In Hosea 6:3 the prophet Hosea wrote ‘let us press on to know the Lord.’ We need to be growing continually in our knowledge of Him and our relationship with Him. The Lord is calling you to go deeper in Him.

As I was in worship I had a vision of Jesus standing in the middle of a lake. He was looking directly into the eyes of His people and beckoning them to come deeper into the lake where He was. Some of His people were standing on the shoreline, with only their toes in the water. Others were ankle deep in water and others were waist deep. Regardless of the level in which His people were already immersed in the lake, He was still beckoning them to come deeper. I noticed Jesus was looking at each person with such love. His hand was outstretched to them, inviting them to enter in further.

Some of the people were happy to stay at the level they currently were and didn’t accept the invitation to go deeper. Others though went to a new level of abandonment to Jesus and took steps forward, deeper into the water. As they put their trust and faith in the Lord, they moved forward to experience the next level of intimacy and relationship with Him. They entered the next level of their walk in the Spirit. I noticed the ones who were very deep in the water, were no longer able to touch the bottom and were hovering in the water effortlessly. They weren’t swimming but looked to be just standing in the water without touching the bottom, but were not sinking. The closer the people of God got to Jesus the more their eyes were locked on His. I also noticed that the people on the shoreline were very distracted by the voices of others behind them and also by their surroundings. However the further out the people went into the lake, the less they were able to hear the distractions and the less concerned they were by them.

The Lord is inviting you to go deeper. Regardless of how many steps into the water you have already taken in the past, there is an invitation to go deeper still. Jesus is inviting His people to take steps of abandonment in Him; to take steps of faith and trust in Him. He wants to lead you into a deeper level of intimacy and relationship with Him where you will receive greater revelation and understanding of who He is, who you are in Him and how to walk in His ways. From that deeper place of intimacy with Him, things of the world and your circumstances fade and don’t have a hold over you as you are able to rise above them as you look steadfastly into the eyes of Jesus.

When you are willing to step off the shoreline and go deeper into the things of God, you can experience more of the love, hope, peace, joy, freedom and truth that Jesus gives. May we know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19). Going after the deep things of God involves sacrifice but every effort is worth it for the spiritual richness that is found in going deeper. Matthew 16:24 – Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” As we go deeper we embrace our true identity in Christ, we pursue God’s purposes for our life with passion and we trust in God’s protection and plans for us.

Jesus is calling you to go deeper and intimate encounters with Him await you as you step in.