Intimacy and Knowing
“To know and be known by another is a deep desire of the heart. This desire is implanted in us by God. He tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). This applies to all of us. God has intimate knowledge of us before we exist as we know existence, and then desires we know Him so we can be complete. This is why so many people who find their way to God and begin to know Him are filled with a joy and a fervor that often seems either irrational, or difficult to understand, by others who have not sought or found God. God wants us to know Him intimately and then extend this same love to others.” (Sacramental Living Blog)
“As a seminary student, I was devoting my entire life to vocational ministry and specifically teaching and preaching the gospel. But there were no roots. I was doing it because everyone told me I would make a great pastor or youth minister. I learned that God was not interested in what I contributed to His kingdom. His interest was in me as a person and in my being conformed to Christ’s image. God didn’t need me to work; He desired me to know Him intimately. This new perspective not only transformed my heart and mind but redirected my study and ministry.” (—Stan from Forney, Texas, Ryan Shook & Josh Shook)
“…Christ has intimate knowledge of every person…An intimate relationship with Christ comes only from spending time consistently in His presence and in His Word…Make your relationship with God your top priority… Intimacy with God is no different than building intimacy with another person. You have to invest yourself. You must first truly desire this kind of relationship with Him, and that desire builds as you come to know Him. After desire comes investment—an investment of priorities, time, and sacrifice. You have to so prioritize this intimate relationship so that it gets your best efforts, your time, and your focus. Just like any relationship, you have to work at it.” (Orthodox Study Bible, John 10:3-5, Life Application Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 2:14-15, Father Barnabas Powell)
“God is a personal God and wants to commune with us personally and experientially …Incredible as it seems, the Creator of the universe desires an intimate, loving fellowship with the people He created." (Father David L. Fontes, PsyD, Bill Gothard)
“We know God as transcendent, as far away; one of the feelings of truly authentic experience of God is that of awe, that of feeling annihilated in His awesome and distant Presence. However, it is also true that the opposite feeling is also part of true and authentic religious experience: that is to feel God as immanent, and intimately close and nearby and present…Through the incarnation we a see a God full of love and compassion for His creation, one who taught us how to love and be compassionate to others; one who unites Godself with us so that humans can go beyond what we are capable of; in the Incarnation we have a God who came to lead us to God, to an intimate union with God.” (Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou)