Practice His Presence

Why?

This common question is answered by a most common answer: Because He desires us to be in His Presence. The more we actively and consciously stay in His Presence, the more enabled we are for allowing our "life" to be handled . We forget that "handling life" is not to be our job!  As we build our relationship with our Lord, we learn more and more about His Grace and Love towards us. The more conscious time we spend "in His Presence" the more we realize how very much we need to be in His Presence.

But How?

When I was a young Christian, I used to hear people talking about "walking in the Spirit" or "being in His Presence". I always had the same, but unvoiced, question: How?

The answer is simple and compound at the same time. Have you ever been in love...I mean really in love? You wanted to spend as much time as possible with the one you loved. When you were apart, your thoughts were constantly of your loved one. You wanted to be "in their presence", did you not?

Well, Jesus is our Bridegroom and we are His Bride. He wants time with us and He desires that we want time with Him.

Time In The Scriptures

As we spend time in God's Holy Word, we realize that from Genesis to Revelation, God has written a beautiful love story.  It is filled with fear and faith, shame and honor, murder and restoration, weakness and strength, sin and forgiveness...  All that makes up a "relationship" is included in God's Word.  But there is one ever present Constant...God's Love for His creation. When you spend time learning about how much God loves you, you'll want to Practice His Presence!

The Stature Of A Man

What is the stature of a man? The answer to that question could be as diverse as humanity itself! But, you know, Jesus has given us the measure... "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  You are My friends, if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.  This I command you, that you love one another." John 17:12-17 NASB

This is the stature of a man!

From The Bridegroom

To the Gentile nations the Lord has said, "Thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up My standard to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.'"  "...And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isaiah 49:22, 26b NASB

God's Chosen People

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.  May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.  For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, 'May peace be within you.  ' For the sake of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good." Psalm 122:6-9

"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning." Isaiah 62:1

"And it shall be said, 'Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.'" Isaiah 57:14

About His Chosen People God has said, "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land."  "...Morever, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone form your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.  And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God." Ezekiel 36:24, 26-28 NASB

May our God remove our hearts of stone regarding the sins of our deeds and attitudes towards His Chosen People.

Look At Current Events

The Jerusalem Post December 30, 1996:

"A Message to the people of Israel

When Gamla and Masada fell 2000 years ago, Jerusalem fell

Today Hebron, tomorrow Jerusalem

You have almost lost the battle for Hebron, and as you back away from your right, and your decision to build homes for Jews on Jewish-owned land next to the Mount of Olives (Ras el- Amud), we see that even the red lines within Jerusalem are being whittled down.

World-wide, the calls are growing for the redivision of your Holy City.

We disassociate ourselves from the unchristian statement placed by clerics as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on December 21, 1996, in which they called on President Bill Clinton to pressure Israel into sharing sovereignty over Jerusalem, the historical and spiritual capital of the Jewish people. It is inconceivable that Christian clerics should show more concern for the claims of the Arab/Islamic world than for what is written in their own Bible concerning Jerusalem. They could quote not even one verse to support their call for the redivision of Israel's capital.

Together with millions of Christians around the world, we want to say to your regathered nation:

Do not lose heart

God has not brought you back to your land from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12) just to have you surrender your biblical and historical rights and the security of the remnant of your nation, to those who have demonstrated their hatred, and their desire to destroy you.

You have been brought back to be a light to all of the nations and a light to the nations you shall be!'

"We stand in solidarity with you

'Thus says the Lord GOD:
'I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.'[Ezekiel 11:17]

'I will bring them back,
and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.' [Zechariah 8:8]

'As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.' [Isaiah 66:13]

Jerusalem The City of Judah
(2 Chronicles 25:28) The City of David
(2 Samuel 5:6-7) The City of God
(Psalm 46:4)