One of the greatest gifts of my life has been experiencing the presence of God.

His presence is essential to experiencing and knowing him.

And God has made himself so available to us through all that Jesus accomplished.

May we simplify what it means to experience God's presence today and gain a greater sense

of confidence to experience the presence of God for ourselves at all times.

Welcome to the First 15 podcast. Our scripture for today comes from Psalm 27 verse 4.

Scripture says,

One thing have I asked of the Lord

that will I seek after.

That I may dwell in the house

of the Lord all the days of my life

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

Experiencing the presence of God sounds like such a mystery.

It sounds like this wonderful but evasive thing that some people get sometimes,

but isn't concrete enough to expect or place your hope in.

We associate God's presence with emotions and music, as if it were a breeze so light and momentary,

you almost couldn't be sure it happened at all. But in reality, God's presence

is as simple as being in the presence of a friend or spouse. It's as simple and concrete as being

around a person, except for one simple truth. God never leaves. And just as you can be in the same

room as a friend and not know it, you can live the Christian life apart from experiencing

God's nearness. Just as you can be sitting right across from a friend and be so busy with technology or your own

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