From Mark Virkler: The journaling below from George has principles of intimacy in it which I believe can be used to build and restore intimacy in a marriage as well as with the Lord.
The Bible says: “You have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds you did at first" (Rev. 2:4,5). Well, when we first fell in love with Jesus (or our spouses), we spent as much time together as possible. We enjoyed each other’s company.
Romance in a marriage can be restored by going back and doing what we did at the beginning - spending a lot of quality time together. This is the principle Jesus describes below which He declares builds a spiritual romance with Him. Let's all re-experience our first love with our spouses and with our Lord by following this principle.
Jesus issues a caution
Good morning, Jesus.
Good morning, George.
What would You like to say to me today?
George, practice what you know to do.
Okay. Jesus, I caught myself spending a lot of time seeing how my spiritual advisors react to the recent journal entries I have written because I want to hear their approval. I think I was putting their approval as the main goal, rather than spending time with You as the main goal.
George, it's okay to want something like that, as long as it does not take the place of Me. I understand the anticipation and the need to hear approval from other people, and it’s perfectly fine. When it becomes an idol is if you crave that kind of attention over Me. Just don’t let it be your goal. You can enjoy it on your way to seeking Me. George, it’s a gift from Me to receive love from other people. Everyone needs it, not just from Me directly, but Me loving you through others as well. Love is all from Me. When I command you all to love one another, I am loving others through you. This brings My body together and causes it to function the way I intend for it to function.
The moment this love and approval you seek from other people becomes the goal itself, it becomes an idol. This is one of the big mistakes you did 33 years ago, and this mistake still tries to “lord” it over you to this day, even if it seems that it is a good thing. George, you have received some wonderful advice, confirmation, and encouragement concerning your recent journal entries. These people took the time to read your journaling and spoke love in your life. It just so happens that you are really hearing from Me, and it resonates with those who read it. So it’s fine; just don’t let that encouragement turn into a god. I want to be your God. Okay?
Okay, Jesus. I’m sorry for seeking after affection as a god rather than seeking You as my God.
George, you are forgiven. Now let us move on.
Let's not be satisfied with texting
What would You like to move on to?
George, I want you to practice what I have already told you to do. Do you remember what that was?
Yes. Quiet myself down, then to look, stare at, and imagine You.
Yes, but not just looking and staring at Me. I want you to really reach down in your spirit and sense how you really feel about Me. Imagine the intimacy that we can have by being in close proximity to one another, touching distance as it were. George, I just don’t want a “phone call,” “texting” type of relationship. I want a face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball relationship with you and all My kids. George, you have a phone and use it quite often to text and call people. But don’t you think your communication would be much more personal and intimate if you are in that person’s presence?
Yes.
Let's go for face-to-face intimate conversations
Of course, it would. Sitting down with one whom you want to spend time with and look over pictures together is a much more intimate experience than having a talk or a text by phone about those same pictures. You sense that person’s very being when you are right next to this person. Your heart pounds with excitement when you want to share with this person and this person shares with you. George, technology will never beat out a good old-fashioned face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball conversation. This is what I want you to work on with Me. George, at this point in our relationship it is a texting, phone call type of relationship which is okay and acceptable because you still are hearing My voice and learning about intimacy. But I want to bring our relationship to the next level by having face-to-face intimate conversations and experiences together. How can you do that without seeing Me?
George, an intimate relationship with someone in the physical realm is how a relationship with Me works. When you have an intimate relationship with someone, you come together and share your feelings and thoughts with one another. You build trust with one another. You are able to look intently at this person and really zero in on what they are saying, eyeball-to-eyeball, face-to-face. Now, George, I created intimacy and how it works and the “rules of engagement” so to speak.
To develop intimacy with a person, you both have to take certain steps in order for it to work. Well, it works the same way when you want to have intimacy with Me, but with two differences. One, I already crave and desire and want above all else to have this intimacy with you and all My kids. In other words, you don’t have to work for it, because I chose to love you first. The second difference is intimacy with Me occurs in the spiritual realm, because you can’t see Me with your physical eyes like you can see the things and the people in the physical world. So, intimacy with Me has to be in the spiritual, and I have given you eyes and ears to see and hear in the spirit world. You can experience intimacy with Me like you can with someone in the physical world, but you are using your spiritual eyes and ears instead of your physical eyes and ears.
Let's practice looking intently at our lover
George, this is how I want you to practice using your spiritual eyes. Take the words that I spoke to you in the last conversation and just “picture” the scene I painted for you with My words. So, what do you see after reading the words that I spoke to you in our last conversation/journaling exercise we had?
Well, Jesus, You said You have pointed me in the right direction so that I could see the path that I am to walk.
What else do you “see” from reading the words that I spoke to you?
I see that there is pitch-black darkness all around me, except for the path that I’m looking at.
Describe the path.
Well, it is gold in color, I think, with gold-colored lighting.
Yes, George. And what else did I tell you in that conversation?
You said the light on the path is what I already know to do and that I should do it, and by doing it I will move along in the path. Once I get to the end of the illumined part, You will shed more light on the path ahead, so I can continue on towards the goal, which is to have You make Your home permanently in my soul (mind, emotions, and will).
Yes, George. What else did I say?
Let's have a singular focus
You also said to have a singular focus when I am staring, looking, and imagining You.
Okay, now where do you imagine Me in this scene that you have painted with the help of My Spirit through the words that I have spoken to you?
Well, I picture You at the end of the illuminated part of the path.
George, now describe the path and what you “see” when looking at Me.
Well, the path has the width of a normal sidewalk and is lighted with gold right up to where You are standing, and beyond that, it’s pitch-black dark.
How far am I from you, and how far does the illumined part of the path go?
