We invite you to embark on a personal exploration of your faith and engage in a vibrant and dynamic relationship with God. Through biblical teachings, inspirational stories, and personal reflections, our desire is to equip and empower you to cultivate spiritual intimacy with God in your everyday life. The more you allow Him into your innermost thoughts, feelings, hurts, and desires, the deeper your relationship with Him will grow. We pray you find the inspiration and encouragement you seek to pursue a life of spiritual intimacy with God today. 

Intimate, according to Merriam-Webster, means “marked by a warm friendship developing through long association.” Jesus told His disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends” (John 15:15).

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How exciting to know that the Lord of the universe wants to be our friend! But how do we cultivate an intimate relationship with our Creator?

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Much of it has to do with opening our lives up to Him. As with our human relationships, the most intimate are the ones where there are no secrets. Of course, God knows everything about us, but He will not enter into the innermost recesses of our heart without an invitation.

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A little booklet that had a profound effect on me when I first read it in college, My Heart Christ’s Home, is an allegory for inviting Jesus into your heart and giving Him control of your life. In it, the narrator describes asking Christ to come live in his home, showing Him the study, the dining room, the living room, the workroom—and in each room were things He needed to relinquish to Christ’s control. Eventually, Jesus confronts him about a closet from which emanated a terrible smell. The narrator admits:

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In that closet behind lock and key I had one or two little personal things I did not want anybody to know about. Certainly I did not want Christ to see them. They were dead and rotting things leftover from the old life—not wicked, but not right and good to have in a Christian life. Yet I loved them. I wanted them so much for myself I was really afraid to admit they were there.

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It wasn’t until the narrator gave Jesus the key and asked Him to clean out the closet that he was able to release those dead and putrefying things and truly allow Christ to renew his life. Jesus did not barge in and clean it out without permission. He will always wait for us to invite Him in.

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The more we allow Christ into our innermost thoughts, feelings, hurts, and desires, the deeper our intimacy with Him. Rather than seeking to condemn us, Jesus wants to cleanse, heal, and redeem every dark corner of our heart. 

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As the author of My Heart Christ’s Home writes: “One of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ himself through the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there. Christ will live in any human heart that welcomes him.” 

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Jesus said to His disciples, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). Just Between Us (JBU) has compiled a list of articles to help you develop a more intimate relationship with Christ. Spend time with Him, get to know Him, and trust Him with your deepest secrets. You won’t regret it.