Intimacy with Christ

by Byron Paulus

It has been four weeks since we gathered together at The Cove. I don’t know about you, but the temptation of not “stopping” that Sammy warned us of in his blog has been bombarding me. Wasn’t it Chuck Swindoll who wrote the book “Intimacy with the Almighty”? In it he delineates three necessary ingredients of going and staying deep with God. Silence. Solitude. Simplicity.

The hurry and scurry of ministry life is not conducive to getting to know God. The memorial service for the founder of Life Action Ministries was exactly 20 years ago this past Saturday. Carved on his gravemarker are these words:

He knew God.
He loved God.
He walked with God.
He believed God.
He lived and died for the glory of God.

I knew Del Fehsenfeld Jr. well, having served next to him for 14 years. He rarely came to the office before noon. That’s because he prioritized extensive time alone meeting with God each morning. He did not schedule breakfast meetings. And he rarely conducted any ministry business before noon. He guarded this time of silence, solitude, and simplicity.

I left the conference with a realization of my lack of deep intimacy with Christ. That my love for Him had grown distant. And I needed to return to my first love.

So, during December, I am reading through the life of Christ chronologically. And I am journaling one major take away each day that will help me get to know Him more deeply. Daniel said, “They that do know (yada) their God shall be strong and do exploits (Dan. 11:32).

I cannot deeply love Him who I do not deeply know. So I have set out to get to know Him as thoroughly as possible. Perhaps the Lord will prompt you to do the same.

On this final formal blog, our leadership team would like to hear back from you.

1. What truth from the conference is still ringing in your heart?
2. How are you different now than four weeks ago?
3. What has the enemy used to distract you from what God was doing in your life or ministry?
4. How can we specifically pray for you?

In addition, as you may have noticed, we are proceeding with our bi-annual conference in Spring 2011.

Also, if you are within driving distance of Chattanooga, we are hosting a special one-day Heart-Cry for Revival Conference (regional event) on January 28, 2010. Sammy Tippit, the Life Action worship team, Steve Canfield, Reggie Weems, and I will all be there. You may want to bring a pastor friend or several pastor friends and allow them to get exposed to the passion we all feel for awakening and revival.

On behalf of the steering committee, thank you for sharing in our vision!