I'm so desperate
In His word, God promises that He will never leave us or forsake us and that He is always near to the ones that He loves. A friend and I have been meeting and doing a Bible study and we were discussing the nearness of God. What about the presence of God? What things were we doing to experience the presence of God in our lives? Praying, spending time in the word, quiet time at the feet of Jesus ? The question came up --” How badly do we want to experience the presence of God continually in our lives? Not in just the quiet times?” How much do we desire being in the presence of God all the time? I am talking about continually experiencing the presence of God every second of each and every day. Not only mentally knowing that He is present but physically and spiritually knowing it also. I thought about Matthew 7:7 and Revelation 3:20. Both scriptures use the word “ Ask”. Ask -- how simple is that! Why does the obvious escape me sometimes? “ Father, I know that you are near always, but I want more --I want to feel your presence in my life every minute.” I have never asked for that before. Then I remembered a wise woman saying to me, “ God is always a gentleman, He never goes where He is not invited.” Doesn’t God want us to grow deeper into a personal relationship with us? Doesn’t He want to be where we are? In our getting up, quiet times, work, play and family time? Inviting Him in --walking in the light of His presence -- abiding with you. Experiencing the presence of God is the concentration of the soul’s attention on God knowing with your whole being He is with you. When you invite Him to be with you, He comes and He gives of Himself to you. It is there you find the difference of Him watching over you and knowing His presence with you.
This is not an invitation to receive Christ as your Savior, but it is an invitation of seeking intentional intimacy with Him -- asking Him all the time -- not just in the times you schedule with Him on a daily basis that you set apart to spend time with Him. It is every minute of your day and life. I want more -- I want to be in His presence all the time. He stands at the doors of our hearts and desires to have communion and fellowship with us. If you think about it-- Jesus makes every effort to pursue us. Sometimes, why is it that we do not make the same effort. Look at James 4:8, Jeremiah 29:13 and John 14: 15-24. Jesus tells us that if we seek Him with all our hearts we will find Him. He promises His presence to us if we believe. I believe, but I just was not asking for more, I was just being satisfied with the known. I came to this conclusion -- because I have settled for the known, God hears me, He answers my prayer, He supplies all my needs, He is near to the broken hearted , He supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory and so on, I got totally content with this.
Gently, He speaks, “ I have pursued you” I say “Yes I know”. That is when the sorrow floods my soul. “ Father, forgive me, I want more of you, but I have failed to ask you for what I want and need.” Do you want to feel His Holy presence with you all the time-- not just in the set times? He is standing at the door of your heart waiting for you to ask Him to grant you the grace to continue in His presence. He will allow us to know His presence. When we know His presence, everything about our lives , the good, the sorrowful, the bumps in the road can be turned back into praise and worship to the Most High God. He is with us -how could we not rejoice?
Father: you tell us that we can ask. I don’t understand sometimes why the obvious seems to escape us and we don’t ask. Sometimes Father, we don’t even know what it is that we are to ask for. Father, give us more of you. Come and abide with us, we want to know You more, we want to experience your Holy presence in our lives all the time --- not just the times we set apart for you. We are asking this in your Sweet, Sweet Name. Amen
As you walk on this journey of life -- ask God for His sweet presence each and everyday. Have a blessed week.
Janice CR Encourager Coach-Team FBC Rogers
This is not an invitation to receive Christ as your Savior, but it is an invitation of seeking intentional intimacy with Him -- asking Him all the time -- not just in the times you schedule with Him on a daily basis that you set apart to spend time with Him. It is every minute of your day and life. I want more -- I want to be in His presence all the time. He stands at the doors of our hearts and desires to have communion and fellowship with us. If you think about it-- Jesus makes every effort to pursue us. Sometimes, why is it that we do not make the same effort. Look at James 4:8, Jeremiah 29:13 and John 14: 15-24. Jesus tells us that if we seek Him with all our hearts we will find Him. He promises His presence to us if we believe. I believe, but I just was not asking for more, I was just being satisfied with the known. I came to this conclusion -- because I have settled for the known, God hears me, He answers my prayer, He supplies all my needs, He is near to the broken hearted , He supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory and so on, I got totally content with this.
Gently, He speaks, “ I have pursued you” I say “Yes I know”. That is when the sorrow floods my soul. “ Father, forgive me, I want more of you, but I have failed to ask you for what I want and need.” Do you want to feel His Holy presence with you all the time-- not just in the set times? He is standing at the door of your heart waiting for you to ask Him to grant you the grace to continue in His presence. He will allow us to know His presence. When we know His presence, everything about our lives , the good, the sorrowful, the bumps in the road can be turned back into praise and worship to the Most High God. He is with us -how could we not rejoice?
Father: you tell us that we can ask. I don’t understand sometimes why the obvious seems to escape us and we don’t ask. Sometimes Father, we don’t even know what it is that we are to ask for. Father, give us more of you. Come and abide with us, we want to know You more, we want to experience your Holy presence in our lives all the time --- not just the times we set apart for you. We are asking this in your Sweet, Sweet Name. Amen
As you walk on this journey of life -- ask God for His sweet presence each and everyday. Have a blessed week.
Janice CR Encourager Coach-Team FBC Rogers
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