This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis [ts@godspeak.net]

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                Intimacy, Holiness and Obedience

Child of Mine, I want you to be My friend; to walk close to Me. But
do you understand what this entails? It is more than just having a 
desire in your heart to draw close--even though that desire is good 
and pleases Me greatly. 

But if you truly want to become friends, it will require changes in 
both your behavior and in your attitudes. You must learn to share My 
interests and My desires. You must begin to align your values, actions
and priorities with My own. For example, you need to stop doing those
things that you know displease Me, and you need to start doing the 
ones that you know are pleasing in My sight. You need to watch and
see what I am doing, and then start doing it with Me.

You cannot live in intentional sin or continued rebellion and expect
to be My close friend. Let Me explain why. It is because that type of 
sin drives a wedge of separation between us in our day-to-day walk
together. I am holy and sin cannot stand before Me. That is why you 
cannot enter into the depths of My presence to behold My beauty and 
see My glory while you are dirty with intentional and unrepented rebellion 
against  My expressed will. If you want to draw close to Me, you must 
embrace and walk in My standards of holiness.

Likewise, you cannot hold bitterness and unforgiveness in your heart 
and expect to draw close to Me, for I have commanded you to forgive as 
freely as you desire to be forgiven. If you notice a wedge in our 
relationship together and do not know why, then examine your heart in 
this area. It may be that unforgiveness or bitterness is interfering 
in our intimacy together, causing it to slip away. If that is the case, 
you must choose to forgive, so that the depth of our relationship may 
be restored.

Finally, you need to embrace My priorities and put them above your 
own. Look to the life of My Son Jesus as your example in this. You 
must learn to obey Me even when you don't understand why I am asking
something of you; for your obedience is one of the ways that you
demonstrate your love for Me. 

Dear one, I am about to offer you an invitation to come up into a 
higher level of intimacy with Me than you have experienced before.
I want you to know what it entails before I make this offer, and 
I hope that you will choose to accept it. So I ask you: Are you 
willing to walk in a deeper level of intimacy with Me?