GOD'S PRESENCE SEEKERS

By Jemima Rayan

There are different kinds of people with different passions. Some are passionate about their jobs and careers. For some it is houses and automobiles. Some are passionate about entertainment and enjoyment. What is your passion today?

There was a man in the Bible who was passionate about the presence of God all the days of his life. His name is David. He always writes about the presence of God and how he longs for God’s presence. All David wanted was to be in God's presence.

God took him from the level of an ordinary shepherd boy to a great king. We see the Lord Jesus being born in the clan of David. In this world, there are people who would love that kind of promotions coming their way. But where are the people who seek God the way David sought? May the Lord help us seek Him with all our heart.

How to develop a passion for God?

1. Spend time with the Lord:

In Psalms 40:1, David says,' I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me'. David says that he could not find the presence of God until he waited patiently for it. 'They that wit upon the Lord shall renew their strength and shall rise up like eagles' (Isaiah 40:31). David took the time and waited for the Lord.

We live in a day and age where everything is 'fast'. Almost everything is computerized and automated. Fast food! Fast this and fast that. No one has the time to relax to even have food. We want to know what the 'waiting time' is before we are seated in the restaurants. With God, there is no set waiting time. We got to wait patiently.

That is why people do not get to spend time with the Lord. They read all about prayer and meditating the Word. But they don't really get to. God has a 'waiting room'. You have to go and wait there before you can meet Him.

2. Seek only "ONE THING":

The Psalmist says, 'One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord, All the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, And inquire in His temple' (Ps 27:4). In Psalms 84:10, David says, 'A day in your courts (presence) is better than a thousand days. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness'.

David had only one desire that he might dwell in the house of the Lord, All the days of his life and just behold the beauty of the Lord. The presence of God must be your foremost desire if you want it.

Moses said in Exodus 33:15 – "If your presence will not go with us, do not bring us out from here". Moses, a great prophet was not ready to lead unless God's presence went with them. God went with them in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. God's presence is still available for the ones who seek after it.

The problem with most of the people is that they have 'many things' in mind when they come to God. It is one thing to seek God for 'what he gives'. It is totally another thing to seek God for 'who He is'. Will you be someone who seeks God for who He is! Desire the presence of God more than anything in this world! Become a presence seeker!

3. Passionate people become presence carriers:

The presence of God filled Solomon's temple in the Old Testament. The Bible says that 'the cloud filled the house of the Lord... the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord' (1K 8:10,11). The Bible declares, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. In 1Cor 3:16, 'Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?' The same presence that was in Solomon's temple can be your today.

When you are filled with the presence of God, you start carrying His presence wherever you go. God will transform you from a presence seeker to a presence carrier. This is what happened to Peter. Peter was walking the streets of Jerusalem. They brought sick people on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them...and they were all healed (Acts 5:15,16). You too can carry the presence of God in that fashion. God is a respecter of no man.

4. Become people of God's own heart:

There is nothing in this world like being a man after God's own heart. David was a man after God's own heart. David's heart was where God and God's heart was with David.

In Ps 42:1,2 David says,' As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? David is so desperate for God. In Ps 73:25 he says, 'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You'.

The secret is when God sees that, you are after Him, He starts coming after you. The Bible says, in James 4:8, 'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you'. 2Chro 15:2 says, 'If you seek him, He will be found by you'.

But there are a very few people, who seek God for who He is. Will you be one among those? God is looking for people who will hunger and thirst for His presence!

May you be someone who is after God's own heart! Amen.