E35 How to Go Deeper with God: From Routine Faith to Real Relationship

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Jen Cudmore (00:00)
So what is intimacy with God exactly? We’ve heard the term in churches or Christian circles, but do we even know what that’s supposed to look like? Do we know what that means and how to live it out? Let’s chat about it today. Join me for a discussion about what a personal relationship with God actually looks like in daily life. Buckle up. Here we go….

Welcome, welcome. Thanks for joining Into the Depths podcast. Hey, do me a favor. I don’t think I’ve actually talked much about the through rate on the show. And it would be really helpful for my metrics. If you would listen to every episode to the very, very end, there’s something about what they call the through rate that helps the…

analytics, it raises the numbers, it pushes the podcast out so that it’s got more visibility. So if you could start doing that for me, it would be really helpful. I recently learned about this term and so I hadn’t heard it before and so I figured you hadn’t either. So when you are listening or watching the episodes, please make sure that you go all the way to the end and complete it so that that will add to my metrics. So thank you so, so much.

As you know, my passion is freedom, all things freedom, and getting free of hindrances and blind spots and learning to live our best life and be all that God has called us to be. And I had a lot of fun ⁓ recently. I got to be a guest on a show called God’s Goodness podcast with Shelly and Josh Hanken. And that should go live here in a week or two. And I will make sure that I absolutely share that link with you. had so much fun digging into my testimony and

I’m able to share like, hey, I was just normal Jen living a normal life and I ended up gathering all of this baggage, this bondage that I had no idea was holding me back and causing me problems. I couldn’t see it.

I really want to stress the importance of if you want freedom from bondage, from ⁓ striving, from strongholds, from sabotage, from lies, labels, limitations, you’ve got to develop an intimate relationship with God. And that was the basis for me.

of being able to come into a life of freedom was developing that friendship and that really close, deep relationship with God. But when I was growing up, I mean, I was in church most of my life and nobody had talked to me about what it looks like to have a personal relationship with God. I knew that you were supposed to pray every day, read your Bible every day, go to church often. And those are all valuable things as long as you’re doing them for the right reasons

What I mean is ⁓ spending time with the Lord, like genuine time where you’re actually connecting and getting to know one another. Obviously he knows all about us, but I mean more of just developing that relationship. You know from having friends or having ⁓

significant other or getting married, it takes time to develop that friendship, that relationship, that romance. You’ve got to invest in it and give it time and attention and effort, right? And it’s the same thing for when we’re developing a friendship with God. And so I have been afraid to talk about my encounters and my experiences with God because I didn’t want people to accuse me of just making things up in my imagination. And God has really been pushing me to be more bold, to be

to share more about what he has shown me and how our relationship has been established through the years. And so I figured I would just give you a little preview here. I just finished writing a book. I know I’ve shared this before, but I have written a book about my encounters and experiences with God. And I’m hoping that I can finish the edits here in a couple of months and then start submitting to publishers by the end of the year. But it really

it’s really got me thinking about what is intimacy? Do people even know what that is? Do Christians who’ve been in church for years or even those who have only been recently come into the faith, how do we know what that’s supposed to look like and how do we develop it without falling into a works-based faith?

without just doing it to go through the motions and say that we’re doing it and look like a good person. And so here are some things that I came up with. This is just Jen’s way of explaining what is intimacy. And so I hope you will find this helpful. first of all, think of like, it’s when somebody enters your personal space and you don’t mind sharing it with them. You know, we all have kind of this physical bubble where ⁓ you don’t want to get too close because it feels uncomfortable.

