Psalm 1:1-2 makes it clear that linking with the wrong partner can devastate your spiritual growth. Linking with the right partner, on the other hand, can create a spiritual intimacy that encourages each of you to grow. What could be better than having a spouse intimately involved in your relationship with the Lord?
How do you enhance spiritual intimacy with your spouse? It may be as simple as sharing your response to the Sunday morning sermon, especially if you share something that you will try to apply to your own life.
It may be sharing something you read in the Bible in your personal quiet time with God. One thing you don't want to do is preach to your spouse. Share with him or her something meaningful to you, not something you think your spouse should apply to his or her life. Praying together is also a way to build spiritual intimacy, even if you hold hands and pray silently. Joining hands means that you are also joining hearts. Coming to God together builds intimacy.
Take time to pray individually or as a couple. Thank God for your loved ones and His plans for you to share spiritual intimacy. Ask Him to bless your efforts to develop or enhance your spiritual intimacy with each other - and with Him.
Take time to discuss together or reflect on these questions:
How do you encourage spiritual intimacy in your spouse?
How does your spouse encourage spiritual intimacy in you?
What's the difference between sharing something with your spouse and preaching to him or her?
Consider these passages for further study on Spiritual Intimacy:
Psalm 23:1-6 A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Colossians 3:16-17 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Psalm 1:1-6 Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Applying spiritual intimacy can increase your relationship with the Lord and with yourself. Challenge yourself to find more ways to increase spiritual intimacy with those around you to keep yourself spiritually strong. Gary Chapman's thoughts are great.