Intimacy with Jesus Is Not a Bartering System

Listen to me on this—God is not running a marketplace. Your intimacy with Jesus is not a transaction. It’s not “If I pray more, He’ll bless me.” It’s not “If I worship harder, He’ll open this door.” It’s not “If I give, He’ll multiply it back.”

That’s not intimacy—that’s negotiation. And Jesus didn’t die so you could learn how to bargain with Him.

Some of you have been holding your devotion hostage, waiting for a payout. You’ve been faithful, and yet the breakthrough hasn’t come. You’ve sacrificed, and yet you’re still waiting. And in the hidden places of your heart, you wonder if He’s even listening. If He even sees you. If maybe, just maybe, you did something wrong, and that’s why He hasn’t moved.

But intimacy isn’t a means to an end. Intimacy is the end.

If your pursuit of Jesus is built on the expectation of what He can do for you, then you don’t actually want Him. You want His benefits. You want His hand, not His heart. But do you realize that He never called you to a life of striving for outcomes? He called you to Himself.

What if you never got the promise? What if the answer didn’t come the way you imagined? Would you still love Him? Would you still pour yourself out before Him, even if there was nothing in it for you?

Because that’s what real intimacy looks like.

Love Doesn’t Keep Score

Look at Mary of Bethany. She walked into a room full of men who didn’t think she belonged, broke open an alabaster jar worth an entire year’s wages, and poured it over Jesus like it was nothing. No hesitation. No second-guessing. No measuring whether it was worth it.

She didn’t do the math. She didn’t calculate what she was getting in return. She didn’t ask herself, Will this bless my finances? Will this open doors for me? Will this make my life easier?

She just gave. Because love doesn’t keep score.

And the religious? They called it wasteful. They rebuked her. They were so blind that they looked at pure, reckless devotion and saw nothing but a bad investment.

But Jesus? He called it beautiful. He said, This will be remembered forever. Because in that moment, someone finally understood.

Real intimacy isn’t afraid to waste itself on Him.

What If He Never Moved the Mountain?

If your love for Jesus is contingent on whether or not He gives you what you want, then it’s not love. It’s manipulation.

God owes you nothing. Let that sink in. He doesn’t owe you an answered prayer. He doesn’t owe you a breakthrough. He doesn’t owe you clarity, or success, or a perfectly wrapped-up testimony.

And yet, in His goodness, He gave you everything.

He didn’t withhold His Son. He didn’t wait for you to get it right before He poured out His mercy. He came for you. He chased you down. He loved you first.

So why do you approach Him like a business deal? Like He needs to prove Himself before you’ll really let go and trust?

Jesus never said, Follow me, and I’ll give you the life you always dreamed of. He said, Follow me. Period. No conditions. No negotiations. Just Him. And for those who really know Him—who have truly seen Him—that’s enough.

So ask yourself, right now—would He be enough?

If you never got married. If the healing never came. If the dream never took off. If the finances never changed.

Would He still be enough?

Or is your love for Him built on what you think He owes you?

Drop the Bartering System. Just Love Him.

I need you to hear this—Jesus is not withholding from you. He is not silent because you failed. He is not waiting for you to pray harder before He moves.

He is calling you closer. He is stripping away every false idea of love until all that’s left is you and Him.

No deals. No striving. No bargaining.

Just love.

So stop measuring what you’ve “given” and what He has or hasn’t “done” in return. Stop holding your intimacy back, waiting for Him to prove Himself. Break open your life like Mary broke her jar. Pour it all out on Him. Not because you’re hoping for a reward—but because He is the reward.

He is the treasure. He is the prize. He is the only thing that will ever be enough.

And if you really saw Him for who He is, you wouldn’t hesitate.

You’d waste it all.

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