PERSISTING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

I love Irises. They are so regal. So stately. The thick green stem that extends skyward is so smooth and straight. Waving these big, funny, beautiful, bubbly, bearded blooms back and forth. Irises come in a variety of colors but the ones in my yard are purple, deep purple. The color of royalty. I look at the iris blooms as they wave back and forth in the breeze and they remind me of the billowy robe of royalty worn by my Jesus. Jesus the Royal. His Majesty. Jesus the King.

Do we recognize His Royalty? Do we think about Jesus being a King? The King? Do we treat Jesus as The King? Do we honor Jesus as The King? Do we honor Jesus as Our King? Jesus the High Priest?

How we recognize Jesus tells us a lot about ourselves.   Do we need to look at Him differently? Do we need to look at ourselves differently?

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that he should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.   1 Peter 3:9

One of the best words in the Bible — “chosen.” We are a chosen generation, a chosen people! Chosen by God before time began. Chosen by Him to come out of the darkness and into the light. Chosen by Him to shrug off the cloak of darkness we have been wearing and wrap up in the royal robe of His light. You see Jesus is the royal high priest.

It’s a stark contrast to visualize ourselves standing before Jesus in his beautiful royal robe, and us standing before Him with our torn and tattered garb. Satan would like us to archive that picture and save it forever. Living life in the darkness, feeling afraid, unworthy, unskilled, uncommitted, undone, unloved, un, un, un would be Satan’s desire.

Our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior and King, and our acknowledgement of our sin and His sacrifice that pardoned us, land us right smackdab in the middle of the kingdom of priests, right in the middle of God’s holy nation. Out of the darkness and into the bright light. Is there any better place to be?

My morning practice after my husband leaves for work is to wrap up in my porch blanket and sit on my deck with my prayer cat.

This morning I noticed a bird beginning to rustle around and awaken in the darkness of the sky. His song was so sweet. In the darkness he sang. Then another awakened, then another, then another.   Their individual songs became this lovely, sweet chorus.

As the sky lightened and the sun was peaking, I noticed that the song did not end. Their chorus was unending. I stopped to think. Is my song unending? Is my chorus unending?

You know I don’t notice the chorus so much during the day. Why is that? It’s not because the song is not being sung, it’s because I don’t hear it. It isn’t because the birds stop singing, the chorus hasn’t stopped – it’s because I don’t listen to it. Even as I sit, the motion of my day has begun. I’m slowly moving on to what’s next in my day – work, home, family, obligations. Their song is growing faint.

Day noise – mind chatter — that drowns out the unending chorus. Living daily in God’s presence is cultivated. We don’t just wake up one morning and say today’s the day – I’m going to live in God’s presence today – I’m going to see Him in everything today. Unreasonable. Training our hearts and minds to reset on God every minute of the day takes training. The more we look, the more we see. The more we listen, the more we hear.

For the Lord your God is living among you.

He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Zephaniah 3:17

 You see, He is living among us. Amen! He is a mighty warrior. Amen! He delights in me. Amen! He will calm my fears. Amen! He will rejoice over me with loud singing. Amen!

If I can’t see Him it’s not because He’s not present. If I can’t hear Him it’s not because He’s not present. Maybe there’s too much mind chatter… God’s song is being sung all day to every one of us.   He is rejoicing over us today. We need only train ourselves to hear His song. How do we do that? Simple steps…the next time you hear the birds unending chorus, think about how God is rejoicing over you with loud singing. Amazing. Rejoicing over me. Rejoicing over you.

As the deer panteth for the water so my soul will long after you today, Jesus, listening for your song. Persist in the presence of God – strain your ears to hear His love song over you today – long for the song.