Delight in His Presence

By Josephine Lim-Weston

I’ve been thinking I want to write, I want to encourage people, I want to reach out to others but all the articles I’ve drafted recently didn’t convince they’re good enough to be sent out hence I asked from the Lord what is it He wants me to write this time, as I don’t believe in writing for the sake of writing. So birth this article that personally had spoken to me and I hope speaks to you too.

Whenever I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is pray. I pray because I believe God can bless me. But I have realised that so often we want God’s blessings but not so much of taking delight of His presence. Where has our first love gone? We have become task-oriented and want to get as many things done as possible and want as many blessings as we can get from God instead of knowing and seeking the Blessor. According to John 15:4 “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”.

Yes, our God wants to bless and is more than willing to bless us, but much more He wants us to know Him and fellowship with Him. We want to be blessed, we want to see results and most of the time we want instant results from God, but we are not taking time to seek Him, know Him and have fellowship with Him. To know Him is to love Him – “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

Without knowing God personally and understanding His grace, even though we received His blessing, it will be a temporary gratefulness on our part but if we know Him personally and have been in communion with Him, whether our prayers are answered or not, we lead a life of gratefulness towards Him for all that He has blessed us and is going to bless us with.

We will not live life panicky when trials come but we will face it with confident peace and inner joy that give us strength in time of adversity. God will give us the wisdom, peace and patience to overcome. We have that knowledge and understanding that surpass human comprehension. As it says in Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Our blessings come not depending solely on us or because we ask from God; but real blessing is attached to the source of all blessings who turns out to be Jesus - our ultimate blessing of all blessings, who gives us new life and salvation in Him.

Do you enjoy His presence? Do you spend time talking with Him and let Him minister to you? Are you hurried in reading His word? Praying, reading His word and going to church will not be a task but we’ll find it enjoyable as we delight in His presence. It becomes our life style eventually bearing good fruits through our speech and action.

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.