An Interview With Alice
Interviewer: Alice, your first hard cover book is about to be released, the title of which is, Spiritual Intimacy with God: Moving Joyfully into the Deeper Life. That title is intriguing. What do you mean by the term "spiritual intimacy"?
Alice: Spiritual Intimacy is a heart-to-heart, spirit-to-spirit relationship with Jesus. This has nothing to do with anything sensual or sexual. At salvation, Jesus came into our heart, and at once we became his spiritual partners. He longs for us to know him at a deeper level than just as an acquaintance.
The way of the bride and the bridegroom is analogous to our intimate journey with the Lord Jesus. At salvation, we are wed to him. We say yes to the commitment, but we don’t really know what to expect.
As we spend time together his love changes us. We become more open and loving toward those around us. We become more like him. And as we realize that nothing can separate us from his love, trust is learned and relearned in the privacy of our hearts.
Loss can’t separate us, ruin can’t, storms can’t, betrayal can’t—even death can’t. That love becomes a firm foundation that we can always count on. Knowing that we can always fall back on God’s love gives us the freedom and courage to take risks and do whatever he tells us to do. A love that cannot be taken from us is a love that will eventually foster enough trust to change us.
When God refers to us as the bride—and men he’s talking to you too—he means that he is married to the idea of remaking you and me into everything we are capable of being. Saying, “I do” to him is saying that you will let him love you into change—and eventually you will be so transformed that others do not recognize the former you.
Interviewer: Tell me a little about how you developed a close relationship with Jesus? How long have you been living in an intimate fellowship with Christ?
Alice: I was 15-years old when my life was completely transformed by Christ. Immediately, I longed for a personal friendship with him. So each day after school I would spend 5-10 minutes just sitting in his presence. I learned some important steps that helped our friendship grow. This is how it started.
Now after 43 years, my relationship with Jesus is so much deeper, and my life message is spiritual intimacy with God. Each Christian can experience a depth of knowing him that they never dreamed possible.
Interviewer: Why do you find that so many Christians struggle with understanding or experiencing this kind of relationship?
Alice: Christians struggle with intimacy because of many reasons, of which several might be a wrong association of God to an earthly father or male figure. Or religious teaching that insisted that God is distant and uninvolved in their lives. Fear of God in a way of punishment. I write about many others in the book.
Interviewer: In your new book Spiritual Intimacy, you talk about four seasons of our Christian life that we all will experience. Can you tell us more about this?
Alice: We will walk through “Seasons of Disclosure”, where the Lord is revealing prophetic promises, future benefits, and it’s the springtime of your Christian life.
Then just as we enjoy this season, it will change to “Seasons of Passion.” This is a season where the summer of answered prayers, open doors, influence and favor surround us. We are ready to take on the devil, until we find that “the devil in the mirror” is our own independent spirit. Part of our independence comes from seeing the power of our spiritual gifts at work and the favor of God resting on us. The temptation is to transfer our reliance from the Lord of the work to the work of the Lord. When that happens, humility is insidiously replaced by pride.
Next are the “Seasons of Stripping” and none of us like this season in life. Still experiencing success, we don’t want to change our stride. We’ve finally acquired some confidence, some wisdom, and some maturity. The works planted in spring are now robust and ready to be harvested, but we forget that harvesting means stripping the vines until they are bowed and barren.
Most of us enter times of stripping, satisfied from the past harvests our works have produced. Suddenly, a distinct shift occurs in our ability to make things jive. Sifting through the rubble of our works to find another task to complete for God, results in disappointment. We struggle to find satisfaction in past accomplishments and who we once were, but the way is not there.
The last is “Seasons of Cave Dwelling.” Winter kills! Surface things, selfish things, must die; only the root endures. Life goes underground. Even the animals go into hiding. The sounds of silence pierce the atmosphere with cruel isolation. Living waters turn to icy lakes. Everything is damned up: halted. Winter is heart surgery without anesthesia. This is the “where are you God” time in our Christian walk. But these seasons are a glorious part of learning God’s ways.
Interviewer: In your book, you write about intimacy killers. What are some?
Alice: There can be many intimacy killers. In my book, Spiritual Intimacy, I talk about how performance (trying to measure up), unforgiveness, prayerlessness, and self-hatred are a few of the killers of a close relationship with Jesus Christ. There are many others I write about too.
Interviewer: In Spiritual Intimacy, you suggest that prayer and intimacy go hand in hand. What is your reason for saying this?
You can’t love someone you hardly know. I love my husband, Eddie, and I spend time with him. I know what he likes to drink and eat. What his hobbies are, and what brings him joy. The reason I know is because I spend time with him. Often Christians want an intimate relationship with Jesus, but they aren’t willing to spend time in prayer to know and learn what is on his heart.
You know the old adage: “I’m running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” Well, it’s true! When a chicken’s head is chopped off, it will race frantically about for a while, but eventually it will simply collapse. Frankly, nothing could more accurately describe the prayerless Christian. We were born to stay connected to the Lord through prayer, and without his headship, our frantic efforts to look effective will drop lifelessly to the ground.
Interviewer: Alice, you discuss the many rewards of spiritual intimacy. Can you give us some?
Alice: Favor is one reward. We referred to them as the “teacher’s pet.” The teacher appeared to like those students more than the others and would give them extra privileges and attention. In the same way, even though God loves all of us, the Lord’s intimates have so earned his trust that they receive extra privileges and attention too.
When you are experiencing God’s favor, you are singled out for a blessing because you have been close and dependable in his sight. People with God’s favor carry his influence and become magnets for attracting others to help them accomplish God’s purposes and plans.
Wisdom is another reward. It’s easy to identify wisdom in an intimate’s life. It shows up in an ability to understand the things of God. It is also evidenced in right responses and accurate answers.
Of course, one of the most amazing rewards for being an intimate is the anointing, which is the presence of God flowing through you with his power, strength, wisdom, counsel, or anything else you need. The anointing has been described as God putting his super on your natural, and then letting him move supernaturally through you.
Interviewer: If you would, share with us the essence of your book. What would your closing statements be?
Alice: Jesus longs to have an intimate relationship with his bride. It was God’s idea to call us this intimate term—his bride. It’s all about family. We are the bride of Christ, Jesus is our bridegroom. God is our father, and we are part of the family of God. Scriptures says we are the children of God, and even sons of God. It’s true that God doesn’t have favorites, but he does have intimates. And Jesus wants us to
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