“…in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
Cultivating God’s presence is a conscious decision. To be a joyful Christian is to know and value God’s presence. The opening verse explains in His presence, there is fullness of joy. This joy is unending and is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Also at His right hand are pleasures: supply, security, protection, direction, health, and more. We know God is omnipresent by the Holy Spirit, but God does not manifest Himself in every place. He manifests Himself where He is acknowledged. Be conscious that you are the temple of God, because He dwells in you by the Holy Spirit. You convey His presence and blessings and all that has been given to you in Christ Jesus in every place. This means your presence in a place sanctifies the place because God is present through you.
King David was a man after God’s heart; he understood and valued the presence of God. When King David was confronted by Prophet Nathan about what he had done by coveting Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, committing adultery with her, and murdering Uriah, his loyal soldier, then deceptively covering up everything (2 Samuel 11), David feared because he knew the significance of the presence of God’s Spirit as a continuous reality and prayed that God should not cast him away from His presence nor take His Holy Spirit from him. This was His main concern. He was so repentant unto God and said, “Do not cast me away from Your presence. And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me”. Psalm 51:11 (NASB). He desperately desired the Lord’s presence and the ever-present help of the Holy Spirit in his life. Sin is a hindrance to God’s manifested presence; it affects your fellowship with God and robs you of the joy that comes from fellowship with Him. This is why God gave us His Word and His Spirit to teach us and correct us and help us to walk in Christ’s righteousness, to maintain that fellowship.
PRAYER/CONFESSION
Dear Father, I thank you for the assurance of your presence in and with me always, even to the end of the age. Thank you Lord Holy Spirit for helping me. I yield myself completely to your guidance, counsel, and wisdom always, in the name of the Lord Jesus.
WISDOM NUGGET
“And behold, Jesus said to them “I am with you always even to the end of age” Matthew 28:20