Devotional – In His Presence

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You will show me the path of life; In Your
presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures
forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

God is omnipresent, so why do we speak of being in His
presence? Is there a difference? Yes, there is. While God is everywhere and is always
with us, do we always acknowledge Him? Do we seek to spend time with Him? These
are questions that we all need to ponder.

The most common Hebrew term for
‘presence’ is panim, which is also translated ‘face,’
implying “a close and personal encounter with the Lord,” according to Baker’s Biblical dictionary. Being in the presence of the Lord
therefore means that one must have a close encounter with Him. In other words,
there must be fellowship, communion and intimacy. There must be relationship. And
as we all know, building a relationship takes time and effort. It must be
intentional. It does not happen by chance. As the saying goes, it does not
happen by osmosis.

How then do we get into God’s
presence? First, we come clean with Him by confessing our sins. His Word says
that only those with clean hands and a pure heart can enter His presence (Psalm
24:4) We enter with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4) because He inhabits
the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).

To get into His presence we must be
willing to make a sacrifice, to press past the outer courts, the holy place and
beyond the veil into the holy of holies. The presence of God is the place to
come face to face with Him in sweet communion, a place of intimacy where everything
is laid bare. It is the place to worship, praise and adore Him. It is a time to
feast on His Word and to listen to what He has to say. It is a time of talking WITH
God, rather than talking to Him. We become still and acknowledge that He is God
(Psalm 46:10).

Psalm 16:11 says that in the
presence of the Lord there is fulness of joy and at His right hand, pleasures
forevermore. In His presence we access all that He has provided for life and
godliness (2 Peter 1:3). It is the place of revelation as He opens our eyes to
the things of the Spirit. As we align with His will, we can confidently ask and
receive because His will becomes ours and we ask according to His will. Spending
time in God’s presence gives us joy and His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
It is this strength which enables us to do the work He prepared in advance for
us to do (Ephesian 2:10).

As we strive to please the Father, let
us decide to seek Him with all our heart. Let us make every effort to abide in
Him as He abides in us, so that we can bear good fruit, because apart from Him
we can do nothing. (John 15:5).