Intimacy with God (Notes from Allen's Class)
Chapter 1-
We are created to experience God’s love, only then we will feel the satisfaction. However, we resist Father God mightily because of our wrong view of Him when we need Him so much. In our deep shame and condemnation we had lost the childlike ability to trust and see the heart motive of God.
To the degree that we believe in the wrong views about God to that degree we are weak and defeated. Satan uses these spiritual strongholds to keep us from connecting with God in enjoyable intimacy, so we give up and sin. And the bible tells us that the truth will set us free, so we must know the truth about God’s personality, emotions, and mind.
Our earthly father influence our view of Father God. There are generally these five different types of father figures: Passive, Authoritarian, Abusive, Absent, and Accusing Father. But as we persistently receive the truth of God’s Word about God’s heart for us, then our hearts will progressively be healed of what earthly authority figures have done to us. We must 1. Fill our mind with new understanding of God’s nature as Father (changing our understanding) 2. Taking what we have learned in the Word of God and turning it into prayer (changing our language both in prayer as well as in conversation with others) 3. Allowing the Holy spirit o pour the revelation into our hearts changing our emotions (changing the way we feel about ourselves and God)
Chatper 2
The Old Testament reveals the Father as the Father of Israel, who tenderly carried His son through out the years of wilderness into the promise land. (Duet. 1:30-31) The Lord also refer to Israel as My son, My firstborn (Exo 4:22)
I the book of Psalms and Prophetic books, God continue to reveal bits and pieces of His Fatherhood to us. God is one who we receive us and a father of the fatherless, as one who shows compassion to His children.
The New Testament continues in depths revealing the Father through Jesus. Jesus is the exact image of God who came to reveal the Father. Jesus told Philip, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9) As Jesus’ personaliy, ministry, and teaching were profoundly attractive to the disciples and people, so the Father is just as attractive. We need to learn to tremble before God’s power as creator, but also have confidence before God’s affection as Father. Jesus came to declare the Father’s name to the disciples and will continue to declare it. He revealed the deep relational and affectionate, involving dimension of the Father’s personality.
Through Jesus’ relationship with the Father, we can have a glance what we suppose to walk in. We must commit daily to cooperate with the Father’s drawing our hearts and teaching us to love and obey Him. The more we position our hearts before our Heavenly Father, the more our actions will demonstrate His nature and reflect the values of His Kingdom. Jesus’ key to humility was His relationship with the Father and the Father’s approval over His life.
Chapter 3
Jesus’ confidence and identity is completely rooted in being the Father’s favorite son. Before Jesus’ ministry and at the end when He was about to endure the cross, Jesus received words of affirmation from the Father, which made Him strong and confident. How much more for us? The measure of the Father’s love for Jesus is the measure of His love for us. This is the ultimate revelation of our worth, we can say we are “God’s Favorites!”
The Holy Spirit also has the same ministry as Jesus focusing on helping us experience the Father. He cried through us onto the Father, “Abba,” which is a term of endearment like “Papa.” This will be our “stabilizing anchor” that we know the embrace of the Father as our Abba. We especially need the assurance that we are enjoyed by God, even in our weakness. Discerning between rebellion and immaturity is found if we are lovers of God who occasionally struggle with sin, or we are sinners, who struggles to love God.
Chapter 4
The biggest missing subject is God in the church. Modern church had turned to every kind of distraction from church plant, to self help books, but look deviated from the original intent of God to know Him. As Paul prayed, God I want to know you, I want to know the power of His resurrection, I want to know the fellowship of His suffering. All of the church history has been built upon the man Jesus Christ, the man that all the Old Testament had only a glimpse and longed for. Where has the church gone? We must bring back the simplicity of knowing Christ and pursuing Him in this day and hour. This is eternal life, that we may know Him. The only purpose of this life is to know God.
Chapter 5
Jesus prayed the most profound prayer to His Father before all the disciples, unveiling His heartbeat. This ought to be the mission statement of every church. Jesus says, “Father, I desire!” Jesus is crying out for a companion, a bride that will accompany Him through out eternity to share love with.
That’s why the desires of our hearts are always awakened in the theme of a king that loves his people and fights for freedom, or a husband who fights for the heart, honor, and nobility of his bride, even to the point of death because they awaken the reality of our identity in God as Coheirs with Christ, and Bride of Christ.
We must settle our identity in God through the rooting in God’s love. When we have grateful love, we become Bond-slaves of our Master Jesus. When we have secure love, we become Children before reconciled Father. When we have wholehearted love, we become cherished bride before the ravished bridegroom.
