Beholding the Lord
Welcome to another post on the Still in the Storm Substack.
Today, I want to talk to you about something mindblowing.
Well, it is to me and I hope it will be to you too.
We have a God that dwells within us.
Paul of Tarsus told us this many, many times throughout his epistles.
Here are a few examples:
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Our God is not far away up in the clouds or back in the past.
His Spirit dwells within us and has become one with our spirit.
To take it a step further, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that you cannot say that Jesus is Lord or Lord Jesus except by the Holy Spirit.
This is the very same Spirit which dwells in you.
Is that not mindblowing?
After Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus tells him that he couldn’t have known it but rather it was the Father who revealed it.
Isn’t that amazing?
We have God’s Spirit within us, His continual background presence but, very often we don’t realize it because it’s so subtle.
Do you know that you can learn to be conscious of the presence of His Spirit?
Be still, and know that I am God
Recently I started trying a new practice to learn to live by the indwelling life of Jesus Christ.
It's a practical handle that I got from one of my favorite Christian authors, Frank Viola.
First thing when you wake up in the morning you turn to the Lord.
Try to clear your mind and focus on His presence.
Call out to Him. It can be for 15 sec or 15 mins. It's not a rigid law.
You are learning to let your spirit work and engage with His Spirit so, whatever feels right or you have time for is good.
Well, one day I'm doing this, and Bam!
Out of nowhere, I'm hit with 'Be still, and know that I am God."
It was so clear.
Now let me say this isn't about trying to sense anything.
Most of the time there is nothing, except perhaps peace, but that is fine.
This one time though was crazy.
It was unmistakable and it drove home that I was right where the Lord wanted me.
When we first come to the Lord we often try to do as much as we can in our power but, He wants us to yield to Him.
The first step is to sit in His presence.
It can be easy to go through each day without realizing that He is truly with us all the time.
It's like the nose on your face.
How often during the day are you aware of it? But, it's there and you are breathing through it.
Similarly, the Lord is always with us and we can live by His divine life but not before we are conscious of His presence.
You may know that He is invisible in Spirit after all.
So, how can we 'see' Him and know He is with us?
By faith and by actively allowing our spirit to concentrate on Him.
It comes down to spending quiet time resting in Him.
This is not always easy because we have quite a lot running through our minds at any moment.
By intentionally sitting in silence and quieting our minds we can be conscious of Him.
And that takes me back to "Be still, and know that I am God."
It's a powerful thing in our incredibly active world to be still and I've used that notion of being still or finding your still as a way of navigating the storm.
That's why I called my blog Still in the Storm.
But this new revelation gave me another level of understanding and awareness.
I continue to be in awe of the Lord. What a Christ we have!
Be still, and know that He is God and Lord and King.
And realize that every time you declare that it is the Spirit speaking through you.
Is your mind blown yet?
The best gift we can have this Advent season is to take some time to be still in the quiet presence of the Lord.
Give it a try over the next few weeks and see for yourself.
Let me know what you think in the discussion below.
Talk soon,
Mike
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Beautiful words. As a man who has struggled with anxiety for much of his life my wife used to say to me ‘take your foot off the accelerator Terry’. In other words - ‘slow down’ or as per the Bible - ‘Be still and know that I am God.’Being busy is valued by the world but not by Jesus. We all need to learn to sit more at His feet….and be still.
Having experienced it myself it truly is mind blowing, Mike. Usually in the early morning or late evening just before going to sleep. No distractions, put your mind at rest, think of what you want to talk to Him about, and speak from your heart. It has only been a few times for me, but suddenly there is a still, small voice, almost imperceptible.
Glory to God.