More Presence

And He said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.' Exodus 33:14

Whether young or old, rich or poor, only child or one of multiple siblings, celebrating Christmas seems to involve the insatiable appetite of wanting more presents. That might sound overly selfish, but with a simple re-type in the spell check, I think you'd agree, the entire purpose of Christmas is none other than-More Presence.

Far too many folks today think that the first time God's Presence appeared on earth was as a baby in Bethlehem. We need to back up in the story a bit, and in doing so, I pray the result would be that His Presence become the greatest and more preeminent Presence in your life, and much more recognizable every single day.

Throughout Scripture, the most common word that describes the Presence of God is the word holy. Six hundred sixty-one times in Scripture we're reminded that God's Presence is holy. Holy is what God is and what we're not. And yet, it is this holy God who invites us into His holy Presence.

God longs to take what is unholy-us-and make it, transform it, and wrap it up in His holy habitation. This process is so awesome, and something only God can do. God has this ability to take things that are foul and unholy and make them His home, His habitation. That's so cool. And it's something that happens time and time again throughout Scripture. In fact, that's how the Bible begins.

God, who has always been Holy-sacred and separate-makes known to us His Presence, first of all by speaking. He speaks and He says, Let there be light. Literally, Light be and light was. And immediately, all creation lit up so this holy, sacred, and separate God could now be known. That's how the miracle of God's Presence in this world began, and it doesn't stop there. No, there's more! Not only does He speak, but He also appears. He comes. He comes in various ways, and did so many times prior to coming in the form of a newborn baby.

Certainly at Christmas we celebrate God's arrival in the form of a newborn baby, the Savior of the world. But in so many other ways, He also has come with this purpose of making known His Presence.

Will you ask God to reveal His Presence to you today?

Prayer Lord God,

I can't think of anything more wonderful or frightening than Your Presence, but I know that I need Your presence to come and wrap me up in Your holiness. Please come and reveal Your Presence to me today!

Amen

No Presence

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' Matthew 2:13

Maybe you've read the story of the wise men visiting baby Jesus dozens of times. But this time, consider Herod's point of view.

When I was a kid, my parents would threaten me with no presents to keep me in line. No presents? That's the scariest thought for kids. Yet, much more than a threat or a thought, it became a reality for Herod and all of Jerusalem. No Presence.

Jerusalem is only about five miles away from where the Presence of the newborn King came into the world. And yet, they missed it. We need to find out why so that we don't also miss it and end up spending Christmas with no Presence.

We can see from the circumstances in Herod's life that God was desperately attempting to get his attention. First of all, many historians, both secular and Christian, have traced what's been written about King Herod and believe that he was sick, physically sick, as this particular event recorded in Matthew 2 was unfolding.

Secondly, God used the same external sign for Herod that He did for the wise men. There was a star in the heavens that all of a sudden appeared. I think Herod had to wonder where it had come from and why it was there. God was trying to get the world's attention. It didn't work for Herod.

Thirdly, there was this emotional thing going on with Herod. These wise men showed up from the Orient and asked, Hey, do you happen to know where this King of the Jews has been born? That was Herod's title! That was what he was supposed to provide for Rome. He was king over the Jews. That had to have brought up all sorts of emotions from anger to pride to jealousy.

God disrupted things so that He could break through in Herod's life, but it didn't work. Herod ran to religion in search of the truth, but it didn't bring him to Christ. And he remained one with no Presence as a result.

God is trying to speak to you today; are you listening? Don't spend this Christmas with no Presence.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for giving me Your Word so that I can learn from Herod's mistakes. Thank You even more that I can experience Your presence this Christmas! I am listening, and I worship You.

Amen

You Go

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.' Matthew 2:7-8

One of the failures of our generation has to be the infamous car known as the Yugo. Although it seems to be gone for good, the legacy of the car lives on as a picture of engineering incompetence.

Herod's You Go philosophy of life is not much sounder. There was a breakdown in Herod that kept him from experiencing all that God desired for him to experience. He said to the wise men, You go and check it out. You go see if you can find him. I'm going to stay here. If you find him, come back and let me know where he is, so I can go and worship him with you. Like that famous broken-down car, Herod didn't budge.

