“All fruit comes from intimacy!”

I remember when that revelation hit me like a ton of bricks. The more energy I spend in the secret place, pressing into the depths of God, the more I see Him move in my life. Not just in the unseen, but in the practical areas of my life. This has been THE message of my twenties. Finances, favor with man, open doors, peace in my soul, the joy of The Lord, and now an awesome fiancé…. I’ve found all this and more in the secret place of God’s presence.

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). I am saddened by the lack of an understanding I see in the body of Christ of how to find “the secret place of the Most High” (Psalms 91). I wonder in today’s society if we’re not too busy keeping up with what everyone else is doing, so that we forget to nourish ourselves in the river of God’s presence.

I am a hard worker. I am driven and I am a visionary. However, I can work my way out of God’s rest if I don’t fight for intimacy. Emails, phone calls, event planning, sermon prep… all these things can steal away the very source of the supernatural edge that the ministry requires to be effective. And besides, all those things can become a real burden if they’re not the overflow of a cup that runs over (Psalm 23).

All fruit comes from intimacy. Lest we forget and try to perfect in the flesh what God initiated in us by The Spirit (Galatians 3:3). “Unless The Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127).

God is calling us to His rest and to His supernatural productivity. Let us all remember the famous words of Jesus: “Seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).