Trust and time in relationship

I love my dad. He's a great guy and very safe and trustworthy. However, follow my logic here:
If my dad went up to some woman that he did not know and asked to take a walk with her into a dark secluded place, she would not trust him and try to leave - immediatly!! As well she should, she should have a healthy respect of opening herself up to this kind of danger.
If my dad went to a woman that he knew moderately well, she probably would have reservations about going to some place dark and secluded but might trust him enough for something less ominous.
However, if my mom, sister, or grandma were asked by dad to go to a dark secluded place, they would go without reservation. In fact, if they were planning on going to that place anyways, they would be very grateful to have him for security.
There is a link between trust and time spent in a relationship. It absolutely blows my mind that so many Christians try to trust a God that they do not know deeply and intimately. It is only through intense knowledge of the Lord that there is any security in this world. Anything less is just a cheap counterfeit. If a person views God as someone that they find boring or is the source to blame when life falls apart (Prov. 19:3 - A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.), it will be no wonder that surrender and trust are impossible. Think about it in your relationships. How would you like it if all sorts of people claimed to know you... but in reality very few really bothered to spend any time with you and, in reality, most of what they "knew" about you was what others said about you - regardless of how accurate it was. Wouldn't you be slightly upset that they did not actually care enough about you to actually get to know that what the current rumors or what others said about your friendship were? I'm pretty sure it is the exact same way with far too many who claim to know God and claim to have a relationship with Him.
Back to trust - To know God is to give up to Him. And as we truly know Him - not the cliches, or what others say about Him, but knowing Him in truth through the Bible - giving up to Him is possible. It is a circular process of growth.

Fear, love, control, and surrender

See if you can follow my thought process... I think it'll be worth it if you do.

1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear... the one who fears is not made perfect in love."
Next we need to add to that my quote on possesiveness and fear... (i.e. where a person walks in fear is where they are walking in control, but if someone walks in surrender they are free of possessiveness and fear.)

In a different one of my classes we discussed the war between flesh and the Spirit of Galatians 5. At the end we talked of the list of the fruit of the Spirit, i.e. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc. What we came to realize is that the fruit of the Spirit are exactly that; they are manifestations. And they are a byproduct of being controlled and surendered to the Spirit. One does not become more loving by hearing 1 Cor. 13 two hundred times. Love is not something that can be conjured up. A lot of what our culture calls love has at its roots lust, fear, manipulation, approval addiction, self-seeking, etc. To truly love someone else without selfish motivation is truly impossible for a human being to conjer up. It is IMPOSSIBLE. Love is a manifestation of the Spirit. It, along with all of its friends (i.e. the fruit of the Spirit) will ALL be in operation as one lives surrendered to God through the Holy Spirit.

So if one wants the fruit of the Spirit to be evidenced in their life the first place they need to start looking for blocks to it is where they have fear or where there is control (generally, intimately linked). As those are given up, and any other blocks are delt with (resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, blocks of the enemy through spiritual warfare, etc.), the byproduct, without even trying will be the fruit of the Spirit.

Make sense?

Unfortunatly, one does not give control to another unless there is intimate knowledge. Generally speaking, we need to intimately and passionatly know the Lord before we will give Him control. This is why the idea of a ten minute quiet time is ridiculous. It really goes back to control. Am I in control of how much God I have in my life, or is He in control of my life. There is a very big difference.