The Presence of God

The Presence of God

Proverbs 3:5-6 (King James Version)5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God keeps His Word. We just have to trust Him freely and with our whole heart. We have direct access to God through His spirit and His Word. The richness of that access far exceeds anything in this life. It is energizing, living and exciting! As we go through our life motions we can always be excited no matter what because when we recognize His presence we are so set free to tackle and enjoy anything. Everything is golden! Nothing need weight us down. Nothing!

Saturday we were anticipating our flight home to Chicago from Boston Logan. We had squeezed a delightful trip into the city that day and as we checked in, it was announced that O'Hare was closed by the FAA and our flight might be canceled. Pilots and stewardesses were standing around just like the passengers. People were in festive moods and it was fun. People were hooked up to whatever device they could be hooked up to so they could be the first one to say we were going. It was fun. My cell was beeping every 30 minutes or so with flight updates. What makes an event different from another event? It is how we live each moment. We can always be in the presence of God anytime, anyplace even if we don't have a cell phone! He is there where we are! We would get to Chicago when we got there and God stays with us.

Holiday hoopla comes and goes; life is dynamic. Think about Joseph in Genesis, how his life changed over and over again. He got tossed out on his ear by his brothers but he ended up a very powerful man in Egypt., He then was accused erroneously and was sent to prison. He then became head of the prison. His story is tremendous as God continually was involved in his life. He was a great leader because of whom he followed, listened to and believed - God!

This morning I read a section in the Old Testament about the man of God, Samuel, and how discouraged he got when Israel wanted a king to rule instead of God. God didn't sweat it and he told Samuel the best way to handle it.

1 Samuel 8:6-9 (King James Version):
6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
7And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
9Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

We have even greater opportunities today because we live in a fantastic biblical  segment of timeline called the 'grace' administration! Our spiritual tools exceed those of any other administration thus far in the Kingdom of God. When we think about our  connections, we've got the greatest communication tool available. We are internally hot wired to the mainframe of the universe through the gift of holy spirit!

Looking up at the sky, the beauty of the stars against the dark sky and the patterns of the constellations are remarkable(one has to get away from the blinding artificial lights to see them clearly).

Genesis 1:14-18 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

The lights in the sky are for signs. The root word of 'signs' is 'to mark'. It means to mark something of significance to come. Jesus Christ was and is the plan for the ages. The story of God's plan is what the whole Bible is about. The old testament believers looked forward to his coming the first time and we as new testament believers are looking to his second coming. We find it 'remarkable'!

In Philippians 2:13-15, Paul tells us that it is God that 'works in us to will and 'to do of His good pleasure' and that 'in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation we shine as lights'. 'Lights' is the Greek word 'phoster' and is used and refers to starlight and reflected light. We shine as starlight against the backdrop of dark night. Each star is part of a constellation and the constellations tell the story of God's plan. Jesus Christ is the pole star. As the earth turns all the constellations seem to revolve around North star representing Jesus Christ. This drama of the ages has been played out over our heads faithfully day after day, night after night.

An astronomical conjunction refers to a configuration in which heavenly bodies line up in straight line that will extend to the North Star. Spiritual conjunctions occur when the body of Christ lines up together and is in conjunction to the head Jesus Christ.

We as individuals shine as lights. Living the mystery together has always been God’s faithful desire. The body of Christ consists of individuals who live the mystery together and this is how the story gets told. Ephesians 3 is a 'we' section that reflects the heart of the mystery.

Ephesians 3:9-11
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

Having been around for a few years years, aside from getting older (by the way is not such a bad thing, we do get wiser), we continue to grow seasoned by application of truth. It is apparent through the years that the Bible has led the way in teaching the truth of God’s heart and pointing the way toward the living of the Word as God intended. God will not budge on the mystery and that concept is absolute proof of His love.

The stars still shine day or night, during tornadoes, thunderstorms, tsunamis, elections, economies, wars, human failures, stupidity, politics, scandal and good ole religion; despite whatever cloud tries to obscure the light. Because of what has been available to us we are seated in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6) up above the clouds and we shine as lights in this world (Philippians 2:15).

Ever heard the expression ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’? That expression is used to describe getting rid of one problem only to find oneself in a worse situation. Being in ‘the midst of the fire' biblically has a whole other connotation. Moses heard from God out of the ‘midst of the fire’. Remember the burning bush? In Deuteronomy the expression regarding God’s voice out of the ‘midst of the fire’ is used ten times. The fire of God is something good. The use of fire can mean to purify, to cleanse and to heal.

Deuteronmomy 4:35-36
35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. 36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

Religion can sometimes be just like the frying pan. Things just sizzle in their own juices. People can get burned and then the fire of God goes out in their minds. God never intended his Word to do that. His Word is purifying, cleansing and healing. It is so exciting, vibrant and energizing.

In order to raise Jesus Christ up from the dead, it took the ultimate form of energizing. All we have to do is believe it and our lifeless lives become fully equipped for the same energy surge, not only in the future but right now.

At the day of Pentecost, tongues like as a fire sat on each apostle as he spoke in tongues when the holy spirit was given on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-4
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Holy spirit is that inner voice of God in our hearts. It is ‘heart burn’ in a good sense for God. We have it in the grace administration that we live in today. God always wanted to speak to His people individually. We can ‘Prayeverysec’ (not Prilosec) because we have the connection individually with God! It is amazing what we can do.

I know its Monday morning, but God’s heart is portable. He doesn’t mainly reside any more in a tent-like tabernacle or a temple or a church building on the corner. We carry Him around in our hearts. So today if you find yourself in the frying pan, remember the fire! It’s in the ‘midst of your heart’!