Intimate Time with God - Introduction

I am excited about introducing this practical, personally engaging guide for meaningful spiritual investment. It combines 7 key ingredients to help facilitate an atmosphere rich in getting connected with God and experiencing comfort, refreshing, and insight for the day. It begins with a focus on a particular characteristic of who God is, supported by a specific Scripture. It then provides a reflection on this characteristic to generate more thought/emotion on your part. There is also a specific recommendation for an appropriate worship song or hymn to listen to in conjunction with the daily ITG. Suggestions for prayer are provided for each day of the week and the prayer guide is based upon the guide Jesus provided in the Disciple’s prayer or better known as the Lord’s prayer. The passion behind providing this blog is the ongoing life giving experience that I have had in my own imperfect, but deeply longing heart for God. He is the source of all that is good in me and the one to whom I dedicate this blog and the website.

PURPOSE

When we are “gut” honest with ourselves, we all yearn or long to have a truly deep relationship with someone. We all want to be valued for our worth. We all want to be recognized and appreciated for who we are. We all long to be accepted and loved as we are.

At the same time, if we are still “gut” honest , many  of our attempts at deep , intimate relationships have at times faltered, stumbled, run into roadblocks, disintegrated, or ended in  disappointment. At the bare minimum, we wish our relationships could be deeper, richer, and more meaningful.

This tool does not make empty promises. It will not fix you, your friends or family, or your relationship. The Intimate Time with God Guide or ITG, for short, is meant to be a tool to help you grow in your primary relationship with God. It is intended to help you use all of your senses to get closer and deeper with God on a daily basis. Its approach is to use the widest possible means of communicating the truths of who God is and how to grow in relationship with him. As you grow more intimate  with God, you may be surprised one day to realize that your relationship with others has become more authentic, more intimate, and more enriching.

So, take the next step by launching onto this blog, snuggle up in your chair with your notebook, laptop, or PC, plug in your ear bud, pick up your Bible, and get ready to experience God with all your senses. Then, look out; He has a way of radically shaking things up. Enjoy the journey. Starting out with just 15 minutes will provide you with enough time to draw closer to God in a very significant way. This spoken program combines Modern Worship and Remixed Hymns with a brief Scripture reading focusing on a particular attribute, character quality, name, or appellation (“nickname”) of God. A “relevancy first” devotional follows. Then you are led through a prayer time that walks through the broad-brush categories of the Lord’s Prayer. This then is wrapped up with a “Now what?” action point challenge as a way of making it practical today. Each day provides you with a “reader” to guide you through each part of your intimate time with God. These readers are intentionally not professional readers, but rather just like you and me. Some are moms, dads, teens, grandmas, grandpas, singles again, blue collar workers, professionals, church ministers, and laypeople. In this way we provide for the opportunity for families to use it as a family quiet time guide as well. Intimate time with God is not merely a personal thing. It is also a family thing!