Practice His Presence

 Practising His Presence

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‘Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?’ (Psalm 139:7).What assurance we have knowing that God is always with us.Through the perfect work of our Lord Jesus Christ, there’s nothing that can ever remove us from God’s loving presence.There’s nothing you can do, nowhere you can go, where God’s grace is not readily available to help you.Yet, we sometimes fail to realize what a great gift we have.We get so buried in our daily affairs that we sometimes neglect His presences.

Take some time today to acknowledge Him again.It may seem repetitive at times, but that’s usually due to our restless flesh wanting to scurry about again.

Rest awhile. Enjoy His presence. Pay attention to His quiet promptings.

Take a little time to be still in God’s loving presence. Feel His embrace. Hear His sweet promises to you.

Let His presence go before you.You’ll find that the day seems easier and the path feels smoother.

Be Greatly Blessed!

 

Prayer:

Father, thank you for always being with me.Help me to become more aware of your wonderful presence all around me.

Open my eyes to pay attention and acknowledge you here with me in all I have to do today.I want to live in the gift of each moment with you.Bless you Lord. I love you.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Additional Thoughts:

God is not elsewhere. He is with us in every moment and every place. There is nowhere we can go from His presence.

However, we may not always be aware of His presence. We become so preoccupied with our own activities and so overwhelmed by the happenings and pace of our lives that we cease to pay attention to His movements. We need to wake up to the God whose presence is closer than our next breath.Practising God’s presence is a way of living in a deeper awareness of His activity in our lives. This is a holy habit that many of us neglect.But through many small pauses, we can begin a habit of turning our heart towards God. Through these simple acts of paying attention, we express our desire to live constantly in union with Him.

When we are cooking, cleaning, driving, before answering the phone, hanging washing, whatever the task we are engaged in, we can quietly say, ‘Here I am Lord in your presence, help me listen deep inside to you.’Practising His presence means we acknowledge the sovereignty of God and His intimate involvement in our lives.However, practising His presence is more about personal relationship than strategy. It is simply a way we love God and acknowledge He is with us in all the many parts of our day.The more we love our Saviour, the more we will want to stop and thank Him for being with us. Until our daily living is one entire holy communion with Christ. It is a continuous conversation of prayer and praise.

How aware are we of the possibility of meeting God throughout the day?

What then would it be like for us to intentionally seek deeper intimacy with Him?.Imagine being able to smoothly and easily bring ourselves back into the presence of God so that alarming news, a sudden event, a conflict or a heated discussion would not cause any inner turmoil.These interruptions would be invitations to say, ‘I am here Lord, help me.’Or we could form our own prayer that helps us enter His presence and pay attention to the God who is always with us.   Pay attention to His presence. Feel His embrace. And revel in His love.

Awasome presence of God

 The Awesome Presence Of God

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But they that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Don’t you just love the wonderful presence of God?.

Within it is your source of salvation, healing, provision, and every other good thing.The Bible says that when you wait on the LORD, you’ll have your strength renewed.

Do you feel exhausted at times? Tired both mentally and physically?   

Well it’s time to stop your struggling and dwell instead in the refreshing presence of God.   Pass your burdens to Him, for He will renew your strength. He’ll empower you to achieve all the goals He has set out for you.But the key here, is to wait on the LORD, to constantly dwell in His presence.

Do you realize that the Israelites never lost a battle whenever God was with them? Or that no one who has approached Jesus for healing ever went away sick?

For there’s great power in the presence of God. No evil, no curse, no problem, can ever survive the glory of our Lord.As light chases away darkness, so must evil flee before the presence of God.

Be Greatly Blessed!

Action Steps:

Make it a priority to dwell in the presence of God today.

Meditate on His Word, pray to Him, praise Him, worship Him – whatever it takes to keep yourself conscious of His presence.

You’ll find that your burden inevitably becomes lighter. That your problems seem smaller. And that blessings and favor seem to follow you wherever you go.

For it’s in His presence that we find the fullness of joy.

