Expectant Day 1: Experience His Presence

Day 1: Experience His Presence

¹Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove* and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over.² So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

Joshua 3

Experience God’s Presence: 

The first step in expecting God to answer prayer is make sure we are experiencing God in our prayer life. Henry Blackaby described in his well-known study of God’s Will, Experiencing God, that we Christians are not supposed to do something for God and then ask God to bless it. Instead we are to see where God is moving and follow after that.

The Israelites were first commanded to look for the ark of the covenant, which represented the physical representation of God’s presence in their midst. Officers went through the camp, commanding the people to look for God’s manifestation.

Today, we don’t look for a physical manifestation, like the ark of the covenant, to represent God’s presence. That is idolatry, to pray to a statue or a painting or only feel God’s presence when we are in a church sanctuary.

So how do we experience God’s presence?

1)  First, we pray. That seems pretty obvious, as that is exactly what we have been studying in this series. But be honest: are there not times when we act first and pray later, if at all? Like Vince Lombardi said to his players one time after they lost a game, “This is a football,” and he proceeded to explain the fundamentals of the game. We as Christians must go back to the basics and pray.

2)  Second, we obey. The Israelites were to look for the presence of God (pray), and then they were to go after it (obey).

We need to do what we know God wants us to do. In your heart, is there something that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is seeking you to obey in? Then do it. 

It may be in joining a church. 

     It may be in following Him in believer’s baptism. 

          It may be in starting a ministry either at church or at work or in your home.

                Someone is being called to be a Sunday School teacher. 

          It may be in faithfully a little more than you are already giving. 

    It may be working on a marriage which without God may seem unsalvageable. 
     
Experience God in your prayers, seek His leadership and then expect Him to answer. 

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