As I seek the face of The LORD about the message He wants me to send out to His people, I felt very clearly in my heart God speaking to me on this subject and how dear this has become in my heart, gives me excitement to write because I know His word is going to touch the Lives of His people.
ABIDING IN HIS PRESENCE: JOHN 15:1-11.
The presence of God to our generation today is becoming more and more a practical reality in some Nations, Churches, Mission bodies as well as individual lives.
People around the World in difference times and period encounter the awesome presence of our creator who always seeks to have close intimate and precious relationships with His people.
The picture of the Garden of Eden right from the beginning shows just how God values man and has made man the crown of His creation. Gen 3:8-9. And even though sin brought a devastating separation that was never intended by God, He still reveals Himself throughout the history of one generation to another. In the book of Psalm 63:1-3 & 8, we see someone who seeks to know God and Abide in His presence.
One may ask before reading this Psalm; what made David so special among all other Kings that rule Israel? The simple answer will be his HEART and his DESIRE. Look at verse 8:” My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me”
THE HEART:
The heart is the centre of our character transformation and the beginning of any encounter with God starts with the HEART. It is in our heart that the reality of who we are is known to us. As the heart is hidden among the internal organs of the body, so also is its value among them. This reveals something very important about us; the heat of every pain and disappointment we go through in life, is covered by this same organ making it most times very hard to express our true self and as a result our relationship with God, follows the same pattern of openness.
Even though we seem to read and hear from preachings that God knows everything, Yet His “Omniscient” does not still bring out the hurt in our hearts. This is because our knowledge of God and His character comes from what we read, hear and sometimes try to teach others. But God Seeks something deeper than our knowing Him in these ways; He seeks OUR HEARTS to lay the foundation of His presence with us.
I remember after being a member of a church for a long time in my home Country Cameroon, I attended a meeting and the preacher as if he knew me preached about the emptiness of our heart that can only be filled by JESUS. After his message, he invited people for prayers, but before he even started praying for us I wept so deep from my heart as I realize how much I needed God in my life and the manifestation of His presence came over my heart that for the first time in my life I felt like a free person and the joy that came all over my heart and my life was just I will call it sweet. From that day I start reading the Bible to find out through the lives of others how can I have more of this experience. I was healed from the inside and only JESUS could do this and it started when I opened up my heart to Him, such was my desire for more.
DESIRE:
Desires sometimes come from what we see or hear people talk about. For example my story could stir up a desire in your heart to have an encounter with God. But one very important thing about desire is that it reveals the dreams and needs that are inside of us. When we get hurt or disappointed, our dream is how to avoid such experience in the future and the need will be how to be heal. This also applies to career; when we take a particular field of studies, our dream is to become a certain figure in the society; therefore our need becomes an employment in the area of our specialty.
The trick here is we are carried away by mostly the influence of what we hear and see around us that we turn to ignore the real desires of our hearts. Other people’s opinion seems to be better and more acceptable by the society that we decide not to even let ours out. But while this goes on outwardly, the reality of who we are burns from within and most times this reveals God’s desires for the original plan of our lives. John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me”.
HOW TO ABIDE:
The word Abide means to stay, remain, rest or hold unto. This is so beautiful that God our creator is inviting you and I to spend time with Him. Is this not amazing?
One of the very first steps to Abiding in His presence is: Desire; when your heart cries within you to see Him, touch Him and feel His Loving arms around you, JESUS will make Himself known to you. He said in John 4:23b “for the Father is seeking such to worship Him”.
My dear friends, I want to invite you as you read through these words to desire an encounter with JESUS from your heart. Seek to see Him, touch Him and have fellowship with Him as a friend.
Would you join me in praying this prayer: Dear LORD JESUS, I need you in my life, please reveal yourself to my heart and teach me to Abide in you. Holy Spirit guide me I pray in Jesus Name. Amen.
In our next part on Abiding in His Presence, we will look at HOW TO DEVELOP A LIFE OF WORSHIP AND PRAYER.
Please, if you have any question and or prayer request to this subject, please send your questions to: ndecheckj@yahoo.com
May God reveal Himself to you.
Jackson Ndecheck.