JOY IN HIS PRESENCE
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
Psalms 16:11 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
As I read this chapter from Psalms today, I was struck with this phrase, “granting me the joy of your presence.” There is joy in the presence of God. God’s presence is always with us, but rarely do we recognize His presence. We want God to be with us when we have a problem or crisis. We wonder why He allowed this bad thing to happen and why He is so slow in solving our problems. The problem usually is that we got ourselves into the mess and then expect God to bail us out. We even get mad when He is slow to step into our problems. I believe David learned a key to victory that we also need to learn. It is the key of practicing the presence of God. To practice God’s presence, we must give TIME. The most expensive thing we have is time. We can’t manufacture more of it. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Therefore, it is vital to give God time in our lives. Instead of treating God like a fire escape to only be used in times of emergency, let’s make God part of our daily lives. Let’s begin today to spend time in the Word, time in worship, time in prayer, and time just waiting in the presence of God. I was convicted recently about my daily quiet times with God. My normal schedule has been time of reading the Word. Then time of writing a devotion. Then I usually will read from whatever book I am in at the time. The last part of my quiet time is worship and prayer. Unfortunately, when I finish my prayer time with God—which is mostly asking God for needs of myself and others—I’m usually running short on time. I haven’t been spending time just listening to God. It is remarkable what revelations, thoughts, ideas, and peace I get when I just spend time listening to God. Yesterday I was on a plane. As I flew, I was reading a book about the Holy Spirit and taking time to listen to the Spirit. On the plane the Spirit began to talk to me, and I began to write in the back of the book what God was saying. It was an amazing moment. On a plane surrounded by lots of people, I felt I was in the presence of God. I became aware of the presence of God. I want to live in a greater awareness of the presence of God. I want this to be my normal, not my exception.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit please help me to listen to You. Help me to carve time to be quiet and experience Your presence. I long for Your presence. I want to be transformed by Your presence.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”
I want to give God quality time in my life.
Instead of treating God like a fire escape to only be used in times of emergency, let’s make God part of our daily lives.
This quote is phenomenal!
Ive been guilty of doing this and not even noticing it!
I pray that I pay attention and come to God as a Friend, my Father, my Lord and not as a 911 operator.
I want to show Jesus to everyone. Give me the courage that I may not be scared or even embarrassed. For You save us from our Earthly ways