Think Spot

Think Spot 10th September 2012

God came down

Have you ever known certain meetings that stand out in your memory? Occasions when you went to your usual church meeting and suddenly during the meeting it was transformed and you couldn’t take your eyes off the preacher and your ears were so tuned in to God and the message you didn’t want it to end. Time stood still and you left that service still with the message ringing in your ears and you took home with you a sense of the presence of the Lord with you that lasted for days and maybe weeks even months afterwards. It was awesome. ~ The question is why was that service so different ? Why was it you felt God's presence in such a way seldom before experienced. Was it something about the preacher that day? Was it that you had been seeking to live much closer to the Lord the days preceding and God was rewarding you? Or did you pray for it to happen? Were you expecting it to happen? ~ Following the meeting did you find it easy to explain to others what you experienced to people absent from the meeting.? More interestingly did other people in the meeting sense that same sense of God's beautiful awesome presence as you did or was it only you? How did you know it was God? One of the evidences of God drawing near like that is that people recognised God's presence very close to them and became burdened for their sinful condition and cried to God in repentance. They desired a complete change of life. They saw their need of Jesus Christ. ~ When I read through the book of Acts I find occasion similar where God came down and those present sensed the power of God's presence there. How did Paul and Silas feel when in the middle of praising God in the prison cell the doors all opened and the ground trembled and the sound of of thunder filled the place? ~ Way back in the Old Testament days after the temple was built how did the people of Israel feel when God came down as they worshipped and smoke filled the air at the opening of the temple and the ministers could not stand to minister because of the overwhelming sense of God's presence. ~ During revivals in Scotland, Wales, South America, England, we read of similar incredible things occurring. The sense of God's presence was not only inside buildings of worship but God's presence could be felt on the outside too. People began to seek God as they became aware of God's closeness to them and as they did so it produced tears of repentance and peoples lives were changed significantly as God drew near. Children formed themselves into groups and began to seek God in prayer. It was spontaneous and awesome. People remained behind in church after services finished to hear more not wanting to go home. ~ Recently and sadly I heard the very opposite. “Hope the preacher doesn’t go on more than ten minutes today. The church should know that no one has the capacity these days to listen to someone for more than ten minutes.” Of course if someone is speaking in a boring fashion I would agree. But if a person is anointed and chosen by God to preach and filled with and led by the Spirit its a different story isn’t it? On one occasion I remember well when God drew near to our Mission hall in a remarkable way and God came down and His presence was felt around and about the vicinity of our hall for a month or so and it was amazing what transpired during that time. As a result of this event I was requested by a number of the children who attended the Mission if they could come in to my home before school (which happened to be nearby) each morning and have Bible teaching for 30 minutes or so. ~ I can still see them in my mind sitting attentively and quietly drinking in every word, the story of Joseph from Genesis 37 as I applied its teaching to their young lives. They were so receptive. They were concentrating not wanting to miss a word. Could we learn a thing or two from those children maybe? May the prayer be from our hearts, “ Lord revive your work in the midst of the years please.” ~ Joy’s Prayer ~ Gracious God and loving heavenly Father, We bow humbly before You recognising our need for a real sense of your presence with us at all times. We see we can do nothing without You moving in upon our lives and giving direction and strength for our daily lives. ~ Revive our spirits if low and cleanse us from all hindrances to honest, true worship and loyal obedience to your commands which are good and so healthy for us to follow. We know your will is always best to follow. Not out of compulsion, but out of love for you, we ask these things. In Jesus Name! Amen Right Mouse click to save this as an audio mp3 file

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