The Great Initiator

     I promised Tony, a former student of mine and fellow pursuer of God, that I would write a blog answering the following question from him. The question was prompted by, among other things, reading my article "Intimacy and Mission." (Which I put in blog form back in April 23 and May 7, 2007). Here's Tony's question (or sort of question), which he signed as one "Desperately desiring to live in intimacy with God that overflows."
     "Tom, tell me we really can do these things, we really can love God and be loved so much, and that we can live there and lead others to this promised land where we are compelled by Christ's love and the power of God flows out of and through us as naturally as it did for Jesus when he walked among us in human form. Tell me we can walk with the Father, being one with him, doing what he does, saying what he says, knowing his heart and sharing it. I want to believe, help me with my unbelief."
     Yes, Tony, it is not only possible but is God's deepest desire for each of His children. But I certainly can't answer your question in a few brief paragraphs. I also realize that any answer I give will take an indirect route to "Yes, it's possible." So this will be the first of a series, and it will be in some ways a summary of various things I have said before. So here goes...
     I think one of the first and most important steps for me in this journey was the huge and growing epiphany that God is better and "gooder" than I ever imagined. At the core of an intimate walk with God is getting to know Him as He really is, and this, at least for me, has resulted in a total paradigm shift in terms of who God is which resulted in a huge change in how I relate to Him. It's almost as if everything I previously thought about God or had been taught about God had to be turned upside down. 
     One big example of this revolves around the question: who is pursuing whom? It was a huge "ah ha!" moment for me to realize that I was the one being pursued rather than the one pursuing. It's as if one day in my hot pursuit of God I stopped trying so hard to catch Him, and He crashed into me and overwhelmed me--He caught me. I am still caught up in wonder at God's fierce and unrelenting pursuit of my heart! I discovered that, rather than my being the initiator in this dance of intimacy, He is the initiator and I am the responder.
     In some ways, of course, this should not be a surprise, given how often we see God as the pursuer in Scripture. Beginning in the Garden after the fall ("Adam, where are you?"), and continuing throughout the biblical record, it is abundantly clear that God is always the initiator and the pursuer. Abraham was worshiping idols and not looking for God, Moses was tending sheep and not looking for God, David was also tending sheep and certainly not planning to be King of Israel, Peter and Andrew were cleaning their nets and not planning to be two of the Twelve, Saul of Tarsus was certainly not planning to become a follower of Jesus! And then there's the whole of the redemption story: God pursuing his wandering children to the point of paying the ultimate and infinite price in order to reconcile them to Himself (Romans 5:6-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 are two of many passages related to this). I think you get the point: God is the Great Initiator in everything, and that certainly includes living in intimate relationship with Him.
     Why is this important? Just this one facet of the new paradigm changes everything! If God is the pursuer, then my focus is shifted from trying to trusting, from running to resting, from moving to being still, etc. My focus is shifted from what I am doing and how I am doing it to the One I say I want to meet! And it gets better, of course, as we realize that we really already have what we are chasing. Believers are already in Christ, already seated in the heavenly realms, already hidden with Christ in God, already face to face with God, already fully indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, etc. Remembering these things and really letting Papa show us what they mean are huge keys to the door to intimacy, at least they have been for me. And discovering all of this (or more accurately, having it revealed to us) is like returning home after another hard day of pursuing God only to discover that He was in our living room waiting for us the entire day!
     But does this mean that we just helplessly wait until He decides to bring us closer to Him? I don't think so. The word "responder" implies action. But it's a different kind and type of "action." A response to another's initiations is different from my effort to initiate something, but it's still a response and still involves activity. But it's a very different kind of activity, motivated by a very different understanding of the why of that activity. It's more about discovery and realization than about frantic effort. But this topic will expand too much for me to go further in this entry, so I will have to continue some of this next week. For now, I close with a paragraph from my journal very early in my own journey into the Secret Place life. I trust you can hear the changing of paradigms that I was experiencing along with my awe and wonder. Maybe reading it will awaken something in your heart to help you respond to the Great Initiator as He pursues you, and help you to believe that yes, we can have face to face intimacy with God! (Written on July 3, 2004, the day after my first Secret Place encounter with Papa).

Can we, can I, Abba, hope to have a relationship with you like Moses—“face to face”? Surely the answer is “yes,” and for all believers, not just a few. 2 Corinthians 3:7ff. seems to indicate that we all can have “unveiled, face-to-face” intimacy with you because of the new covenant and by your Spirit.

Oh, Abba, what have we been missing?!! We have feared subjectivity and error so much that we have cut out the heart of what Jesus died to give us: true face-to-face, communication-filled intimacy with you!

But my heart sings at what I am starting to see. Show me all that you choose, Abba! Show me more!

The implications of this are huge! We have inadvertently—with good intentions—cut out the heart of the Good News. No wonder your people are burdened and powerless. No wonder they resort to legalism. They think that they are alone! For most of us, walking in the Spirit means filling our minds with Scripture then hoping that we will guess what you are saying.

We need not fear deception or imbalance if we keep our balance via Word and Spirit! The Word isn’t a substitute for Your Spirit or vice versa; the Word informs and gives clarity and depth to your speaking voice.

Responding to the One in Hot Pursuit of my heart,

Tom, one of Abba's little children