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Posted: 11/12/2010 at 6:40pm
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Removing Hindrances to Intimacy
James W. Goll
The Leaves We Hide Behind
Can you imagine, after Adam and Eve had known God, and He knew them, how quickly the spiritual climate changed? As a result of their disobedience, they experienced instantaneous barriers to their intimacy with Him. Walls shot up. After their sin they plucked leaves off from the nearest bush as quickly as they could and sewed coverings for themselves. They were hiding from the Lord their Creator for the first time in their lives.
But God, in His passionate pursuit, was still drawing close. A new reaction stirred within them as He drew near. Previously they had run toward the sound of His footsteps. Now they ran in the other direction. Before, their response had been joy: "Oh, wow, it's Father!" Now it was dread and fear: "Oh, no, it's Father!" They were guilt-ridden. Never had they had such an emotional reaction or even such a thought before! They had not known condemnation or fear or shame. Now, as a result of their disobedience, they ran and hid from the voice of God (the prophetic, we could say).
Obviously these were real live leaves they picked and sewed together for their coverings. But we pick and choose covers and hiding places as well. And the moment we hide behind our defensive fig-leaf mindsets from the revelatory voice of God, the heart of God, the acts of God and the power of God, it starts getting extremely complicated. Why? Because now we automatically filter the voice, presence and power of God through screens. If God's word does finally penetrate our hearts or minds, it seems as though it has become diluted due to our abundant rationalization, analytical skepticism, theological theories of cessationism or traditional emotional barriers. We might not sew actual fig leaves, but the obstructions to fellowship over our hearts and souls shield us just as effectively (or ineffectively) from God's approaching presence.
May I point out some of the leaves we hide behind? They are progressive; hiding behind one set leads to our concealment behind the next as well.
The Ditch of Guilty Feelings
The first set of leaves that many hide behind is guilt. Some seem to stay there all their lives, like a car that has been sideswiped and is still sitting in the ditch years later. Sinful acts or mistakes from the past or present loom in their faces, but instead of running to their loving Savior and admitting their fault, they sprint in the opposite direction and hide out in the darkness of guilt. This hiding place is the breeding ground for condemnation, accusation and other ugly attitudes. But all these can be avoided through old-fashioned confession of sin and cleansing by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are various categories of guilt: real guilt due to real sin; exaggerated guilt due to the combination of real sin and the work of "the accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10); and false guilt as a result of the voice of the destroyer, releasing condemning, lying spirits (1 Kings 22:21-23; John 8:44; 10:10). All these forms of guilt are very real in the realm of our emotions.
The cure is simple and direct. I John 1:7 gives us the remedy: "If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." Step into the light. That is where we find cleansing. So I have a "word from the Lord" for you: Climb out of the ditch and run to the light of God's Word. "The truth will make you free" (John 8:32). Forgiveness, cleansing and healing love are waiting for you there.
The Masquerade of Hurts from the Past
The second layer of leaves that hides us from the love of God and keeps us from intimacy with Him is the religious masquerade, concealing deep-seated hurts from the past. Religious people wear masks quite well, pretending all is well with their souls while holding the Lord, the very Lover of their lives, at arm's length. Pretenders we become, masquerading in the parade of hypocritical churchianity.
But the real Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted and set at liberty those who are bruised (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18-19). Jesus is our Healer. We must take off our masks and let Him dig deep at times, touching the very source of our pain. Let Him probe and even pierce through the festering wounds to allow the light of His unchanging love to penetrate your being. Expose it to the light. Surrender. Forgive. Sow blessings to others instead. This is the way out of the masquerade – remaining open-faced before God, releasing mercy and forgiveness for hurts from the past and letting Him do the same.
The Onlooker's Bench of Fear
Let's consider a third tier of camouflage. We want to be part of things, enjoy life, step out and be used by the Lord. But our woundedness, made more raw by the taunts of the enemy, keeps us on the bench looking on while others are enjoying being in the middle of the game. We become cautious observers afraid to run onto the playing field.
This is the area I have struggled with the most. What will I look like if I do this? What will others think of me? How well will I perform? But if we allow ourselves to be held back by the fear of rejection or the fear of authority or the opinions of others, eventually we will become people-pleasers, strangled by the anticipation of their opinions.
