by Alisha | Aug 6, 2012 | Uncategorized
Psalm 84:1-2 NLT How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
You were created for the presence of God.
There is a desire – a yearning – in each of us to be with Him, to experience His holy pres-ence, His love, His peace, His joy, and to gaze upon His beauty. There is no place else that can satisfy this longing. Nothing else will do.
His presence has everything you need. If you need answers or direction for your life, or if you’re in need of more joy, then you must make time to be with Him: Psalm 16:11 (NKJ) You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Do you need to be refreshed, revived or rejuvenated? Then enter into His presence: Acts 3:19 (KJV) …times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Are you weary, tired and in need of rest? Exodus 33:14 (AMP) And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.
Are you feeling weak? In His presence is strength: 1 Chronicles 16:27 (KJV) Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.
Do you need a place to run and hide, or to just get away from the cares of this life and its strife? Psalm 31:20 (NKJ) You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
The presence of the Lord is our refuge. It’s our secret place. It is where we partake of intimate union and communion with Him. In His presence we receive His mercy and unfailing love. We experience the warmth of His embrace.
It’s no wonder our hearts “faint with longing” for Him.
The Amplified version of Psalm 84:2 says, My soul yearns, yes, even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God.
Once you’ve experienced the beauty of His presence, you will yearn for more of Him!
But how does one enter into the presence of God?
Psalm 100:2,4 (KJV) says, Come before His presence with singing…Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
And Psalm 95:2 (AMP) says, Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!
In Psalm 22:3, we see that God inhabits the praises of His people.
The door to His presence is thanksgiving, praise and worship. If you will cultivate a lifestyle of praising and worshiping the Lord, then you will begin to sense His tangible presence more and more. He will inhabit your praises!
The Lord loves you! He desires you! He created you to be with Him — to live in His presence. So enter into His holy presence with thanksgiving. Sing songs of praise and worship to Him throughout the day.
Develop a lifestyle of love and adoration toward Him. Then you will find yourself dwelling in that secret place. You will experience the beauty of His presence like never before, and you will truly satisfy that deep longing and yearning in your heart for the living God!
(Photo: Thinkstock/The Knot)
by Alisha | Jul 9, 2012 | Uncategorized
The Father loves you so much! And He wants to be your closest Friend and Confidant. He wants you to draw near to Him on a daily basis, to fellowship with Him and to seek Him continually.
I know that it’s so easy to get distracted with the cares of life and the busy-ness from day to day, but we must pull ourselves away from the world and spend quality time with the One who loves us more than any other.
Psalm 27:4 (Amp.) says: One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.
I encourage you to make this scripture your prayer and pray it from the depths of your heart!
We all have vital needs: wisdom, strength, finances, healing, help with relationships, etc. But the one thing that we need most is Him.
In the story of Mary and Martha, while Martha is busying herself with all kinds of work, she quickly gets frustrated with her sister. Instead of helping Martha in the kitchen, Mary has seated herself at the feet of Jesus and is intently listening to His teaching.
Martha comes to the Lord and complains to Him in the hopes that He will “get on to” Mary and make her help. But instead, the Lord chastises Martha and commends Mary, saying:
Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her, (Luke 10:41-42 NIV).
Other Bible translations say that Martha was:
- Overly occupied
- Too busy
- Distracted with much serving
- Anxious and troubled about many things
- Pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen
- Fussing far too much
- Getting herself worked up over nothing
But Mary seated herself at the Lord’s feet, listening to Him, hanging on every word He said, (AMP, MSG).
Jesus said that what Mary chose was better. What did she choose?
She chose His presence.
As a wife and mother, there is always something that seemingly needs to be done – cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, etc. But only one thing is needful, and that is making time to be in His presence.
Yes, there are things in life that are extremely important, and yes, we have to take care of these things. But we must also put first things first—and that means making time for the Father instead of making excuses. Our children should grow up seeing us make our time with the Lord a priority.
He loves you immensely! He desires to bless you with every spiritual and earthly blessing. He wants to give you the desires of your heart. (Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 9:8 Amp.; Ps. 37:4)
When you give Him your time and attention, He will give you all of Himself! He wants your life. He wants your moments. He wants your heart to be His and no one else’s. And He wants to lavish His love upon you!