Sadly, the spirit of Herod is prevalent in our culture these days. It's lived out in the dad who says to his family, You guys go to church. I'll stay home and hold down the fort. Or the mom who says, For me, Sundays are all about tennis. But if you guys want to go to church, you go. Or the teenager who says, Church is not for me. What a yawner to have to go and listen to that. You guys want to go, you go.

Herod practically did nothing because his self-confidence was ruling as the overwhelming presence in his life. As a result, Herod was eternally separated from God's Presence. I think this is much more than a Bible passage telling one man's story. This is a picture of a global breakdown, and the God of the universe wants to fill us with His Presence. Yet, it is the intention of Satan to remove His Presence once and for all.

The answer to the You go breakdown is to seek. Seek like the shepherds. Seek like the wise men. Seek the Presence of the One who sent His Son so that you could live in His abiding Presence each day of your life.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I don't want to be a You go person. I want to be the one who finds you, not the one left behind, outside of Your Presence. I choose to seek You, today and every day, so that I might find You.

Amen

It's Always Too Soon to Quit

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

I wish that I could have been there, you know, when God created the world.

What did it look like before He first spoke? All we know is that it was empty and void, filled with nothing and completely dark. Yet there He was, moving over the waters, and then He spoke-Let there be light!-and BOOM, light flooded the darkness and it was no longer empty. My eyes can't even stand turning on the bathroom light in the middle of the night, so I don't know how I'd handle it, but I'd just love to see the glorious scene of when God created light.

Thankfully, God gives each and every one of us the chance to have this very scene recreated in us. And thankfully all the more because so many of us these days feel like the darkness is so present in our own lives.

But here's the thing about darkness-it's a matter of perception. We know that we're surrounded by darkness when our senses perceive that it's dark, right? Well, if you're going to drive at night, when it's dark, then what do you do? You turn on your headlights. Or if you take a walk in the dark, what do you take with you? You bring along a flashlight.

And why do you use lights when it's dark? Because you know that as soon as you turn on the light, the darkness goes away. Darkness doesn't stand a chance against light! So then it's not dark anymore, at least not where you are, and your perception of things is quite different than just a moment before. In fact, your perception is so different that you can bring your light to everyone else who still thinks it's dark.

Your car has headlights, your lamp has light bulbs, but your light is none other than Jesus Himself. When you know the glory of God in Jesus Christ, then our verse today is clear that His light is already, right now shining inside of you.

Does seeing your life with the light of Jesus immediately change your circumstances? No, more often than not, it doesn't. However, it does give you light by which you can begin working with confidence to change them, which is a drastic improvement over life in the dark.

Most importantly, life in the light of Jesus means that you're never alone. And when you have Jesus with you, you can always say that it's way too soon to quit.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for shining Your light in me, and thank You that I'm never alone! Thank You that I don't face the dark circumstances of my life by myself. I choose to look at my life through Your light so that I can have the strength to begin working my way up again.

Amen

A Better Day Ahead

I have loved you,' says the LORD. Yet you say, In what way have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' says the LORD. Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated.' Malachi 1:2-3

If you don't want to go deep in a relationship, then you won't. It's true! If you don't want to have a relationship with someone, you can cut them out.

What's interesting in this is that a lot of people feel distant from God, like He's holding something back from them. But the reality is that God's not holding anything back. I mean, He gave His Son to die for us. So let's debunk this lie that so many of us have believed against God, reminding ourselves of a few things about how dearly God desires real relationship with us.

First, remember that God is the one who initiates. He has proven this first by creating us, which He didn't need to do, but did because He wanted to show us His love. Then He did it again by redeeming us through Jesus' death, which He didn't have to do, but chose to because He loved us.

Second, remember that God is the one who communicates. Now, you can't really know a person unless they communicate, right? Well, it just so happens that our God is the only god who speaks. In fact, He is the word made flesh, so we can see that communicating is at the very core of who He is.

