Day 4

Inner Narrative Pleasing God

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Last week we wrote that there have been times and places where God’s presence more greatly intensified than others. We mentioned the burning bush, Mount Sinai, Solomon’s temple. We emphasized the Messiah Jesus and His Body.

God is everywhere, but in the Incarnation He is especially present.

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, (Colossians 2:9)

God is everywhere, but in the Messiah’s Body, the Spirit is uniquely interacting with creation.

the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22c–23)

Consider this: The Incarnation shows, on a whole other level, that, If-He-So-Chooses, God can experience some things more than others depending on His proximity to them. His proximity can be revealed by where His presence has been powerfully disclosed. There has never been a greater manifestation of the fullness of God’s nearness than in the Messiah Jesus.

How about this?

In the Incarnation, the Word-made-flesh saw some things more than others, felt some things more than others, and heard some sounds more than others. This is very much the Biblical prophetic view of God’s interaction with His creation. Read the Biblical narratives. Read the prophets. Read the psalms. You’ll see that this is part of the testimony.

Have you been “born from above” (John 3:3a TLV)? If so, God is especially present in you.

The Scriptures teach that, from a human perspective, there are places where God is more manifestly there and acutely aware. Conversely, He’s especially aware when He’s especially there.

This is seen in the special call to external holiness which is stressed with priests who are about to participate in their ministries.

‘And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’ (Exodus 20:26)

The priests were not forbidden to walk up steps in normal life. But in the presence of God’s holy intensified awareness there were special rules.

To further illustrate this principle, here is a verse about an awkward topic regarding public sanitation and God’s personal presence:

“Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you. (Deuteronomy 23:14)

Have you been filled with His Spirit? If so, God is especially present in you.

In the Apostolic Writings do we find that His manifest presence has relational ramifications? Yes. Let’s look at Acts 5 where we see judgment and deliverance due to God’s presence.

In that chapter we find that, in the midst of a community dense with the Glory of God, through Peter’s words, God released judgment on Annanias and Sapphira. They, seeking to deceive the Messiah’s community, didn’t realize that they had actually lied to God.

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? (Acts 5:1–3)

Because of God’s manifest presence there was a dread consequence.

Later in that chapter we read that God, in and through Peter, released blessing through Peter’s shadow.

to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed. (Acts 5:15-16)

Does Jesus live in your heart? If so, God is especially present in you.

The Lord is always aware of people’s suffering. Due to the Messiah’s presence in His community He felt the pain of His people’s persecution in a special way.

and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4)

According to Acts 9:4, Jesus actually experiences what His brethren feel. That takes the revelation about the judgment of the nations to another level.

“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

God is especially present in you.

Allow me to pose a mind boggling type of question. Here it is: Does God experience some things more than He experiences others?

We can declare with certainty that Holy Writ’s witness is that we are to view God as if His nearness, revealed in His manifest presence, can be a reality for Him, not just for us.

Remember Moses’ and Joshua’s experience.

Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)

The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15)

There is a place in your soul which is the equivalent to holy ground.

God is especially present within you.

This is not something we’re supposed to pretend is the case. This is real and it has ramifications for the way we relate to ourselves in His presence.

Right now we are the temple of God. We exist in His manifest presence.

in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)

Each believer is a temple of God. Each believer hosts God’s manifest presence.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

The true things about God’s presence in His heavenly sanctuary and when He dwelled in tabernacle and temple are now true about us. God’s manifest presence in the earth is now in the corporate and individual members of the Messiah’s Body.

Priestly service was accomplished within the precincts of the manifest presence of the LORD. We are His house. We have become a sanctuary. Our hearts can be places of sacrifice and worship. In the same way the priests understood that their actions were pleasing to God, so we can order our thoughts and words in a way that minister to the LORD. Our meditations can bless the Lord who is especially present within us.

It is true. God is especially present in us and our words and our deepest thoughts can give God pleasure.

Would you like aspects of your inner thoughts to bless God, today? Here’s a meditation that will give Him pleasure: Please read James 3:17 and the following meditation.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)

Consider how He thinks about you and, remembering He is present in you, say in your heart to yourself:

His thoughts towards me are pure.

His thoughts towards me are peaceable.

His thoughts towards me are gentle.

His thoughts towards me are reasonable.

His thoughts towards me are full of mercy and good fruits.

His thoughts towards me are unwavering.

His thoughts towards me are without hypocrisy.

Now, remembering He is present in you, please say to Him:

Your thoughts towards me are pure.

Your thoughts towards me are peaceable.

Your thoughts towards me are gentle.

Your thoughts towards me are reasonable.

Your thoughts towards me are full of mercy and good fruits.

Your thoughts towards me are unwavering.

Your thoughts towards me are without hypocrisy.

I am especially thinking about this: the God who indwells us is reasonable and not hard to please.

Pray:

May the words of my mouth and my hearts deepest thoughts give Your presence pleasure.