Hear me in this: If God can help me off the spectator's bench, He can help you, too. My mind was numbed by the belittling notions of what I expected others were thinking of me. Hogwash! Fear paralyzes us while authentic faith propels us forward. So trade in those fears; exchange them at the Cross (Isaiah 8:12-13). Be bold like a lion for Jesus' sake. Do something! Jump off the bench, tread on those spirits of intimidation (Luke 10:19) and be more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)!
Truly, the remedy is our Father's great love. Bask in the light of His unfathomable devotion – what the King James Version calls lovingkindness. Do a word study on it. Ask for a revelation of it. Soak in the reality that "if God is for us, who is against us?" (Romans 8:31). He does not just tolerate you. You were not an accident waiting to happen. You were created in His image and for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11). You are the object of His consuming love. That is hot stuff! It is revolutionary!
Prune-Faced Criticism
There is a fourth layer of fig leaves that we can use to protect our image. Before you know it, you are not only a spectator sitting on the bench; you are the judge of the games. First you develop an old, wrinkled-up prune face; then you begin operating out of a religious spirit called criticism. You have your ten points by which you judge everything around you. Like the judges at the Olympics, you even give scores to the participants of the games.
You leave a particular gathering or event and say, "Well, it could have been better, if only...." But you offered nothing to help it to be better. Why should you? You have already been there, done that and even gotten the T-shirt.
Some of you might have just said, "Ouch!" Or maybe you said, "You sound as though you're spitting nails." But it takes the penetrating light of truth to blast away our protective shields. Truth may hurt for the moment, but when it is prayed and spoken with the motivation of love, it cleanses and sets free. I might be speaking a bit pointedly, but honestly, I want us to be delivered from all entanglements so that God can usher in the coming prophetic revolution. I know you do, too.
The Stronghold of Imposed Limitations
This brings us to the fifth layer of leaves we hide behind – that of imposed limitations. In this stage we start believing the ridiculous, idiotic lies of the devil about ourselves, and those lies become negative strongholds of the mind (2 Corinthians 10:4-6). Words not in alignment with the will and Word of God are transmitted from the enemy's camp to attack our minds. At times those thoughts are even planted by people in authority. Their effect is to confine us in boxes with low ceilings and false expectations. As we believe those evil reports or actual word curses spoken against us as "the way it will always be," we are shut into cramped, dark boxes. Proverbs 23:7 reminds us of the promise and the problem: "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (KJV).
Ed Silvoso, in his marvelous book That None Should Perish, has given us a good working definition of such spiritual strongholds. They represent "a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable situations that we know are contrary to the will of God."
As we acknowledge as hopeless what God declares is changeable, we have come into alignment, at least in part, with the devil's thought processes and plans for us. In this fifth stage, we go way past the realms of guilt, woundedness, fear and criticism. We no longer want to step out into the light. We flat out don't even think He accepts us, loves us or has any plan for us – even a leftover plan.
But the light of God brings with it an invitation to honesty and humility. "Oh, yeah," you say. "You mean so I can look ugly, like a mess in front of everybody." No, not at all. If you demonstrate honesty and humility, you won't look ugly; you will look beautiful, particularly before God. He loves the humble and afflicted, and shines His grace upon them (Proverbs 3:34; 1 Peter 5:5). Nothing is more beautiful than the grace of God. As you let Him shine His grace on you, you will look beautiful, too.
Now realize this: God also likes a fighter. In fact, God loves a fighter. You need to know that there are times you will have to wage war with the name and Blood of Jesus to break out of your box of imposed limitations and stinky thinking. But there is a way out. The gateway is the Cross of our lovely Lord Jesus!
So this week in our Global Prayer Storm, let's pray the Holy Spirit identifies in our own lives the hindrances to greater intimacy with Christ. This will help create a revival in the Church. Let's make our prayer times personal this week. Let's call forth God's word to be like a hammer to shatter any rocky places in our hearts.
(The writing above is an excerpt from the first chapter of my book, The Coming Prophetic Revolution. CLICK HERE to order an MP3 download on this very subject by James Goll.)
Intimacy in the Prophetic
What will it take for abandoned, authentic, empowered Christianity to come forth? The prophetic has many expressions such as the office of the prophet, the gift of prophecy, the seer, the prophetic anointing, the prophetic ministry, dreams and visions; different models such as the prophetic psalmist, prophetic administrators, prophetic teachers, prophetic evangelists, etc., of which all exhibit the varieties of prophetic graces.
