Discern ongoing guidance from the Lord<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThe goal of Immanuel and really the target of Christianity is relational intimacy with God.\u00a0 That is why it is listed first on this list.\u00a0 We go after intimacy with Jesus first and everything else flows from that.<\/p>\n
Matthew 6:33 supports this notion.\u00a0 Jesus says that we are to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness.\u00a0 Then everything else follows from that place.\u00a0 We start with relational, intimate encounters with Jesus.\u00a0 We seek Him.\u00a0 Then from this connection, we walk out this Christian life.<\/p>\n
We get this backwards though, don\u2019t we\u2026We seek to know God\u2019s will for our lives.\u00a0 \u201cLord what job should I take?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cLord, who should I marry?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat is Your will for me Lord?\u201d<\/p>\n
We also seek good Christian things:\u00a0 Spiritual gifts, healing, spiritual disciplines like Bible study and prayer, serving, etc.\u00a0 All of these things are good.\u00a0 But by seeking HIM, and letting all of these other things flow from this relationship, they become effortless and so much more effective!<\/p>\n
The truth is that in order to know God\u2019s will in our lives, we need to first know God Himself.\u00a0 That is what we do in Immanuel Prayer.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite Immanuel verses is 1 John 3:2.\u00a0 It says that when we see Him, we become like Him, because we see Him as He truly is.\u00a0 As we get to know the true Lord Jesus and experience His true nature and character (not the distorted Jesus we have in our minds based on the sin, wounds, and lies we have developed over a lifetime), we become like Him.\u00a0 This type of transformation comes only from a growing relational intimacy with Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jesus First\u2026Everything Else Follows Dr Karl Lehman states the following: \u201cThousands of professionals and lay people around the world are applying the Immanuel Approach to deepen intimacy with God, permanently resolve past pain, and discern God\u2019s ongoing guidance.\u201d \u00a0When we seek Him first, everything is in order. Immanuel Prayer helps us to: Deepen intimacy with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[41,28,25,27,29,23,13,16,14,31,26,20,19,24,15],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immanuel-approach-blog-posts","tag-bob-wieland","tag-calvary-way-international-fellowship","tag-dr-karl-lehman","tag-emotional-healing","tag-healing","tag-immanuel","tag-immanuel-approach","tag-immanuel-practicum","tag-immanuel-prayer","tag-immanuel-session","tag-inner-healing","tag-intimacy","tag-jesus","tag-pastor-patti-velotta","tag-patti-velotta"],"yoast_head":"\n
Jesus First - Everything Else Follows - Immanuel: A Practicum<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n