God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. – Psalm 7:11
Before the fall to sin in the Garden, God spent time there with His creation. Afterward, He is found present in the burning bush, in the pillars of cloud and fire, in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and the Temples, in the den of lions and the blazing furnace. His desire has always been to be present, not only in the larger places, but in the hearts of humankind.
Sermons have been preached and stories written about the keys to abiding in Christ and in God. Those are important aspects of living a faithful Christian life. In chapter 4 of 1 John, there is a mutually-abiding… the believer abiding in Him, and He in them. The Scripture says if you love one another, God abides in you. You are directly and intimately related to the Almighty, loving God. He witnesses His presence with you through His Holy Spirit indwelling you.
Don’t rely on your feelings or emotions to ascertain God’s presence with you. Practice His presence, first knowing He has promised never to leave or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), then confessing anything that would separate you from His Holiness. When you read His Word, do it aloud—you’ll often hear things you hadn’t seen. Sing a “love song” to Him, for God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Call on Him by name. Enjoy the gifts He has given you, and thank Him.
Pray for a deep, abiding presence of the Lord to fill your heart today. Pray that the same longing would exist and be filled in the president and members of his cabinet.
Today’s Verse: Psalm 7:11
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Haggai 2:2-9 Revelation 21:1-3
2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
