Experience True Intimacy

When a husband and wife have a relationship that is built solidly on a foundation of love, trust, and mutual respect, the closeness of their relationship is reflected in the most intimate moments of their marriage.

In the Bible, the word used to describe this type of relationship is the Hebrew word yada’ meaning “to know, perceive, recognize, to know intimately.”

This is the kind of love relationship God desires to have with each one of us — a relationship characterized by true knowledge and intimacy — and when He says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5), it’s the same word yada’ that He uses.

God revealed a pattern for intimacy with Him in Ephesians 5:28-32 when Paul describes the mystery of the marriage relationship:

“So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”

When a husband and wife truly “know” one another, they aren’t just aware of their spouse’s favorite color, the restaurant where he or she likes to eat, or even special secrets that they confide to no one else except one another.

For a man and a woman to be truly intimate, they must know and experience intimacy with one another on every level of their relationship — emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Companionship Does Not Equal Intimacy

The sad thing is that so many of us have a false sense of intimacy about our marriage. As husbands and wives, it’s easy to think that because we watch television together, talk about the children, make vacation plans, or enjoy the marriage bed, we have an intimate relationship with our spouse.

But this simply isn’t so.

There is a difference between companionship and intimacy. For there to be true intimacy in marriage, a husband and wife must:

• Honor their covenant to one another by “leaving and cleaving”
• Be eternally faithful to each other
• Devote special attention to one another
• Spend meaningful time together
• Prefer each other’s needs above their own
• Share their innermost thoughts and feelings
• Offer themselves to each other in intimate, selfless abandonment
• Experience the joy of being fully known as they lovingly “lose themselves” in one another

It’s the same way in our relationship with God. Many of us have a false sense of intimacy with Him. It’s easy to believe that because we go to church, talk to Him, read the Word, serve Him faithfully, and even experience great times of praise and worship, we know Him intimately.

But much more is required than this to have an intimate relationship with God. There’s a difference between knowing about God, and knowing God.

How Well Do You Know God?

If you want to experience true intimacy with the Lord, now is the time to move your relationship with him from that of companionship to one brimming with full potential. Use the link below to take that step. You can also share this with someone you know who needs to strengthen their walk with the Lord.

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I Want to Strengthen my Walk with the Lord