But rather than defining the gift of prophecy, I want to address the subject of intimacy in the prophetic as seen in the life of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they walked and talked with the Lord, hearing and seeing the Lord, being where God was – not hiding but fellowshipping and relating to Him. The Lord's desire is that a generation of people would emerge, hearing one sound from the garden of communion with God – the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Intimate Breath of Life
A. Genesis 2:7:
"Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
As Adam received the breath of life, so we also become living beings, as the breath of life comes into us through the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:13).
1. Now we become carriers of the presence of God as imparters of life, as the following Scriptures reveal:
a. Song of Songs 4:16 "Awake O north wind, and come wind of the south: Make my garden breathe out fragrance, let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits."
b. Genesis 2:24 "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh."
2. When we are filled with the breath of God, it affects us. Life flows through us, as we relate to the Lord.
3. This intimacy is birthed out of our relationship and fellowship both to God and one another. We can now know each other intimately as pictured in the union of marriage.
4. The love of God, the breath of God, was from the beginning a two-fold attribute of love to and from God. This can be experienced as it springs up and flows out like the four rivers of the Garden of Eden.
5. This love is deep and affectionate, embracing, passionate, and can even be overwhelming or overcoming.
a. Song of Songs 4:9 "You make my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes."
b. Song of Songs 6:4-5 "Thou art beautiful, O my love... Turn away thine eye from me, for they have overcome me..."
6. Both Adam and Eve were stripped, not hiding behind anything, and not ashamed, but open, honest and vulnerable with God and each other.
B. Read: Genesis 3:1-13
7. Previously, all Adam and Eve had known was communion, honesty, intimacy, hearing and running to the sound of the Lord walking in the Garden.
8. As Genesis 3:8-10 portrays, now in disobedience, Adam and Eve hide themselves in fear, creating barriers to intimacy.
9. Their response has changed from running toward God, to running away from God. Now they find themselves hiding from the presence of the Lord Himself.
The Four Questions
A. Read Genesis 3:9
God asks four distinct questions for those hiding behind the barriers. The closer you get to the light the more you are exposed. Every new step of light reveals a new level of darkness within. Intimacy in the prophetic is being where God is. Not hiding from Him but running to Him!
B. Four Searching Questions
1. Genesis 3:10 - Where are you? This is an invitation in intimacy.
2. Genesis 3:11 - Who told you, you are naked? Who's your source of information, knowledge and life?
3. Genesis 3:11 - Have you eaten from the tree? Honesty or deceit and rebellion is your choice!
4. Genesis 3:13 - What is this you have done? Personal responsibility is required. Blame shifting is not the answer, even though you may be hurting as a result of your and another's disobedience and failures.
Barriers to intimacy: Worldly Temptations
A. Comparing Genesis 3:5-6 with 1 John 2:16:
1. Genesis 3:5-6 "...When the woman saw that the tree was good for food...a delight to her eyes, and...desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate..."
2. 1 John 2:6 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."
3. Opportunities and temptations will come. When they are yielded to, they create barriers around our lives, walls and fences of self-protection.
B. Lust of the Eyes
1. Our eyes and hands are the instruments by which the Lord desires to move through. Yielding to these temptations (the lust of the eyes) puts up false filters over the eyes and they become clouded.
2. The seer portion of our lives is thwarted by such lust. Revelation can then get clouded. The result is that there becomes mixture.
3. But Matthew 5:8 states the promise: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
C. Lust of the Flesh
1. Cleansing of the flesh is necessary! Psalm 24:3-4 says "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and pure heart..."
2. Our hands in many dimensions represents our bodies as instruments of blessing (see Psalm 26:6; 1 Timothy 2:8).
3. Why do we need clean hands then? Acts of compassion come through our hands as our hearts are purified by His love.
a. James 4:8 tells us: "Cleanse your hands... and... hearts."
b. Titus 2:11-14 adds: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."
c. Romans 6:11-13 "...Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness: but present yourselves to God as those who alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."
4. God desires to release His impartation and the power of His presence through our hands (see Habakkuk 3:4). Clean hands enable us to impart the blessing to others, including those closest to us.
D. Boastful Pride of Life
1. This, in a sense, is false worship of self. Here we are in comparing ourselves to one another and we adopt a false scale of balance. God is enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Where a throne is set up over the person or house or city, this is where God comes down. In His presence you can see Him, feel Him, touch Him, hear the sound of Him and the aroma of His presence.
E. Why Does God Ask the Question?
1. Every question God asks is an invitation to intimacy, dialogue and communion. An invitation to walk out of hiding into a transparent place of light, truth and honesty.
