INFORMATION, INTIMACY, TRUST

   

Interesting how the message connects in these books .....

BRIAN HARDIN "In a court of law you can't testify to the character of a person based on things you heard other people say. That's called hearsay. You can only testify to the things you know firsthand. Through some really intimate soul-searching, I've began to realize I formulated much of my relationship with God based on hearsay - what I'd heard other people say about him, which resulted in some massive assumptions and misgivings".

"How much of your relationship with God is based on your first hand knowledge of him? What do you actually know about God for yourself - because of your intimacy with him? What cherished memories and experiences do you have that only you and He share? These are questions worth spending some time on".

ERWIN MCMANUS "Somehow Christianity has become a non-mystical religion. It's about a reasonable faith. If we believe the right things, then we are Orthodox. In some religious circles, whether we ever actually connect to God or experience His undeniable presence has become incidental, if not irrelevant. We have become believers rather than experiencers.

To know God in the Scriptures always went beyond information to intimacy. We may find ourselves uncomfortable with this reality, but the faith of the scripture is a mystical faith. It leads us beyond the material world into an invisible reality. We become connected to the God of eternity. Who you are at the core is spirit. God is Spirit. To walk with God is to journey in the spiritual realm."

HENRI NOUWEN  "But now you are being asked to walk with God in a spiritual journey and simply trust that God is enough. Stop wandering around. Instead, come home and trust that God will bring you what you need. Somewhere along the way, your relationship will grow into unquestionable trust. And when we learn to live in a continual state of trust, our confidence in the future will blossom."