned to heaven, He could leave us in charge. Our partnership with God expects us to take up responsibilities such as governing His creation, expanding His kingdom, preaching the gospel, and upholding ministry and service to the people. Our part in fulfilling these expectations is to commit ourselves to pray, fast, obey, live, worship, serve God and others, tell others about Jesus, manifest His power in miracles, signs, and wonders, and fight for justice and the weak (see Matthew 5:6,10; James 1:27; Deuteronomy 10:17-18). When we do our part, God fulfills His to release His supernatural power, presence, and resources. In fellowship with God, He gets the glory and the credit while we get the benefits.

In a less broad sense, we are partners with God in bringing our family, friends, and co-workers to the feet of Christ, in casting out demons and imparting spiritual deliverance to His people, in releasing His power to heal people’s sicknesses and diseases, in defending the weak against their oppressor, in fighting for justice where justice is lacking, in feeding the hungry, sheltering the naked, visiting those in prisons and hospitals (see Matthew 25:35-40), and most importantly, we are God’s partners in the discipleship of believers (see Matthew 28:19). It is so powerful to know that our “partner” in our personal, family, work, and ministry life is God Himself!

Sharing Together

Once Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples, along with the believers, continued “daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people” (Acts 2:46-47). That is what Jesus taught them. If you are in the presence of God, sharing with Him is an unmistakable sign of fellowship. It is also often an indicator of our relationship with others. When we fellowship in the presence of God, we share our hearts, insecurities, fears, joys, and secrets we keep. God, in turn, shares His nature, His life, and more. This is how we can identify true fellowship because it is impossible to share all this with a person you do not know, do not trust, and with whom you do not have a personal, continuous, and deep relationship.

“The art of fellowship is sharing.”

This is important to clarify because some believers want God’s blessings but are unwilling to share anything with Him; they do not open their hearts, bring their family, or share God with others. Many believe that they are automatically in good standing with God by simply going to church on Sunday and giving an offering. Then, when crises come, they don’t understand why God allows them to suffer or why He doesn’t do a miracle. But take a moment to ask yourself, would you do it if someone who has not kept in contact with you for a long time without warning demands that you help them and expects you to wait on them? The same applies the other way around when you have friends with whom you never share quality time, whom you never serve or help in their need, yet expect them to come to your rescue when you have a crisis. If you never share your life with God, why should He intervene?

I like to share a meal with my spiritual and natural children. As mentioned before, as believers we have many things in common, such as our faith in Jesus and the call to extend His kingdom and manifest His power. Therefore, we cannot be strangers to each other in our daily life. Still, true fellowship comes from daily sharing life experiences, paying the price of serving God and people together, sharing suffering when attacks come, and sharing joy when God gives us victory personally and in the church.

Joint Participation

The apostle Paul had this revelation of participation in his relationship with Jesus, which is why he wrote to the church in Philippi that he wanted to be found in Christ “And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did]” (Philippians 3:10 AMP). Another version uses “participation” in place of “fellowship.” This participation refers to “sharing” Christ’s sufferings to reunite humanity with the Father. Paul says that he is in the task of “[laying] hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” (Philippians 3:12). This implies that there is joint participation in salvation where Christ takes us, and we accept Christ. So, if we have fellowship with Christ, we also participate in His sufferings. That is true fellowship!

Believers don’t like this teaching of participating in Christ’s sufferings because they don’t like to suffer in general. They believe that to participate in His sufferings we must undergo the same crucifixion and whippings He did. While it is true that in some parts of the world, there are believers who are beaten, imprisoned, and even killed for the sake of Christ, this is not the only way to participate in His sufferings. The sufferings we are subject to in the name of Christ can be divided into two types: the suffering that comes from fellowship with Christ and His righteousness (also known as the suffering of the flesh) and the suffering that comes from unrighteousness (also known as the disobedience we commit against God). It is essential to clarify these sufferings and emphasize that without them, there is no fellowship with God.

Suffering for Righteousness

This suffering identifies us with Jesus: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” (1 Peter 4:1). The suffering of the flesh is not receiving whippings or imprisonment (at least not for believers in the West). This suffering refers to denying Adamic nature, the old self, the sinful nature, and the old man. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). “I have been crucified with Christ” is the same as saying, “I am with Jesus in anything that comes against Him; I will not be moved, I will not desist, I will not run away. I will remain with Him, paying the price of having Him live in me, and I no longer live.” Even though He had the power to save Himself, Jesus still bound Himself to that cross in obedience to the Father. Today, we are given the same choice: to attain fellowship with our Lord through sacrificial obedience.

