I have been reading a book called "Desperate For His Presence" by Rhonda Hughey. Because I am...desperate for His Presence. In the book, Rhonda talks about the Omnipresence of God; His being everywhere. And the manifest Presence of God. Making this distinction with Old Testament examples of when God's Presence manifested. In the tabernacle, in the temple, in the cloud. Always coming as Israel was worshiping.
I recall the times at retreats or confrences where His Presence is more tangible than every-day experiences. And the times of severe pain, as in the death of my brother. His Presence seemed more real, close...
She goes on to talk about our ministries, and how we often do work for God without Him being the source, and it amounts to alot of striving on our part verses being intimate with God and following His lead and having His Presence and Power at work.
We need to hunger and thirst for His Presence and ask for more hunger and thirst.
Today I met (for the first time) my bloggy friend Heather for lunch. And after I left her, I began to think about the difference between reading her heart on her blog, and actually being in her presence. Even though we only had a couple of hours together, my heart grew more fond of her in those two hours. I feel like I know her (a little bit)now rather than simply knowing about her. I care about what she cares about after time sharing our hearts.
I recalled my time with Robin @ She Speaks being similar. Now when I read her blog, I hear her voice and see her expressions. And Angie, such a sensitive, encouraging, sweet sister (visit her blog about "sister day")... I am so blessed to have met my "sisters"!!
Wow! What timing for that picture of the contrast of simply knowing about Jesus and reading His Writing to being in His Presence.
What I am seeing so much in seeking His Glory and Presence more, is that He manifests through our worship. He inhabits the praise of His people (sorry I can't find the address of that one, but I know it is in scripture) Oh how I long to know Him more! To rest in Him more confidently, to glorify Him more.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ...Phillipians 3:8
If you are already hungering for more of His manifest presence and you want to go deeper, click here for an article by Prayer Transformation Ministries-go to the archived articles and click on July 28th article.
5 comments:
That book sounds REALLY good - I think I need to read it now. I'm going to blog about you later this week. What a pleasure to meet you!
Oh how He desires our desperation! The emptiness that we try to fill with anything else is a hole that He placed within us that only He can satisfy.
My prayer is that we would grow ever hungrier, ever thirstier, for Him and Him alone.
Great post.
Oh, how wonderful to know you met Heather in person. I've emailed her and visited her blog for a while. And it's true, there is something different about being in someone's presence.
Sounds like a great book, something I would read as I love books that draw me closer to God. Over the past year, I feel like God has been teaching me in a deeper way His presence. I also love the book by Brother Lawrence about this topic.
His Spirit lives within us. He is always present. Now the question I ask myself is, "Am I?"
Thanks for this post. I so enjoyed it, my heart beats right along with yours. And thanks for your sweet comments on my blog. And I can just imagine you on top of your windmill. You brave soul, you!
God bless you,
Tiffany
Oh I love that you got to meet Heather! We had such a nice talk one day on thephone before the She Speaks Conf. She was helping me get ready for the meeting with the editors! Big help too!
The LORD is sooooo good!
LOVE you MUCH!
Hi Kathy,
I found your blog. Thanks.
I thought of an interesting study I did that pertains to what you wrote here:
"Making this distinction with Old Testament examples of when God's Presence manifested. In the tabernacle, in the temple, in the cloud. Always coming as Israel was worshiping".
The study I did revealed this to me:
'In the Old Testament, the word for Spirit is Ruach. Ruach has the idea of feeling a light wind that is almost unnoticeable. It can be described as ambient air, or air that is just surrounding you.
In the New Testamen, the word for Spirit is pneuma. Pneuma is the word from which we borrow to describe air powered tools. These are "pneumatic tools".
Pneuma has a force, a drive that causes things to be in motion. And so, when we think of what it means to say, "Not by power, or by might, but by my Spirit sayeth the Lord" we should understand the force of the Holy Spirit that does not just rest upon us (as in the O.T.). But, dwells within us, to cause us to live and move and have our being'.
I see there are all woman on this blog. Gotta go!
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