If I could make a job out of listening to the stories of others’ lives and making spiritual connections to our marvelous Creator, I would. Hearing of the journey that God has so SOVEREIGNLY knit together to astound and make us stand in awe and wonder of His power and grace is what makes me stand amazed with my jaw dropped. I had a moment like this yesterday. I petitioned to the Lord this prayer: “Lord, I need help to see your glory. Please, please let me see your glory!” With that prayer came a glory that still has me in tears even now as I type this out. Do you want to hear about it?
I read these verses last night after I prayed that prayer:
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”. Psalm 16:11
“For you make him most blessed forever, you make him glad with the joy of your presence”. Psalm 21:6
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until teh time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of of his holy prophets long ago”. Acts 3:19-21
I immediately stopped. I thought about the presence of the Lord and how JOY, TRUE JOY, comes from being in HIS PRESENCE. This probably isn’t new to you. However, it went further for me. I thought about how children react when their father comes home from work and they get excited about being in his presence. I then took to Facebook and conducted a social experiment. I didn’t have the father to run up to when he got home as a little girl… But that all changed when I met my Heavenly Father. So here was the social experiement… I posted a status and asked for the help of my friends to answer the question, “I NEED HELP FROM ANY PEOPLE WITH SMALL CHILDREN:When your husband walks through the door after work and your kids see him what do they do? I need explicit details.” Yall…. you won’t believe the responses I got from this. In order to help you endure until the end, to help build faith in you, to exhort you today while it is still called today, to floor you, I am going to leave some responses from the question here…
“Austin runs and jumps on him. When Sydney and Maddie were little they would take chairs and sit in the front yard to wait for him”. Do we expect the presence of OUR FATHER THAT WAY? With the resolve of a child to put a chair out in the yard and wait until you meet His presence?
“When the garage door opens, Kara immediately stops what she is doing and runs down the stairs, out the door to Rodney’s car to greet him with a hug. When she was younger I had to hold her back a few seconds because she would run up to the car as Rodney was still pulling in the driveway.” Do we meet OUR FATHER THAT WAY? Do we live dangerously to meet with the presence of our Father?
“I become non-existent. Her father is the only person on Earth.” Do we meet OUR FATHER THAT WAY? Does everything in the world, everyone in the world, fall to the side when we meet with Him in His presence?
“Both of mine hide behind the kitchen table because usually they are getting spankings when he gets home.” Do we meet OUR FATHER THAT WAY? Are we afraid of His discipline so we hide like Adam and Eve in our guilt and shame?
“Easton goes to the door and says ‘da da’ repeatedly and starts knocking on the door until he comes in. Then they usually wrestle around for a min.” Do we meet OUR FATHER THAT WAY? Pounding on the door waiting for Him to answer knowing that we might need to wrestle with Him like Jacob?
“As soon as I come in the door, Willow screams at the top of her lungs, then runs and jumps on her bed and covers herself up, and laughs until I come ‘find’ her.” Do we meet OUR FATHER THAT WAY? Do we play a game with God and take advantage of His presence and wait for Him to come find us? Do we take His presence lightly?
“I don’t have little ones but I did at one time and all four had different reactions. Sara and Jena we’re excited and Olivia and Laura were more reserve and even would hide at times to let him come to them.” Do we meet OUR FATHER THIS WAY? Do we come boldly and courageously, or do we come timid with zero expectancy from Him?
“Some days, like yesterday, Logan runs to the door, gives him a hug and kiss and says, ‘I missed you! Did you miss me?’ Other days, like today, he ignores him completely so that he can finish drawing a picture he’s making for Daddy. Then when he’s finished, he acts like Daddy just walked in and he presents him with the picture he drew.” Do we greet OUR FATHER THIS WAY? Do we have days where it’s so easy to run to Him and His presence, but some days we think we need to bring Him our “righteousness” or “offerings” before we can enjoy His presence?
“My kids are usually crying and say, ‘daddy, mommy won’t let me have the (insert anything I won’t let them have at the time.)'”. Do we greet OUR FATHER THIS WAY? Do we immediately greet Him with our demands and kick and scream for our rights and what we think we deserve?
“Natalie hides and says she doesn’t want kisses from daddy. The dogs go nuts for him though!” Do we greet OUR FATHER THIS WAY? Do we spurn His love and goodness and let the rocks cry out in our place? Or the dogs for that matter?
“Runs to him yelling ‘Daddy, Daddy’ with her arms out!” Do we greet OUR FATHER THIS WAY? This way… Arms out… crying “Abba! Yaweh!”
Want joy? Have you been fighting for joy? Check how you come into His presence…
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