The Presence of God
When we are hungry to experience God’s loving presence near us and believe we are searching for God, it is important to ask ourselves whether we are seeking God or pursuing spiritual experience.
We do get lonesome for God and can feel isolated and confused. But sometimes our search is not as much for God as it is for spiritual adventure.
Perhaps we are bored. We might like to see ourselves as important spiritual persons and think a particular kind of spiritual experience is one of the criteria necessary for others to view us in this way.
Perhaps we would like God to heal someone through our prayer or bring about instantaneous major life changes in us or in someone else with whom we have been praying more as a kind of witness to our supposed godliness than as an overflowing of God’s compassion.
—Jeannette A. Bakke
Holy Invitations
In Acts 19:13-16, we read, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’” They sought to wield the power of God without the presence of God. Big mistake. The rest of the text reads, “One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” Today’s devotional thought (and this passage in the Book of Acts) call us to consider our motives for wanting the Presence of God. Are our motives pure or selfish? Do we want God to put on a show for us? Or change our hearts and lives in His power? —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics