This post began March 25, 2015 but was amended in 2025. It begins…
How we act in private toward Father God should be different from how we express our worship in public. I have been a charismatic Christian since 1978, therefore, like many of you, I am quite comfortable freely expressing my devotion to the Lord Jesus in corporate church gatherings. I freely raise my hands, sway to the rhythm of the music, and clap. Others in my congregation dance joyfully or wave banners as led by the Spirit.
I am not saying any of these are wrong in a corporate setting; rather, they are lovely expressions of joy, gratitude, and love to our King for all His love and benevolence toward us.
Intimacy occurs in private
Lately, however, it occurs to me that intimacy occurs in private. How I interact with my beloved husband is between us alone. So, shouldn’t my interaction with my God and King look different in my living room than it does in a corporate setting?
Intimacy occurs in private. What a delightful phrase.
Update March 31, 2025 – What’s a Habitational Relationalship with the Father Look Like?
Ten years later I’m still pondering what a habitational relationship with Father God looks like. “Habitational” refers to something relating to or suitable as a dwelling place or residence. You could describe having a habitational relationship with God by what it is not. It isn’t transactional, based on prayer asking for things and receiving them, rather based on spending time together for the sheer enjoyment of His company.
“To gaze on His beautiful face,” as blogger Jeff Bickley of Seeking His Face, Sharing His Grace https://bickleyhouse.wordpress.com/ writes, “If we consider “gazing” in the light of prayer, we see that it is not petitionary prayer but praising, admiring, and enjoying God just for who he is. The psalmist David finds God beautiful, not just useful for attaining goods. To sense God’s beauty in the heart is to have such pleasure in him that you rest content.”
Resting content describes a habitational relationship. It can also be called intimacy with God, quiet meditation, cultivating quietness, or, as Sarah Clarkson phrases it, a life of holy attention.
“What if the life of prayer, the rootedness of quiet, was fueled not by discipline but by wonder? What if it was, both in seasons of solitude and seasons of demand, not my grit God mostly wanted but simply my attention?” writes Sarah Clarkson, https://a.co/d/bSt2UUa Reclaiming Quiet- Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention.
To me, intimacy with my Abba is abiding in the vine (John 15:4). It is sitting quietly not asking for anything. Sitting quietly is hard for me. I get distracted, especially by my thoughts. I am coming to realize, however, that in these times of quiet solitude, all God wants is my complete and full attention. My thoughts are not necessarily my own, rather they can be Him speaking to me though my thoughts.
I heard Jenna Winston (Prophetic Deliverance Pastor) at https://www.instagram.com/jennawinston20/) say that “soaking in the presence of the Father is practice in receiving His love.”
We all need to receive and soak in Abba’s love daily. Her words resonated within me: “Our anointing increases after soaking because we are full of Him.”
Think about that: if God were water and we a sponge, wouldn’t we emerge from the tub smelling like Him?
In closing, let me remind you that no one has any more access to God than you or I do. Big name ministers, those bearing theological degrees, fivefold ministers – none have any more access to the triune Spirit of the living God than you do this very moment!
The “Church” teaches us the opposite but I speak truth to you today. All humans created in the likeness of God have equal access to the presence and voice of the triune Godhead.
Do you want to know the DEPTHS of the Father’s heart?
Abba has riches available and waiting for YOU, personally and individually. Come near. Draw close in quietness with a sincere heart seeking only His face, giving Him your complete attention, and YOU WILL HEAR. I promise His fragrance will permeate your being, inner and outer.
Categories: Hearing God's Voice Intimacy with God Knowing God Photography Talking with God The Secret Place
Kathryne
Christian author and truth teller whose words make darkness tremble. Author of two non-fiction books at https://www.instagram.com/tattooedking_book/
Kathryne Leach 
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