Let’s pray…

Prayer:

Father, once again I come into your presence.I’m humbled and in awe of your power and glory.Renew my strength today Lord. For I am weak, but you are strong.Your Word says that I’ll run and not be weary, walk and not faint.Help me to stay strong on the path of faith.Help me to stay conscious of your presence throughout the day.Help me to become more and more aware of the fullness of your love, blessings, and promises.

Glory be to you Lord. May I experience the fullness of your joy today.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Faith Not Fear

 Faith Not Fear

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‘Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.’ Proverbs 29:25 (NIV).

Fear and intimidation is a trap that holds us back; however, when we place our confidence in God we will be held securely. We ought to pour all of our energy into trusting God. Only as we trust Him will we stay immersed in His presence, unshaken and unmoved by what is happening around us.

Every step on our life-journey can be a step of faith. Small steps of trust are simple for us, we can take them with almost unconscious ease. Larger steps are another matter altogether; leaping across dark chasms of fear, scaling cliffs of uncertainty, trudging through the valley of the shadow of death. These feats require sheer concentration, as well as total trust in the God who remains close and never leaves our side (Psalm 23:4).

Each of us is a unique blend of temperament, giftedness and life experiences. What is a small step for one person, may be a giant step for another and vice versa. Only God knows the ease or the difficulty of each segment of our journey.

Prayer:

‘Lord, help me to trust in you alone. You have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound, disciplined mind. Help me to recall this promise when I encounter situations that stir up fear inside. I want to live with a strong unshakable faith in you. Amen.’

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Final Thoughts:

Beware of trying to impress others by acting as if our giant steps were only small ones. Do not judge others who hesitate in trembling fear before an act that would be easy for us.

If each of God’s people would seek to please Him above all else, fear of other’s judgments would disappear, as would attempts to please others. Let’s focus our attention on the path just ahead of us and on the One who never leaves our side.

Be Greatly Blessed!

Heavenly Downpour

 Heavenly Downpour

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“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.” Jeremiah 2:16–18

One hundred and twenty people waited for the promise that Jesus had left them with of power from on high. Although they did not know exactly what to expect, they only knew that they were desperately thirsty for a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father. They had heard of the Holy Spirit and how He would move in and out of peoples’ lives. Then, suddenly, He came to them like a mighty, rushing wind. He rained down on them, not just temporarily, but He came to stay.

They were all filled with power from on high as the Holy Spirit came to live in them and then to overflow them. He changed their lives so drastically that it is said that they began to turn the world upside down. Daring to go beyond the traditions of men, these 120 people wanted God’s righteousness and holiness that is found only in the pouring spiritual rain from Heaven.

Excited and exuberant, they were all filled with God’s Holy Spirit and His fire. They were so possessed by the Holy Spirit that Peter had to tell onlookers that they were not drunk. Miracles, signs and wonders became the norm for them.

Is the Holy Spirit raining down today? Absolutely. God, in His great love for His people, freely gives us the Holy Spirit Who brings blessings that are worth shouting about! His rain in our lives brings His strength, courage, health, wealth, greatness, and help in all situations. We cannot maintain the fruit of the Spirit in our lives without Him. These, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and meekness are all found in the rain of the Holy Spirit. The rain will come when we are so thirsty that we can’t go on without it.

Prayer:

“Dear Lord, please rain down on us and baptize us with Your Holy Spirit so that we can minister to the lost and dying world with power, love and a sound mind. We are thirsty, Lord.”

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Three Roads

 Three Roads

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“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:24-26

We know that people will turn against us because of our belief in and relationship with Jesus. He told us to expect it. We believe His Word, and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we live our lives for Him, loving what He loves, hating what He hates.

The hardest of relationships are those within our own family. There are three roads:

Some turn away and run. I believe it is because of some rejection that they feel in their own lives. The rejected reject. We pray that their eyes will be opened and see that we love them and miss them terribly.

Some are pleasant, remain in our lives but will not talk with us of anything other than surface events. No deep relationship can ever develop here. We want so badly to be close to them. They limit life so much.

