be present in His presence.
As I recently wrote in my blog post intent in isolation (check it out here if you haven’t already), I fully believe that there is such significance in this current period of lockdown and isolation… it’s a time of preparation for ‘the something’ that is coming on the other side – an awakening, revival, a move of the Holy Spirit that has never been seen before.
The time is now and I believe that, more than ever, we need to be in tune and sensitive to the Spirit of God.
Let me tell you about an experience I had the other day…
I found myself thinking about this period of lockdown… For the most part I’ve been dealing pretty well with it but, on this particular day, it was a bit more difficult. I was missing my friends and family and, truth be told, having a bit of a grumble about the whole thing, until quietly, in the stillness of the moment, I heard God whisper by His Holy Spirit, this startling question…
“when all you have is me, is it enough?”
There was a profound weight carried by that question as it anchored in my spirit.
All of a sudden, my own little pity party seemed ridiculous, paling in comparison to the revelation that there is significance in this season, a purpose to it – God is doing something; He is driving us into His presence, into a place of deeper intimacy with Him.
I believe that He’s appealing to our affections, asking us… “do you really want me?“.
In a time when many of the distractions have been removed, when we have more free time on our hands than possibly ever before, the hard truth of that question will come to light: do we really want Him?
Let’s take a moment to think about that. Let’s take a moment to examine our hearts.
When it comes to our prayer life, what does that look like? Does it even exist?
Let’s honestly ask ourselves some questions of our own:
How often do we make time for Him?
How frequently do we look for Him?
Do we really want Him, or do we just want what He can do?
Are we seeking after what He can do for us, instead of simply seeking Him?
Are we looking to the gift, instead of the gift giver?
Are we looking for the present, instead of simply being present in His presence?
The presence of God is truly something special; it’s something both precious and powerful – it’s something that you can’t experience without it impacting or changing you!
The presence of God brings strength, comfort, healing, guidance, wisdom, understanding, peace, revelation, security… anything we could ever possibly need throughout this adventure we call life.
When you think about God’s presence what is it that you think of?
I want to briefly share with you a revelation that I had this week, and that is this…
All too often, people mistakenly associate the presence of God with a feeling. When in fact, it’s not a feeling, it’s actually an encounter.
Let me explain… in the old testament, the English word presence is translated 76 times from the original Hebrew word paniym. Interestingly, that same Hebrew word is also translated face, 290 times – this means that God’s presence can also be translated as God’s face.
So, when we enter into His presence, we actually enter into a face-to-face encounter with Him – it’s where we can communicate with Him; where we can speak to Him, and He can speak to us.
So, yes, we may feel a particular way when we rest in His Holy presence. I’m sure many of you will have experienced those goosebump moments, those moments where you are overwhelmed by such a sense of peace and safety, where you can tangibly feel Him wrapping His loving arms around you. These feelings are very real, and yes, they are most definitely the result of us being in His presence, but it’s important to remember that they are just the gifts, the gifts that result from a face-to-face encounter with Gift Giver.
Reading from the amplified translation, in Psalm 27:8, David writes:
When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”
God asks us to seek His face, to require His presence as our greatest need, but let’s be real for a sec, how often do we go before Him with wrong motives? How often are we guilty of going to God, and seeking His hand (what He can do for us), instead of seeking His Face (simply seeking Him)?
Put it like this, if you knew someone that only ever wanted to spend time with you when they wanted something from you, what would that relationship look like? How would that make you feel? … Why then do we presume it would be any different for God?
Do we have this idea that because He is all-powerful God, nothing grieves Him, nothing hurts Him? Have we somehow forgotten the raw reality of how extravagantly His heart ached for a lost humanity? How He literally gave his absolute everything for us, so that we could have access to absolutely anything we could ever want or need?
How then is it that we can all too easily take for granted what has been made available to us through the blood of Jesus; that we can neglect to take the time to hear what He wants to say to us and reveal to us?
The reality of it is that the level we experience His presence (how often we encounter him face-to-face) is not determined by God.
His spirit is Omnipotent [all-powerful], Omniscient [all-knowing] and Omnipresent [everywhere at the same time], and if you are a born-again, spirit-filled believer, the Holy Spirit resides within you. His presence is everywhere at all times. He has made it fully available to us, but the level we experience His presence is actually determined by us – the determining factor being whether we are actively seeking/pursuing Him.
The reality of God’s presence doesn’t depend on us being in a particular circumstance or place, but it is dependent on our determination to seek and keep Him before us.
Matthew 6:33 [AMP]
But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.
First and most importantly seek Him and His ways – When I read this passage of scripture I can’t help but note the necessity, urgency and importance that is highlighted when we are instructed to seek Him… so why then do we often not have this as a main priority? After all, He will never ask us to do anything that won’t ultimately be for our own benefit.
