In His Presence

As a kid, my family attended a Catholic church. I believed all churches were the same until I was invited to a Christian church for the first time. For a long time after stepping into a Christian church and feeling God’s presence, I felt that it was not necessary for me to stop attending my Catholic church. I felt that God’s presence could be found anywhere.  But the longer that I tried to deny it, as I began attending conferences and midweek services at other churches, something was growing inside me. There was something gnawing at my heart, something was calling my attention. I could feel God calling me deeper. Still, I remained consistent in my belief that I could feel God’s presence at my church.

As I continued to be faced with difficulties and challenges, I eventually learned of a bible study at a Christian church I had visited a couple of years before. These bible studies eventually led to our family making that church our home church. There, I began to feel the movement of the Spirit in a big way! In fact, every service begins with praise and worship. It is the moment that invites the presence of the LORD. It is where we are humbling ourselves and thanking Him for all that He has done for us. It is a sign of reverence when we humble ourselves and move ourselves aside and allow God to invade our hearts. It is that moment of complete and sweet surrender when nothing else in the world matters. It is that moment when you are weeping, or smiling, or shouting, oblivious to others around you; because in that moment, it is just you and God. And He speaks to you. He whispers exactly what you need to hear.  He is there to confirm that you are in the right place. You see, there is one thing that I have learned with such a deep conviction that cannot be shaken:

It is IN HIS PRESENCE that we are changed!

God has proven this beautiful truth to me, time and time again! All those years that I resisted attending a Christian church, I was simply delaying the inevitable. I was simply delaying what God planned to do all along in my life. Going to church is not the same as being IN HIS PRESENCE. Being in His presence means that you are being transformed, as long as you are making it about you and Him. Change will happen as long as you are asking Him to make you less and to fill in that gap in your heart! Being in His presence is something that you feel. That is why I felt so compelled to share what my sister wrote: In every battle that you face, make WORSHIP your WARSHIP!

Earlier this year, I began leading a bible study in my home. My first study challenged me on so many levels. I know it’s something that God had been calling me to for a while and I knew that I had to be fully obedient. Through that bible study I learned and I prayed for God to guide me to make it all about Him! So when the second bible study began, I knew that I had to add something to the study: WORSHIP.  There is a woman in this group who has never attended church before. She knows very little about the bible, mainly what she is learning through these studies. I just love her. She is trying her best.  I know that she has the odds stacked against her, because her family is not a family of believers. But God. God has this beautiful way of choosing those who seem like the least, those whom everyone else overlooks, and He chooses them to rise up and begin an amazing change in his/her family! There are women in these studies who have been facing the same battle for years! And showing them how I WORSHIP—as if it is my lifeline—and then boldly praying over them and declaring breakthroughs and victory, all in the POWERFUL and MIGHTY name of Jesus, is making a powerful change in them! They have been moved and they have been touched, but not by me. The Spirit has been showing up and doing the work!

There is another way in which I have begun to invite His presence: before our family bible reading time. It’s not something we do daily, but regularly. At first, every time we would start reading God’s Word together, the bickering and fighting would begin.  I mean, it just could not be timed any more perfectly. And here I am, trying to be this godly example of how to react to this chaos in my home. So I would begin to pray. Out loud. I would begin to say, “Thank you LORD, that you are not a God of chaos, but the God of peace. I thank you for the Holy Spirit who is present in this place. I cast out any spirit of division and chaos. I declare and call upon your Spirit of unity and of peace because THIS HOUSE, LORD, we serve you and only YOU!” And as I continued to pray with my eyes closed, the bickering would stop and our bible reading would begin.

Recently, God told me to go deeper. I have two teenagers. I know how important it is to not just talk about God but to also be a living example. So, over the past week I have preceded our bible reading time with worship music. I play it on our TV and I go deep into worship. I will admit that my kids give me crazy looks. They laugh at me, mostly the little ones. They make jokes. But I know God. And I know that He is moving in them. And I know that them seeing me worship our LORD in this grand way is something that they need to see for themselves. I love hearing their comments. My oldest said, “I feel like we are in church.” And it provided the perfect opportunity to talk to them about how God’s presence is everywhere we invite it.

I now know that worship is so important. Not just in church but in our personal lives.  I highly encourage you to worship God at every opportunity that you have. If you play music while taking a shower, play a worship playlist. While at the gym, throw a couple of worship songs in there during the warm-up and the cool down. While you are cooking and doing laundry, or when your kids start fighting, go for it! Worship, despite what you feel. Worship when you are angry and tired. Worship when you are depressed or when you are filled with anxiety. Worship as you are waiting on that prayer to be answered.  Worship during the good times. Worship during the challenging times. I promise you that God is good and He is faithful to those who believe in Him!

"Heavenly Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your Living Word. Thank you for the blood of the Lamb! Thank you for your Holy Spirit, residing in each one of us! We love you, LORD. We give you thanks and praise for who you are! To Worship you we live! To Worship you we live! -Amen"