Presence - CHRISTIAN REP

Seeking God

Mike Messerli — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 00:48:22 +0000

“Seek the Lord while you can find him.

Call on him now while he is near.”

-Isaiah 55

This morning, just after sunrise, I went for a long walk in the woods. If you are ever in a place like this you have to walk out into the woods and be still, listen, pray and praise. That was my goal this morning…and I hoped to see a bear…but back to my topic. I walked about a mile back into the forest and just stood still…waiting…waiting for God. I prayed, I sang (badly), I quieted my mind and listened….

….I listened for God, but at times he feels as elusive as that bear I never saw today. At times I wait, I listen and I hear nothing…..I want to hear from him, I want to follow him, I want to be aware of his presence, but often…..silence.

I know many struggle when this happens. I have. Is this a game of “hide-and-seek”? Why is this so hard? But there is much more going on than you know when you sense God is not there. He’s teaching us to be still. God said to David, “Be still (shut up) and know that I am God.” God is there and he is not silent, but often I’m deaf to his voice. How do I fix that? What do I do?

I have to be still….be quiet, quiet my mind, my heart, my voice and wait on him. This morning I stood in the deep forest for more than 30 minutes. I know, that’s not very long, but as I stood there praying, listening, silent before God, I waited for his voice. He knows I want to follow, he knows I desire his will, he knows me better than I know me….and yet he makes me wait. He says nothing.

What is going on? What’s wrong? Nothing at all….God is working on things I’m completely unaware of. He’s dealing with things in my life I have never dealt with. For me the first task is stillness….God has the response…I will know that HE is God.

I’m seeking God. He’s not like that old bear who avoided me this morning…he’s always with me, working in my life…even when I don’t see him, even when I don’t hear him. In these times I wait. He always works in my life in ways that surprise me. I look forward to his surprise today.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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God in the Furnace

Mike Messerli — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 01:31:34 +0000

It’s often hard to see God, to see his hand, his work in our lives. It’s often hard to sense his presence, but for the believer he’s ever present. In fact, he says he will never leave us, but most of the time we don’t sense his presence, we aren’t aware of his care.For me it’s the busy life I live that makes his voice hard to hear, his face hard to see. I don’t take the time to quiet my mind and heart to listen, to see him ever with me.The times when God is most visible, the times when we see him the most clearly are times of test, times of trial. It’s in those refining moments the ever present one is most clearly seen….with us even in the heat of the trial.As I read Daniel 3 this morning, the story of Daniel’s friends and their trial by fire, the ever present one is unseen until Daniel’s friends are in the midst of the flames. In those refining moments, in the furnaces of our lives, God’s presence is most clearly seen. It’s in those moments when we desperately need to see him. In the midst of the trial our questions abound, in the midst of the heat we need him most. Has he brought us to this trial to destroy us? Is he punishing us for our sins? Why is this happening to us?

And in the midst of the furnace God is with us. He never leaves us. Last night I was with a family in the furnace of a lifetime. It’s a trial by fire to be sure. This is when they most need God’s presence, his care, his love. It’s in their furnace that they will see him. He is always with us, always caring for us….even in the furnace of trials.

But why trials? Why use the furnace to make himself known and seen? It’s because in the furnace no one can help us but God. As the king said to Daniel’s friends, “Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” The king has defined the test- Is there a God who can deliver from the furnace? Is there someone to help when the trials of life overwhelm? The answer from the furnace is “YES! I’m here with you. Don’t worry, I will take care of you.”

The God of glory is always with us working for our good and his glory. In the midst of your furnace God is with you making himself known to you and seen by the world. In the midst of the furnace all other distractions are burned away and we see the ever present God who is always with us.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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Heart Direction

Mike Messerli — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:42:44 +0000

“May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” 2 Thes. 3:5.

I’m fascinated by this short, simple verse. It’s a prayer of Paul for those suffering in Thessalonica. I would have prayed “May the Lord direct your minds…” but Paul prays for heart direction. There is a knowing of the heart that the mind cannot comprehend. There is an assurance of the heart that the mind cannot grasp. There is a relationship with God of the heart that the mind can only dream about. In this time of rest and sabbatical I have been seeking the face of God. It’s a passion I acquired from David the king. He pursued the face of God. I can only imagine what that looks like because, in truth, it’s a heart quest, not a quest of the mind.

One of the things I find as I get closer to the face of God is his love and joy in my presence. He really loves me! He likes me, he really does. He’s glad to see me. Personally. I feel so inadequate to even be in his presence, unworthy, imposing on his time and attention, but he loves me. As my heart is directed into his love I begin to see myself as he does. I see the me he sees and it brings the same response that Jesus had to the love of the father….steadfastness. As Jesus prayed in the garden, steadfast in his decision to obey the father because of the father’s love for him and for us, he went to the cross steadfast in obedience because he knew the father loved him. I see I cannot walk in steadfast obedience until I know the father’s love. It’s his love that gives me the ability to be steadfast in Christ.

We all go through difficult days, days that challenge our commitment to faith, but the love of God will bring us to a steadfast walk that can only be known to the heart. The mind would say you are crazy, but the heart knows the Father’s love and that makes all the difference.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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Thirsty

Mike Messerli — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:51:15 +0000

Psalm 42: As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
I thirst for God, the living God.

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really thirsty…your mouth dry, lips parched, your tongue clinging to the roof of your mouth. If you have ever been that thirsty you long for just a sip of water. Thirsty….it’s how we describe a need for something that is vital to life. We cannot live without water. If we went without it for even a few days our health would diminish quickly. We must have water to live.

David wrote of another kind of thirst. He wrote in this Psalm of a thirst for God. A craving for that relationship, that presence that could only be equated to a thirsty deer in the wilderness looking for water. We all have this thirst, this need for God, but many try to quench their thirst with other things.

Like water to the body, God is the only thing that will really meet our thirst’s need. Around me I watch a world looking for relief from their thirst in other ways, but the only one, the only water for the soul is God himself. Those who look for relief from other sources will never quench their thirst, they simply sate their thirst for a moment with things that don’t satisfy.

I feel that thirst in my life. I so want some “face time” with God, I so want to satisfy my thirsty soul with his presence. It’s his face I need to seek, it’s his presence in my life that will quench my thirsty soul. Like David, I thirst for God. Lord, would you quench my thirsty?

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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