As Isaiah 1:18 says: "Come, let us reason together..." Again, an invitation to come out from the fig leaves we hide behind into honest and transparent dialogue.
2. God desires and initiates intimacy for us so we would come out of hiding. He knows we are afraid. Where are you?
3. Are we posturing ourselves to be inviting to others? Are we afraid of being exposed? Are we condemning? Or are we embracing and loving?
4. These questions are for the purpose, as they were for Adam and Eve, to come back to where we are walking with God in intimacy and where He walks with us, and talks with us.
Some Of The Leaves We Hide Behind
A. Guilt and Shame
The Lord will cleanse us from this (see John 16:8-11) through the power of the Cross and the Blood of Jesus shed for us.
B. Hurts
Hurts are barriers to intimacy. One of the tips to healing of hurts is forgiveness and re-entering into trusted, vulnerable relationships.
C. Fears of Authority and Rejection. Intimidating fears...
1 John 4:18 says, "Perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." We need to ask for a revelation of the Father's heart of grace and mercy toward us to overcome fear.
D. Ignorance...
Hosea 4:6 says, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." Move from out of the shadows of ignorance, cultivate hunger, and sit under teaching and study to show yourself approved.
E. Self-Imposed Ceilings and Barriers
This is where we come into alignment with the devil's thoughts and plans. We need to break these curses and powers of darkness in Jesus' name.
F. Molds or Yokes
A mindset, typecasts, strongholds of thinking, puts us in a box. We must learn the lessons of casting down these strongholds and taking these into obedience to Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Keys to Receiving From the Lord
A. Rest Around the Ark
Where did the voice of God come to Samuel? It came around the Ark, the place of His presence. It will be the same for us. We must learn the value and necessity of rest!
1 Samuel 3:3-4 "And the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, [and] the Lord called Samuel..."
B. Love Mercy
Mercy is a reality of the heart. If we don't have it, we will judge by the externals and opinions, rather than by the Spirit (see Titus 3:4-7; I Samuel 16:7).
Let Micah 6:8 be your goal: "He has told you O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
C. Pray in the Spirit
Fresh revelation will be released as you edify yourself and charge up your battery of faith in the Holy Spirit.
D. Learning and Listening
The key to learning is asking. The key to receiving is listening. Beware of revelation fixation. Daniel 7:1-14 shows a vital principle of the prophetic. One must keep looking and asking, searching and inquiring of the Lord to reveal all truth and not get caught with a particular revelation.
E. Hold a Secret
Everything you receive as revelation doesn't give you license to share it. God reveals the secrets to his servants (see Amos 3:7). But ask for permission for whether you are to give the revelation or not. God is looking for some close friends whom He can share His secrets.
F. Love the Anointing
Love the manifested presence of the Lord (see 1 John 2:27). Cultivate His presence by being around people of His presence.
G. Risk!
Fruit is born out on the limb – we must step out of our comfort zones and step out in faith! Remember, faith is always spelled RISK (see Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:2, 11:6).
Conclusion
The first "take and eat" was from the satan, but the next "take and eat" was from Jesus speaking to His disciples. Jesus desires to restore communion and intimacy with God and one another. Jesus tells us to take and eat of the Blood and Body of Jesus (see John 6:35, 53-58).
Yes, let us put firmly in place "intimacy with Jesus" and "communion with our Father" while loving the "manifested presence of the Holy Spirit." This becomes the proper foundation for all life and ministry and is the capstone for prophetic effectiveness – intimacy with God.
Pray this prayer with me:
"More than gifting, I desire friendship. More than a ministry before men, I desire a history with You, Lord. Identify in my life the barriers to intimacy, these leaves I hide behind, and cleanse me in the ever-powerful Blood of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Father! You are my delight! Amen!"
I trust that this prophetic teaching outline has been helpful for you. It is an excerpt from my first study guide in the Equipping in the Prophetic series on Prophetic Foundations. There is a great single CD called Invitation to Intimacy that has an instrumental music background track where I teach through some of this message. It is a powerful experience. Many have listened to it over and over to bring them into greater intimacy and communion with God. After all, isn't that what this is all about?
Blessings to you on your journey!
James W. Goll
Encounters Network • PrayerStorm • Compassion Acts
Email: info@encountersnetwork.com
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Topic: Removing Hindrances to Intimacy - James W. Goll
