An Invitation to Intimacy
Pastor Ashley McArtney
Just A Name?
In Acts 19 we have an account of a demon-possessed man flogging two believers. Their attempts to exercise the demon out of him were futile. There was no power in the words they spoke…
A Christian speaking ‘Jesus’ without knowing Him has no more power than what you hear on most job sites. It’s just another name.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:14
What does ‘in my name’ mean to you? Is it a code word that when used at the right moments gets anything you ask? In Hebrew culture, naming was always done to ascribe identity and character to a child. So when we gather and pray ‘in the name of Jesus’, we gather and pray in His Nature. We have not been given a secrete word or a magic bullet, we have been given an invitation into intimacy, to know the person whose name we profess. There in lies the true power of the name of Jesus.
Who is this King of Glory?
It’s an eternal question and we should never stop asking it. The infinite, all-powerful King of Glory will be forever answering it for us. There is always a fresh dimension of the person and nature of God.
Saul was a devout student of Torah and was a learned man, but when he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, he saw Christ ‘as He is’, and even he had to ask “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5). All his learning and knowledge came to nothing, and in that moment all he had was a question and an invitation: “Who is this King of Glory?”
Invitation into Intimacy
All the names of God revealed in scripture are invitations into communion with a Person. The same can be said of the blessed promises. When we declare our promises and rights without intimacy, we fall into ‘form without power’. We can make a lot of noise, but nothing actually changes, because we are not operating out of relationship.
The Lord has been showing me that declarations can become very impersonal. I only do it when im deeply aware of His heart and nearness. He wants us to know Him as Healer, not just for His healing. He is merciful. Our desire to abide with Him is not for the fruit, its for love (John 15:9). Life with God is an open conversation, fluid, not rigid. Using promises as code words to health and wealth is impersonal. God is not a God-on-demand, He is our Father and Friend. Every promise an Invitation. Whatever the promise, find the person behind it.
Jesus You’re Beautiful
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light. Psalm 36:5
Jesus is beautiful. The most beautiful treasure the human heart can know. Knowing Him is priceless. Its better than being rich. Delighting in Him is better than sin. Its better than having a perfect, ordered life. Beholding the beauty of Jesus will see the counterfeit beauty of this world become hideous to us.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Matt 13:44
When someone beholds something beautiful - whether it’s a jewel or another person - they will give everything to obtain it. Not only will they sell everything, they will do it with joy. Lovesick intimacy with God is why we can do life hard when we have God. It’s why we choose the narrow way. It’s why we can walk through pain, injustice and trials because we will go anywhere He goes. You just want to be where He is. And you do it WITH JOY! When we are separated for any length of time our heart longs for His nearness again. It is impossible to walk the narrow road of faith and discipleship without being fascinated by God.
Jesus is the superior treasure. He is the beautiful prize to which we run. “God wants a people who enjoy Him, who enjoy living the way He lives, not a people who endue certain disciplines to get a prize.” S.Whitefield. You can not deny your appetites forever. God put in the human heart our desire for intimacy and pleasure. He also knew the only thing that could ever satisfy it was His own eternal beauty. We must satisfy our cravings for beauty in Him, otherwise, we will become more religious, following moral rules out of duty, not joy. Or else we might just throw off all restraint and become even more depraved and decadent than before.