So make time for the one thing that is needed. Make time to just sit in His Presence and let Him speak to your heart. He can fix any problem. There is nothing too difficult for Him!
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by Alisha | Jun 25, 2012 | Uncategorized
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” — Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
Unforced rhythms of grace.
I love the sound of that. Just reading this one phrase brings peace to my entire being. Stillness floods my heart, quiet pours over my mind, calm flows through my body. I begin to de-stress and unwind. My perspective begins to realign as I remember that there is grace.
There is a gentle, flowing, movement of grace continually made available to me. And it’s available to you, too, if only you will receive it.
As women, we wear many hats – wife, mother, teacher, cook, breadwinner, financial manager, student, coach, cleaning lady, chauffeur. And it’s so easy to get caught up in the daily-ness of life, so easy to get stressed out, worn out and burnt out, that we often forget to tap into this ever flowing fountain of God’s grace.
With all the things that we have to do, how do we recover our lives? How can we learn to take a real rest, living freely and lightly? The answer is right here in this passage of scripture:
Jesus says, Come to Me. Get away with Me. Walk with Me. Keep company with Me.
In the midst of the busyness of life there is one key to maintaining rest and peace:
Being with Him.
It’s when we make the time to be with Him that the cares of this life melt away. It’s when we are in His presence that His peace floods our hearts and minds. Only with Him can we receive refreshing for our souls. It’s by being with Him that we learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
It doesn’t take hours and hours to receive His grace. It can be just a few quiet moments in which you focus your heart and attention on Him, allowing His unfailing love and amazing grace to enfold you.
I encourage you to make some time today (and every day) to get away with Him. Receive His peace. Receive His rest. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
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by Alisha | Oct 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
John 10:10 (Amp.) says, I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). And Ephesians 2:10 (Amp.) says, …living the good life which He pre- arranged and made ready for us to live.
These two scriptures clearly point out the fact that God not only wants us to have an abundant life, but He also wants us to enjoy it. He prearranged for us to live “the good life” before the foundations of the world!
The French have an expression, joie de vivre, which translated into English means: “joy of living.” Believers, more than anyone else on the face of the earth, should be experiencing this “joy of living” because of the abundant life God has provided for us.
So why aren’t more believers actually enjoying their lives? Why don’t they have a “joy of living?”
Psalm 16:11 tells us that in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. So, if we, as believers, aren’t experiencing joy in our daily lives, it can only mean that we aren’t really living in His presence.
It is only in the presence of the Lord that we receive joy, encouragement, peace, and strength for our daily lives. It is only in His presence that we can hear Him speak words of life and love to our hearts. It is only by abiding in His presence that we are reminded of who we are: children of the Most High God, deeply loved, highly favored, and exceedingly blessed.
Living in the presence of the Lord produces complete and total joy – not only joy, but “pleasures forevermore.”
Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord is [our] strength. So we see that if we are going to be strong spiritually, then it is imperative that we spend enough time in the presence of the Lord to receive this joy!
How can anyone spend quality time with the Lord, reading His Word, fellowshipping with Him in prayer, and praising and worshiping Him without coming out “full of joy?”
No matter what situation or circumstance you may go through, you can still experience joy! That’s because joy is not based on circumstances. It is a fruit of the recreated human spirit (Gal. 5:22).
Happiness is an emotion, and emotions change quite often. Most people can fake happiness for a while. They can pretend that all is well. They can pretend to be enjoying their lives. But deep, abiding, true joy cannot be faked.
If your “joy tank” is running low, then you need to get in the presence of the Lord and get it filled back up!
You may have to stir up the joy on the inside of you. The scriptures tell us to “break forth into joy” (Isa. 52:9), to “shout for joy” (Psalm 32:11), and to “sing for joy” (Psalm 67:4). If you are born again, then you already have joy, but you will have to abide in His presence to maintain a full level of it.
It is only by living full of the Word and the Spirit that believers will experience a “joy of living.” It is only by maintaining a vital connection with the Lord that we will truly have and enjoy the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. And it is only by living in His presence that we learn to live “the good life that He prearranged and made ready for us to live.”
So, make sure that you daily draw near to the Lord by getting into His Word and spending time fellowshipping with Him, because in His presence is fullness of joy!
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