Make Disciples: How to Walk Intimately with God
Scripture
Acts 8:16, Acts 8:29, Acts 13:1-2, Acts 15:28, Acts 16:6-7, Psalms 16:11, Romans 8:16
What to Believe:
Even when we respond with the smallest amount of faith, God will change our lives.
Discipleship is when we are instructed on how to follow God's commands. Forgiving our enemies, resisting temptation, taking up our cross, and healing the sick.
God wants intimacy; He wants to share a deep relationship with us. Our response to Him changes as we seek this kind of closeness and depth of relationship. It changes from a response of obligation or morality to excitement and delight in pleasing Him.
As you draw near to God He will draw near to you.
Making disciples means teaching people what to believe, how to obey, and how to walk intimately with God.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a person; He is God Himself, and He has thoughts, plans, and desires. He is much more than some mysterious force or power.
We need obedience, but obedience without intimacy with God becomes slavery. Do not settle for the mentality of being a slave when God has invited you into a relationship with Him as your Father and you as His child.
How to interact with the Holy Spirit.
We can have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Interaction with the Holy Spirit can be profound and life-changing, or it can be small and seemingly insignificant.
Interactions with the Holy Spirit can be subtle and internal, as when the leading is an internal “bearing witness” in our hearts.
You have to be willing to hear “no” from the Holy Spirit.
Two common errors when interacting with the Holy Spirit:
It is an error to believe that you can coast through life, ignoring the things you don’t want to hear or pushing away God's voice of instruction for you. Give Him the room to instruct you, even and especially when it isn’t what you would like to hear. The best way to do this is to get into a small group and practice the discipline of vulnerability.
It is also an error to believe that the Lord only speaks to you about things you don’t want to do. This can be when the spirit of religion creeps in and causes you not to want to talk to Him or be intimate with Him. God is a good God.
How to Obey:
We should not ignore the Holy Spirit. He is someone we should interact with and receive counsel from. We should seek a relationship with him. He will guide and direct us in the ways of the Lord.
The voice of the accuser (the devil) will speak against your desire to be near to God. He will speak ulterior motives against you and make you think that you are guilty of being lazy for wanting to sit at the feet of Jesus. This voice will rush your time alone with God. This voice will convince you you can’t come before God until you get yourself right if you’ve sinned or slipped up. This voice will cause you to doubt your relationship with God. This is not the voice of God. God wants to be with you. Let God teach you the difference between His voice and the voice of the accuser. Pray for this knowledge and seek His word for information about God so you can know His character and voice.
How to Walk Intimately with God:
Practice the discipline of vulnerability. Small groups are a great place to practice this and give people room to know the real you. God has baked community into our DNA; we need others.
Practice the discipline of stillness. Ask God for grace to sit quietly at His feet and listen to His voice. God's love has been poured into our hearts because we are His children. He wants to be with us!