Do you know that when we were born, He actually put in us a desire to seek Him?
Ecclesiastes 3:11 refers to God placing “eternity in man’s heart”; what this means is that ultimately, God made humanity for His eternal purpose; to go about His works on the earth in light of eternity.
He created us that way, and only He will ever be able to fulfil that desire for eternity.
When He formed us in our mother’s womb, with it He attached a purpose and a destiny and provided us with His Holy Spirit as a helper, to empower us to accomplish that very thing for which we were created.
That’s why often we hear about unbelievers who spend their whole lives searching for “something more”, but they find themselves looking in all the wrong places because they just don’t know what that something more is.
Even believers, all too often in the same way, can waste so much time looking for fulfilment in the wrong places, seeking after a title or position, a spouse, a career, trying to achieve their own self-fulfilment. The problem with this is even if these things bring a sense of gratification for a time, they will not bring the lasting fulfilment that only God can bring.
It’s such a sad thing when people find themselves in pursuit of the things that are not eternal, as its consequence is that they will most certainly remain ever unfulfilled and wonder why life never seems satisfactory.
You know the whole square peg can’t fit a round hole scenario?
That’s exactly what it’s like.
In each of us there is a God-shaped hole that can’t be filled by anyone or anything other than God and it’s only through a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, that that God-shaped hole can be filled and the desire for eternity fulfilled.
So, all of that to say this – the only way we can experience complete fulfilment in life is to find it in the purposes and presence of God.
It’s those face-to-face encounters that will sustain you in any circumstance, in any storm life may throw at you, through all the ups and the downs you will have to navigate. It’s in His presence that you will receive the wisdom and understanding that will lead you into the plans and purposes that He has for you.
Right now we find ourselves in a season of much uncertainty, but one thing that is for certain is this: in His presence you can find your peace and comfort, you can find renewed strength, renewed hope and joy, amongst so many other things that will satisfy your soul – so let’s be intentional and make the most of the times we find ourselves in.
Let’s stir up a spiritual hunger for His presence, and for the things of heaven.
Let’s thirst for an outpouring of His Spirit.
Let’s crave the signs and wonders He promised will follow those who believe.
We’re supposed to be hungry – just as in the natural being hungry is a sign of life, spiritual hunger in the same way is the sign of life in a believer.
Have you ever noticed that often one of the first symptoms of illness is the loss of appetite?
When there is a loss of appetite, a person over time will become weaker and weaker. It’s the same when we don’t hunger for God’s word and His presence; we become weaker and weaker in all the areas of our lives – our body, soul (mind, will & emotions) and our spirit. Problems arise when we stop looking for His presence, for Him, and we start looking elsewhere to self, to other people, to the material things.
So today, I again encourage you to examine the condition of your heart.
In Jeremiah 29:13 He says: “you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”.
Are you seeking Him with your whole heart? Because He promises that if you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him. His word also says that if you ask you will receive, if you seek you will find, if you knock the door will be opened [Matthew 7:7], but it all starts with the condition of your heart and if your heart’s desire is to seek His face.
How can we ever expect to find Him if we don’t first seek Him?
If we can’t find Him, how will we ever be able to ask Him in order to receive, to knock in order for the door to be opened?
It all starts with seeking Him.
It’s when we have a heart that is after Him and the things that are paramount to Him that we are compelled to seek Him and everything else then follows.
Think for a second about your heart’s desires. Are they set on worldly things, or on the things of heaven? Examine your priorities. What has first place in your life right now?
Let’s take a moment of reflection to hopefully put some things into perspective.
When He that knew no sin, He that was perfect, blameless, left His throne in heaven, to abandon Himself to the love He had for a lost humanity, to pay the highest price for our redemption with His blood… who do you think was His priority?
you. me. us.
He came from heaven to earth, to close the great divide (where sin separated us from God). He purchased our redemption, our freedom and then returned to heaven and left the gate wide open.
Hebrews 10:19
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place *(presence of God)* because of the blood of Jesus.
Because of the blood of Jesus, we can boldly enter the presence of God.
Do you understand what that means ? What that makes available to you?
Today, because of Jesus, we have infinite access to His presence. We have VIP access; access all areas, all hours. We can encounter him face-to-face and communicate with Him 24/7.
So are we making the most of that?
It’s true that we make time for that which is important to us, we spend the most time with the people we love most. So where is He in your list of priorities? Where is He in your busy schedule? How much time are you spending in His presence? In prayer and worship? Reading His word and listening to what it is that He wants to say?
Because, it’s in those moments, those precious moments, that He can deal with what He needs in us, reveal what He needs to us, and provide His wisdom and direction for us, so that we can become (by His grace) everything that He needs us to be.
So back to that question – when all we have is Him, is it enough?
The reality of it is this… when all we have is Him, what more could we possibly need?
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