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| PentecostalTheology.com
SEEK HIS PRESENCE CONTINUALLY – Ray E Horton
“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continuously” (Psalm 105:4). Seek His presence continually? That is so important for the overcoming Christian life, because His presence is the source of our joy and our strength.
We know in one sense that the presence of the Lord is always with us. He is omnipresent, and in a deeper sense, He dwells within the believer. Seeking His presence continually must mean something more, and it does. So why and how do we seek His presence?
His presence brings the
Joy that is our strength
Spending time with the Lord, tuning out busyness and tuning into Him, paying attention to the fact that He is living within me, communing with Him in prayer, thanksgiving and praise, brings me experientially into His presence
In Peter’s message at Pentecost, he quotes Psalm 16:11 “You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence” (Acts 2:28). That is a clear and wonderful reason, since that “joy” that we experience in His presence is indeed our strength (Neh. 8:10).
But how do we seek His presence? To be in someone’s presence is to be aware of and focused on them. If my wife is seeking my attention and I’m busy on the compute and not paying attention, we may be near each other, but she really isn’t in my presence then.
Likewise, spending time with Him, tuning out busyness and tuning into Him, paying attention to the fact that He is living within me, communing with Him in prayer, thanksgiving and praise, brings me experientially into His presence.
Scripture doesn’t tell us a lot about how to enter in. But we get some hints in Psalms that are helpful: “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms” (Psalm 95:2). “Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing” (Psalm 100:2).
Thankful praise is a key
Praying and singing unto the Lord, both with our understanding, and with the Spirit, using the wonderful prayer language that He has given us, are sure ways to experience the manifest presence
Praising Him with a heart of thanksgiving and singing unto Him are keys to facilitate entering in. We often experience that in the corporate worship setting, but we can do that when alone as well. There are many ways to pray and sing unto the Lord, but, really the most effective prayers and songs are those of the Holy Spirit within, He who knows our hearts and our needs more than we do ourselves. “He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:27).
We read in 1 Cor. 14, “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (Vs. 15). Praying and singing unto the Lord, both with our understanding, and with the Spirit, using the wonderful prayer language that He has given us, are sure ways to experience the manifest presence of the Lord in our lives.
So, we seek the Lord and His strength by seeking His presence continually, as we focus on Him in our lives, pressing in beyond all the clutter of thoughts and feelings and the busyness of this world, praying and praising Him with a thankful heart, especially allowing the Holy Spirit to pray in and through us, using our mouth in both understanding and in our prayer language, in both word and song.
Avoiding the spiritual roller coaster
So, pray, even now, to enter into His presence and experience His joy and strength to live the victorious Christian life. It will happen, as you trust in Him and use some of the ways mentioned here. And do it all the time, and you will avoid the roller coaster of ups and downs, and be strong in Him, useful in advancing His Kingdom.
