Intimacy With God Series | Becoming Men & Women After God's Own Heart - Derek Delmar - Mar 15, 2026

As we continue our series on “Intimacy with God" Derek uses the illustration of a suspension bridge with anchors on each end of the bridge being anchored by two key scriptures.

The first anchor reminds us that our relationship with God begins with His initiative, not ours. Jesus declares in John 15:16–17 (Amplified Bible): “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully plantedyou, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.” God intentionally plants us in Christ so that our lives bear lasting fruit through love, obedience, and a living connection with Him.

The second anchor is found in the testimony about David. In Acts 13:22 (New Living Translation Bible) we read: “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’” What is striking is that God described David this way long before David became king or achieved great victories. Before Goliath, before his leadership, and even before his failures, God saw something deeper in David—a heart that genuinely sought Him. This challenges the incorrect assumption that God’s favor is earned through performance or achievements.

David’s life reveals that intimacy with God is not about perfection but about relationship with Him. Though David became Israel’s greatest king and an ancestor of Jesus, he also sinned grievously. Yet he remained a man after God’s heart because he was willing to confess his sins honestly. He experienced the joy of forgiveness even when he had to suffer the consequences of his sin. And he pursued God with complete trust and worship. His Psalms reveal raw honesty—moving from deep despair to confident trust—showing that genuine intimacy with God embraces both our mountaintops and our valleys.

For believers today, this message from David’s life offers clear lessons: We must be willing to admit our failures, understand that forgiveness does not always remove consequences, and cultivate wholehearted trust and worship toward God. As we abide in Christ and intentionally seek Him, He transforms our hearts through humility, repentance, and honest fellowship with Him.

The invitation is simple but profound: allow God full access to our hearts and grow in daily intimacy with Him, becoming people whose lives reflect His own heart.