The past few weeks, I've been overwhelmed by just being in the presence of God. It's making space and making time to just be found in His presence.
A friend of mine reminded me this week too that even Jesus himself went out into the wilderness, but it was in that place of making space (which also led to testing) that He came out in the power of the Spirit to start His ministry.
I've shared this verse before from John 1:32:
Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
What does it mean "remain on him"? Jesus lived his life on earth as Perfect Theology. When we see Jesus, we see God. So then, if Jesus remained the presence of Holy Spirit and modeled for us, is there a call for us to do the same? Should I do the same? What if our working, our playing, our relationships with family, friends and the world around us; all of it was marked by own abiding in the presence of God?
The funny thing here is that in reading over John 1, I also read over John 3 and John the Baptists' testimony of Jesus and stumbled upon John 3:27. John had just been asked by his own disciples why the one "on the other side of the Jordan" (Jesus) was baptizing and everyone was going to him. To this John responds with an interesting statement:
"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven."
All I can is 'Wow!" Everything I do—my gifting, my talents and what I do with them, my breathing and my blessings—they are given to me by heaven. I think it would be alright to say that anything new I would like to receive in my life can also only be given to me from heaven, thus requiring my remaining in the Spirit. When we see Jesus' life, all of his healings, signs and wonders all came from this place of intimacy with heaven. He lived from what the Celts called the 'thin place', where the realms of earth and spirit were so close you couldn't tell them apart.
My last reflection is on the life of Gideon. In Judges 6, he meets the Lord under a tree and Gideon is told that he and his family will be blessed and he will defeat the enemy. He makes two sacrifices to the Lord and in verse 33-34, this is what happens:
33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together and, crossing the Jordan, encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself and took possession of him, and he blew a trumpet, and [the clan of] Abiezer was gathered to him.
"The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself and took possession of him." God, cloth me with yourself and take possession of my heart, soul, mind and strength, so that every hope, dream, talent and desire aligns with heaven! May anyone who reads this take you up on such an opportunity to live from a place of abiding in the vine and Remaining in the Presence. It's the only way we can live in times like these. It's the only way we will see our lives and the lives of our families, cities, states and nations changed.
Make me hungry for you Lord; the kind of hunger I can't ignore. I know I've tasted, God, but my heart is wanting more. To know you and love you as my King; to pour our my life from this alabaster jar and kiss your feet.