Chapter 6
Jesus receives the most glory when we are most satisfied with Him, then we are crucified to the world. He desires us to behold Him for the four reasons: Jesus is the full revelation of the Father, it is the foundation of salvation, is the primary way of transformation, produces the greatest love in human hearts.
Jesus is the one prophesied and longed for by the prophets and saints through out ages, beholding Him dimly they were ravished and stunned by His wisdom and power and glory. Now Jesus was proclaimed by John the Baptist, who is preparing Israel to receive the exact image of the Father, the longing and desire of all the nations. Jesus is the full revelation of the Father the invisible God, He is the only path in which we may know the Father. Therefore, He is the center of all mystery, power, love, joy, ecstasy, and satisfaction. It produces much satisfaction and fascination and adoration, when we meditate and behold the glory of the Son.
We are transformed with what we gazes upon, it is the battle for eyes. Our eyes are the gateway, the window of the soul that can make us more Christ-like or Worldly. This will depend on what we focuses upon. To be sanctified in this age is to gaze upon Jesus by faith, and the coming age we will be glorified when we see Him with our sight.
Chapter 7
Jesus is the most precious and glorious man and the object of our adoration. If we truly see Him, all other things become worthless and unattractive: position, relationships, money, or fame. One of the greatest pain in marriages is faithfulness without affection. But what God is after is our heart!
The divine wound is what saints throughout church history called, when they’re heart are wounded by the perfect love of Christ. When they Christ to give Himself for love on the cross, this also makes them to give all things for Him. This is the initial awakening of the heart left in the pain of its incompletion.
Presence before Methodology- we fast in order to get more of God’s presence, all methodology is to obtain the Presence of God. Lovesickness must first be cultivated, and then the discipline is the reaching of the heart to ensure the encounter, the Presence of God in our soul.
The mark of apostles in this—considering loving Him and knowing Him above all earthly honors and joys. They labor only to bring Him back to the earth for it would be better if He were there.
God’s strategy to bring church into the fullness of His glory is by causing her to fall madly in love with Jesus. The enemy knows this, so assaults the subject matter of who Jesus is with wrong ideas and mindsets. Because when our hearts are gripped with Jesus, this will save us from the perversion and sin in this age. The way is to give ourselves on long and loving meditation upon the emotions of God displayed in Christ Jesus.
Jesus the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
To love Jesus is to love His ministry and mission—to put God (Holy Spirit) in man. Anointed one “Messiah” means one who is anointed with oil, which symbolizing the reception of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus went to the Father, He didn’t leave us with laws and moral code, instead, the God Himself in our flesh instructing us—the Great Holy Spirit. The gospel is the life of God in the soul of men.
The Spirit is waiting for a man like Jesus can use the sword (word) of God under His full anointing to fight the evil one in the wilderness.
The Holy Spirit is looking for a dwelling place. We are the temple of our God, God wants to find Holy Union in us through the Holy Spirit possessing our souls. The Holy Spirit is as fire that consumes all that can be consumes, cleanse and purify the depths of souls. He’s a consuming fire that consumes every around us.
Everything around God is on fire. The question is are we on fire? Because only people are fire can change cities, nations, and kingdoms. Or are we on fire with strange fire of another god on our altar?
The End-Time Church Fully Engages with the Holy Spirit
The end-time church will walk closely with the Spirit, as the Revelation 22 described: Come Lord Jesus! The Spirit and the Bride will proclaim this together. We can see that the church is anointed with the Spirit, engaged in intercession, established in bridal identity and effective in the Harvest.
The Church will be fully established in her identity as the Bride of Christ. It has nothing to do with our gender, but position in God. He has the fiery passion like a Bridegroom and relate to us tenderly in our weaknesses. This also reveals the excitement and gladness of Jesus heart towards the church instead of mostly mad, He is mostly glad! He is one who cherished us!
The “Come” Lord Jesus reveal 3-fold intercessory cry to us: Come near to us in intimate relationship, come to us in power in revival, also come for us in the sky of the second coming that is long promised! This is 2-fold in its expression Worship and intercession!
We begin to see Jesus as our primary reward, like to Abraham. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward! Not healing, not bigger ministry, more platforms, more impact, but Jesus Himself is our great reward. Yes there are secondary rewards, but they are not the focus, they can distract us if we’re not careful or greatly discourage us. Knowing our identity is this: I’m loved and I am a lover therefore I am successful!
