Intimacy with God (1)

In yesterday's post I said that many Christadelphians are saying "there has to be something more!" and are searching for a closer personal relationship with God. Over the next few posts I want to share some of the things I have discovered from my own experiences which I hope will be helpful.

A friend recently emailed me and reminded me that bro Geoff Watson once gave some wonderful talks on the father heart of God and there is a book of the same title by Floyd McClung, Jr. Here is a quote from that book:

"Negative childhood experience is not the only factor that can hold us back in our understanding of God as a Father. Many people experience an emotional or mental block when they try to call God ''Father'' because they do not know him personally. There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing Him personally. John 1:12 says, ''To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God''. To become a child of God, we must believe that Jesus Christ came as God's son, died, and was resurrected so that our sins could be forgiven. We need then to ask Him to forgive us and to become Lord of our lives. We need to dedicate our lives to learning and obeying God's word, and worshipping Him alone.

Other people have difficulty relating to God as Father because they have been taught all their lives to respect Him, and to them that means addressing Him as ''thou''. To use an informal term such as ''Papa'' or ''Father'' seems disrespectful to them. Yet the Bible teaches us to call God ''Father'' when we pray (Matt 6:9), and that He wants to have a close, intimate relationship with us, His children.

Some of the most common hindrances to our comprehension of the Father heart of God are emotional wounds. These injuries often result in ''scar'' tissue which makes us hesitant to fully trust Him as Father.'' (p14- 15)