But when you care about somebody so much that it doesn’t matter how close they get, like typically with when it’s your own children, I mean, they will get nose to nose with you, right? They will invade your space, especially when they’re little. They don’t know boundaries. And so it’s a similar concept with God of, you know, really letting him invade your space. And ⁓ I think about things like ⁓ I would never let someone eat off my fork except for possibly

you know, someone in my own immediate family, my husband or my kids. And it would be a similar concept of, you know, learning to share a fork with God, so to speak, when you’re eating something. I think of ⁓ intimacy as being the idea of you can talk about anything and everything and it doesn’t matter. Like no topic is off limits. And you know that you are utterly safe to discuss these things. ⁓

the good, the bad, the ugly. You know that you will never be hurt because you said those things. It will never be used against you. Like that’s what it’s like with God. He just creates this safe space where you can discuss anything. I mean, honestly, I never would have thought I could discuss really difficult topics like sex and marriage with God. It just felt too weird and it’s not weird anymore. And so you can get to that place where you are so close that no topic is

difficult to discuss. It’s a place where you’re always wanted and you’re always welcome and I think that’s really hard for us to fathom but one one picture I think that can be really helpful is thinking about like when my cat comes into the room and he wants to jump up on my lap especially when I’m in the middle of writing I mean when I’m recording a session I have to shut the door so he can’t get in here and distract me and cause you know cause any issues but

I pretty much, if he wants to come sit on my lap, I pretty much let him do it anytime. And even when I’m working during the day at the clinic, I will shift my laptop and make room for him. And I mean, this only happens once or twice a month where he wants to come and sit with me. But even he’s gotten to the point where he wants to sleep on my pillow at night. And even though it kind of sometimes puts a kink in my neck, I tend to let him because he’s always welcome.

And he’s always wanted. mean, he’s just so adorable. I can’t turn him away. And he’s so loving and sweet. And so I use that as a picture of saying like that it can be that way with the Lord. Like that’s how he feels about us. Like he loves us so much and finds us really special and adorable that he makes time for us anytime, anyplace. And we should be able to feel welcome no matter what.

it’s also a even when you ⁓ disobey or do something ugly or make a mistake like you are never Not welcome we don’t have to fear a harsh response from him His arms are always open and he I think of how it says in the Bible in Genesis I should have looked up the Bible verse but it talks about when Hagar, you know was sent out in the desert

She was like, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m pregnant with this kid and I’m all by myself out in the middle of the desert. And God shows up and says, I see you, I know you and I’m gonna take care of you. No matter how dirty your ugly life gets, that’s what God does. He still wants to hang out with us. It’s crazy to think of that. That’s just not normal, a normal way for humans to look at life or look at each other, right?

⁓ I think of intimacy as a place where you always belong. And I think for some people, the idea of belonging can feel like ownership. I know for some people, this might be a little more difficult way of looking at it. That’s okay. But intimacy really doesn’t have anything to do with ownership, but it’s a sense of belonging where somebody claims you and you know that you’re always theirs, if that makes sense. And ⁓ you’re

Like you’re fully and completely claimed by somebody who thinks you are amazing. And I think of how the scripture talks about the idea of Jehovah-Nesi, the Lord is my banner. Guess what? We get to be on his team. He actually wants us on his team, whether we’re the best player or like the scrawny kid who can barely lift the ball, right? So it’s just that idea of…

We’ve got somebody who wants us to be on his team that he claims us and says, hey, you can come over here and be with me. And to me, that’s really beautiful. think that ⁓ intimacy is thinking about the other person all the time. When you’re apart, you can’t wait to get back together. You can’t wait to see each other.

I mean, my favorite part of the day now is first thing in the morning. And sometimes I will get up even earlier, like as much as 4 a.m. because I’m just really excited to hang out with God. And depending on how busy I am, I got to make sure that I get that time with him because it is so sweet and it is so powerful and it is so uplifting. It’s a great way to start my day. And I can’t wait to hang out with him no matter how tired I am. I mean, some days I’m a little more excited than others, but

That’s what it’s like to have a deep relationship with the Lord. You can’t wait to be with him and hang out with him and have conversation with him and just do life with him.

Intimacy is a place where you can tease each other, laugh at inside jokes that nobody else is going to understand. remember one time asking Jesus, like, why do you talk in riddles and parables all the time? It’s so frustrating sometimes. I just wish you would talk in a normal, plain language.

