One of
my pastor’s daughters, a young woman in her early twenties, wrote the
following. It is self explanatory and I pray that this message will get deep in
your inner man.
Just climbed into bed
& I'm remembering the special time I had today with my family in the
Presence of God. And I can't stop smiling. What a privilege.
The thought occurred
to me that so many people don't know what God's presence
feels like. Some
Christians have never heard Him speak nor have they been overwhelmed by Him.
They have never been so moved by Him so they are trembling and gushing with
emotion. Today & many days I have encountered the sweet tangible presence
of God, yet I often take it for granted. The literal God who created the
universe...He hung the stars and He moves the sea and still He wants to spend
time with me. He WANTS me. He LOVES me. That's priceless.
I pray tonight for so
many of my friends who may know who Jesus is, but have never really encountered
Him. God is very real. And He actually talks to us. And He will change you from
the inside out if you'll let Him.
I pray for God's Holy
Spirit to saturate you wherever you are. That you will experience the wonderful
and sweet intimacy that comes once your heart is open to receive it. I pray for
a deep desire to be ignited in you- a hunger to know who He is...drawing you
closer & closer to Him. I pray that you'll feel what I've felt. And you'll
know what I know- you'll hear God speak His promises over your life and you'll
understand who you are.
You are a child of
the God of all creation. He calls you His.
—Feeling
thankful, Alanna White, Nov. 2014
The
young lady who wrote it has a wonderful walk with The Lord, knowing Him
intimately, experiencing His closeness and unfathomable love. She experiences
the reality of the old Merle Haggard song, “In the Garden”:
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The son of God discloses.
Chorus
And he walks with me
and he talks with me
And he tells me I am
his own
And the joy we share
as we tarry there
None other has ever
known
He speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet
The birds hush their singing
And the melody that he gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
Chorus
I'd stay in the garden with him
Though the night around me is falling
But He bids me go through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling...
Chorus
Alanna’s post
immediately stirred my heart. I long for the inexplicable wonder of the
Manifest Presence of God. Such experiences produce a burden in the heart for other
believers in the Lord Jesus to know Him like this; even more so, a desperate
cry for the salvation of the lost. How many people go through the religious
motions, show up for church often but don’t know the Lord Jesus personally? How
many have prayed a sinner’s prayer but never come to grips with the Lordship of
Christ and true repentance? OH WHAT THEY ARE MISSING!! These are the ones I
refer to as “Lost in the Pew.”
I posted a FB note
just a few days before her word expressing this concern. A “witness of” has
direct, personal knowledge of what they speak of. I define a “Witnesser” as
one just speaking what they heard, spitting out words they may have been taught
but no firsthand knowledge of what they speak.
ARE
YOU A WITNESSER OR A WITNESS OF?
What
is the difference between evangelizing and becoming a witness of who Jesus is?
It is good to do the correct things we have been instructed to do BUT when our
actions flows out of a transformed heart it is a whole other story. One is
never fulfilled living by the law, following lists of do's and don'ts. Jesus is
the Word made flesh and His desire is for us to experience the Word becoming
such a part of who we are too. Thus we see the difference between a witnesser
who speaks about what Jesus does and a witness of who Jesus is. No doubt that
this a lifelong process, a progression that the Lover of our soul draws us
through. The prayer of the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, "Draw me and
I will run after you" becomes the longing of our hearts as we allow Jesus
to take us through this process. As you read the Song of Solomon you see that
her prayers started out much more “I” centric and gradually became centered on
her lover. It is a lifelong thru all the nice, and not so nice, places and
phases of this temporary life in this house of flesh. One day we are released
from the temporal to the celestial, "then shall we ever be with The
Lord." Until then may our lives become that witness of the person of
Jesus, ever showing His characteristics, His eternal love as described in 1Cor.
13. Doing so requires the empowerment that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is all
about and that facilitates continual surrender of the self will to God's will. 
Allow me to express
this same concept from another perspective that drives home the importance of
every believer “getting it,” allowing Jesus to reveal Himself to us by taking
us through the process. Think of the Church as an orchestra. Each instrument
needs to be tuned so that the Lord will hear the symphonies he is listening
for. The tuning process can be rough as the strings get tighter than they are
comfortable being. The cumulative sound of untuned instruments is offensive to
a skilled musician's ears but He knows how beautiful a sound will result from
the tuning process. The Master musician will bring out the sounds of those
often rough looking instruments more beautiful and effective than anyone ever
imagined. This Divinely inspired and directed music will resound globally and
bring transformation to hearts.
It has often been
said, to know Him is to Love Him." As believers in the Risen Lord Jesus we
live a life of joyful obedience. We can experience His joy and peace even in
the toughest trials of life. His love is expressed so abundantly when we are
doing right AND when we need His corrections. Repentance quickly becomes a
lifestyle. Loving the Manifest Presence of God in a church service, in the
prayer closet or anywhere else is a passionate pursuit. May all who know of
what I speak share it with those who do not.
