Be still and soak in His presence. Imagine for a moment that you could spend a day with Papa God
Go ahead, soak in His presence. If it helps to put on a quiet worship CD, feel free to do that. You can find Him in so many ways. One of my favorite ways is sitting on my deck listening to the birds singing or the thunder and rain. You can find Him in the love letters (the Bible) that He wrote for you to read. You can see Him in the flowers that are blooming and in the creation all around you. You can see Him in the Body of Christ. But draw closer to His loving
How to Be Still and Soak in His Presence
1. Get alone with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Rest around the ark, like Samuel did. Take a "selah" pause from the hectic pace of this life. Rest. Wait. Repose. Reflect on the One who loves you more than you love yourself. Worship. Listen. Respond.
2. Get still before Him to commune with Him. (Read Psalm 46:10; 2 Samuel 7:18, Revelation 3:20; Habakkuk 2:20.)
3. Draw near to His heart. (Read James 4:8; Isaiah 55:1-3, 6; Psalm 42:1-2; Psalm 65:4; Psalm 73:28; Psalm 84:1-4, 10; Hebrews 10:22.)
4. Seek His face. Seek His face, not His intervention. Seek God for God's sake. When you seek Him, you will find Him. (Read Matthew 7:7-8; Psalm 27:4, 8; Psalm 63:1-8; Hebrews 11:6; Jeremiah 29:11-14.)
5. Just spend time in His presence. Become an "Exodus-33-aholic" like Moses. (Read Exodus 33:14-15; Psalm 16:11; Psalm 89:15; Isaiah 29:13; Isaiah 63:9; Lamentations 2:19; Jude 24-25.)
6. Keep your oil replenished. Keep your lamp trimmed and ready. Get to know God. Address Him by one of His many names. You can find over a hundred of them in His Word. Sometimes one of them will capture your heart. Stay with it a while, even for the rest of the day.
I remember one time when I landed on "Friend of Sinners," and the Holy Spirit just fastened it onto my heart and unfolded it to me. You can get to know God, and you can minister His presence to others, when you address Him by various names and learn to know Him through His Word. (See Matthew 11:29; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Philippians 3:8, 10.)
7. Count all things as loss in comparison to knowing Him—that's getting oil in your lamp. (Read Philippians 3:7-8; 1 Chronicles 21:23; 2 Samuel 24:24.) It's also a great trade!
8. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the amazing Person you are speaking with. You are talking with Him, not merely to Him; He is speaking back to you. The God of the universe likes to hear your voice. (Read Romans 5:5; Psalm 143:8, 10; Isaiah 54:10; Lamentations 3:22-25; John 17:23; Romans 8:35-39.)
Be still. Soak in His presence. He loves to spend time with you!
Prayer to Soak in His Presence
Father, I present myself before You in Jesus' great name. All I want is more of You. Let my words be pleasing to You. Awaken my soul and spirit to hear Your voice.
I love you, and I want to love you more. I want to be like young Samuel and learn to rest around the ark. I want to soak in Your presence. Draw me close to You. Let me hear Your heartbeat. Pull my deepest heartstrings. I want to know Your voice and mirror Your ways. I choose Your ways over mine. Give me oil in my lamp, and grace me to be a wise attendant in these days. I come to You with expectancy and joy. Amen
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
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XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
