Encountering God through the Receiving of His Presence
First15 Devotional
First15
4.9 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many of us know God’s presence is always available to us, but rarely do we take a second to become aware of how near he truly is. Today we’ll explore what it means to encounter God through receiving his presence. This simple concept has radically changed my life, and it is my prayer it changes yours too. May we learn to practice God’s presence on a regular basis and see his goodness flood our lives.
Our Scripture for today comes from Psalm 139:7, and today's worship is Abba by Jonathan & Melissa Helser.
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We just launched Vol. 7 of our First15 Devotional Series, Trust. And I couldn’t be more excited!
Trust is one of the devotional books I’ve been most anticipating, because of how critical trust is to our ability to thrive in and out of life’s difficult seasons.
This year has been arguably the hardest year we’ve faced globally in a generation. The pandemic has quickly taken its toll in every corner of our society, and every corner of the human heart. And the effects of systematic racism, and our lack of true racial reconciliation across the U.S. and beyond has brought us face to face with the mountain of division we’ve yet to overcome.
Personally, when life is good I find it easy to trust God, to be grateful for the ways he’s providing for me. But when my circumstances get hard, I find myself taking my life back in my control, and suffering as a result.
In Scripture, so many of God’s promises of peace, of provision, of safety are linked to our trust. Trust is like the “yes” that empowers God to move in deeper and more profound ways in and through us.
So I want to sincerely encourage you to get Trust today, to immerse yourself in this 5-week guide that will help you genuinely and wholeheartedly trust God. Because when you give God your trust, you’ll find an abundant peace and life that can carry you with unshakable joy through even life’s hardest challenges.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Many of us know God's presence is always available to us, but rarely do we take a second to become |
| 0:11.0 | aware of how near He truly is. Today we'll explore what it means to encounter God through |
| 0:18.0 | receiving His presence. This simple concept has radically changed my life, and it is my prayer. |
| 0:25.0 | It changes yours too. May we learn to practice God's presence on a regular basis and see His goodness |
| 0:32.0 | flood our lives. Welcome to the first 15 podcast. |
| 0:38.0 | God's presence has been made fully available to us by the sacrifice of Jesus, our pure and spotless lamb. |
| 0:46.0 | When we become Christians, we are made totally new. |
| 0:50.0 | Second Corinthians 517 tells us, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. |
| 0:56.0 | The oldest passed away, behold, the new has come. We are now available to fellowship with the presence |
| 1:03.0 | of God in a closer and more intimate way than any people of God before the coming of Christ. |
| 1:10.0 | We can now have God Himself dwelling within us, His very spirit, fellowshiping with ours. |
| 1:18.0 | Ephesians 518 says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. |
| 1:26.0 | To be filled with the spirit is not a suggestion, it is a command. We as believers must continually be filled with the spirit |
| 1:34.0 | in order to access the fullness of relationship and life available to us on this earth. |
| 1:41.0 | We need God's presence as sojourners on this earth. We need God's spirit dwelling within us to live out the wonderful |
| 1:50.0 | life-giving commands of Scripture. We need God's spirit to experience the fullness of God's presence available to us |
| 1:58.0 | through the powerful sacrifice of Jesus. You see, God's presence is already here. |
| 2:04.0 | Psalm 139 7-12 says, where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? |
| 2:11.0 | If I send to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and shield, you are there. |
| 2:16.0 | If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, even there your hands shall lead me, |
| 2:23.0 | and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night. |
| 2:30.0 | Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as day. For darkness is as light with you. |
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