Life in God's Presence

After graduating college, I got a video production internship at my university. It was during that time that I really sought God, gave it my all, and so badly wanted to be surrounded by Him. And one day, as I went to the chapel to pray during my lunch hour, I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. I said, "I receive Your Holy Spirit," and immediately I got filled with so much warmth, more warmth than I felt in a long time. I had been so cold before then, always shivering with goose bumps, but that moment, my insides were on fire and I felt the joy and peace of the Lord. I started jumping and dancing around in the chapel, not caring if anyone were to walk in to pray themselves and see me having a blast. I was laughing and crying and praising. (I even wrote a song about it. Check it out here: Drunk on the Spirit.) I was so grateful, so happy, to be in the presence of the Lord, and to know without a doubt that He was truly there, in me and around me. 

Imaging if every moment of our life could be like that, our bodies filled with the Holy Spirit, our minds set on Him, recognizing His nearness, and, thus, receiving His peace and joy. That would be amazing. I still get moments here and there, when I'm on my knees praying, when I'm reading His Word, when I'm in worship. But I wonder what it would be like to feel like that every day, all day. 

After I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I remember I did feel His warmth all the time. I truly was no longer cold. Instead, I was burning up. And when I would start to feel the cold creeping in, I would pray and ask for more of His presence, and there He was. I still think of that verse, "They said to one another, 'Were our hearts not burning within us when [Jesus] was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?'" (Luke 24.32). That's how I felt, like my heart was burning and the rest of my body followed suit. I'm not sure when that started to fade, when I started getting cold again. I don't believe it's because I didn't have the Holy Spirit anymore or because I stopped believing, or even that I grew more distant, necessarily. But I do remember that I had so much faith at that time, that whatever He said to me was true, that He was undeniably real, that He would always provide and look out for me and that He was always with me. I had an unshakable faith and an acknowledgement that He was there that made me so attuned to the Holy Spirit that I could recognize if He seemed to draw away. So I knew I was always in His presence. Even when I was crying, I was in His presence, and I had faith that He would return my joy - which He did, every time I asked for it. 

I wonder, then, if we are always in His presence, because He's always around -- when we believe Jesus is Lord and we have His Holy Spirit -- but we're not always acknowledging His nearness. It would be like your spouse or your parent, whom you love, is in the room. Maybe you were talking to them just a bit ago, but now you've turned around, and it's as if they're not even there at all. You don't think to gesture to them. You don't expect their hand to touch your shoulder or them to speak any words. You know they're there, but you're not expecting anything from them, and you've moved on as if they've left.  

Have I been treating God like this, when I'm not in my prayer room intentionally praying to Him, when I don't intentionally have my nose in His Bible, when I'm not at the keys worshipping Him? Have I actually been acknowledging him when I'm working or talking to friends or just sitting in my living room reading my book? I would imagine that life in His presence would be a continual acknowledgement of Him. Like when Paul says to "pray without ceasing" in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, is this what he meant, to always be attuned to the Spirit of the Lord? 

Well, I ask, Father, that you take me back there, back to when I had first been baptized in the Holy Spirit, when I was on fire for you, almost literally, always warm, acknowledging Your presence, and living in faith and not doubt. I pray that for those who are reading as well, that we may all live continually in your presence and acknowledging that You are there, in Jesus' name. Amen.

I share more about the life God wants us to have, when Jesus said that He came to give life and life abundantly, on my YouTube channel. If you'd like to hear more on this, check it out here: Life and Life Abundantly... What Does That Mean?

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