“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
God’s presence surrounds us and yet it takes us to come to the end of ourselves and the ways we are familiar with that are of the world before we come into the place of recognising His presence and another kingdom.
Our present days of crisis on earth are creating a need in people for something they recognise that the world cannot give.
It is truth.
That truth can only come from the house of the Lord where God’s awesome presence is detected as the gateway to heaven.
The discovery Jacob found when he was over running away and over himself.
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
“And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.”
He set his pillow stone upright and called the place Bethel meaning. God’s House.
A place is only a place if there is no presence of God in it. This distinction of God’s presence being there makes it a house of God.
Moses would only continue if God’s presence went with them.
We have to discern His presence in our house and in ourselves to have faith in our journey.
We walk contrary to the wisdom of the world. We have given up our right to fit in easily with everyone. We are commissioned to be different and to stand out.
Born again Christian’s do not have one foot in the world and one in the kingdom.
Christ in us has given us a passion for more than robotic occasional partaking.
We should stand out as those who smell, look, act different from before because we are a new creation.
We stand out like lights on hills. It is who we are. God’s presence is the top of our priority in our lives.
When what fills the world with fear is experienced in people they need to witness those filled with the Spirit of God.
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Truth sets us and others free. The kingdom of God is our home not a hotel for a night.
We were created to enjoy the pleasures of God. Real pleasure is found in God and sin is the loss of that pleasure when we think it can be found in any other guise.
We need to raise up as exuberant people excited by the love of Jesus and the kingdom mysteries in our midst.
We are followers of The Way not operating in the ways of the world.
Just as Jesus enjoyed the continual overflowing of contentment in His Father as His priority so must we.
Comparatively everything else is wasted time.
The worlds kingdom is in opposition to the kingdom of God and God’s presence is not in it. He cannot live in sin.
Holy separation is coming
Without the presence of God in a house there is only a place.
When we recognise His presence there is an overwhelmed response that cannot deny it. It requires our response to be changed from the inside out.
He transforms us and injects eternity into our lives. We are never a subculture in the world. He does it His way never ours. He requires an explanation.
Just as at Pentecost His model of birthing His church was to make it appear as if everyone was drunk at 9.00am and everyone was talking in different tongues.
It needed an explanation and Peter gave His first sermon and 3000 people heard and were transformed and their souls were won over.
The vision was never to mingle in, water down and compromise. Make people feel comfortable even in their sin.
It was compelling, convicting, uncompromising, unapologetic and special. Nothing man manufactured. His glory as life giving as the oxygen we breathe.
The illustration shows us with both feet in the kingdom, not one in the world and one in the kingdom. Then emanating light that pushes back the darkness.
Three Scriptures that come to mind:
“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Genesis 28:16-17 ESV
“And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.” Genesis 28:11-13 ESV
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4 ESV
The song Greater Still. Brandon Lake
Lessisgreater 