Unless that question is answered, the conclusion that remains is: God must not want to be close to me. He values and joins and speaks to others, but not to me. Of course this is a devastating (and untrue) conclusion, but it is prevalent in the body of Christ.

People ask: “How can there be obstacles and me not be aware of them?” Here is a simple answer to that question: In virtually all of us there is a marked difference between what we know and what we feel/believe deep in our hearts. Let me give you an example of what I mean. I was praying with a young woman who was asking all these questions. I suggested that we invite the Lord to join her, and that she do what she could to stop trying to make it happen. That suggestion ignited some anxiety, but she agreed to let me pray in that way. As I began to invite the Lord to make His presence known, she looked up at me and asked: “He’s not going to yell at me, is He?”

That was the real obstacle, not His unwillingness to be with her! Was she aware that at some level she was very fearful of Lord yelling at her? No, but she had a parent who did yell at her regularly, and it set in place that expectation of authority. So, while her mind was willing and calling on God for closeness, her heart was very afraid of being yelled at and was maintaining a safe distance. It was her own safe distance that caused her to conclude God was not responding.

That is why we focus on connecting our “heart” to God. It is easier for us to get our minds united with the Lord than to find out if our heart is also in agreement. It was very surprising to her to discover that fear in her heart. The life experiences that formed those emotional expectations are quite understandable, once we can see them. Then the work is to get the type of authority God exercises to replace the type of authority people have exercised. She was actually relieved to know that the barrier was on her side and could be removed—much more hopeful than the belief that God didn’t want to talk to her. That example gives you a clear sense of what happens, but it does not identify what the specific barrier is in you. Until your barrier is revealed, we have only knowledge of an interesting principle. Read on and listen on through the site, asking the Lord to show you what kind of barrier has been knit together in your heart and how the Lord intends to release you from it/them.