Intimacy with God

The following is an essay I wrote for a college application, and I decided to share it with you all because it contains ideas and beliefs that are extremely important to my walk with God.

     I never make plans for Sunday morning. In my family, Sunday morning is simply understood as a time set apart for church. Unfortunately, when I was younger, I never questioned or even considered the actual reason for attending church. It served merely as a routine task to be performed every Sunday with no exceptions allowed. Gradually, I began to realize that church is more than just a tradition, a chore, or an event; attending church is a way to show reverence to God by setting time aside for Him outside of my own schedule. I also began to understand that my interaction with God should consist of more than prayer before meals, family devotions, and outward respectfulness toward others. For the first time, I grasped the truly unconditional nature of God’s incredible love. My realization of this love brought about another realization: that God constantly seeks for an intimate and personal relationship with me.

     As I grasped the idea of my personal relationship with God, worship took on a new meaning. Instead of consisting of words sung to a catchy tune, worship became the manner in which I praise and thank God for the amazing forgiveness, love, and grace that He showed for me on the cross. God also opened up an entirely new expression of worship for me involving my talent on the violin. My relationship with God has grown immensely since I began to use this talent in a worship team setting because of the spiritual connection that worship provides. Whether in the form of songs of praise, study of the Bible, or time and talents devoted to Him, I know that offering my body as “a living sacrifice” in worship is essential to intimacy with God (Romans12:1).

     Along with the closeness that worship provides comes the need for communication, and prayer is an irreplaceable aspect of my relationship with God. As a Christ follower, I am “overflowing with thankfulness” and am promised “inexpressible and glorious joy,” and thanksgiving plays a vital role in the presence of God’s joy and contentment in my life (Colossians 2:7, I Peter 1:8). The joy of Christ in me lets me love others, even those I disagree with, because of the grace provided by attentive prayer between God and me. Also, prayer lets me express my gratitude to God for His provisions in my life such as a loving family, friends, a home, and every one of his countless other blessings (Psalms 68:19). According to Paul, thankful prayer is a key component in intercession as well; he instructs Christians to “present [their] requests to God” “with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6). Evidence for the intimacy that intercession provides is found in another of Paul’s letters; he writes the Romans that “the Spirit himself intercedes for [them]” when “[they] do not know what… to pray for” (Romans 8:26). Prayer provides a constant source of closeness with God, for God is so intimate with Christians when they pray that He understands and repeats their prayers.

     I have noticed that nurturing a steadfast and deep relationship with my Creator gives me the joy and strength to live my life with purity, love, service, generosity, and wisdom. Without an attitude of worship or the discipline of prayer, I would not accomplish the intimacy that I share with God on a regular basis. Because of this relationship with the Almighty God, my Bible study has become infused with revelations about Scripture and moments where the Holy Spirit speaks to me. I have grown in my personal relationship with God through prayer and worship, and I believe that my continued relationship will bring me to a greater understanding of God’s will and give me the opportunity to influence more and more people for Christ.