When Goodness Finds You: Living a Life of Intimacy with God

By Scott Boucher

THERE IS AN UNSPOKEN WORD IN CHRISTIANITY

THAT WORD IS INTIMACY!

Deep inside every true child of God is a desire to know Him intimately. Intimacy with God is seldom experienced by Gods people because it is not talked about, we dont know what it is, and we dont know how to obtain it.

Do you have a hunger in your soul for a deeper experience of God? Has your search for such an experience often led to frustration and more questions?

WHEN GOODNESS FINDS YOU invites you to live a life of intimacy with God.

RETURN TO A LIFE OF INNOCENCE.

FIND THE KIND OF RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD YOU WERE DESIGNED TO ENJOY.

DISCOVER INTIMACY IN SIMPLE WAYS.

IGNITE THE FIRE IN YOUR SOUL BY TAKING THE STEPS OF A CHILD.

FIND OUT HOW TO POSITION YOURSELF FOR GODS GOODNESS TO FIND YOU.

Intimacy with God isnt a topic that can be written about from a merely academic perspective. Scott Boucher communicates that with an ease and candor that can only come through a man who writes from experience. If you want the often-misunderstood concept of intimacy with God to come alive, do yourself a favor and read this book.

Shawn Hennessy, lead pastor, Life Church, Green Bay, WI

I highly recommend this book; it is birthed out of many years of Scotts experience.

Rev. Arni Jacobson, international director of leadership, Grace International

For those who have not yet experienced the pleasure and joy of partaking of the Lord in this way, you are in for the treat of your life. I believe this is the most important aspect of our Christian faith, and sadly, the most missed experience for those who call themselves Christian.

John Kieffer, Wisconsin State Facilitator, Mission America Coalition

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490850290

Scott Boucher

A teacher at heart, Scott Boucher loves to inspire others to experience the freedom that intimacy with God provides. He has been involved in numerous aspects of church ministry for over thirty years. He served as administrator of Mount Carmel Bible Institute from 2004–2006. More than anything, Scott is a man who simply adores God and enjoys spending time with Him. Scott and his wife, Mary, live in Menasha, Wisconsin, with their two children, Josiah and Victoria, and one adorable cat, Macy.   If your church or organization would like to host a seminar taught by Scott on intimacy with God, you may contact him at [phone]. For more detailed information on seminar topics, check out “When Goodness Finds You” on Facebook. Mailing address for correspondence:   WHEN GOODNESS FINDS YOU 1196 Loretta Ave Menasha, WI 54952   For all other inquiries, email Scott at [e-mail].

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Scott Boucher.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5028-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5027-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5029-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014915688

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/10/2014

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Implied Word of Intimacy

A. Identify What You Are Lacking

2. Garden of Longing

A. Finding A Way through the Dream

B. Innocence Lost

C. Innocence Reclaimed

3. Misplaced Theology

A. The ABC’S of Christian Growth

B. A Lack of Understanding

C. False Assumptions

4. Learning How to Approach God

A. Approach in Faith

B. Approach in Freedom

C. Approach with Confidence

5. Understanding How We Relate to God

A. Forming Our View of God

B. Authority Figures

C. How We Relate to God

6. The Five Keys to Intimacy with God

A. Key #1—Become Like A Child

7. Now What Do I Do?

A. Key #2—Simplify Your Life

B. Key #3—Approach God with Confidence

C. Key #4—Discover Your Beauty to God

8. Time to Enjoy

A. Key #5—Delight Yourself in the Lord

9. Dance Often with God

A. Hearing His Voice

10. 7 Reasons Why God’s Children Fail Intimacy

A. Reason #1—It’s Hard!

B. Reason #2—It Costs Too Much

C. Reason #3—We are not Desperate

D. Reason #4—There’s No Room in our Lives for It

E. Reason #5—We Don’t Think It’s Something We Need

F. Reason #6—We Simply Don’t Care!

G. Reason #7—Fear

11. The Echoes of Childhood

A. Remember Your Beauty

B. Accept Your Beauty

C. Walk in Your Beauty

12. When God Whispers

13. When Goodness Finds You

14. The Joy of Breakthrough

A. Is God Something Else, or What?

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, Lord. This book is only a reality because of your great goodness to me. It is for your eyes only! You are my witness—I wrote this book for you. Lord, you gave me the inspiration, wisdom, and creativity. You know, Lord, that I was willing to delete the entire manuscript so that only your eyes would ever behold this labor of love. Jesus—you are everything to me. I know that in your eyes this book is a masterpiece. That’s all that matters to me—your eyes. May others be blessed because of your kindness to me.

