What Do You Want?


I haven’t written a new post for a couple of weeks but it hasn’t been for lack of trying. I’ve been at my computer a lot, a blank screen staring back, trying to formulate my million thoughts into something profound and life changing. I have about 25 half-starts - ideas that will eventually turn into posts and/or messages because I firmly believe if it’s good for me, it’s good for others. But through all the ideas I have to write about, I am stuck on the one thing I want – more than anything.

It’s especially front and centre in mind because as we approach the Christmas season, I’ve been asked by family to formulate my Christmas wish list. I love everything about Christmas and I especially love Christmas presents (heck, one of my love languages is gifts) but what I want can’t be bought by anyone and it can’t be given by anyone either.

All I want is his Presence. I don’t mean his abiding presence, but his manifest Presence. The Presence which is also his power, you can’t separate the two. I want his manifest Presence to be demonstrated in my life in a tangible way. I want to know it in greater measure and I want to expand my capacity to perceive and receive it.

My desire for his Presence is central to everything I do. Even mundane household chores are opportunities to bask and soak in his Presence. I am not a fan of cleaning but my cleaning day (Wednesday, if you want to know) is sacred time with Him, and I look forward to it every week. When my headphones are in, my family know to leave me alone because I’m communing with God.

For every conversation I have with people, I’m having a 2nd one in my spirit with God, asking him, “How can I reveal your Presence in this situation, right now?”

Some people have never experienced his Presence and think it is an urban legend or empty, vain words but I’ve watched “first-timers” experience his Presence and I know they’re wrecked for any counterfeit experience. Other people have experienced it and can give a testimony but they aren’t aware it isn’t meant to be a one-off experience. Jesus left us his peace (John 14:27), and gave us his joy (John 15:11); without either, it’s impossible to live according to the kingdom of heaven.

His Presence is not intended to get us only to the perimeter of the Promised Land (the Kingdom of Heaven) but as Moses prayed, if his Presence didn’t go with him, he would not, could not go on. What did Moses know about God that we need to learn? The Promised Land was occupied by the enemy and the Israelites still had to fight for what God had already promised them.
The kingdom of heaven (our Promised Land) is occupied by an enemy, but Jesus paid for it with his death and secured the victory in his resurrection. If Moses could not perceive of moving into the Promised Land without the Presence, how can we be foolish to think we don’t need it also. Our enemy is not flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of the darkness and spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12) and our weapons are supernatural (2 Corinthians 10:4), i.e., His Presence.

Jesus lived as a man, always in the Presence. He is our example and it’s what I want. What do you want?

********

My weekly writing (Tuesday, Friday and Sundays) have been sporadic and random in recent months. I hate breaking commitments, even if the commitment is to me. My real life commitments are increasing (with joy), but I have to prioritize a bit more, which means I will be cutting back my writing posts to once a week, plus a Psalms for Sunday post on Sundays. I will no longer commit to a specific day for writing but will do my best to have a new post every week, at least by Thursday.

Thank you for being faithful to my blog, for reading what I write, and for taking the time to leave comments.

Be abundantly blessed, Andrea York

Comments

  1. TimNovember 27, 2012 at 12:06 PM

    and thank YOU for sharing what God keeps putting on your heart because they have been edifying for me.

    ReplyDelete

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