“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
Encountering God’s presence is where we receive real rest, refreshment and restoration. It is where our deepest thirst in our soul is quenched. Our perspective shifts as we are caught up in greatness and majesty and therefore remove ourself from our self made thrones.
God loves our faith.
We may not on the surface see what God is doing underneath but we create space for Him to surprise as we do discover.
It is especially in seasons of darkness and oppression where nothing appears to be happening and God may seem silent that scripturally we acknowledge God to be persistently concerned for His people’s welfare.
Moses was defined as God’s friend and enabled to speak to Him face to face.
“And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?””
He promises that His sufficiency is greater than any inadequacies.
God’s grace is greater than all our failings.
Our access to converse with honesty, intimacy and boldness has been accessed by Jesus becoming the way at the cross.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
Mary out of the two sisters chooses the greater thing in prioritising to listen to the voice of the one who matters above all else. Jesus remains when all else fades away.
Therefore let it be our choice to create more space to be in His presence.
There is a temptation to be impatient and also to idolise other things. Replicas are false provisions.
We have to allow God to define us and take priority. All else enslaves us. Offers nothing and costs everything.
The Holy Spirit makes Jesus our reality and therefore brings life back to God’s
presence and makes us increasingly yearn for it.
Our friendship with God makes us different. We wait upon the Lord and discover strength and courage that is tangible to those in fear.
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
The illustration shows our face to face encounter of restoration in His presence emanating light that pushes back the darkness.
Three Scriptures that come to mind:
“And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:14-16 ESV
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15 ESV
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Psalm 27:13-14 ESV
The song All Sufficient Merit. Shane and Shane
Lessisgreater 