Brenda Cobb Murphy

I am an everyday woman who, in 1992, fell madly in love with Jesus, and it rocked my world. I've always said that I was born a Christian, being a child of missionaries to Thailand, and I don't remember a time when I didn't love God. Before 1992 God was a large part of my life but I'd never felt anything miraculous or supernatural, prayer was basically boring, and the Bible put me to sleep. God was Almighty-God-in-the-sky who loved me, and I really only knew him through worshiping in the throne room. After all, that's what I've learned in church--the reverence, the holiness, the God who sits on the throne of heaven.

However, on that day in 1992, on the first day of the little Bible study I started with my neighbors, a friend challenged everything I believed, causing me to go home determined to find every reference in the Bible that answered her challenges. I had been asking God to take me further in him and give me a passion for him. This was the first time I’d ever had to defend what I believed and suddenly I had to own it for myself. I woke the next morning with a hunger and passion for God I'd never known before.

I decided to start out with twenty minutes a day “quiet time” (our youngest was four so I couldn’t leave them for long) and during that time, besides worshiping and praying, I would try silence. With nowhere to go in our small apartment I would sit on the washing machine in our tiny laundry room. At first I spent my time before the throne, worshipping an awesome God who is huge and powerful and holy. I was overwhelmed with love for such an almighty God.

One day, after a few months of spending time with God, I suddenly realized that instead of worshiping before the throne I was hanging out with Jesus. Instead of worshiping a holy, almighty God I was laughing and enjoying a close relationship with my Bridegroom. It took me by surprise. I hadn’t thought much, if anything, about the Bridegroom relationship (that was a "church-and-body-of-Christ thing"). I just realized one day that my God-time had changed. Jesus had come and wooed me without my realizing it. Where I had been writing prose about an awesome God, I was now writing about dancing with Jesus. Now, instead of being on-my-face worshiping, I was hugging Jesus’ presence to myself wherever I was.

It was a few years later that I first experienced “doing” something with Jesus, as in, he was really there. Not his omnipresence, but his manifest presence. God is omnipresent, everywhere all the time. But when he chooses, his manifest presence comes, and you can physically know his presence. I was sitting on my washing machine having silent time with God as usual and I became overwhelmed with the thought of being his bride and what it will be like to dance with Jesus at our wedding. I imagined dancing with Jesus, and then it was real, I felt his presence with me and it wasn’t like my imagination anymore. With my eyes closed, sitting on my washing machine, I danced in the Spirit (meaning not physically) and cried. It was as if I were really dancing with Jesus and I felt his presence strongly. Later it kind of freaked me out, like, Is this wrong? I’ve never heard of something like this, is it allowed?

That was in Columbus, Ohio, in 1995. Growing in intimacy with Jesus has been a process. It took me a long time to start experiencing his reality because I didn’t have the knowledge of the best friend relationship he wanted or what was possible. I was still limited by my traditional Sunday school upbringing and by my fear of being “in the flesh” or making it up. It was hard to drop man’s teachings and let Jesus show me what is possible in him. For example, I had believed the misconception that we should never imagine God or have pictures of him, doing so was to limit him to our human perceptions. For a long time I was crippled by that, until I understood the beautiful truth in the Bible where Jesus repeatedly tells us to use our spiritual senses to “see” and “hear.” Where for 33 years people saw Jesus without dropping dead. That was before I learned to live and move in the Kingdom, which is Spirit.

I have grown into an intimate relationship with Jesus as my Bridegroom and best Friend that has changed everything I believed and everything I thought being a Christian was.

In 2012, while visiting a friend out of state, my husband of thirty-six years died suddenly of a heart attack. Since then I've had even more time to pursue my Beloved as I wait to join my two lovers--Jesus and Terry--in heaven. I love sharing the things I've learned through growing in intimacy with my Bridegroom Jesus, sitting on my Daddy-God's lap, and letting my Tutor, Holy Spirit, take me places I've never dreamed of. If I had known these things from the beginn I could have grown so much faster than having to muck my way through. I badly wanted to find a book that would tell me about other's experiences with Jesus but I couldn't find any, so I decided to write the book I wished I could read. I called it "The Wild Romancer" because that's what he is, he loves us so much. I've also written a "Journey Guide" to go with it as a way for you to experience this relationship for yourself.

God wants lovers, not slaves. He wants you to experience him--to see, hear, feel, taste, and touch him. He wants you to learn to use your spiritual senses, for without them you can't touch the supernatural.

I hope the things I share with you will expand your "Kingdom Catalog" so that you can say to God, "I want this! And that too!" Because a Daddy loves to give gifts to his children, and it delights his heart for you to want more of him.

In His Intoxicating Nearness,

Brenda

I would love to hear from you, whether it’s sharing experiences, asking questions, or just connecting in our love for Jesus. Please write me at brenda (at) brendacobbmurphy dot com