Practicing in His Presence
I was leading worship years ago the day the church had a guest speaker I highly respected.
When I lead worship, most of the time my eyes are closed. So I didn’t see the speaker come on the stage and stand next to me. He gently touched my arm. He had a microphone and looked like he wanted to share. I brought the song to a close. At
“I would like you to take your guitar and step down off the stage,” he said kindly. As I did this, he continued. “Now turn your back to the church, face the front.” I complied. “Now worship.” I looked at him, a little confused. He smiled reassuringly and said, “Pretend we aren’t here. Worship the way you do when you are at home by yourself.”
“You can only take people where you have already been. If you go first, you will stir those around you to hunger for a greater revelation of God.”
I began to play. At first, I was a little uncomfortable, I could feel the people looking, waiting. I pressed through. I began to praise God in song while playing a random chord progression. I praised Him for His goodness; I thanked Him for His love and for my wife and my new baby girl. At some point, I actually forgot about the two hundred people behind me. Just like when I am alone in my living room, God’s presence became real to me. I worshiped this way for about ten minutes. I forgot the people; it was just God and me. I started to sing a song, “I am standing in Your presence on holy ground.”
As I began to sing this song, the band, still onstage, joined in. Then the two hundred people behind me joined in. That song led to another and another until we had worshiped forty minutes or so. It was a sweet time, one of my fondest worship memories to date.
“Every one of us has a promise that is way bigger than we can imagine. This promise is birthed in the heart of God and is encountered in His presence.”
When we finally came to a resting spot, the speaker was back on stage. He looked directly at me and said, “You can only take people where you have already been. If you go first, you will stir those around you to hunger for a greater revelation of God.” A greater love encounter. “You must be practiced in His presence.”
Every one of us has a promise that is way bigger than we can imagine. It’s a promise that isn’t just for us but for the world we live in. This promise isn’t found on a stage, it’s not about a title; our promise is birthed in the heart of God and is encountered in His presence.
God is looking for men and women who are not worried about being on a stage—those who aren’t seeking titles but instead are seeking His presence. We can’t take people where we haven’t been. We can’t give what we don’t have.
We must be practiced in His presence. We must know how to worship when no one is looking so we can worship where everyone can see.
“For David, it was never about a stage, it was about the presence, and because of that, he was a king long before he wore the crown.”
David killed the bear and the lion while shepherding in obscurity before he killed the giant in a crowd. David experienced and demonstrated who God was while alone in his “living room” before he ever experienced and demonstrated who God was before a national stage.
For David, it was never about a stage, it was about the presence, and because of that, he was a king long before he wore the crown.
But once Paul has done his absolute best to measure the love of God, he shifts into the language of heaven. In the next
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:17-20)
Paul essentially says, “I want you to be filled to the full measure of the immeasurable.” And just in case we might be tempted to apply measurements to the “immeasurable” Paul added, “beyond” and “all” as if to say, “Stop it, you can’t measure Love, He is bigger than the future”!
Measurements are something that makes perfect sense on earth but are a foreign concept in heaven. Heaven sits outside of time, it is infinite and operates in an economy of a love that is bigger than the future. I believe this scripture is an invitation to move from the measurable reality of earth to the immeasurable revelation of heaven.
“Jesus never lived for the immeasurable, He lived from it.”
And I would like to suggest that’s why Jesus came. Jesus didn’t live simply to reveal a destination, He showed us the foundation – our Fathers perfect love.
Jesus never lived for the immeasurable, He lived from it. Jesus demonstrated what a “bigger than the future” love could look like. And He invited us to know and live it as He did. Immeasurable was never meant to be simply a description of the destination; it’s always been His heart that it would be our foundation.
Need is measurable; it’s the stuff of earth. Love is immeasurable; it’s the economy of heaven. Love trumps need. This life is the only time we will ever be given the opportunity to live from heaven while on earth.
Hidden & Hungry: And A New Song
Years ago, on a mission trip to South Africa, I led a worship service at a Christian school.
One of the songs we sang was “Hungry.” The chorus goes “We are hungry for more of You” (Jesus). At first, the students thought this an odd expression. But when I explained that we, as believers, could have an almost physical hunger for His presence in our hearts, they responded by singing with a grasp of the word that astonished and humbled me. They understood hunger and had great respect for it. Their hunger stirred my hunger that night and the presence of God was sweet as we worshiped for hours.
I have often prayed for an increased hunger without fully grasping what I was asking for. Hunger is directly associated with discomfort and even need. It’s only hunger if you have waited to eat. I believe it’s our understanding of our need that makes room for God to come and fill us. God loves our hunger and he loves filling us up. It’s our hunger that allows God to expand the parameters of our hearts that we might know Him more.
Lately, I have been hungry for more of Him. God has hidden himself, and this “hiddeness” has stirred me to greater hunger. I believe one of the reasons God has hidden Himself from me is to increase my hunger. I also believe that anything hidden can be found—that God always responds to sincere hunger. Matt 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled.”
I am blessed if I hunger and thirst because there is a promise of being filled, there is the promise that I will find.
I wrote this song last month, the first phrase runs through my head on a daily basis.
It doesn’t have a title yet.
Place You’re hand upon my head
Place You’re hand on my head
I want to feel You, like You’re in the room
Fill Your lungs and breath on me
Fill Your lungs and breath on me
I want to feel you, like You’re in the room, like You’re next to me
Cause there’s a violent hunger in my bones
Cause I’ve seen You in this very room
Cause You’re the lion at my door
And I’ve determined to let You in
Cause there’s a floodgate that just let go
And its tearing all this shit down
Cause the fire burns and I want more
Cause I’ve seen You in this very room
If the Kingdom is for violent men, I bare my teeth and grin
And in my porcelain skin, I’m furious to contend
If the Kingdom is for little children, I lay my head upon Your chest
As the favored son of the King, I’ll shine glorious at rest
Place Your hand upon my head
Place Your hand upon my head
I want to feel You, like You’re in the room