How Jesus Received Intimacy with God (You Can Too)!
Throughout Scripture, we see how the prophets and most notable men of antiquity knew God.
Abraham knew Him through offering his only son as a sacrifice, the son God had promised him. Moses knew Him face to face in a bush that burned with fire and was not consumed. David knew God through worshiping alone while shepherding his father’s sheep. In the New Testament, we see Jesus con- firming His identity as the Son of God through prayer; that was where He received the revelation that God was His Father. Therefore, when Philip, His disciple, asked Him to show them the Father, His answer was, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10).
“Becoming one with the Father through prayer leads us to do the works of God.”
Jesus called God “Father” because He had a relationship with Him; in fact, God Himself had called Him “Son” when He revealed Himself at His baptism. “Then a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:11). We can call God “Father” if we have received that revelation. That is, if He has called us “sons” in that intimate relationship in the “secret place” of prayer. As I mentioned earlier, this distinguishes Christianity from the world’s religions; it is the only religion that demands a personal relationship with its founder. That is why unbelievers do not call Him Father—because they do not know Him, nor does He recognize them. Their relationship with the Father remains broken since Adam dragged humanity into sin.
“A person who does not pray is a sign of a broken relationship with God.”
Jesus and Prayer
When Jesus came to earth, He did not teach a doctrinal theology but a relational one. He modeled for us a life of continuous relationship with the Father on which the rest of His relationships depended. In this regard, Jesus told His disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). He spoke from a position of total trust, as one who knew the Father intimately.
“Christianity is the relational theology that Jesus taught us.”
We know that Jesus knew God because He called Him “Father” and taught His disciples to seek God in prayer as their “Father”: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). The word “Father” is the translation of the original Hebrew abba and means “source of unlimited life.” When we say that God is our Father, we are expressing that He is our original source of life and that we have unlimited resources in Him. If we look at the “Our Father” prayer, we will see that Jesus does not use the word “God” but “Father” because that was what God was for Him on earth. We, too, can say that God is our source of life and everything we may need; as long as we have the revelation that He is our Father and that we are His children, then everything is possible.
“The closest Jesus could get to the Father, as a man, was in prayer.”
Jesus prayed because He was living in a dimension that had changed due to the fall of man and where He was not God but just another man. The Spirit of God was not on earth as it had been in Eden. I often ask myself, what must it have been like for Jesus to know eternity, to be an eternity, and then suddenly pause from that dimension to enter another full of sin, darkness, sickness, death, and limitations? Jesus had to divest Himself of His investiture and cease to be God, King, and Lord. The only atmosphere He found that closely resembled that place from which He came was in prayer. Prayer is where the atmosphere of the heavenly dimension is activated, darkness is dispelled, and truth reigns supreme.
To understand Jesus’s passion for prayer, we must understand Him in His humanity. Let us remember that Jesus “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), but on earth, He was a man with the same vulnerability as any other. He had a mortal body and emotions; He became tired, hungry, and thirsty. But when He left His place of prayer, “the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all” (Luke 6:19). His life and ministry depended totally on His relationship with the Father through prayer. When Jesus finished praying, He left empowered to do on earth what the Father was doing in heaven. He recognized this when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). Where did Jesus see what the Father was doing? In prayer. Jesus would never have said this in His divinity, but as a man, He knew that it was impossible to do anything supernatural without the Father. He acknowledged it again and again: “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30).
Our relationship with God in prayer leads us to realize that without the Father, we are nothing. This is the most significant revelation for a Christian. That is why Jesus made sure we understood that we must abide in Him when He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We need to be connected to the vine because the flow of new life is in that relationship with Jesus through prayer. Once separated from the vine, we dry up and can only wait for death.
“Jesus is the model for knowing God through prayer.”
I can say, as Christ said, that without the Father, I am nothing. I can do nothing without His grace upon me. This is a revelation in my spirit; no one has to educate or remind me of it. The Holy Spirit reveals it to me through daily prayer, as He did to Jesus. That’s why I wake up every morning intending to seek His face and pursue that relationship through prayer. I know that, without His power, I cannot function for a day or even an hour. Today, I can say that, by His grace, God has used me to impact nations, perform miracles, save millions of souls, raise the dead, and so much more. But I also know and have always known that it is not because of my ability but because of my relationship with Him. I do everything He shows me in prayer. It is there where God empowers me. His presence changes the atmosphere in my life and everywhere I go. I am empowered in prayer as Jesus was. I just follow His example. I am what I am by God’s grace. This is also how Paul, Christ’s apostle to the Gentiles, understood it. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Do you have the revelation that Jesus had? That He was nothing with- out the Father and could do nothing without Him? If Jesus as a man said that, we can’t do much either. Let us learn to live in the spirit of prayer so that we do not go about blindly, thinking that we can do something good in our own strength. Living in prayer doesn’t only imply a verbal practice; living in prayer is an attitude or a spirit. Sometimes I am not speaking, but my spirit is in prayer. I live in that constant attitude. I talk to the Father all the time. In fact, this is a season in which I have gone through some very difficult situations. I have been persecuted, falsely accused, criticized, betrayed by many people, and abandoned by others. Still, God’s presence sustained me and continues to do so through my relationship with the Father, in constant prayer. I am so grateful to my Lord that I am still standing! I never stop seeking His face every day because I know He is the only thing sustaining me.
