I contributed an article to Mentoring Moments for today. I thought I would re-post it today. If you scroll to the bottom, you will also see my “In His Presence” thoughts for today. Link up through Mentoring Moments and share what God says to you today too.
Kathy:)
Here is the Mentoring Moments post I wrote:
My mother recently gave me a devotional book entitled, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. In the Introduction she describes how she longs for times when she can sit in the presence of the Lord. She talks about how she went through seminary, was a missionary to Japan, and worked as a Christian counselor in Atlanta, but, she writes, “not once during those sixteen years did I vividly experience the Presence of Jesus.”
I wonder how many of us have actually experienced the Presence of Jesus? I know a whole day can go by at my house before I even know it! We really have to actively pursue His presence.
I recently went through something really tough and it was during that trial I really understood what it meant to delight in His Presence. Now, I get all giddy when I know I’m going to get a chance to have some alone time with Jesus. I can’t explain it, but once you experience it, you are going to crave it!
So here’s the challenge. Let’s take one day each week and really set aside some time to actively pursue the Presence of Jesus. One whole day where we don’t get on Facebook or Twitter…no television…just look for times to get in His Presence. Get some good praise music on and let it play all day. We have a local Christian radio station that is playing all the time in my kitchen. Try to set aside at least one larger block of time. Grab your Bible and journal and just “be still” (Psalm 46:10). Sarah Young wrote that she “listens to God with a pen in hand, writing down whatever I believed He was saying.”
It’ll take some effort, especially with little ones, but we can do it! Let’s see if we can try not to let our big block of time be during a time that we are going to be sleepy…like early in the morning, if you are not a morning person, or at the end of the day (even though that’s when most of us finally get a break!).
Maybe pop some popcorn and run by Redbox and let those kiddos watch a movie (one they’ve never seen, so they may actually make it through the whole thing without interrupting you If you have other ideas about how to steal those blocks of time from your day, share them! We’d all love to hear ideas about how we can find the time to sit in the Presence of Jesus!
Would you like to seek the Lord with like-minded sisters in Christ? All of us together pursuing Jesus? Okay, let’s do it! Let’s start today!
Afterwards, let’s all get blogging about how our time in His presence went and what the Lord said to us. I can’t wait to hear! We will continue to do this every Friday–and share our personal stories and testimonies to encourage one another. Some of the Mentoring Moments regular contributors will be taking turns posting special In His Presence articles each Friday–and you can connect using Linky to share your posts as well. If you are not a blogger, comment right here and on the weekly articles. It should be fun and meaningful! Hope you’ll join us for “In His Presence Fridays!”
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Here are my “In His Presence” thoughts for today:
I like to get up early before the kids wake up and have my “quiet time.” I have been going through the book of Exodus. I am so amazed at God’s goodness. Today, I specifically was thinking about when God made the bitter water sweet for the Israelites’ to drink. I use a John MacArthur Study Bible and the notes mentioned that no known tree could have made that water taste better. This was a supernatural act. I felt like the Lord was telling me that sometimes there are people that we encounter who are bitter toward us. Try as we might, no acts of kindness seem to change a thing. It will take a supernatural act to get through to them. We need to commit it to prayer, knowing that God alone can change that bitterness they have toward us.
Kathy 🙂