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Thursday, June 11, 2015

I Choose His Presence



He will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6b).

Do I believe this promise that he will never leave or forsake me? It is a guarantee. If I don't feel His presence all the time that does not mean He has forsaken me. He doesn't change (Hebrews 13:8), and He doesn't leave. When I have something in my life that is wrong, I don't feel a closeness to God. I have an uneasiness that lets me know I need to make a change in my attitude, thought-life, or action. When there is something that blocks His presence in my life, I have no peace because my life is not surrendered to Him completely. I feel He has left me, but He hasn't. He is still there waiting for my return. If I have sinned the feeling of separation that comes with that sin is very real, but it does not come from Him. It comes from my own decision to go against what I know is His truth. If I haven't surrendered in areas that He wishes to be surrendered, He prunes “self” out of my life. When either “sin” or “self” stands in the way of a surrendered relationship with Him, I feel alone and struggling to understand what is wrong. What is wrong is me. He has not forsaken me. I have forsaken Him.

If I have something in my life I know is not right, I must turn completely from it, and ask for His forgiveness. If I have wrong attitudes and desires, I must surrender the “selfishness” that harbors them, and choose what is right. If there is anything He wishes for me to surrender to His will, then I must give up that which keeps me from intimacy with Him. When my life is surrendered to Him, I have a calming peace from believing and knowing that He is with me. I am thankful that though His supernatural presence is always comforting, I do not need to constantly have a sensory feeling of His closeness to know He is with me. I have His guarantee. I know His peace even when all around feels dark. I know in whom I believe, and know He is able to keep me safe no matter what happens. There is the deepest peace that comes from surrender of self and choosing to believe by faith that He is with me. With that peace comes the feeling of completeness for which my heart has so longed. Those days He fills me with feelings of His amazing presence mean so much more because I have chosen to believe in Him on days when life is hard.

Feelings depend upon moods, circumstances, and outward pressures. His peace comes from within and never without. I may be influenced by circumstances, but He never is. His promise is always kept. He promises to keep my world at rest through days that spin out of control. To have His peace that passes my human capability to understand, I surrender all of myself to Him. I let go of everything in my life that stands between us. I give Him all that I feel, and I choose to believe in what He has promised. He will never forsake or leave me.



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