Devotional - In His Presence

 


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You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

God is omnipresent, so why do we speak of being in His presence? Is there a difference? Yes, there is. While God is everywhere and is always with us, do we always acknowledge Him? Do we seek to spend time with Him? These are questions that we all need to ponder.

The most common Hebrew term for ‘presence’ is panim, which is also translated ‘face,’ implying “a close and personal encounter with the Lord,” according to Baker’s Biblical dictionary. Being in the presence of the Lord therefore means that one must have a close encounter with Him. In other words, there must be fellowship, communion and intimacy. There must be relationship. And as we all know, building a relationship takes time and effort. It must be intentional. It does not happen by chance. As the saying goes, it does not happen by osmosis.

How then do we get into God’s presence? First, we come clean with Him by confessing our sins. His Word says that only those with clean hands and a pure heart can enter His presence (Psalm 24:4) We enter with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4) because He inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).

To get into His presence we must be willing to make a sacrifice, to press past the outer courts, the holy place and beyond the veil into the holy of holies. The presence of God is the place to come face to face with Him in sweet communion, a place of intimacy where everything is laid bare. It is the place to worship, praise and adore Him. It is a time to feast on His Word and to listen to what He has to say. It is a time of talking WITH God, rather than talking to Him. We become still and acknowledge that He is God (Psalm 46:10).

Psalm 16:11 says that in the presence of the Lord there is fulness of joy and at His right hand, pleasures forevermore. In His presence we access all that He has provided for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). It is the place of revelation as He opens our eyes to the things of the Spirit. As we align with His will, we can confidently ask and receive because His will becomes ours and we ask according to His will. Spending time in God’s presence gives us joy and His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It is this strength which enables us to do the work He prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesian 2:10).

As we strive to please the Father, let us decide to seek Him with all our heart. Let us make every effort to abide in Him as He abides in us, so that we can bear good fruit, because apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5).

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