And then there are those who do not agree with us at all, but they are mature enough and wise enough to say, “Ok, I love you anyway, even though we don’t agree.”

Prayer:

“Lord, open the eyes of our family members to your glory. Please grant them repentance and acknowledgement of the truth so that they can recover themselves from the snare of the devil.”

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Final Thoughts:

I was one of the first group. If I just blocked them out of my life maybe they would go away.  They didn’t. Not understanding the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I (wrongly) thought that my Christian parents were “condemning” me and “judging” me. They were always in the way of what I wanted to do, always not approving of my (sinful) lifestyle.

I thought that I was so much more modern, free, intelligent and open-minded than they were, because I could not see the glorious light of the Gospel of Jesus. I could not see His Kingdom; I was literally blind to it, blinded by the god of this world.

Planned Beforehand

 Planned Beforehand

‘For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.’ Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV).

He chose us, we did not choose Him. God’s plan was set at the beginning of creation for us to be His holy children. Salvation then, is God’s work and not our own doing. We are not saved because we deserve it that is for certain. Nor did God save us because we influenced Him.

God had planned to save us well before we even knew He existed, or even before we existed! If God had not planned to save humankind, it just never would have happened. Therefore, there is no reason to take credit for our salvation or to allow room for pride.

It is hard to understand how a perfect God could accept and even desire relationship with such imperfect people. But it is all because of Christ. Because of Jesus, we are holy and blameless in God’s sight. God chose us, and when we belong to Him through Jesus Christ, God looks at us as if we had never sinned. That is incredible!

Prayer:

‘Lord, thank you that you have planned since the beginning of time to have relationship with all people. Lord I want to be part of your family and live a life that is full of your generosity, mercy and lavish love. May nothing come between us.’

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Final Thoughts:

Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God has adopted us as His own children and brought us into a family who are His heirs. Since we are His true children, we qualify to share all His treasures. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that He is and all that He has. (Romans 8:17). In Roman law, adopted children had the same rights and privileges as biological children, even if they had once been slaves. Paul uses the term ‘adopted’ to show how binding our relationship to God is.

Are we experiencing this strong, binding relationship with the Father? What holds us back from entering fully into our privileges and rights as His heirs? Nothing else is worth putting before this beautiful and privileged position that was planned beforehand by our gracious God.

Be Greatly Blessed!

Heavenly Downpour

 Heavenly Downpour

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“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.” Jeremiah 2:16–18

One hundred and twenty people waited for the promise that Jesus had left them with of power from on high. Although they did not know exactly what to expect, they only knew that they were desperately thirsty for a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father. They had heard of the Holy Spirit and how He would move in and out of peoples’ lives. Then, suddenly, He came to them like a mighty, rushing wind. He rained down on them, not just temporarily, but He came to stay.

They were all filled with power from on high as the Holy Spirit came to live in them and then to overflow them. He changed their lives so drastically that it is said that they began to turn the world upside down. Daring to go beyond the traditions of men, these 120 people wanted God’s righteousness and holiness that is found only in the pouring spiritual rain from Heaven.

Excited and exuberant, they were all filled with God’s Holy Spirit and His fire. They were so possessed by the Holy Spirit that Peter had to tell onlookers that they were not drunk. Miracles, signs and wonders became the norm for them.

Is the Holy Spirit raining down today? Absolutely. God, in His great love for His people, freely gives us the Holy Spirit Who brings blessings that are worth shouting about! His rain in our lives brings His strength, courage, health, wealth, greatness, and help in all situations. We cannot maintain the fruit of the Spirit in our lives without Him. These, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and meekness are all found in the rain of the Holy Spirit. The rain will come when we are so thirsty that we can’t go on without it.

Prayer:

“Dear Lord, please rain down on us and baptize us with Your Holy Spirit so that we can minister to the lost and dying world with power, love and a sound mind. We are thirsty, Lord.”

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

AMEN!

Final Thoughts:

For the benefit and profit of others, He gives us gifts. These gifts are found in the rain: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Yes, it is raining today. Can you hear it?

Be Greatly Blessed