Psalms 27:4 (Amplified Bible) – One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.

Yes, Lord this is the ONE THING I desire above all things – to know you and dwell in your presence all the days of my life, to behold and know you in your beauty and to learn from you and live in constant fellowship with you.

Philippians 3:10 (Amplified Bible)– [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection…

My determined purpose is that I may know Him, better and better and better, to know and understand the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately aquainted with Him, that I might know and see more clearly the wonders of His person.

John 17:3 (Amplified Bible) – And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.

Eternal life is TO KNOW HIM, the only true and real God.  The main thing in life is to know Him.  We were made for fellowship with God.  There is nothing that can fully satisfy our hearts except a relationship with God.  We are made to live in His presence, to share our lives with Him and let Him share His life with us, to live in a relationship and fellowship that is as real as any other face to face relationship you have.

Exodus 33:11 – And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

In those days some leaders and prophets and priests could have intimate face to face relationship with God.  but in these days we  have all been brought near to God our Father through what Jesus did for us.  And He desires each and every one of us enjoy daily friendship and communion with Himself. Read the rest of this entry »

One Thing – One Focus

Psalm 27:4 (Amplified)– One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.

One thing I seek – that I may dwell in His presence all of the days of my life.   This is my focus. This is where I concentrate my attention, because this is where all the other things I need for myself and to help others come from.

2 Peter 1:2-4 – Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine  nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

The Message – Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God.  The best invitation we ever received!  We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

Grace and peace will be lavished on me as I grow in the rich knowledge of God.  Everything I need for life, both my spiritual life and my natural life are given trough this knowledge.  Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given me by me getting to know Him personally and intimately.  The means of me partaking of the things He has provided is by His precious and magnificent promises.

Luke 10:41-42 – But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

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My freedom and victory come from the presence of the Lord and the Word of God

John 8:31-32 – So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, if you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

John 15:1-5, 7 (Amplified) – I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.  Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.  You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].  Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.]  Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.  I am the Vine; you are the branches.  Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.  If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

Fellowship with the living God and the Word of God are what prepare me for life.  It is always the Word and the Spirit that God uses to work His works in me.  I bear fruit through fellowship.  My life becomes more and more clean and pure as it is conformed to His word (God’s way of thinking rather than man’s).

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God wants to be your Friend.

God loves you personally and desires to be your friend.  He wants you to walk with Him and talk with Him and live in His presence all of your days.

Exodus 33:11 – And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

This is the kind of fellowship God wants with all of us. He paid the price of the blood of Jesus to draw us near and bring us into fellowship with Him.  He is standing at jelly the door of the heart of every Christian knocking so that we might open and enjoy continual fellowship with Him.  If you are not yet a Christian, He wants your to accept what He has provided for you through His Son.

1 Corinthians 1:9 – …by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Corinthians 13:14 – The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

Message – The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

One of the things we are called into is companionship and fellowship with God. God desires us to enjoy His presence and fellowship.
Notice the prayer isn’t for the Lord to be with them. Since He said He will  never leave us for forsake us, we shouldn’t pray contrary to the Word. We should pray scripturally, that the love and presence and fellowship of the Lord be with us, or like the Message Bible says, may the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with us all!

Revelation 3:20 – Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Ephesians 2:13 – But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

These things are His part. What is our part?

So many times we get the parts mixed up.  We try to do for ourselves what He has already done or what He said He would do for us  and ask Him to do for us things He has told us to do.  I’ll cover this at another time.  Concerning closeness with God and walking in His presence, what has He told us to do?

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In our salvation there are two parts, God’s part and man’s part. There is what God did for us, and then there is us applying it to ourselves. He did it, and we live it. This week I will be covering what God did in making us acceptable and next week I will cover how to apply it. The first step is most definitely to know what He has done for us and who He has made us.

Knowing that we are acceptable and welcome in the presence of God just as we are is key to making progress in our Christian life. There is a closeness and an intimacy with God that is necessary to a successful life. So first we will cover how God has brought us near to Himself, how He has completely and totally dealt with all our sin – past, present and future – by His one sacrifice. He is no longer holding our sins against us. He has made us righteous, holy and without blame in His presence. And He did all of this because He wanted to and without help from us at all!

Access to God

I have free access to God at any time regardless of what I am going through. He is as near as my call for help.

Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

I already have peace with God. My access into His grace (the state of being in right standing with God, having favor with God) was provided by God and is by faith not earned by my behavior.

I have access by faith into His grace, into His favor. I walk in His favor as I know about it and have faith in it. As I believe that He favors me and expect His favor every day, it is released to a higher lever into my life.

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