Cathy and I went to a friend’s wedding some time back, and we had such an amazing time. After the bride and groom had exchanged their vows and the marriage ceremony came to an end, we were ushered into a beautifully decorated wedding reception to celebrate with the family. The table assigned to us was beautifully adorned with decorations, and it set a pleasant atmosphere for all the guest. My attention was drawn to the wedding decorators, who had spent a lot of time and effort to make all these happen.
The wedding reminded me of Psalms 23:5
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Psalms 23:5 NKJV
The Lord invites us into His presence in the same way. He prepares a lovely table before us with so much spiritual food and opportunities for our soul’s satisfaction. The Bible says He knows what we need even before we ask. So I believe when you come to the Lord, there is so much He wants to give you.
Our Lord Jesus knew how important it is to be in the presence of the Lord and the Bible recorded many instances where He slipped away from the crowd and His disciples to be with God the Father. One of those moments was before and after He performed a miracle with the five loaves of bread and two fishes feeding over five thousand people. Jesus went to a mountain by himself to pray.
And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
Matthew 14:23 NKJV
Jesus knew the power of being alone with the Lord, so he never missed His time with God. Jesus’ hunger for God’s presence is similar to what David expressed in:
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalms 16:11 NKJV
In the presence of God, the secret place is where He begins to reveal His secrets to you. He gives you instructions and strategies for your assignments. There is joy, peace, love, anointing, impartations of mantles and the revealing of the nature of God in His presence. These are blessings money can’t buy, and you don’t want to miss these blessings.
In my life group meeting, we discussed how to make room to spend personal time with the Lord in these COVID-19 difficult times, and I have come to believe and understand that the Lord is always inviting me to a deeper place in His presence. He is not only preparing a table for me during my devotion and prayer time, but He is also using unlikely sources or moments to invite me to His presence. My job is to perceive what He is doing by the Holy Spirit and follow His leading.
Revival is so much needed in this season of uncertainties we are in to sharpen our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and encounter all that God has set before us. Dharius Daniels, a pastor in America, once said, “Revival is not just a time and space to renew and refresh our relationship with the Lord but a time and space for God to reintroduce us to our new self.” Revival is a revealer of who we are in God. God is yearning to reveal you to the original you He created, so set the atmosphere for the Lord to pour out His spirit on you and empower you to be all that He has created you to be.
And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Joel 2:28-29 NKJV
When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will receive power from the Lord (Acts 1:8). That explains why Jesus was constantly in the presence of the Lord before and after he performed miracles. He was always renewed after ministering to people and also empowered for His next assignment. Jesus valued those moments with Abba Father, and the fruit of it was evident in His ministry. He showed us He needed the power of the Holy Spirit to do what He does and to sustain the anointing on Him. As a follower of Jesus, we need this consistent renewal (revival) to flourish in our assignments and win the battles we face.
In my own personal life, I have experienced moments where I felt weak both physically and spiritually; it felt like a car running out of fuel and battery power. In those moments, I shut everything out: social media, phone, TV, people etc. and all I did was pray and be with the Lord. Sometimes, when I feel discontented with my level of intimacy, and I feel a deep sense of hunger for more of God’s presence, I seek the Lord through fasting and prayer for strength and direction, and every time the Lord shows up and renews my strength. I feel empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The Lord is inviting you to a beautiful table He has prepared for you even in the presence of our enemies. Your enemies can be anything standing in your way and preventing you from being all that God has called you to be. It could be COVID-19, fear, unbelief, insecurity, past failure, and the list goes on. He wants you to look past everything standing in your way and see all He has for you. The unconditional love of the Lord will never give up on you.
The following will help you harness the presence of God.
- Accept the invitation and show up. The Lord is extending an invitation to dine with you right now, and you need to accept the invitation so you can eat what He has set before you. Just like any invitation, if you accept it and you do not show up, you miss out on the opportunity to dine with the Lord.
- You can eat what you have appetite and capacity for. Your appetite influences how much you can receive from the Lord, so come empty and be ready to be filled. You will be filled to the level of your ability and strength, just like the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
- You will enjoy the meal when you are not in a hurry. So many times, we come to the Lord’s presence with a time limit, which hinders us from receiving all that God has for us. Even when you are chatting with someone, and you are in a hurry, you get distracted and miss out on what they say to you. Don’t be in a hurry to leave His presence.
- You will enjoy the meal when you appreciate what is given on the table. Thankfulness is important in our relationship with God as it makes room for us to receive more from God. The Bible says in all things, give thanks to God (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Accept the Lord’s invitation today, and as He promised, He will come in and dine with you (Rev 3:20).
May you be filled with the Fullness of God and the Power of His Love!
God bless you for the Presentation
Indeed it is very true that we rarely receive what the Lord has set for us on His Table all because we were in a hurry to leave. We attend to the Lord with a Time Set and so we think it more important to keep our time rather than to see his Face no matter how long it takes
The Lord grant us to desire to be at His Table and to take our Fill of what He has Provided
God bless you
SHALOM
So true. The Lord give us the desire to make room for Him to hear His heart rather than coming to Him with our shopping list. God bless you for sharing your insights.
Our omnipresent God is always waiting on us to commune with us and bless us. May our eyes be open to this, so don’t rush out of His presence.
A very inspiring and motivating message.
God bless you.
Thank you for the encouragement 🙂. I thank God you were blessed.
Amen🥳. We thank God for that.
It’s rather unfortunate that most of us fall a victim to this problem . Often times we forget that whatever we are running to or whatever it is we prioritize over God was provided by Him.But in his presence there is fullness of Joy. This message is a wake up call to all Christians. Thank you for blessing us with this powerful message
If we can prioritise God over all we do, we will know that His desire to fill us abundantly exceed anything we could aquire for ourselves.
God bless you for your comment
There is a song that says ‘He is closer than our skin’. The Lord is closer than we think and He is always nudging us to have a conversation. Peace, joy and clarity comes when we are able to respond to those nudges.
Thanks for your encouragement.