LONGING FOR GOD’S PRESENCE
 

Many times I wake up with a song on my heart.  Yesterday was no exception because the song “Draw Me Lord” began to roll over in my mind.  In case you’ve never heard the song, the lyrics are simple, but yet powerful.  It’s a prayer to God which simply says:  “Draw me Lord.  Oh draw me Lord.  Draw me Lord and I’ll run after You.  And I’ll run after you.” 

 

Later as I was getting ready for the day, I began to sing the song and it wasn’t long before another song came to me: “In Your Presence.”  The lyrics are powerful, as well: “In Your Presence, that’s where I am strong.  In Your Presence, oh Lord my God.  In Your Presence, that’s where I belong.  Seeking Your face, touching Your grace, in the cleft of the rock, in Your Presence, oh God.  In Your Presence, oh God.”  (See Exodus 33:21-23)

 

It always seems that the Lord wants to get a message through to me when I wake up with a song, so I wondered exactly what He wanted to say to me that day through the lyrics.  Had I not spent enough time in His Presence lately? Did He desire to draw near me? After all, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and will come to us upon our invitation and praise so I said:  “Oh yes Lord, I ask You to draw near to me. I praise You and welcome Your Spirit. I love Your awesome Presence and repent of not spending enough time with You.” I then opened the Word and read the following Scripture from Lamentation 5:21: Restore us to yourself O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old. 

 

Immediately I was reminded of a Scripture our pastor read the previous Sunday from Revelation 3:2:  “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” 

 

I began to ponder on these things all during the day and could not get away from it.  Afterwards I believe God simply wanted me to see that He longed for me to come and spend time with Him. That was it!  The embers of my soul which had been blazing were dying down and not burning as brightly as He would have them to.  After all . . . we’re told in 1 Chronicles 16:11 to “seek His face always!”  Here is a Scripture I believe God would have me share with you today from Jeremiah 21:8: Furthermore, tell the people, “This is what the Lord says: ‘See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.’ 

 

Are the embers of your soul dying down and becoming cold and indifferent to the things of the Lord? Death to the spirit brings a coldness of heart. It causes a reluctance to speak out about God’s truths because the fire has either died down or has gone out completely.  The embers or coals of the soul are lying dormant - barely warm.   In fact, the coals have almost burned out which brings death to our souls as mentioned in the previous Scripture.  At those times we may hold back from speaking the truth when opportunities arise because the fire has dwindled and we stand in silence . .  . stone cold!  The embers need to be stirred up! 

 

Even David said he encouraged himself in the Lord and therefore we must encourage ourselves.  It is at those times that our praise becomes a sacrifice and we may not feel much like praising God because we’ve become cold and indifferent.  We must push past those feelings and repent of coldness of heart and ask God to come on the scene to warm our hearts once again. The embers will soon ignite and it won’t be long before they will sizzle with life again.  We’ll become a burning torch for God and our excitement for God will return!  We must never allow ourselves to become cold and indifferent because the enemy will use every opportunity he can to destroy our relationship with God.

 

In those times of deep repentance we must ask the Father to restore what has been lost.  We’re told that if we’re lukewarm God will “spew us out of His mouth” (Rev. 3:16).  He longs for His Holy fire which once was alive and blazing . . even sizzling hot. . . to spring forth again, not only because others will desire what we have, but because the Father wants us to love being in His very Presence.  That’s how much God thinks of us!

 

Jeremiah had so much fire in him that he said that if he didn’t speak the Word of God that it would be like a fire shut up in his bones! (Jeremiah 20:9)  Paul encouraged Timothy (I Timothy 1:6) to “stir up the gift of God.”  We must “stir up” that gift with praise to the Lord and when we do so the embers will spark again.  Our words will then become a dynamic testimony of the Good News of Jesus Christ!  Let’s pray that God will set us ablaze for Him!

 

PRAYER:

Dear Father, I pray for every reader of this message today and I praise You for their lives.  I praise You for Your love for each of us Lord.  Father, where there is coldness of heart, I pray for a renewed joy and fervor for You and I pray that he or she will begin to desire Your holy fire to burn deep within his or her soul again if there be a coldness of heart.  If my friend has become lukewarm, I pray for a renewed excitement because You desire that for us Father and You desire for us to have life and not death because it says that in Your Word.  We repent for not spending enough time in Your Presence Father and in Your Word which will ignite the flame every day.  Father, I believe You want Your people to examine themselves (2 Cor. 13:5) to make certain that the embers are alive and burning bright, not lukewarm or cold.  We may have become busy with the tasks of life and haven’t spent enough time in your Presence. You desire for us to spend time with You not because You are a hard taskmaster, but because You love us deeply and long for us to come and be with You, for we were created for Your glory (Isa. 43:7).  We will find You if we seek You with all our hearts. (Deut. 4:29)  In the Precious Name of Jesus.  Amen.

 

Go forward in FAITH my brothers and sisters!