The reason I've been off line these past few weeks has to do with my recent trip to a Middle Eastern nation, where I took part in a key conference with a bunch of leaders. It was held in a remote location in the desert, in a centre dedicated for prayer.

The overwhelming sense that my team and I got living and ministering to these dear brothers and sister's, was how hungry they were for God. As we prayed for them and witnessed the Holy Spirit meeting and touching them in powerful ways, we were humbled by their simplicity and their obvious intimacy with the Father.

Thinking about intimacy, here's a thought!

As I see it, intimacy with the Father meant several things to Jesus. First, He only did what He saw the Father doing. He said, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.' (Jn. 5:19)

In the same way, as we grow in intimacy with the Father, He will reveal more things to us which we can act on in our daily walk. This was the desire that many of the 250 people had who came to our conference. They wanted to know God and to make Him known - as difficult as that might be for them.

Another aspect of Jesus' intimacy with the Father also meant that He submitted to the Father to teach Him in all that He needed to do. ‘I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.' (Jn. 8:28b) A very good reminder to all of us to desire this kind of intimacy, so that we are not ‘shooting our mouth off' when the Father has not taught us anything or given us something to say.

Also for Jesus, intimacy with the Father meant that He had assurance that the Father would always be with Him. ‘The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone.' (Jn. 8:29) This kind of resolute assurance was written on the faces of those we ministered to at this conference. They came from all walks of life: they live in circumstances far removed from what most of us know of or have ever experienced, yet they carry with them an assurance that is infectious.

Yet another feature of the intimacy that Jesus had with the Father, caused Jesus to always seek to do what pleased His Father. For He said, ‘... I always do what pleases Him.' (Jn. 8:29b)

In saying goodbye to our newfound friends, you were left in no doubt that God was poised to answer their prayers in a harvest of souls - they want to please the Father! In spite of personal duress and intimidation, they seek to walk in obedience and to be used by Jesus to do whatever it takes to see their nation changed - one life at a time.