I also wish to thank my family. First, my wonderful wife, Mary: Thanks for being respectful of me, and the enormous amount of time that I needed to finish this project. I promise you—this is not like the many projects and ideas I have had in the past—this is the real deal.

To my children, Josiah and Victoria: Thanks for understanding why your dad needed to be alone, night after night, to concentrate and pour his heart into this work. Each of you, in your own unique way, helped inspire me to write about the faith and innocence of a child.

Finally, a special thank you to my good friend John, who helped me edit the manuscript. You are a true friend indeed!

INTRODUCTION

The Kingdom Secrets

There are places in life we were never meant to venture into. There is knowledge that exists, is widely sought after, and yet was never designed to be known. ~Boucher

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. ~Jeremiah 33:3

I am currently reading two great books on the secrets to the abundant life Jesus talked about. The books are highly inspirational and quite frankly, spiritually demanding, as they should be. And now that I know the answers to the hard questions concerning Kingdom life, I can share them with you.

Are you ready? The first and most important secret to living victoriously in Christ is…. Follow…then…Wait a minute. I’m not sure you are really ready for this. How do I know you won’t tell someone else this secret? How long have you been a Christian anyway? I don’t know if I can share such a deep truth with just anybody. I better ask God if it’s ok. If He says yes then I’ll let you in on our secret a little later in the book. But I’m not going to make it obvious. You are going to have to work for it. I’ll code the secrets inside the sentence structure of a few hidden paragraphs. When you think you have discovered the mystery phrase, turn to the back of the book. No, the answer key is not provided. However, at the back is my address listing. Send a 3 x 5 self-addressed card to me and remember to write, Please enter me into the ‘Secrets of the Kingdom’ mystery contest.

Then write down your newly discovered secret. In case of a tie, I will randomly draw one lucky winner (we don’t actually use this phrase in Kingdom talk). I will pray and fast before a name is drawn. Of course all names are held confidential. All correct answers will be automatically entered into the grand prize drawing of a trip for four to the forbidden zone (the really deep side of the Kingdom). Actual prize may vary from that disclosed (after all, our God is a God of mystery). Actual cash value for lucky winner prize: $20 (or whatever you paid for this book). Cash value for grand prize: priceless. Hey, it took me over 25 years of searching as a believer to stumble across the keys to successful and abundant living, and I’m not giving them away for nothing.

Excuse my facetiousness for a moment. I hope you had a good laugh; I know I did while writing this. By now you should have asked the question, what secrets? Does God keep secrets from us that only some Christians ever figure out and get to enjoy? Would not the veracity of God come into question if He were to keep secrets from His own children? Is the Word of God only for the profoundly astute intellectuals in our ranks? Does the Holy Spirit lead us blindfolded by the hand in hope that we may someday stumble across the secret formula? Jesus meant it when he said, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13)

You have probably read the books I mentioned that I’m reading now. There are hundreds like them that extol the Word of God, delivering its message with the outward appearance of a secret. These books are well written and help us in our walk with Christ. They have an alluring effect on us. We’ll read or do anything if there is a chance we can drive away with the keys to a new life. When I first became a believer, I would have driven 24 hours non-stop just to hear someone preach a message about the keys to victorious living.

WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?

We read fiction to dream; we read non-fiction to deal with reality. And when we read the latter, we look for the answers. That’s why any book that offers the secrets is immensely popular. We chase after the keys to start the Victorious Living Car much like the world runs after mammon. Unfortunately, we often experience the same results. Our well-intentioned, laborious efforts last only to satisfy the present. Happiness replaces God’s design for fulfillment. God’s wonderful, enthralling presence is all too often an experience rather than a living reality in our life.

