The place of the kiss is having a revelation in your heart that you belong to Jesus Christ; lock stock and all smoking barrels! So warm up your lips.

Stephen Bennett
Stephen Bennett

When we lose the kiss of intimacy in life and with God, we can start to justify our spiritual selves by the things that we do - instead of walking in God's grace and love. We can get religious, and can say things like, "Hey I go to church, I give money, I play in the band, I go to all the meetings, I'm a youth leader!" Paul says that God has, ".saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" 2 Timothy 1: 9. That does not mean we don't do anything productive, but Christians are saved by grace through faith. Our real worship to Jesus is by His grace; when we lose the essence of worship, we lose the essence of what God is - love. We become '...sounding brass and tinkling cymbal...' 1 Corinthians 13: 1. In other words - spiritual ding-dongs!

When love and grace has gone, we can become legalistic, cold, and hard. Marriages can suffer the same thing. The result is, we can end up kissing God in vain: cold lips, religious, boring, music with spiritual form, yet songs without life. "These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" Matthew 15: 8-9. The umbilical cord to the heart is disconnected, and we have a form of worship, but no real power. That stuff is ugly!

Continuing life this way can result in being concerned with wrong things, irrelevant issues, and pettiness. "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set you mind on things above not on things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" Colossians 3: 1-3. Thinking straight and right is a very cool thing to do! The Bible will actually help you with that! Keeping your kiss of intimacy means 'setting your mind on the things above'. This is what humans are created for. This is where you get the power for the wonderful creative gifts you have; you must know who you are as a believer in God - doing His will and desiring Him, above all things. There is a real devil that does not want you to have a powerful revelation of what worship really is, and he will try to distract you from a prayer life, church life, study of the Bible, friendship with God, and people. Setting your heart and mind on God things above will make you strong.

If you want to be a great intimate worshipper you have to be a giving person. The place of the kiss is having a revelation in your heart that you belong to Jesus Christ; lock stock and all smoking barrels! You are given. It's a secret place; like between husband and wife. Many believe that church is something they just do, or 'go to' as part of their scheduled week - not something lived. The cares of this life entangle them far more than they realize; a worshipping life takes time to develop, wholly given and dedicated to God.  CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.