“Silence is a form of language before God that only He understands.”
The Search Evidences Our Desire for God
God almost always initiates the relationship with man, but it is man who must pursue God and seek to develop that relationship. The life of Jesus teaches us that His relationship with the Father was one of continuous search; it is something that is pursued, longed for, and treasured. Sometimes, what leads us to seek God is the absence of His presence; that is when we understand that we cannot live without it. Many people say they desire God’s presence and even sing David’s psalm, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple” (Psalm 27:4). But how do we know that this desire is genuine? Only when we take action, when the search for His presence is continually repeated over time, even when we are no longer living in times of distress or tribulation, is our desire made credible.
Jesus sought the Father tirelessly. The Father had initiated that relationship with Him since He was a baby (see Luke 2). A clear example of this happened when Jesus went to be baptized and the Father, from heaven, said to Him, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Jesus knew that His point of encounter and intimacy with the Father was prayer in that “secret place” He later taught His disciples. That is why He spent so much time in prayer. During His baptism, Jesus prayed (see Luke 3:21). Before choosing His disciples, Jesus prayed (see Luke 6:12-13). In the mornings, Jesus prayed (see Mark 1:35-36). After ministering to the people, “He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16). When feeding the multitude, Jesus prayed (see John 6:11). The night He walked on water, He came from praying (see Matthew 14:23-25). At the last supper with His disciples, Jesus prayed (see Matthew 26:26). Before He was taken prisoner, He was praying (see Luke 9:28-29). On the cross, Jesus prayed (see Luke 23:34). And so many more times, in so many different ways! Jesus prayed aloud, softly, crying out, silently, in adoration, in supplication, conversationally. Today, according to a study by the Barna Group, things have changed a lot: 94 percent of Christians say they have prayed at least once in the last three months, 82 percent of adults who pray tend to do so silently and alone, 13 percent pray audibly, only 2 percent pray audibly with another person or group, and only 2 percent pray collectively in a church.
“The credibility of a desire is evidenced in the search.”
An efficient way to illustrate a genuine desire to seek is to follow what happens when a man falls in love with a woman. The proof of his love or interest is seen in how he seeks her and tries to win her over with acts of love and service. The man goes after her and tries to be where she is, to make her feel important, beautiful, special, and unique. If we say we desire an intimate relationship with God, the question is, where is the evidence? Do you seek God every morning? Do you show Him how important, special, and unique He is to you? Do you get up every morning to pray? In short, where is the evidence of your desire?
Prayer, Covenant, and Sacrifice
The way to prove our desire to establish a relationship with God is through a sacrificial covenant. God will never enter a relationship without a covenant. In a relationship, we need to understand the value and power of the covenant. The word covenant does not relate to “associate” but to a “joining” by blood. God prioritizes that which is “joined,” not “associated.” Many people want the partnership to gain the power and benefits of a relationship without the sacrifice that the covenant demands. But that can only last for so long. In the long run, God will always demand a genuine, personal sacrifice within a true relationship because He never establishes a relationship with strangers. He offers and demands a covenant. In modern terms, we would call it a “commitment,” which is a total consecration and dedication to Him born in prayer.
“There is only one way to become one with God—through covenant.”
In Western countries, relationships tend to be superficial because we do not understand the true meaning of covenant or sacrifice; we only think of self-satisfaction and personal benefit. The covenant relation- ship demands giving everything. It is the exchange of life between two people to become one, the uniting of hearts, and a mutual investment of time and sacrifice. That is the kind of relationship God offers and demands.
“In covenant, we get to know the other person well, which is why God demands covenant relationships.”
A biblical example can be found in the life of Abram (later Abraham), a man of idolatrous background (see Nehemiah 9:7). Abram would never have known God intimately by staying within Ur of the Chaldeans, a purely idolatrous people. God had to take him out of that place and reveal Himself to him to establish a relationship. When Abram responded by leaving his home, his family, and his people to follow God and seek His presence, he was then able to join Him in a covenant relationship (renouncing to all the gods of his father and his people). Thus came the moment in the relationship between God and Abram when Jehovah “brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, ‘I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it’” (Genesis 15:5-7).
“When God calls a man, He always takes him out of his environment.”
Abraham came to know God through a sacrificial covenant (see Psalm 50:5). Once he received revelation, he began to pursue God to enter a covenant and sacrificial relationship. The test of that covenant came when God asked him to sacrifice the only son He had given him (see Genesis 22:2). Abraham did not hesitate because he already knew who God was, thanks to the personal and intimate relationship they had established. He knew that a covenant always demanded sacrifice. The word sacrifice comes from the Hebrew korban, which translates as “a sacrifice offered (or to be offered) to God” (see Mark 7:11). Abraham’s sacrifice appealed to God and led Him to say, “By Myself I have sworn… because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:16-18).
The story of Abraham and Isaac reflected what would happen with Christ. Jesus also proved His covenant with the Father through sacrifice when He gave His life on the cross for all of us. Jesus lived and died as a man in a covenant relationship with God. In fact, as He laid down His life on the cross, His last words were addressed to the Father, asking forgiveness for those who crucified Him (see Luke 23:34); claiming His presence (see Matthew 27:43); and finally surrendering His spirit in prayer, covenant, and sacrifice (see Luke 23:46).