Our appetite for secrets has added fuel to the fact that the church has fallen for the lie that one size fits all. It’s a theology that places a stamp on the new believer and sends him down the conveyor belt where he is packaged and gift-wrapped with a pretty bow. Then we rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. This cookie-cutter mentality leads us directly into the express lane at the grocery store. It leads us through the drive-thru at the local greasy spoon. The sign reads, Fast Food for the Hungry in Spirit. Don’t go there! There is no fast food in God’s Kingdom. Etiquette at our Father’s banquet table, to a great extent, is a superior standard. A quick fix is deceitful, leaving the man of God devoid of all understanding of the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom.

If the road to God’s house doesn’t pass by McDonald’s, where does it lead? It leads us on a very lengthy treasure hunt. God exhorts His children when He says,

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5)

In between the if and then you find out what is required of you if you are serious about pursuing God. You must accept, store up, turn your ear, apply your heart, call out, cry aloud, look for, and search for. Do all of this as if you were on a treasure hunt for precious silver, realizing you are sure to find the One who is more costly than gold.

This is hardly a quick fix or fast food meal. Agree? What’s more, it’s all available to us who believe. Jesus said, Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32) How much of it has He given to us? All of it! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1Cor. 3:21) No secrets. None needed.

Having said all this, I’m not going to disappoint you. Every book needs to be clear in its presentation, resolute in the themes it offers to the reader. I will not speak of secrets. Our quest to find the secret code in Christianity has led us down the wrong path. We have made it incredibly easy for someone to find God for the first time, yet extremely complicated to know Him much beyond that. The keys are yours, nothing is hidden. Everything is free and accessible to you—Jesus’ beautiful bride.

As you read this book, if by God’s Holy Spirit he causes it to increase your hunger and thirst for the sweetness of His presence, I challenge you to take Him at His Word, press into God, and fill your cup to overflowing. But buyer beware, you may tackle more than you could ever have dreamed of, and wake up one day to the wonderful intoxicating reality that is better known as Intimacy with God.

CHAPTER 1

The Implied Word of Intimacy

Could it be that God’s people are tired, worn travelers, who have come this far in the journey only to find that the road they have traveled is not too long or arduous—but something much more daunting? The confidence they once held in the joyful, innocent hearts of their childlike faith—has been replaced by an uncertainty wrought by a failed attempt to know, understand, and please God. Such weight truly is too great to bear.

I n my humble attempt to explain what an intimate relationship with God looks like, I must share with you something that sums up my feelings on this book you are reading. A. W. Tozer, pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago for thirty-one years, wrote the well-read book, The Pursuit of God . In it, he said,

This book is a modest attempt to aid God’s hungry children so to find Him. Nothing here is new except in the sense that it is a discovery which my own heart has made of spiritual realities most delightful and wonderful to me. Others before me have gone much farther into these holy mysteries than I have done, but if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.¹

I wrote this book for each and every one of you who dreams of knowing God intimately. I want to help you turn those dreams you have had for so long into reality, so you can experience God in ways you have never experienced Him before. This book is for those who long to experience and know God at a deeper level—who have always wondered how to make that happen. I wrote it for the ones who are tired of playing church—those who no longer wish to simply go through the motions and pretend everything is okay. If you have ever felt frustrated or disappointed by the fact that your relationship with God just isn’t where it should be—this book is for you. And finally, for all those who can’t identify with having these longings and desires—but truly want to experience God in simple, real, and heartfelt ways—here’s your opportunity. If you are just simple enough to believe that God is good, then goodness will find you. If you are willing to come to Him in childlike faith, believing He is more wonderful than you could possibly imagine, then you will surely find intimacy with God.

I had searched many years as a Christian for a treasure map before I came to embrace the words of Solomon with contentment. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10) Yet many years passed prior to my reluctant acceptance of this truth. I spent years of searching…and searching—more knowledge, more wisdom. I attended conferences to hear dynamic speakers. What I learned was good. It sustained me for