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

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              Intimacy And Transformation

Child of Mine, I am drawing you closer to Myself. I want our friendship
to deepen and I want you to know Me better. My intent is to show you
more of My glory and more of My character and nature. I want to increase
your ability to sense My great love for you, and I want you to experience
greater measures of My tangible nearness.

There is a part of you that longs for this and responds joyfully to My
invitation, and that pleases Me greatly. But there are parts of you that
must be transformed in order to stand in a greater measure of My presence;
for I am a holy God, and sin cannot stand in My before Me. There are
areas of rebellion in you that must come under submission to My perfect
will. There are areas of wrong thinking and wrong feelings that must be
transformed. The closer you draw to Me, the more those areas in you will
cry out to be transformed, and the more mindful you will be of them.

Dear child, I want you to know that as you draw nearer to Me, I will
indeed change you in these areas. You cannot be in My presence and not be
transformed by it. Do you remember what happened to Moses face when he
came down from the mountain, after having spent time with Me? His face
shone--he was transformed in My presence and his face radiated My glory.

The same thing will happen to you--your physical face won't radiate My
light, but My glory will begin to shine forth in more and more areas of
your life. The more time we spend together, the more I will transform
you, so that your nature more closely resembles Mine. You will start to
like the things I like, desire the things I desire and distain the things
that I distain. In short, the more time you spend with Me in intimacy,
the more you will become like Me.

Dear one, I love you dearly even though you are not perfected yet. I am
inviting you into a new measure of your walk with Me, and into a place
of greater intimacy. If you accept My invitation, I will indeed draw you
closer to Myself; but I will also require a higher standard of holiness
and obedience from you. It is like My Son said: "If you love Me, then do
what I tell you to do"* and "You are My friends if you do whatever I
command you."**

Do you understand what He meant? I am the God who looks on the heart, but
I also want you to demonstrate what is on your heart by living it out. I
want you to show Me just how much you love Me by being fully committed to
obey Me in whatever I ask of you. All the same, I am not looking for a
servant, I am looking for a friend.

Dear child, I want you to grow closer to Me and to know Me better. As you
do, you will discover that I am a very good God. You will learn to trust
Me more and it will be easier for you to obey Me. It will also be easier
for you hear My voice, even when I whisper to you. And it will be easier
for you to sense My tangible nearness and to feel My love saturate your
senses.

As I said: you prove to Me that you love Me by doing what I tell you to
do. But be mindful that I am not looking for servants that obey Me out
of fear of punishment. No, I am looking for friends who obey Me because
of their great love for Me. So dear one, would you like to be My friend?
Would you like to draw into a greater depth of intimacy with Me? I am
reaching My hand out to you in invitation and I hope you take My hand and
accept My invitation.

* John 14:15
**John 15:14