God is always the same regardless of feeling. The Eternal God is real and full of power and mercy at all times. Who He is, what He is, and what He has promised is not dependent on how much I feel He is real.
Matthew 28:20 (Amplified) – Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age.
Amen (so let it be).
He is with me all my days, perpetually, uniformly and on every occasion. This is true regardless of my feelings. God is always the same and always with me the same, but my perception and my feelings continually change.
How close He is to me never changes, but how close I stay to Him (in my awareness of Him and in my active fellowship with Him) can change based on me. This is something within my power. I can learn to live where His unchangeable presence and wonderful promises are as real to me when I don’t feel Him and when I don’t.
Truth is not based on my moods or passing emotions or the present circumstances around me but on the eternal realities and on the unchanging nature of God and the eternal Word of God.
I need to learn to rely on the fact of His unchangeable presence not the feeling or assurance of it. Relying on feeling His presence throws things out of balance, because when I no longer feel Him, He seems to be gone. If I don’t know better, I may even think He is gone. But when I rely on a fact that is always the same, His presence never changes – because the fact never changes. Truth is eternal.If I get used to feeling God’s presence and I begin to rely on feelings and they change, I feel like “things” have changed, like God has left me or is hiding Himself. But if I continue to rely on God according to His Word regardless of how much or how little I feel Him or what seems to be happening around me, my faith is based on something eternal and unchangeable and will remain constant regardless of feelings or circumstances; therefore His presence in my life remains the same every day. God may seem to hide Himself from our outward man, but to the spiritual man, the promises of God are more real than a feeling.
2 Chronicles 15:2, 7 – …The Lord is with you while are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. But you be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.
He is with me in proportion to how I am with Him. He is as close to me as I am to Him. If I seek Him, I will find Him. If I turn away from Him, He will seem far away though He is always as close as my whispered prayer. If I turn my back on Him, of course I can’t see Him, but when I turn around, HE IS THERE!
Some think that God hides Himself for some weird spiritual purpose that we can’t understand. He may be hidden from your feelings or senses, but He is always in plain view through His word – always the same – never changing. So in actuality, He is not hidden.
I may mistakenly think He is leading me through some time of darkness or something when His presence doesn’t seem real to me, but darkness lit by the light of His truth is no longer darkness. One thing God requires above all things is faith. He wants us to believe Him when He doesn’t seem real and when His promises seem to not be working. This kind faith will please Him.
He is the light of life and His presence with me never changes, so I can always walk in the light of life with Him not in dark times away from His presence. Things may change, the situations and circumstances of our lives will vary, but His presence is always the same. He is the one who said He will never leave us or forsake us, and we can count on His Word.
He has never promised we will always feel or sense Him, but He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. When we walk by faith, He is always the same to us. When we walk by feelings or senses, it may seem that at time He is near and at times He is far.
My closeness with the Lord is up to me not Him. He has taken the first step in drawing me near. He has not only drawn me near, but He is knocking at the door of my heart so that I will let Him in to fellowship with me. This is an eternal scripture that is true every day. He is ALWAYS knocking on the door of my heart in order to can come in and fellowship with me. This is His eternal, unchanging desire. This is the reason Jesus came and gave His life – to reconcile us to God and draw us near.
It is a waste of time to pray that He will draw me near since He has already done this. I should spend my time and energy rather in responding to Him and drawing near to Him in times of the word and prayer. He is already knocking on the door of my heart – my part is simply to open it. I should spend time studying and meditating on His Word to seek out and learn about what He has done so that I can live it – not wait for Him to do for me what He has already done and made available.
We could get to our goals and desires much more quickly if we would start where God says He is and accept as done what God says in His word is done and go on from there. It is like uselessly spinning our wheels but getting nowhere. It would be a short cut into the presence of God to stop asking and just believe what He says and act like we believe it. If we would stop wasting time asking God to do what He has already done or be for us what He says He is and just take Him at His word and go from there, we would get much further faster. Start at the point of His Word, learn it, accept it and believe it. Then move on. Let us press further on into the life He has given.
As I spend time waiting upon the Lord, He is there. He is real. He is present. Life comes from Him into me as I yield my life with all its cares to Him.
Matthew 6:6-8 (NIV) — But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jerusalem – But when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
Shut yourself in. Shut yourself away from distractions. Focus your attention only on the Lord. Know that He sees and knows what is going on in your life. Acknowledge He is there and listening. He sees your secret times of prayer and knows what you need before you ask and even when you can’ t find the words to say it.
My present help comes from Him. Direction comes from Him. Strength comes from Him. All I need comes from Him through communion. Mercy and grace come into my life and situation while I am at the throne, when I am with Him spending time in His presence. The true perspective of the things around me illuminates within my heart, and as I magnify the Lord, the problems shrink into nothingness before His greatness, power and glory.
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears open to their cry. When they cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles… Many evils confront the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Don’t act like God isn’t alive and doesn’t see or care. He is alive and full of power, and He hears prayer. There is no hopelessness where He is. He is the God of hope, the God of answers, the God who always knows the way and is willing to give wisdom.
Am I a God at hand, says the Lord and not a God afar off? God is near. He sees, knows, understands and really cares.
The Lord is near. He sees and knows and understands all in my life. He cares about me and wants me to give it all to Him – so that He can help me and work things out for me. I only need to trust Him.
The Lord is not slow to hear. He is not dense or unable to see or understand. He hears my cries and understands fully what I have tried to express – as well as the deeper, full knowledge of things that I can’t see or fully understand.
Hebrews 4:1-2 – Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered, let us be afraid [to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of [reaching] it. For indeed we have had the glad tidings proclaimed to us just as truly as they; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones who heard.
V. 14-16 (Amplified) – …For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].
He is there for me, listening to me, unchanging in mercy and love towards me, delighting in my prayers, but He requires faith on my part. His precious and magnificent promises are there for me. But none of things will benefit me unless mixed with faith. He wants me to believe what He has said. He desires that I treat Him as an honest being and act as though He means what He says.
Let us today fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to His throne of grace and take the mercy and find the grace we need to help us for every need – appropriate help – coming just when we need it! And let us learn to take Him at His Word and walk in His unchanging closeness and abiding presence every day of our lives!