Loving God with All of Our Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength
The first and great commandment is to love God with of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
1. Loving with all our heart: Setting our passion, emotions, affection increasingly loving Him. Obeying God out of lovesickness for Jesus
2. Loving with all our mind: Fill our mind with truth, keeping it connected to God and guard it carefully.
3. Loving with all our Strength: Sermon on the mount (serve, give, pray, bless all, fasting)
4. Loving with all our Soul: Loving God with our identity, walking in who we are in Christ humility!
The Transforming Power of Mercy
Mercy is one of the deep things of God. Jesus reveals the Father’s heart that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. God does not pity us and kind of unwillingly give us mercy. But God loves to show us mercy, this is who He is. He desires and delights in giving it. This stirs up many religious people like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time.
Mary Mggdalene puts her faith in the tender mercy of God. Though she is a great sinner, she holds upon the mercy on God. And it is only through His mercy and forgiveness will be transformed. The ability we can receive His forgiveness we will increase in our ability to love Him back. Those who forgiven much will love much.
We must learn to cooperate with the tender mercy that God lavishes upon us. Open up our hearts wide knowing He freely forgives us without any reasoning, requirements, religiousness, or time out. God’s heart is just to hold us and extravagantly love us.
Practical Ways of Grow in Love for Jesus: 4 Stages & 5 Principles
Stage #1: By receiving revelation of God’s love for us
Take the revelation of God’s love and a determined heart to come boldly before the throne of grace for communion.
Stage #2: By receiving an impartation of the Father’s love for Jesus.
Let the Holy Ghost empower us to love God. Takes God to love God
Stage #3: Loving ourselves in the grace of God
Knowing who we are in Christ as His inheritance. Knowing how He sees us in our weaknesses, embracing our belovedness in His eyes.
Stage #4: Loving others through the supernatural love flow from God
Principle #1: Setting our love on Jesus
Principle #2: Seeking 100-fold Obedience (speech/time/money/eyes/appetite)
Principle #3: Time in God’s presence to energize our spirit
Principle #4: Prayer of Faith
Principle #5: Fellowship that receives God’s love from others
Endurance, keep walking till the very end!
Live Holy: Living Fascinated in the Pleasure of Loving God
Foundation Truth #1: Preoccupied with superior Pleasures
Foundation Truth #2: Setting our heart on 100-Fold Obedience
Knowing Principle: know who we are in Christ and what we receive in Him and truth about God’s heart to us.
Resisting Principle: we must resist sin, Satan and sin provoking circumstances.
Pursuing Principle: We pursue serving and relating to God and people in love.
We are created to experience God’s love, only then we will feel the satisfaction. However, we resist Father God mightily because of our wrong view of Him when we need Him so much. In our deep shame and condemnation we had lost the childlike ability to trust and see the heart motive of God.
To the degree that we believe in the wrong views about God to that degree we are weak and defeated. Satan uses these spiritual strongholds to keep us from connecting with God in enjoyable intimacy, so we give up and sin. And the bible tells us that the truth will set us free, so we must know the truth about God’s personality, emotions, and mind.
Our earthly father influence our view of Father God. There are generally these five different types of father figures: Passive, Authoritarian, Abusive, Absent, and Accusing Father. But as we persistently receive the truth of God’s Word about God’s heart for us, then our hearts will progressively be healed of what earthly authority figures have done to us. We must 1. Fill our mind with new understanding of God’s nature as Father (changing our understanding) 2. Taking what we have learned in the Word of God and turning it into prayer (changing our language both in prayer as well as in conversation with others) 3. Allowing the Holy spirit o pour the revelation into our hearts changing our emotions (changing the way we feel about ourselves and God)
Chatper 2
The Old Testament reveals the Father as the Father of Israel, who tenderly carried His son through out the years of wilderness into the promise land. (Duet. 1:30-31) The Lord also refer to Israel as My son, My firstborn (Exo 4:22)
I the book of Psalms and Prophetic books, God continue to reveal bits and pieces of His Fatherhood to us. God is one who we receive us and a father of the fatherless, as one who shows compassion to His children.
The New Testament continues in depths revealing the Father through Jesus. Jesus is the exact image of God who came to reveal the Father. Jesus told Philip, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9) As Jesus’ personaliy, ministry, and teaching were profoundly attractive to the disciples and people, so the Father is just as attractive. We need to learn to tremble before God’s power as creator, but also have confidence before God’s affection as Father. Jesus came to declare the Father’s name to the disciples and will continue to declare it. He revealed the deep relational and affectionate, involving dimension of the Father’s personality.
Through Jesus’ relationship with the Father, we can have a glance what we suppose to walk in. We must commit daily to cooperate with the Father’s drawing our hearts and teaching us to love and obey Him. The more we position our hearts before our Heavenly Father, the more our actions will demonstrate His nature and reflect the values of His Kingdom. Jesus’ key to humility was His relationship with the Father and the Father’s approval over His life.