Third, remember that God is the one who cooperates. What I mean by that is that He's not the one hindering the relationship. He comes close to us, and He's here to bless. He's here to serve. He's here to minister.

Fourth, remember that God is the one who associates. This is what Calvary is all about. This is our God, who took on human flesh so that He could associate with us, connect with us, unite with us, and partner with us, demonstrating in every way that He is a God who cares.

If God were to come to us today, there is nothing we could say that would somehow prove Him negligent toward our relationship with Him. Instead, He's the one who is always initiating, always communicating, always cooperating, always associating, and always loving.

God is continually calling us deeper into Himself and all He created us to be. The only question is whether we will answer Him.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for loving me and being so steady in our relationship! I'm sorry for any way that I have doubted You, but I choose to believe You today. Please help me to be dependable for You, always loving You and growing into deeper relationship with You!

Amen

Sign Language

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Have you ever seen a sign?

Of course you have; they're all over the place when you drive down the road, but that's not what I mean. I mean, have you seen a sign from God?

God does send signs to us, and they're purpose is to get our attention. To help us out with God's sign language, here are three ways that spell it all out for us:

Stop Imagining that God Never Signals to us. Stop thinking He doesn't care about your marriage, about your job, about the way you live your life. Stop thinking He's some distant deity who doesn't care. He does care, and He is always sending you signs saying, I'm over here, come follow me.

Symptoms Indicate Gross Negligence-Separates us from God. When God sent the prophet Isaiah to the kings of Israel, the people were severely out of step with God. Every single one of us has gone our own way at some point in our lives, and most of us do every day. We cannot allow ourselves to neglect our relationship with God and become separated from Him.

Savior Immanuel, God Now Supplies. This is the greatest sign that mankind has ever been given. A virgin conceived-impossible without God-and bore a son whose name was Immanuel, which means, God with us. God promised this sign during one of the most wicked times in Judah's history, sending a crystal clear signal, calling them to restoration, calling them to come back to Him, declaring His faithful love and that He still wanted them. This sign of Jesus-Immanuel, God with us-is still for us today, calling us and telling us how much God loves us.

God wants to give us mercy, and His signs testify to this desire in His heart. He points out to us, Wrong way, road closed, hoping that we will turn back to Him and embrace the ultimate sign of His Son, Immanuel.

It all comes down to whether we ignore the signs, or whether we want God with us in life.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I want You with me every day! I want to know that You really are Immanuel, my God who is with me. Give me eyes to see the signs that You give me and a heart to understand them so that I can follow You!

Amen

Click Refresh

Then I turned to see...One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; he had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. Revelation 1:12-17

We live in a casual culture. More and more I hear young people refer to their elders by first name. Many things have become so easy that we forget to respect those who paid a price to be where they are.

I have seen this in the Church, too, as families come in late to the service. Sometimes they skip the worship time altogether and only come for the teaching, or they leave right after worship and skip the teaching. It just doesn't fit their style, they say.

It's like people have forgotten why we come to church in the first place. Do you remember Who it is you come to worship? Do you know the One proclaimed in the sermon? It is time to refresh our vision of Jesus Christ.

All too often when we become friends with someone, we get lazy in the relationship. We begin to take one another for granted. We work hard to win our spouse before we get married by making time for dates, buying special gifts, calling at all the right times, and all that. But then after we get married, we act like we don't have to keep winning each other's hearts. We become familiar and forget to take each other seriously.

When you came to Jesus, chances are pretty good that it happened in a moment of need. You truly felt the weight of your sin and your need for a Savior, so you asked Jesus to come into heart and forgive you. You fell on your face before God and entered eternal life, seeing the revelation of Jesus as your Savior.

Can you still see Him? Or has the clutter of life crowded Him out of your vision? We need to hit the refresh button and see Him clearly. When we do, we will fall on our faces again and truly worship Him.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I need a fresh revelation of You! I need to see You so that my heart will not grow cold and hard towards You. Please reveal Yourself to me as I choose to worship You.

Amen