The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 
~1 John 1:1-3 (The Message)

The Apostle John—a close friend of Jesus—explains that he and his companions wrote the New Testament so that you can enjoy the same friendship and intimacy with Jesus that he knew. The records of Christ are written so you can experience Jesus as they did, this intimate connection with the Father and the Son.

Did you know this?

You are entitled to the same camaraderie with Jesus Christ that the people of his day enjoyed.

Why, then, do so few people seem to experience this? It might come as a surprise that our experience of Jesus is limited most often by the limits we put on him. For example, if we say, “Oh—God wouldn’t speak to me,” then it will prove hard to experience him speaking to us.

We begin to open the door by renouncing the lie that Jesus doesn’t act toward us the way he acted toward people in the Gospels. If we could get a little perspective, we’d see how absurd it is to hold, on the one hand, that the Gospels are the definitive word on Jesus, while holding, on the other, that he doesn’t behave like that anymore. God gives us his Son and grounds the record for all time in the four Gospels. This is who Jesus is. But then—as many Christians have been led to believe—God changes the rules. “That’s not available to you now. You can’t reach out to him as did the woman with the issue of blood and be healed by his life as she was. You can’t cry out to him and have him deliver you from a foul spirit. You can’t lean upon his breast in intimacy."

It’s psychotic. It’s also blasphemy. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

So the best place to begin, and one of the most powerful things you could ever pray, is this:

I renounce every limit I have ever placed on Jesus. I renounce every limit I have placed on him in my life. I break all limitations, renounce them, revoke them. Jesus, forgive me for restraining you in my life. I give you full permission to be yourself with me. I ask you for you—the real you. Come and be yourself with me—reveal yourself to me.