The Presence – Part 2

Praying As You Go

I often have heard many well intended believers say that, since they cannot seem to dedicate any time to God in the secret place, that: “I am always in prayer…I just pray as I go.” My response to that is usually something like: “congratulations…you’ve become more spiritual than the Son of God!”

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35

The “pray as you go” approach sounds very spiritual at first, but really it is not. Jesus went daily to the secret place. We are called to imitate His life. Part of that is being called to pray without ceasing too. That is a goal that we should be moving towards and expecting. But we have been given the gift of both the secret place, and to be able to pray without ceasing.

The secret place has been given as a gift, a first step, to the person who wants to learn to pray without ceasing. For the individual who desires to both “dwell in the secret place” and to “abide beneath the shadow” (Psalms 91). To walk in the unbroken awareness of God. To practice the Presence. You cannot eliminate the first part of the Psalm 91 process and acquire the same results. Jesus could not, and neither can you.

The secret place is not a requirement, but a gift. We come to God alone in the secret place, with the expectation of encountering Him. He meets us, fulfilling His agreement do draw close to us as we draw close to Him. We come into His awesome Presence. We are awed by the magnificence that is Him! We are changed within and without. We now have a new grid, a new high water mark for practicing the Presence of the Lord.

This daily Presence encounter, becomes the new bar that we now begin to reach for. We recall the Presence. We long for it. It invokes us to turn our thoughts back to Him over and over throughout the day. We begin practicing the Presence. The time we spend in the secret place, actually helps us to achieve the unending ceaseless prayer activity that we desire to walk in. It is not an either or proposition. It is both-and.
The Greatest Prize

The greatest prize that we can obtain in this life, is ever-increasing nearness to Jesus. Nearness is our primary God given tool for learning to love Him. He Himself, is our exceeding great reward. He is the goal. Ever increasing Love for Him. More and more of His manifest Presence. Nearness…real nearness…is our portion. Increasing nearness, that leads us eventually, to an unbroken awareness of the Presence of the Lord. Abiding. Union with Christ is more than agreeing with Him, it is walking with Him.

We often come into church for little “snippets” of the Presence of the Lord. We are too easily satisfied. We need to learn how to first enter into His Presence, and then how to linger in that place for long hours. There is a change that comes to us as we stay long in His company. We are changed by His Presence. Not just by learning about it. Actually, all the information we acquire about who He is, is intended as an invitation to come to Him personally. We need to come and experience Him.

Sometimes, we think that when we read about Him, or someone preaches about Him, that we have learned something. But can it be said that we have truly learned Him, if we have yet to actually experience Him? Is the desired result mere information, or is it experiential knowledge of Him? Information is a part of the learning process, but just a part. First the invitation, then the doing of the thing. First the knowledge of what can be…which is the invitation, then we move into the experiencing of the Living God, which is what we were created for.

Coming to Him in Prayer

At some point you have to deal with this reality. We are warned in the scripture about ever learning, but never entering into experiential knowledge (2 Tim 3:7). Are you ever learning about what is available to you-but never quite taking advantage of it? Access has been granted to you to come into His actual Presence. Sometimes it is a struggle, but it is always worth it. We have His unwavering promise. Why are we not taking advantage of it? What holds us back?

There are many reasons why we don’t approach Him. Perhaps one of the greatest reasons that we do not consistently come to Him, is that we do not consistently meet with Him when we do come. We commonly have no sense of the manifest Presence of God when we pray, and that is discouraging. So we learn how not to expect it.

We then may create a doctrine that makes us feel better, about not experiencing anything in prayer. We begin to think (and then to say), that it must really up to Him when and if we encounter His Presence. Expectation slowly dies, and then prayer becomes a duty rather than a privilege, and something we dread instead of something we should be looking forward to.

Prayer then becomes boring and unfulfilling, which is the exact opposite of what it should be. Imagine the primary vehicle created by God to enhance the love life of His creation…being boring and a source of guilt and shame. Preposterous! There is nothing boring about actually encountering the Living God.

The Value of Desire and Expectation

Consistent desire for…and consistent expectation of…the manifest Presence of God, will create increased encounters with Him. I used to believe for occasional encounters and that’s exactly what I got. I was told by others not to expect too much. I was told hat I should “live by faith” instead. So there I was, having faith for not receiving too much. I could have exercised the same faith for more encounters received much!

That’s exactly what I did. Once unbelief was vanquished, I began to believe for frequent encounters with the Lord. I became addicted to His Presence. At first, the encounters were infrequent and unpredictable. Then I began to believe for once or twice a week. Then I began to believe for daily encounters. Slowly, I began to attain what I was believing for. Believing you can have something, creates a desire to go after that thing. Faith creates desire, desire creates seeking, seeking creates expectation, and expectation creates the result of our expectation.

What is your current level of belief and expectation? Do not measure what you can have, by what you already have. Go for more. Believe for more. Do you have the courage to ask for what you have yet to experience? God can exceedingly raise your expectation. You get what you ask for. You get what you believe for. You get what you expect….or don’t expect.

You are going to receive…incrementally…more and more of what you consistently pursue after. Begin to pursue the unbroken Presence of God. You should be increasing in His Presence, not decreasing.

by Jim Moore