GREATER
INTIMACY
WITH OUR
CREATOR
By Robert Eldredge, Sr.
Except for brief quotations, written permission is
required to reproduce any portion of this book
Copyright 2011
By Robert Eldredge, Sr.,
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9711-8036-9
Published in eBook format by Choice Publications, LLC
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
Choice Publications, LLC
Florida, USA
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV) of the Bible
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, by the New York International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Introduction
According to the Bible, God will sometimes give us guidance by way of dreams. I once had a dream where a pastor wanted me to do a teaching. In the dream, I said to him, “The greatest teaching to learn is how to become more intimate with our Creator!” While still dreaming, I began to prepare a teaching that would make our intimacy with God analogous to “being romantically in love” with another person.
Then I woke up. Up until that time I had never even taught on this particular subject before, nor had I even considered it. It is therefore very unlikely that this dream came from my own mind.
Of course, not all dreams are Godly dreams, but the content of this dream had all the ear marks of one that was inspired by the Spirit of God. And since I felt this dream was from him, I immediately began to prepare myself with study and prayer.
A short time later a pastor did ask me to speak in his church while he was away, so it was then that I gave my first teaching on this subject. But the content of the subject was so broad, and the time constraints so limited, that I felt that the Lord really wanted me to write about this in a book. And even then, I knew I could only cover the basics.
If it is true that how to have greater intimacy with God is the “greatest teaching to learn” (and I believe it is!), then I also wanted to learn more about this subject for my own benefit as well.
And if greater intimacy with God is analogous to being romantically “in love” with another human being (and I believe it is!), then we should follow this methodology to find out what it means to be romantically “in love” with our Creator.
I have to admit that I really did not want to write on such a lofty subject. I felt completely inadequate in my own abilities and experiences. On the other hand this might even be a good thing, for it may make me better able to relate to the average person who just wants to have a deeper relationship with our Creator.
This is therefore an independent and a non-denominational approach to the subject that is based primarily upon what the Bible already says, rather than upon my own personal experiences.
And just because I felt led to write this book, I hope no one will think that I have personally achieved perfection in all of these areas. Like the average reader of this book, I am also on my own spiritual journey towards greater intimacy with our Creator, so let’s take this journey together.
Chapter One
GREATER INTIMACY
Your Creator Loves You
| Your Creator loves you and WANTS to have an intimate relationship with you! |
The most important thing that you should know about our Creator is that HE LOVES YOU! And because he loves you, it is already his heart’s desire to have an intimate relationship with you!
And if this is true (and it is!) then what could possibly be more important than to respond to his love? That is why you and I were born!!!
Yes, God also loves the birds and the animals and the rest of his creation, but he especially loves those who have been made in his own image! We have all been given an eternal human spirit and free will so that we could respond to his love and have intimate fellowship with him throughout eternity!
Intimacy with our Creator was never intended to be difficult or burdensome. He has already taken the first step in that he has revealed his love for us.
However, if we should choose not to love him back, then there can be no intimacy! As with all love relationships, they cannot survive if they are only one sided. And since his ability to love us is limitless, the level of our intimacy with him is really dependent upon the level of our love for him!
Do You Know Him?
You cannot have “greater” intimacy with someone you don’t even know! Before we can discuss how to have “greater” intimacy, we must first establish whether or not you already know him and have an intimate relationship with him.
•You could be very “religious” and still not know him.
•You could know “about him” but not really know him.
Almost everyone believes that God exists, but not everyone knows him personally. This is what the apostle Paul also found to be the case when he first preached at Athens in ancient Greece.
“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.
Now what you worship as something un-known I am going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each
