Imagine a door.
“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” —Psalm 16:11
Adam and Eve not only had they lost God’s presence, but their shame also stripped them of the desire to be with him.
So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. —Genesis 4:16
Everything flows from the presence of the Lord.
“If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” —Ezekiel 33:15-16 (NASB)
“More can happen in five minutes of God’s manifest presence than in fifty years of our best human efforts.” - Bill Eliff
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” —James 4:8 (NIV)
Intimacy with God is a choice. He responds when we pursue Him.
Accept the Lord’s expanded opportunity
“There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”
—Acts 4:34-35 (NIV)
Fight back on the Enemy’s Distractions
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?” —1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NIV)
Make the Spiritual Examination a Priority
“Lord, bend that proud and stiff-necked I, Help me to bow the neck and die, Beholding Him on Calvary, Who bowed His head for me.” —Author Unknown
We must Pay the Price for His Presence
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” —Joshua 1:8 (NASB)
“It would seem that admission to the inner circle of deepening intimacy with God is the outcome of deep desire. Only those who count such intimacy a prize worth sacrificing anything else for are likely to attain it. If other intimacies are more desirable to us, we will not gain entry to that circle. The place on Jesus’ breast is still vacant, and open to any who are willing to pay the price of deepening intimacy. We are now, and we will be in the future, only as intimate with God as we really choose to be.” -Oswald Chambers
Everything flows from the presence of the Lord.