A Practical Step

This is from a talk I gave this summer at Trail West, a Young Life family camp in Colorado. I hope this can help you take a practical and bold step towards the Presence of our Lord…

I have been walking with the Lord for a long time. And just in these last few years he has chosen to take me deeper, closer to His heart. I share this with you because I know this intimacy isn’t just for me. The Lord wants you to swim in these deep waters with Him too.

I am learning that life for a Christian is all about Presence. God’s Presence. This is why Jesus came so that we could be in God’s Presence not just in the next life but in THIS one. He longs to be with us in the here and now. Moses got this presence piece. He said he didn’t want to go to the promised land unless God’s Presence was going with him. He said God I want you more than I want your blessings (Ex. 33).

He is always right there waiting for us to acknowledge him. If you are like me you are trying so hard to do the good you know you ought to do. Spending time in His word, journaling, praying, serving, trying to put others before yourself. Y’all I am not saying these things are not of value. They totally are. But if I take a minute to slow down and be honest with myself the reason I often do these things is because I am holding my breath that I will make the grade, that it will be enough, that I will be enough for God, for other people, or that I will have done enough good and hard things for the Lord so that He will let things turn out the way I want them to.

Larry Crabb says it this way,

We are so committed to discovering and applying God’s principles for making life work that we no longer value intimacy with God as our greatest blessing. We’re more attracted to sermons, books and [podcasts] that reveal the secrets to fulfillment in everything we do [rather] than to spiritual direction that leads us through affliction into the presence of the Father (The Pressure’s Off , 183).

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So how do we enter into this presence, or how do we let the Him in?

You have probably talked about and experienced the value of not wearing masks/being fake/ not our true self when living in community with others. It is a hard task to live authentically before others. I want to propose that we also wear masks to hide from ourselves.

Listen to this quote by Thomas Green:

Many say it is very difficult to know God since we do not see him, hear him, or touch him as we do another human being. That is true, of course, but I have become convinced that the greatest obstacle to real discernment [walking in the presence of God]…is not the intangible nature of God, but our own lack of ‘self-knowledge- even our unwillingness to know ourselves as we truly are. Almost all of us wear masks, not only when facing others but even when looking in the mirror (Weeds Among The Wheat, 22).

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The Lord wants us, our true selves, just as we are,no masks. He isn’t waiting for us to get it all right to be with us. He knew before the creation of this world we couldn’t get our mess together. Again this is why Jesus said he would come to this earth to make it possible for us to be in our Heavenly Fathers Presence.  Swim in this grace. We have to do nothing- we have to simply come.

God wants us to come and confess our sins before Him. How can we do this if we don’t know what is inside of us? If we are wearing a mask hiding from ourselves. I want to lead you in an exercise that can help you dig in and connect with where you are/ who you are so you can come authentically before the Lord.

While I do hope you have a sweet encounter with the Lord that isn’t the point of this exercise. We can’t control the Spirit. It blows where it wills. But this is about learning to come to the Lord with sincere intentions of confessing our true selves before him.

Daniel (my husband) and I do this together at least once a week, I prefer twice. We use this to connect but lately I have been practicing it in my time with the Lord and it has been so helpful to dig and sort through my stuff if you know what I mean.

I am going to walk you through each category and then give you a few minutes to ponder your responses. One maybe two of these will probably be harder to answer than the others. It is ok. Ask the Lord to help you dig for what is inside and then be gracious with yourself.

First question:

What do you Want? One chief thing- not a laundry list

Some of you may want to push back when asked to answer this question. Aren’t we supposed to deny ourselves and take up our cross. I don’t want to focus on what I want.

Remember Jesus’ question to Blind Bartimaeus in Mark chapter 10 “What do you want me to do for you?”

He cares what you want.

A lot of times our wants and desires can show us more about who God has made us to be. Pay attention to your wants and desires.

God doesn’t promise to give us what we want but we can absolutely be honest before Him about our desires and simply pray…

God give me your desires if mine are not lining up with yours.

What do you Need? We will all have needs this side of Heaven. Do not feel shame or guilt for expressing a need to the Lord. Take that shield down/ take that mask off and be honest with where you are. Come up with one chief need.

What do you Feel? Jesus had all the feelings we have, he was fully human. Why do we so often try and stuff our feelings and act like we are fine. Look for one emotion that describes where you are: anger, sadness, hurt, lonely, glad, shame, guilt

Why do you feel this way?

What do you Fear? Y’all we all have fears. There are 365 ‘do not fears’ in the Bible. Dig deep and tell the Lord what you are really afraid of. What is your chief fear behind all the other fears?

St. Augustine once said, “God is more near to you than you are to yourself.” That has brought utmost comfort to me as there have been many moments I don’t know what to lay down or what mask to take off. So take heart, the Lord knows you better than you know yourself, the Lord is with us and for us. He not only loves you but he likes you.

It takes courage and bravery to answer these questions honestly. Ask the Lord to help you be brave.

After you are done answering these questions please spend the remainder of the time sitting in the Lords presence.  Don’t come to Him with petitions or expressions of gratitude. I challenge you to simply sit and be with him.

These questions can help you know more of who and where you are and I ask you to crawl up into the Fathers lap or let him put his arms around you and let him just love on you right where you are and simply be in His presence.

I am going to come up and close out this time in about 5 mins.

Pray: May your spirit be near and may you help us be courageous as we dig deep. Help us come with sincere intention into your presence just as we are.

…

Receive these words that were spoken over Jesus at his baptism.

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matt 3:17

Another translation could be,

“You are lovable. You are good. It is good that you exist.” Larry Crabb

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