Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.(ESV)
The greatest desire of our hearts should be to dwell in the presence of the Lord. The presence of God is our very life and therefore a pursuit for presence of the Lord is a fight for life and a fight for our joy. We should therefore advance in fighting against the elements of self , the world and the enemy so that we can dwell continuously in the presence of God. Folks, Jesus Christ has opened a way for us !!!, when He was crucified the curtain between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies was thorn from top to bottom and we instantly had access to the Presence of God through the Great High priest. 1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also suffered once for sins , the righteous for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God,...."It must be very clear to us that it is only by Jesus Christ that we can enter and dwell in the presence of the Lord , He embodies the presence of the Lord and He is ever in the presence of God.
The presence of God is real and it should be our reality today, it should not only be our future hope but also our daily experience. The Lords prayer says" Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" , this is present tense and is talking about today. God wants us to move in a Heavenly reality and this is how Jesus Christ lived on earth. The presence of God should not be confined to certain times , like our morning and evening devotions but we should practice it in all our daily activities. God wants us to be ever present in His presence and He wants to be intimately present in our presence.
The devil likes to keep us in falsehood, he wants us to believe that everything is alright and that we are at the right place with God while on the contrary we are faraway from His presence. He numbs our senses to tolerate things we should not be tolerating. We are also so quickly satisfied and we never want to advance in our pursuit for God, The enemy wants to keep us harmless. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Kirk Bennet said" The least amount of the presence of God you are satisfied with , is what you will have. But God wants to give us more and He wants to give us His fullness" The devil does everything in his power to keep us uninterested in the presence of God. This is a fight for faith and we need to awake from our indifference and fight!!!. James 4:7-8 "Submit yourselves therefore to God . Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" Hebrews 4: 14-16 "Since then we have a Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens , Jesus , the Son of God , let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses , but one who was in every respect has been tempted as we are , yet without sin . Let us then with confidence draw near to the Throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
The presence of God is closely linked to our spiritual disciplines , if our prayer life is non-existent the presenceof God is going to be very scarce in our lives. The presence of the Lord is brought in by the power of His Word , therefore we need to meditate on it day and night so that we might be impassioned and ignited for His presence. We therefore need to invest our lives in prayer and meditating in His word. This should be daily , intentional , purposeful and private. God wants us to daily stand before Him in prayer , he wants us to spend extended time praying and meditating on His word. This is the time!! let us not be mediocre , let us arise and be inspired by men like Daniel and David. In Psalm 27: 4 David said" One thing I have desired of the Lord , that I will seek after : that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life , to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple"
The presence of God is an undeserved privilege that we often forfeit , we really underestimate what has been given to us by God to enjoy. In Ephesians 3: 14-20 Paul was praying and he said"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
By Camagu