Chapter 3
Jesus’ confidence and identity is completely rooted in being the Father’s favorite son. Before Jesus’ ministry and at the end when He was about to endure the cross, Jesus received words of affirmation from the Father, which made Him strong and confident. How much more for us? The measure of the Father’s love for Jesus is the measure of His love for us. This is the ultimate revelation of our worth, we can say we are “God’s Favorites!”
The Holy Spirit also has the same ministry as Jesus focusing on helping us experience the Father. He cried through us onto the Father, “Abba,” which is a term of endearment like “Papa.” This will be our “stabilizing anchor” that we know the embrace of the Father as our Abba. We especially need the assurance that we are enjoyed by God, even in our weakness. Discerning between rebellion and immaturity is found if we are lovers of God who occasionally struggle with sin, or we are sinners, who struggles to love God.
Chapter 4
The biggest missing subject is God in the church. Modern church had turned to every kind of distraction from church plant, to self help books, but look deviated from the original intent of God to know Him. As Paul prayed, God I want to know you, I want to know the power of His resurrection, I want to know the fellowship of His suffering. All of the church history has been built upon the man Jesus Christ, the man that all the Old Testament had only a glimpse and longed for. Where has the church gone? We must bring back the simplicity of knowing Christ and pursuing Him in this day and hour. This is eternal life, that we may know Him. The only purpose of this life is to know God.
Chapter 5
Jesus prayed the most profound prayer to His Father before all the disciples, unveiling His heartbeat. This ought to be the mission statement of every church. Jesus says, “Father, I desire!” Jesus is crying out for a companion, a bride that will accompany Him through out eternity to share love with.
That’s why the desires of our hearts are always awakened in the theme of a king that loves his people and fights for freedom, or a husband who fights for the heart, honor, and nobility of his bride, even to the point of death because they awaken the reality of our identity in God as Coheirs with Christ, and Bride of Christ.
We must settle our identity in God through the rooting in God’s love. When we have grateful love, we become Bond-slaves of our Master Jesus. When we have secure love, we become Children before reconciled Father. When we have wholehearted love, we become cherished bride before the ravished bridegroom.
Chapter 6
Jesus receives the most glory when we are most satisfied with Him, then we are crucified to the world. He desires us to behold Him for the four reasons: Jesus is the full revelation of the Father, it is the foundation of salvation, is the primary way of transformation, produces the greatest love in human hearts.
Jesus is the one prophesied and longed for by the prophets and saints through out ages, beholding Him dimly they were ravished and stunned by His wisdom and power and glory. Now Jesus was proclaimed by John the Baptist, who is preparing Israel to receive the exact image of the Father, the longing and desire of all the nations. Jesus is the full revelation of the Father the invisible God, He is the only path in which we may know the Father. Therefore, He is the center of all mystery, power, love, joy, ecstasy, and satisfaction. It produces much satisfaction and fascination and adoration, when we meditate and behold the glory of the Son.
We are transformed with what we gazes upon, it is the battle for eyes. Our eyes are the gateway, the window of the soul that can make us more Christ-like or Worldly. This will depend on what we focuses upon. To be sanctified in this age is to gaze upon Jesus by faith, and the coming age we will be glorified when we see Him with our sight.
Chapter 7
Jesus is the most precious and glorious man and the object of our adoration. If we truly see Him, all other things become worthless and unattractive: position, relationships, money, or fame. One of the greatest pain in marriages is faithfulness without affection. But what God is after is our heart!
The divine wound is what saints throughout church history called, when they’re heart are wounded by the perfect love of Christ. When they Christ to give Himself for love on the cross, this also makes them to give all things for Him. This is the initial awakening of the heart left in the pain of its incompletion.
Presence before Methodology- we fast in order to get more of God’s presence, all methodology is to obtain the Presence of God. Lovesickness must first be cultivated, and then the discipline is the reaching of the heart to ensure the encounter, the Presence of God in our soul.
The mark of apostles in this—considering loving Him and knowing Him above all earthly honors and joys. They labor only to bring Him back to the earth for it would be better if He were there.
God’s strategy to bring church into the fullness of His glory is by causing her to fall madly in love with Jesus. The enemy knows this, so assaults the subject matter of who Jesus is with wrong ideas and mindsets. Because when our hearts are gripped with Jesus, this will save us from the perversion and sin in this age. The way is to give ourselves on long and loving meditation upon the emotions of God displayed in Christ Jesus.
