My old friend Kirby said when she sat down for her Bible and prayer time she always asked Jesus to join her. One day He said, “I would if I had a place to sit.” Kirby was not much of a housekeeper and every chair and table was covered with books, clothes, and papers. After that she always cleared off a chair for him, although it got stuffed up with junk between times.
A teenager once reported that she cried to Jesus after she got the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke her tongues. The leaders asked her to leave her church. “Don’t worry, honey” Jesus replied,” They don’t want me there either.”
Several years ago one of my best friends died. It was not a surprise but it was still a loss. I sat on the corner of the bed and said, I could be in heaven with Jackie singing gospel songs and having a good time. Then I heard quickly but audibly, “Don’t be in such a rush!”
Most people don’t know a Jesus as a person like that. Stuffed shirts such as the leaders of the Temple could not know God personally because they were too focused on serving God, on what they were doing and their own opinions. Jesus, who was God in the flesh, they treated either with contempt or fear. But the guys at Oktoberfest got along with Him just fine. Jesus doesn’t fold at the sight of a glass of beer.
Being real about oneself is the 1st step to intimacy with the Lord. Yes, He is Lord, and yes He died for us, and yes, He is coming again in great power. But for now, He also said, I call you friends.
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.
That is the Jesus we need to know, and how He wants to know us.
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