Sep 01 – The Presence of God!

“Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:11–12)

When you truly long for and cry out for God’s presence, you must also completely remove every sin, transgression, and relationship that displeases the Lord.

When sin enters your life, it creates a separation between you and God. It slows down your spiritual walk and clouds your prayer life. The Lord has paid the highest price to redeem you. Do not grieve Him by ignoring His great love and sacrifice through sin.

The Bible says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

A devout man, when asked the reason for his joy in God’s presence, replied, “It is the regular habit of self-examination.” Every evening, he would come before the Lord’s presence and ask himself five questions, allowing the light of the Holy Spirit to search his heart:

1. Have I lived today in truth and integrity?
2. Have I given place to impurity or evil thoughts?
3. Have I allowed any root of bitterness into my heart?
4. Have my motives, thoughts, and intentions been aligned with the Lord?
5. In all that I have done today, have I sought God’s glory alone, without seeking my own?

King David also prayed daily, ” Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24)

The believers in the early Church had such a strong conviction that it was better to die than to lose God’s presence through sin. When the Apostle Paul stood before the Roman Emperor, he could have escaped execution by uttering a small lie and denying Christ. But instead, he chose to lay down his life as a witness for Him.

Children of God, will you also stand firmly as a testimony for the Lord?

Verse for further meditation: “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)