Have you ever taken time be aware that God is in pursuit of you? Take a moment and think about all the times and signs of relentless pursuit until you became His through the power of salvation. The price was high, but it was paid in full. He is after everything about you. Many have been blinded by the distractions of life which have dulled our senses causing us to ignore the passion of the pursuit.
Has there been a day or a moment when you just wanted to be in the presence of the Lord until the point where nothing else really mattered? Have you ever thought about pursuing Him? Do you take the awesomeness of His presence casually? Are you as intense about Him as He is about you?
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." (Psalm 27:4). The words "one thing" indicate the intensity of the focus, the urgency and essence of the desire. Nothing else will satisfy or even compare. Dwelling in the house of the Lord is not physically in a four walled building. It is to be constantly and continually in His presence.
Our access is because of the one time sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ, our High Priest. The veil of the temple that seperated us was torn. The mystery of His presence is poured out upon us. Of course His presence is with us through everything that exists. But it is in the intimacy of His presence that He reveals His nature.
In Luke 10: 38-42, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, were in preparation because Jesus was in the house. Martha's concern and focus was on the natural things. But Mary "sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word." (Luke 10:39. Martha lacked the desire for spiritual things, but was also not satisfied.
Mary was satisfied by her position - sitting at the feet of Jesus. Her urging desire was for the presence of her Lord. As she sat at His feet listening, His eternal words were being written upon her heart. Have you ever thought that the Lord wants someone who He can talk to about those things that we try to understand but cannot? Is He searching for someone who truly has a desire to sit and listen? Where are the ones that will listen?
Oftentimes after a great move of God in a powerful service, we miss it. We tend to think because the Man or Woman of God has given the benediction, that it is over. Believe me it is not. Wait awhile if you can and see what happens. Is it possible that He waits to see who will wait and who has a desire for even more of Him? If you have been entrusted with a key to the house, open the door and check out His presence before service. If you have tapped in, it is even more intense afterwards. Some of us in the church that I attend have gotten the revelation through vacuuming. Yes, vacuuming! I have had an even greater experience of intimacy while vacuuming the House of God. It is my desire to reach for and continue on the journey that will take me to the place where the perfume of my heart fills the atmosphere of the throne room with such intensity that the wave of His glory transforms everything about me.
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." (Phillipians 3:13).
(c)
January 2009