“Denial of the self is a sign of having fellowship with Jesus through the participation of His sufferings.”

To sacrifice for righteousness—to stand in righteousness before God—means that our carnal nature must be crucified because we cannot have fellowship with Christ without going through what He went through, without suffering what He suffered. And just as Jesus gave Himself willingly, so must we. Jesus knew this, for “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8); therefore, when instructing His disciples, He told them, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38).

This is what Paul taught his disciples in the church in Rome, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin” (Romans 6:11-13). To share Christ’s suffering is to be “dead to sin.” What does it mean to be “dead to sin”? It means that when sin is presented or offered to you, it doesn’t produce any reaction or have any control. When you are dead to sin, it no longer has the power of attraction over you because your flesh is mortal and crucified with Christ.

Jesus had no sinful nature, but He did have a divine nature. This was the principle that Jesus operated by during His time on earth. He denied Himself as God: “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:6). He could have chosen to be God, but He denied Himself and chose to be a man instead. He decided to die to who He had been before coming to earth and suffer, as a man, scorn, scourging, and death on the cross.

If we want fellowship with God, we, too, must die to what we think, feel, and want so that He may live in us. A continued denial brings us to the place of knowing that it is not us living and doing but Christ Himself in us. To our mind, this seems both illogical and impossible because the difference between Jesus and us is that He had the revelation of why He suffered what He did. Therefore, for a person to choose to die to their flesh, they must know for whom and why they are dying. If we do not know, we cannot die.

“Denying oneself is a daily sacrifice.”

Suffering for Injustice

This is the suffering that Jesus wants to spare us from, the suffering that brings us nothing but bitterness, resentment, regret, guilt, and remorse. The apostle Peter wrote about this suffering to his disciples in Pontus and other regions, advising them: “let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Peter 4:15-16). Disobedience to God always brings sufferings that have nothing to do with those of Christ. They do not come through fellowship with God, nor do they bring us closer to Him. This happened to the prodigal son, who despised his father and squandered his inheritance in vices and bad friendships. “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. …And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything” (Luke 15:14,16). That is the suffering of disobedience and injustice.

Communion

In the original Greek, the word communion means “to dwell in a tabernacle.” Still, the Bible points at a deeper meaning, implying that it is to dwell in intimate communion with the risen Christ and become one with God, just as Jesus did on earth. “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21). Jesus was one with His Father, who also came to restore that unity for us. There is a place in fellowship where we become one with God and inhabit with Him the same space through intimate communion. A practical way to understand this kind of communion is the marriage between a man and a woman. When two people marry, the union can only be sealed with the consummation of the sexual act. This union occurs on a physical, spiritual, and emotional level. This is a natural reflection of the mystery of spiritual communion with God.

“The mystery by which communion with God empowers us is revealed through the right relationship and unification with Him.”

As believers, we are one with Christ in His death, resurrection, and life itself: “[He] raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). To be one with Christ is to be one with the Father. God wants us to understand that through the blood of Jesus, He is as one with us as He is with Christ. This means that when we speak, God agrees with us and backs us up with His power. He will work His Word when it comes out of our mouths. In that unity, we are like God. Allow me to clarify. I am not saying we are God, but we think, speak, and act like God as His ambassadors on earth. In communion, God merges with us, and we with Him; this is how people see the continuation of God’s life in a human being. He gives us the authority to act in His place from our intimate communion because it is there that we become one with Him. If you are one with God, whatever you declare will happen; you will have the power and authority to rule and reign over creation, sickness, demonic spirits, and more on this earth.

Communion with God gives us identity because becoming one with Him leads us to know who we are and our origins; it connects us with our source and ends our uncertainty, insecurities, and fears. Identity has nothing to do with our profession, occupation, gifts, talents, or preferences. It has everything to do with our essence and origin as beloved children of God, worthy of being loved and capable of loving God and others. In this intimacy with the Father, any sense of rejection in our inner self disappears under the power that comes from knowing that we are children of God.

Intimacy

This is the deepest level of fellowship. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). God created man for intimacy, to have a close relationship with Him. Furthermore, He gave us the ability to be intimate with another person as an earthly reflection of something eternal. Intimacy means being known for who you are, without filters or masks. Intimacy is vulnerability; it exposes our innermost being, our secret place. Our heart was created for intimacy; therefore, we feel that longing and lack when we are not intimate with God or another person. If you know someone intimately, you know them beyond the surface; you know what others don’t know about them. This is the level of relationship God wants us to have with Him! He wants a unique, deep, intimate relationship with you! He wants to know you and make Himself known.

“To know God intimately is the supreme quest of every human being.”