Intimacy with Christ

By Martha Hepker Stufflebeam
1 Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

A few months ago, the Holy Spirit woke me with a prophetic word. Through this Word, He began to do a new thing in me. This is the first paragraph:

I have many hard things to say unto you my children. A new season is not coming; it has turned over. The time of adorning my BRIDE is at hand. I am jealous for the world to see her in her “GLORY.” It is her ‘coming-out’ party, a time for her reveal. My true BRIDE must know my voice, my heart, my joys and my pain. She must spend more time with me to know my desires, and how to pleasure me. It is a time for the preparation of the wedding bed. Her fragrance must please me. Her adorning must be of my choosing. It is a new intimacy she must have.

I have been on a journey that I would like to share with you, little by little, in the next few writings from me. My journey has been to have a new intimate love relationship with Christ.

Sometimes we need to look inside ourselves and test our love for family, friends and our Heavenly Father.

The Holy Spirit chose to test my love in a way that was beyond any proofs that I had ever understood. He asked me if I loved enough to walk away so another person could have their happiness, their fulfillment and desires, no matter what pain and distress it caused me. This question took me several days to chew on and pray about. In the end I came to an understanding of LOVE like I've never had. When one has deep love for another person, he or she wants the other person’s happiness and fulfillment more than their own, no matter how it hurts.

Jesus truly did that for us. When He was willing to go to the Cross, go through the loneliness and the pain, then leave it up to us to choose Him. He knew that upon our choosing Him, He would truly be pleased. There is no feeling like being chosen to be loved!

There is a song, "I Wonder If God Cries." How He loves us, even when His LOVE is unreciprocated. I am quite sure it brings tears to His eyes. How I pray that I give Him pleasure everyday as I choose to spend time with Him, just because I want to give Him happiness.

So I pray today that you receive LOVE from someone that is pure and unselfish, a love from Someone that wants to give you more love than He desires to receive. His love will comfort when you are weary, help carry your burdens and will bring you pure pleasure and happiness.