The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
240 - 5-Minute Mentoring: Embracing Intimacy in Relationships
Do you find yourself craving real intimacy in relationships, while at the same time you push people away out of fear?
Well in this week’s episode of 5-minute mentoring, I’ll give you some real practical tips on how to overcome fear and cultivate honest and open intimacy in your life.
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Do you find yourself craving for intimacy in relationships, but also at the same time pushing that away because of fear of what real intimacy might look like? Well, I'm going to talk about that today and give you some real tips of how to begin to cultivate intimacy in your life here today on 5-Minute Venturing.
UNKNOWN:5-Minute Venturing
SPEAKER_00:God created you to be. Well, hey, my friend, I'm so glad that you're with me today. You know, not long ago, I had the opportunity to preach at our church in a relationship series about cultivating intimacy. And it's one of the things that I find is so foreign to so many people because we are living in a world that doesn't know what true, authentic, healthy relationships intimacy looks like. On one side, people are thrown to the side of isolation, just kind of isolating themselves. On the other side, it's codependency. I can't do life without you. What do I do? And I was reading a book the other day by Erwin McManus called Soul Cravings, and it said this. He said, it's a troubling thing when your soul demands what your brain rejects. And you know, so many times in our life, our heart is longing for real relationship. We're longing to be known. We're longing to be seen. We're longing for that unconditional acceptance. We're longing to be fully seen and known and feel completely safe and be able to reveal our weaknesses and not feel like we're looking weak, but we're just going to be vulnerable with a friend. We all want that. And yet our brain, because of how we may perceive what real intimacy or or vulnerability looks like, maybe as weak or for guys, you know, as feminine, not masculine, or maybe like somebody will take advantage of us. We end up pushing the very thing that we desire the most away, which is intimacy in relationships. We know if you think about intimacy in physical relationships, like with a husband and wife, you know, obviously the natural result is of true intimacy is life right but it's interesting when you think about that you also have to think about the fact that the primary enemy of intimacy is fear fear keeps us from being able to allow people into our life and be able to share the deepest part of our hearts with them. That doesn't mean that you do that with everybody. Some people are in your life for a reason, some for a season of time, some for a lifetime. But just like Jesus did, Jesus ministered to the multitudes, but he gave himself to the few. There will be a few people in your life who you can really develop intimate, life-giving, vulnerable relationships with, where you can be seen and known and where you can share the stuff that's going on in your life and at the same time receive life from them. Because that's how the kingdom works, y'all. That's how the kingdom is supposed to work. That we're to be healthy, whole, stable people who are able to give and receive life from each other in the context of the body of Christ. That's how the kingdom works. That's how the kingdom moves in between us. That we become a means of grace for each other. That we don't only experience God's presence in worship and in church and through our art and through all the other things that we do in life, but through each other. And so I want to encourage you today, if you look at your life and you're like, you know what? I don't have the depth of relationships that I'd really like to have. I'd like you to take some time with the Lord and to say, Lord, is there a fear? Is there a belief? Is there a situation that has come up in my life or maybe something from the past that really has blocked me off and built a wall around my heart so that I'm not able to really walk in intimacy with others. And Lord, then who is it that you would have me begin to cultivate intentionally intimate relationships with so that I can give and receive all that you have for me in relationships? All right. Hey, my friend, listen, we're all on a journey. We're all in a process. And this isn't about you becoming more holy or more spiritual or more this. It's about you being more human. It's about you being more fully who you are so that God can move in and through the beautiful design, the beautiful purpose that he's got for your life. All right. Well, hey, thanks for being with me today here on 5-Minute Mentoring. I hope you'll join me again. And remember, until next time, you were created to thrive. All right. Bye.