Presence of God

Let me see His face

EireneLeave a comment

2 Samuel 14:32 And Absalom answered Joab, “Look, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, so that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.” ‘ Now therefore, let me see the king’s face; but if there is iniquity in me, let him execute me.”

Church is wonderful

Ministry is wonderful

Fellowship is wonderful

There are many things in the kingdom that are wonderful. But unless I encounter the King’s face in all these things, then the kingdom becomes just another way to live. The life of the kingdom is the King. The glory of the kingdom is the King. And it is the inheritance of the sons to enjoy the benefit of His face.

In a monarchy there are times that a king comes before the people. He is dressed in all His royal finery. He looks noble. He looks kingly. His subjects look upon Him with wonder. He may wave the royal hand at the crowd but no particular person can say that He waves at them. The Kings appearance is an impersonal thing for them. It is awe inspiring for a moment, and then life goes on as normal. They are excited when they happen to catch a glimpse of Him, but know they have no right to expect it. The subjects are under His rule, but the King remains an enigma to them

The sons know the King and are known by Him. He knows them by name and every detail about them. The sons share intimate time with the King and they know Him in a way that subjects never will. His eye lights upon them individually, particularly and purposefully. And they know it! For those who are sons, the kingdom isn’t a place-it’s a person. It isn’t merely an eternal future-it is a glorious now. And all the joy of being a son of the King isn’t in the power of the kingdom or the wealth of the kingdom…it is in the face of the King.

 

Carriers of the Presence

EireneLeave a comment

2 Samuel 6:1-3 Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name the LORD of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.

David’s desire to bring the ark to Jerusalem was indeed a good thing. But a good thing can be done the wrong way. When the Philistines returned the ark to Israel, they returned it on a new cart (1 Samuel 6:7). They had no way to know what God required concerning moving the ark so they did what they thought best. And now when David was ready to bring the ark to Jerusalem he also used a new cart to transport the ark, even though he had God’s law which gave instruction as to how the ark is to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites.

Maybe David hadn’t looked into it and just assumed that because it worked for the heathen it would work for him. But God never intended us to follow in the footsteps of the worldly and especially when related to the sacred things. His way should have been sought out so that the holy things would not be handled carelessly….for when that happens, lives are affected.

Deuteronomy 10:8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day.

Numbers 7:9 But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders.

There were three divisions of the Levites and each was assigned specific duties related to the Tabernacle. It was the sons of Kohath who carried the most holy things…including the ark of the Presence. Why were they chosen from the three? I wonder if their very names give us a clue…

Gershon means “exile, a refugee – someone forced to live outside of their own country”. This represents believers who live as foreigners in the kingdom of God. They call Jesus king but their allegiance is divided because they feel more comfortable in the other kingdom and secretly long for its pleasures and comforts, yet realize that they cannot indulge in such lest the king become angry and banish them. It’s very possible that these Gershonites fear hell more than they love God.

Merari means “bitter”. This represents people who are loaded down by their resentments and unforgiveness, and maybe even just the sorrows and disappointments of life. They have become inwardly focused….rehearsing and nursing their wounds leaves them no time or inclination to carry the Presence.

The name Kohath means “to ally oneself”. To ally means to join together, to unite, to cooperate. This represents those who are “all in”. United with King Jesus and His kingdom purpose, having no other allegiance, they have joined themselves to this King and delight to be part of His work in the earth.

While Gershon, Merari and Kohath were unable to change their assignment, we are. Today’s Merari can be tomorrow’s Kohath. God’s way is for us to be carriers of His Presence. That is His way for all of us….He is no respecter of persons. But not everyone will be a carrier of the Presence. Many people are content with the new carts of religious activity which offer nothing life giving….for them or anyone else. Perhaps that is because being a carrier of the Presence requires something of you. It is an investment of your life to seek the face of God and dwell in His Presence. But the benefit of it….Oh the benefit!! What greater privilege could we have than to live with Him so much in the secret place that the sweetness of that fellowship is carried into every public place?

We only have a few short years on this earth. Don’t waste it with new carts. Be a carrier of the Presence of God.

Quoteable Nee

Eirene3 Comments

Perhaps you may have been asking the Lord for a long time that he will be pleased to use you in such a way as to impart impressions of himself to others.  That prayer is not exactly for the gift of preaching or teaching.  It is rather that you might be able, in your touch with others, to impart God, the presence of God, the sense of God.  Let me tell you, dear friends, you cannot produce such impressions of God upon others without the breaking of everything, even your most precious possessions, at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

But if once that point is reached, you may or may not seem to be much used in an outward way, but God will begin to use you to create a hunger in others.  People will scent Christ in you.  The most unlikely people will detect that.  They will sense that here is one who has gone with the Lord, one who has suffered, one who has not moved freely, independently, but who has known what it is to subject everything to him.  That kind of life creates impressions, and impressions create hunger, and hunger provokes men to go on seeking until they are brought by divine revelation into fullness of life in Christ.

The matter of our impact upon others turns upon one thing, and that is the working of the cross in us with regard to the pleasure of the heart of God.  It demands that I seek his pleasure, that I seek to satisfy Him only, and I do not mind how much it costs me to do so.

There must be something – a willingness to yield, a breaking and a pouring out of everything to Him – which gives release to that fragrance of Christ and produces in other lives an awareness of need, drawing them out and on to know the Lord.  This is what I feel to be the heart of everything.  The Gospel has as its one object the producing in us sinners of a condition that will satisfy the heart of our God.  In order that He may have that, we come to Him with all we have, all we are – yes, even the most cherished things in our spiritual experience – and we make know to Him: “Lord, I am willing to let go all of this for you: not just for your work, not for your children, not for anything else at all, but altogether and only for yourself!”

It is a blessed thing to be wasted for the Lord.  So many who have been prominent in the Christian world know nothing of this.  Many of us have been used to the full – have been used, I would say, too much – but we do not know what it means to be “wasted on God.”  We like to be always “on the go”: the Lord would sometimes prefer to have us in prison.  We think in terms of apostolic journeys: God dares to put his greatest ambassadors in chains.

From Watchman Nee’s “The Normal Christian Life”