Why do you do that? And he said to me it’s part of my charm and not only did I laugh because he was trying to be funny But it also kind of set me in my place and said like he doesn’t owe me anything He doesn’t owe me an explanation and if he wants to talk in riddles and parables, that’s his business I don’t have to like it But I do need to respect that that’s who he is and I don’t get to decide how he chooses to talk to me and so it was it was this really fun moment where he was kind of

⁓ almost in a way kind of scolding me although I don’t like to use that word but at the same time he was showing me more of his personality and so I mean you you can have fun conversations with the Lord where he’s teasing you over something that’s that can be a normal part of your relationship that’s what intimacy looks like inside jokes and teasing ⁓ you can talk utter nonsense you can tell each other sweet nothings mean that’s more of the romantic side of it ⁓ and

Honestly, like I dare you not to smile when God the Father leans down and kisses your nose or speaks a sweet endearment in your ear. Like I dare you. It’s just amazing when you give him the space to talk to you. He will make you feel more special than you ever thought possible. That’s who our God is. Hands down, if you give him space to love on you, and I don’t necessarily like that term, but I know you know what I mean by that.

When you give him space to show you how much he cares about you, you will be mind blown at how sweet he can really be. I have never had a more inspiring pep talk than what I get from God the Father, my Abba, my heavenly dad. He is incredible. Like there’s just really no words to describe how it feels to bask in his perfect love. And I want that for you.

I want you to be able to experience that. Intimacy is proximity and we tend to think of that physically, but it’s more than just being physically close. Proximity is when you emotionally, mentally, spiritually can get close to each other. Intimacy with God is a spirit to spirit connection. We are spirit. We are mind, body and spirit, right? And that’s how we connect to God. His spirit connects to our spirit. That’s how we commune, have conversations.

hang out with each other. mean, I think of like, seriously, have you read the Song of Songs in the Bible? I mean, seriously, that book is downright scandalous. And what’s amazing about it is that that is supposed to be a picture of the relationship between the bride or the church and King Jesus, the groom. And that can be hard to fathom sometimes how you as the bride get to have that sweet romantic relationship with

Jesus Christ, the son of God. And it really is a bit of a mind shift to lean into understanding what that can look like and how you can have encounters and experiences that are not weird and don’t cross a line into fantasy, because that’s absolutely not okay. But I think of, like, for example, I love to dance with my bridegroom, Jesus.

I was afraid to tell people this, I remember when I told my husband about it, I was like, the dude’s gonna think I’m crazy. And he actually thought it was really cool. Tim and I in the natural, we physically, we both kind of have two left feet. We don’t really like to dance. I mean, we have a couple of times just by ourselves being goofy, but

Sometimes Jesus will meet me in a ballroom or even just like on a sandy beach and when we’re barefoot. And we can do things that on earth or in the natural we wouldn’t necessarily have done. But again, it’s that spirit to spirit connection. And you have to learn how to understand the spirit realm in order to be able to have that relationship. So I’ll talk more about the spirit realm later. But really friends, I really want you to hear what I’m saying here.

If you want to be free from all that hinders you, if you want to be free from everything, all the sin that so easily entangles, if you want to live a full life, if you want to have that abundant life that the scripture promises us, you’ve got to develop that intimate relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You’ve got to start there.

Hang out with the one who created you, your Abba, your perfect heavenly father. Include him in your daily life. Spend time with Jesus, the man who literally died for you while you were still a sinner. Like, nobody else is gonna do that. Nobody else has done that. That is amazing. You have a savior who cares about you so much that he gave up his life so that you could live and go to heaven. I mean, that is just mind blowing to me.

And you got to get to know the Holy Spirit, how he operates, how he can empower you to be your best self and live according to, know, live a Spirit-filled life. You got to know who he is and you got to understand how things work in the Spirit realm. And so those are just some things that have been on my heart that I’ve really wanted to share and I just wasn’t sure the best way to do it. So I hope you will take these thoughts with you as you go about your week. ⁓ What is one step?

one practical intentional step that you can take this week to develop a more deep intimate friendship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How can you make space for God in your schedule and begin to include him more in your daily life, build that friendship, go deeper in relationship and really learn what intimate relationship looks like just between you and him. Bless you, friend.

I hope you have an amazing week as you lean into that.