In His Presence

Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

I often talk and pray with people who seemed to have lost their joy. I know what that is like and also know that it doesn’t have to be that way. This is absolutely not God’s will for His children. His will is for His children to be joyful and strong in Him. Psalm 16 declares that in His presence is fullness of joy, in other words you can not have any more joy than when you are in the presence of God. Your glass will be 100% full. This can and will happen only in His presence, no where else.

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’’

When you are down and depressed you are not full of joy are you? You are also not in His presence in that state, for you can not be in His presence and also be down and out at the same time. These things will not and can not co exist. They are opposites. Just like light and darkness are opposites, life and death are opposites, love and hate are opposites, joy and depression are opposites as well. God is always life, God is always light, God is always love, and in His presence is fullness of joy. I tell people all the time we have a choice to make, we have a part to play in these things.

Consider this, it takes your will to get into His presence. It is a choice we each have to make. I would also like to say He has given us this privilege of choice.

It will not happen watching television. I’m not saying it’s wrong to watch television, I’m saying that’s not where you are going to get in the presence of God. See my point? This is our choice. In His presence is also the place where we receive His strength. When you have God’s joy you also have God’s strength. They always go together. They can not be separated. “In Your presence is fullness of joy, and, the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

It is easy in today’s fast paced world to be distracted from the things that are most important. There are so many things that can distract us from the most important thing, too many things. We have to make choices all the time as to what is the most important thing of all. We get to the place where we need to stop everything and set time aside and get into the presence of our Heavenly Father. I am not just talking about Christian services, I’m talking about setting aside our time to have fellowship with our Heavenly Father.

We shouldn’t let things get so out of focus in our Christian walk before we realize that, heh, I need to prioritize my life, it’s out of control. However it often takes a rude awakening to get us to that point doesn’t it?

There should be time set-aside for worship, prayer and studying the word. This time should be something we have got to guard diligently. We are no good to ourselves or to anybody else if we don’t. We have to make the choice to eliminate some of the chatter and conflicts that come our way. I know this is not always an easy thing to do but we have to start somewhere. I have found that many times when I go to spend time in the Word of God, many distractions will come to my mind. The grass needs cuttings, the dishes need to be done etc. These things will bombard your mind the second you start to spend time in the Word or prayer. It never fails. I realize there are things that are necessary and need to be done, however there are also things that are not necessary but are sent to distract us from the things we truly need to do in order to fulfill and accomplish the will of God. We have to know and discern the difference, and make the right choice when the time comes.

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

These things that God’s Word says are lawful can also bring us under their power if we let them. These things may be necessary but they don’t have to dominate us do they?