Isn’t it draining? Those days when it seems like no matter where you turn, you face aggravation? You get cut off in traffic. Your roommate or spouse is upset that you did/didn’t do x, y, and z. You’ve barely had the chance to wake up and are already dealing with unhappy customers, difficult meetings, unforeseen accidents, speeding tickets, tactless responses…and on and on.
Stuff like that would normally eat at me. But one day, it was all different.
I don’t usually hop out of bed feeling super spiritual, but one particular morning, I woke up acutely aware of God’s presence with me and how much He loved me. I couldn’t stop thinking about His goodness and how kind He is.
Later that day, I encountered some relational issues. Two people I care about got into it with each other, bickering over something I don’t even remember now. My blood would boil, and I’d find myself taking sides without trying. Grrr… Come on, guys. Seriously? It’s not that important! is what would normally be going through my mind.
Except that day, none of it fazed me. In fact, nothing that day came even remotely close to unsettling me. The peace I felt was so strong that I actually tried to test the bounds of it by getting myself upset—and I couldn’t! In hindsight, I understand now that I was experiencing the presence of God.
In Andrew’s brand-new teaching, Dwelling in God’s Presence, he says this:
You need to get to where you control your thoughts and [are] meditating on the things of God, getting in the Word of God, focusing your attention, laying hold of truth, and keeping your mind stayed upon God. (brackets mine)
It used to be very hard for me to believe I could have “perfect” peace. To me, this idea of perfect peace was too good to be true. Maybe only spiritual people attained it—and only if they were very spiritual. However, Isaiah 26:3 says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (English Standard Version). The only limitation on this blessing is the believer’s focus—nothing more, nothing less. If you’re like I was, you’d say, “Really? So, if all I do is focus my mind on God, I can experience unadulterated, unequaled peace?”
Yes!
Just as people have made the habit of meditating to the point of worry, they can make the habit of focusing on God. Jesus never tells us to do anything we are incapable of doing. So, when God calls us to focus on Him “day and night”(Josh. 1:8), He has already given us this ability in our spirits, and it almost always comes tagged with a promise—
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua 1:8, ESV
Sounds like a pretty cool deal, doesn’t it? And it’s not pie in the sky either!
Get your copy of Andrew’s Dwelling in God’s Presence teaching. It’s offered as a CD and a DVD series, and it is also available to watch on the Gospel Truth television broadcast. If this has ministered to you, please share a comment below.
