1 Kings 19:11-12 -- “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.
The Lord has been really defining each day through a few simple words for me lately. I find again this Sunday morning the words, "Simple Sunday". As I went from talking with the Lord in prayer, to a time of worship, I came across a song on my playlist I hadn't heard in quite some time. I listened to it and instantly found myself singing it to the Lord.
In Your presence
All fear is gone
In Your presence
In Your presence
Is where I belong
In Your presence
These simple words moved me so deeply and I really just let the words and tears pour out to the Lord. No amount of wind, earth shaking, or fire could have cut to the core of my heart like these simple words did.
It's human nature to react to big, loud, unknown, or threatening things, the whole fight or flight instinct response. Our ears turn off and we start swinging or start running. I believe in our modern world, we now live in a place of non-stop big, loud things. Which means our lives are now lived somewhere between fighting and flighting (running), all day, every day.
What hit me is this, walking with the Lord each day is so simple yet so hard.
The simple part is how easy God has made Himself available to us. He is with us everywhere, in every situation, no matter what. We can just talk with Him in prayer anytime, anywhere. We can worship Him anytime, anywhere, loudly, or quietly. We have His Living Word right where we can pick up our Bible (or Bible app) anywhere, anytime and hear His voice and see Him. His presence and voice are everywhere!
The hard part is taking the first step to remove our eyes from the big, loud, sometimes unknown, sometimes threatening, sometimes entertaining, storms and distractions of the world around us. These things keep us locked in Fighting, Running, Hiding, Stressing, Busyness, Apathy, Comfortably Catatonic, or stuck in an Entertainment Coma.
I'm not advocating going and hiding in a cave and doing nothing but praying, worshipping, and listening to God, although it would be nice if that were an option sometimes. NO, that's not what I'm saying. It's not about throwing your phone, TV, computer, tablets out the window. Although it might help. LOL. This is about intentionally and obediently choosing to set those distractions aside. To willingly choose to turn your focus from them and put it on the Lord.
Christian, do you have time set aside every day to pray, worship, and read God's Word? If not, why?
I know life is busy. I know it's hard. I know it doesn't make sense. I know there are only 24 hours in a day. I know there is hurt. I know there is work. I know there is family. I know there are a billion things pushing and pulling at you. BUT… know there is God (The Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit) waiting patiently for you to come back to where you belong… in His presence.
I close today with the video of the song that really grabbed hold of me today, that turned into my worship time with the Lord. Lyrics are below it.
Father I am waiting I need to hear from You To know that You're approving Of what I say and do
'Cause nothing really satisfies Like when You speak my name So tell me that You'll never leave And everything will be okay
In Your presence All fear is gone In Your presence In Your presence Is where I belong In Your presence
Father I'm returning The things I used to do 'Cause somewhere on the journey I think I lost hold of the truth
But nothing really satisfies Like when You speak my name So tell me that You'll never leave And everything will be okay
In Your presence All fear is gone In Your presence In Your presence Is where I belong In Your presence
All my fear is gone Here In Your presence Father All my fear is gone with You
I know I belong
Here in Your presence Father
I know I belong with you
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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