Have you looked back on your life and realized that there were times that you felt closer to God than others? The anointing was stronger, God seemed to be moving more in your life and you were noticeably more focused on Him? I have experienced this myself and questioned God about it. His answer was simple, yet profound. He said: “At those times you were more aware of Me, more conscious of Me.”
I began to see the importance of maintaining a “God Awareness.” Furthermore, I realized that the responsibility of maintaining that awareness fell to me. With that realization I began to think about what produces and awareness of God and what pulls me out of that awareness.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The principle is this: “WE BECOME WHAT WE BEHOLD.”
Matthew 6:22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, (single, clear) your whole body will be full of light.
What we continually look at has a profound effect on our lives. We must be particular about what we allow ourselves to behold. Our perspective determines the amount of light we have, how bright we shine, and how full of light we really are.
Presence vs. Principle
Another trick the enemy uses is to get us to substitute knowing God, for knowing about God.
1 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The word “knowledge” in the above verse indicates an intimate knowledge that unites you with the object or person it is talking about. It indicates a personal experience with instead of merely knowing about. There is a huge difference.
If we read a biography on the life of any given person, we can acquire a great deal of knowledge about that person, but unless we actually spend time with the person, we can’t honestly say that we know them.
As a people, Christians have been duped into believing that knowledge of God’s word is the equivalent of knowing Him personally. We understand the principles and grasp the concepts of faith but we don’t really know God because we don’t spend time in intimacy with Him. Talking to Him, asking questions, listening for His response, being still before Him and quietly meditating on who He are all roads that lead to intimacy with Him. We can’t begin to wrap our head around who He is by only reading His word. We must also spend time in the light of His presence. Both are needed to mature, and both are needed to effectively live and walk by faith.
We learn the principles of God’s amazing Word and then we try to live by these principles in our own strength. If we spend as much time with God as we do learning about God our awareness of His abiding presence will produce a walk of faith that keeps us living and abiding in holiness. Instant obedience becomes natural and resisting temptation becomes effortless.
If Jesus appeared to us physically, and was with us every minute of every day, would we have a problem resisting sin? Would we have a problem obeying His word? We would be so acutely aware of our every action and word that we would only do and say those things that pleased Him. This is how Jesus lived His life. He set the example for us to follow.
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
John 8:28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.
John 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.
The more time we spend alone with our Heavenly Father, the more awareness of His presence we will walk in throughout our day.
Awareness of God births the character of God, the nature of God, and the faith of God within us. Awareness of His abiding presence makes us more sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His leading. Awareness of God helps us to see others how God sees them and therefore opens the door for us to minister Christ to them more effectively.
Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.
JC
When praying for yourself, or others, its important to consider your motives for praying. This may seem overly simple, however there are some areas in our thinking and believing that can be ever so slightly off kilter, and therefore making our prayers ineffective.
When we pray from a place of bitterness, envy, and selfishness we become a landing strip for every evil work. We actually invite demonic activity into our life and have absolutely no effect on what we are praying for.
Prayer that is made from a place of love, mercy and compassion is a prayer that is heard and answered by God. Prayer made from a place of selfishness is not heard by God, but is an invitation to demonic influence.