Jesus the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
To love Jesus is to love His ministry and mission—to put God (Holy Spirit) in man. Anointed one “Messiah” means one who is anointed with oil, which symbolizing the reception of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus went to the Father, He didn’t leave us with laws and moral code, instead, the God Himself in our flesh instructing us—the Great Holy Spirit. The gospel is the life of God in the soul of men.
The Spirit is waiting for a man like Jesus can use the sword (word) of God under His full anointing to fight the evil one in the wilderness.
The Holy Spirit is looking for a dwelling place. We are the temple of our God, God wants to find Holy Union in us through the Holy Spirit possessing our souls. The Holy Spirit is as fire that consumes all that can be consumes, cleanse and purify the depths of souls. He’s a consuming fire that consumes every around us.
Everything around God is on fire. The question is are we on fire? Because only people are fire can change cities, nations, and kingdoms. Or are we on fire with strange fire of another god on our altar?
The End-Time Church Fully Engages with the Holy Spirit
The end-time church will walk closely with the Spirit, as the Revelation 22 described: Come Lord Jesus! The Spirit and the Bride will proclaim this together. We can see that the church is anointed with the Spirit, engaged in intercession, established in bridal identity and effective in the Harvest.
The Church will be fully established in her identity as the Bride of Christ. It has nothing to do with our gender, but position in God. He has the fiery passion like a Bridegroom and relate to us tenderly in our weaknesses. This also reveals the excitement and gladness of Jesus heart towards the church instead of mostly mad, He is mostly glad! He is one who cherished us!
The “Come” Lord Jesus reveal 3-fold intercessory cry to us: Come near to us in intimate relationship, come to us in power in revival, also come for us in the sky of the second coming that is long promised! This is 2-fold in its expression Worship and intercession!
We begin to see Jesus as our primary reward, like to Abraham. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward! Not healing, not bigger ministry, more platforms, more impact, but Jesus Himself is our great reward. Yes there are secondary rewards, but they are not the focus, they can distract us if we’re not careful or greatly discourage us. Knowing our identity is this: I’m loved and I am a lover therefore I am successful!
Loving God with All of Our Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength
The first and great commandment is to love God with of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
1. Loving with all our heart: Setting our passion, emotions, affection increasingly loving Him. Obeying God out of lovesickness for Jesus
2. Loving with all our mind: Fill our mind with truth, keeping it connected to God and guard it carefully.
3. Loving with all our Strength: Sermon on the mount (serve, give, pray, bless all, fasting)
4. Loving with all our Soul: Loving God with our identity, walking in who we are in Christ humility!
The Transforming Power of Mercy
Mercy is one of the deep things of God. Jesus reveals the Father’s heart that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. God does not pity us and kind of unwillingly give us mercy. But God loves to show us mercy, this is who He is. He desires and delights in giving it. This stirs up many religious people like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time.
Mary Mggdalene puts her faith in the tender mercy of God. Though she is a great sinner, she holds upon the mercy on God. And it is only through His mercy and forgiveness will be transformed. The ability we can receive His forgiveness we will increase in our ability to love Him back. Those who forgiven much will love much.
We must learn to cooperate with the tender mercy that God lavishes upon us. Open up our hearts wide knowing He freely forgives us without any reasoning, requirements, religiousness, or time out. God’s heart is just to hold us and extravagantly love us.
Practical Ways of Grow in Love for Jesus: 4 Stages & 5 Principles
Stage #1: By receiving revelation of God’s love for us
Take the revelation of God’s love and a determined heart to come boldly before the throne of grace for communion.
Stage #2: By receiving an impartation of the Father’s love for Jesus.
Let the Holy Ghost empower us to love God. Takes God to love God
Stage #3: Loving ourselves in the grace of God
Knowing who we are in Christ as His inheritance. Knowing how He sees us in our weaknesses, embracing our belovedness in His eyes.
Stage #4: Loving others through the supernatural love flow from God
Principle #1: Setting our love on Jesus
Principle #2: Seeking 100-fold Obedience (speech/time/money/eyes/appetite)
Principle #3: Time in God’s presence to energize our spirit
Principle #4: Prayer of Faith
Principle #5: Fellowship that receives God’s love from others
Endurance, keep walking till the very end!
Live Holy: Living Fascinated in the Pleasure of Loving God
Foundation Truth #1: Preoccupied with superior Pleasures
Foundation Truth #2: Setting our heart on 100-Fold Obedience
Knowing Principle: know who we are in Christ and what we receive in Him and truth about God’s heart to us.
Resisting Principle: we must resist sin, Satan and sin provoking circumstances.
Pursuing Principle: We pursue serving and relating to God and people in love.
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