Well, it’s the distance where one could make out a recognizable body. I see Your figure, and I know it's You. I see a white robe around You; I see You have dark brown hair and a beard. I know it’s You; but if You were to say something, I would not be able to hear You unless You yelled it out. The illumined part of the path ends where You are standing.
Now George, what else did I tell you in our conversation?
You said to look at You, stare at You, imagine You, and start moving towards You with a singular focus, and not to pay attention to all the commotion that is going on in my soul, and not to pay attention to the other spirits yelling out for my attention.
And what happens when you pay attention to them?
Let's avoid distractions that pull us off the well-lit path and into darkness
I get distracted and get off the lighted path.
That’s right. Now, where are all these spirits and distractions in relationship to the path and where I am standing?
They are all in the darkness.
George, do you see and understand why you felt like you had no hope, and why you got to the point where the enemy started to taunt you with having committed the unpardonable sin? Why was that?
Because I took my eyes off of You.
Well, George, back then you did not even think you could see Me in the spirit, but now you at least know you can practice it. And I’m telling you that if you choose to “look” at Me, our intimate times together will flourish, and I can come and make My home in you and live My life through you.
Let's be encouraged even when we fail
George, this is how much I love you. Even though you chose to listen and even pursue the enemy's suggestions and the enticing pleasures of the old man, I never left you or forsook you. I sought you out and was right by your side in your time of darkness and hopelessness. I kept speaking encouraging and loving words to you. I wooed you and encouraged you to respond to My promptings, even though you chose to delight in the fleeting pleasures of your sin. Even though you blamed other people for your failures, even though you did not want to take responsibility for your actions…. in all those sinful and awful things that you were doing, I only saw the person that I died for you to become. You have responded to My promptings and now you are at the place where you are. Remember George, I told you in our last conversation: “See, I have turned you around and faced you in the right direction.” I did this with My promptings to your heart, which you responded to.
George, what are some of the lies the enemy had you believe? And describe how I brought you out of them.
Well, Jesus, one lie was that I had committed the unpardonable sin because of repeating the same sins over and over again. I got to the point where I just cried out to You.
And what were you sensing in your spirit before you even cried out to Me?
I read where a person thought he had committed the unpardonable sin; but when he asked a friend, his friend told him he did not think so, because there was remorse and a desire to please You.
And George, what was the Scripture verse that came back to you again and again?
That it was You who gave me the desire to will and to work for Your good pleasure. You also said, though I did not know it was You at the time, that if I had the desire to live for You, and You were the one Who gave me that desire, then how could I have committed the unpardonable sin?
George, do you see “how” I turned you around?
Yes, I think so.
Let's hear and do
Now, what else did I give you the desire to do?
Well, I started to read Your Bible more and came across the Scripture that says that You first chose me and that I had the right to come to the throne room, not because of my works, but because of Your blood. You said that You accepted me as I am first, and then You would clean me up and prepare me to become a part of the spotless bride without blemish who will be presented to You in the end.
Is there anything else that you think I said to you?
Yes. When I was going for a walk a few months back, I was praying in tongues, and while praying in tongues sexual thoughts and fantasies dropped in my mind. I started to pay attention to them and was on the verge of “playing out the scene;” but then I stopped because another thought crossed my mind saying, “Your visual capacity is not broken; you are just looking in the wrong place.”
Yes. George, if you can visualize and play out the scenes that the enemy drops in your mind, then, if you choose to, you can imagine and play out the scenes that I drop in your mind. George, do you see as you are obedient in carving out time in the day to practice what you know to do (writing down the spontaneous thoughts that My Spirit gives you), you will be able to picture a scene I want you to see? And when you picture the scene from the words that I give to you, you can begin to look further in that scene by imagining Me there and us spending time together.
George, this is how the enemy works. He wants you to focus on the words he tells you, and then he tries to bully you into thinking about his words. The difference with Me is that I don’t bully, and that's why it seems the enemy is louder than My voice. But as you choose to paint pictures from the words that I give you, you are giving the Holy Spirit something to work with, and the scene will come alive under His direction and power. You are at the point now where I have allowed you to create a scene from the words that I have given you. The process is no different than a director of a movie having obtained a vision from a movie script. The words I gave to you the other day are My script, and you are the movie director that has the vision on how it should visually be played out. As long as you stick to My script, you will be fine.
What is another lie the enemy told you that you believed?
I’ve always been afraid that I would be one of those people in the end where You say, “The least of these things that you have done to them, you have done to Me. Depart from Me for I never knew you.”
So what happened?
Well, I was on another walk praying in tongues, and a thought came to me saying, “George, if you were spending time with Me in an intimate fashion every day, the enemy could not use that Scripture against you.”
And what happened?
Well, I purposed in My heart that I wanted to spend more time with You; and as I did, I found his taunting to become less and less. It doesn’t stick to me like it used to, because I’m learning to spend time and practicing spending time with You.
And George, have you been “perfect” in spending time with Me on a daily basis?
No. Even after all the love and wisdom You have given to me, I still find myself at times wanting to do other things that are just plain a waste of time, like watching random YouTube videos just for the sake of entertainment. But this has been less and less of an occurrence.
George, you will at times fall back into distractions. It’s like a one step backward, two steps forward type of model. It’s not so much what you do and don’t do that I’m concerned about; it’s your heart that is important. Now, that being said, if you do want to move forward, you have to choose Me over your distractions; and, if you don’t, I am always waiting patiently for you to choose to spend time with Me. As I have stated before, guard your heart; don’t let unnecessary things rob our times together.
Yes, Jesus, and thank You for this conversation.
Dig Deeper
- The Power of Visionary Intercession by Charity Kayembe
- Re-read Song of Solomon to discover again the centrality of intense gaze and focus upon one's spouse
Enhancing Communication Skills Series
Related Resources:
How to Hear God's Voice!
