Have you ever thought about how it is that you access the presence of the Lord? Ok, ok, so this question seems a little bit unanswerable because we all access the presence of the Lord in different ways and at different times, but there is a reason behind the question.
Think about it this way: we seldomly have to try hard to access the presence of the Lord. He makes Himself readily available to listen and speak and advise and forgive whenever we decide that we want to take a moment to get in His presence. We never have to sit down to pray or spend time with God and ask before we start if He's there or if He's listening, because we always know that He is. But do we take the presence of the Lord for granted?
What happens when we're in a new place, an unfamiliar place, or the dreaded dry places and we don't know how to access His presence? I mean, sure, it's easy to access the presence of the Lord in the places that you always access Him. Most of us do our quiet times at relatively the same times in the day and usually in the same places. Most of us participate in church services on a fairly consistent basis. Most of us know that when we do those things, we have the ability and wisdom on how to access the presence, so it doesn't require a whole lot of effort on our part. But what happens when your season changes? When your surroundings change? When the people in your life change? Do you still know how to access the presence?
The presence of the Lord is a powerful thing, and when we move beyond our emotions and comfort levels, we see and witness things in the presence that can't be explained by human standards and mindsets. It's imperative that we realize that our atmosphere doesn't shift the presence but that the presence shifts our atmosphere. We don't have to create a place to invite the Lord to show up and then He shows up...but He shows up and then we honor him in whatever place we're in. This is why sometimes we'll be driving and be overwhelmed with the presence or in a totally new place (mission trip in another country or visiting family in another state) and be overwhelmed with the presence.
Remember that you don't NEED a shift of atmosphere to access the presence. The presence never fled from a place, you fled from your faith to access the presence. We need to know that we have unlimited access to the things of God. He craves time with his creation and likewise we should crave time with our Father.
It takes faith to activate our potential. We have the potential to constantly exist as a part of the presence of God. There are definitely moments where we will feel the presence in stronger ways than others, but as long as we find our faith and believe that where God has placed us, He's placed us with purpose and He's right there with us, we will never believe that a place determines the movement of the Lord.
It's a prideful thing to think that we determine where the Lord shows up in our own lives based upon where we are and what we're doing. But it takes humility to realize that where ever the Lord covers, He resides, and He covers all things.
Be challenged today to not be so prideful that you take the presence of the Lord for granted, but be encouraged knowing that you can access the presence at all times. He is jealous for you.
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