Come Into His Presence

This week, we are harkening back to our past. The blogs this week have been written by past directors who are a part of Wesley’s rich history partnering with God.  Even now, we have opportunity to step into more of what God was doing then. We are “re-digging the wells of our fathers” (Genesis 26:18).

Re-digging Wells of Christlikeness

My own journey towards becoming more like Jesus has come primarily from the practice of consistently sitting before the Lord in worship and adoration. No agenda. No script. No wish list. Just being with Him, in a very consistent rhythm, over a long period of time.
           
In all seasons of life, our only worthwhile goal, and our singular purpose is just this one thing: BECOME LIKE JESUS. Believing in that truth releases us into the freedom of enjoying His fellowship void of strategy and striving because our only way of becoming like Him is simply to behold Him as He is. More plainly put, spending a lot of time with Him. That's the one thing that changes us because we cannot change apart from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
 
John 3:2 says it this way... ”but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. When we see him, we behold him, and we become more like him.”
 
As we come into His presence, we have the privilege of casting aside the to-do lists, the wish lists, the list of complaints and offenses, our pain, our sin, our fear, brokenness, our pride, and all the hopes and dreams that live inside us. We have this freedom because God desires our heart, not our effort or perfection. Leaving all these things behind, we can step into a secret place with Him fully released of anything we are longing to control so that we can simply be with the one who loves us completely and who is the fullness of Love.
 
In His presence, we watch and learn how He interacts with us, we hear what He thinks about us, and experience His nature. This begins to loosen the grip that our brokenness has had over us. Our minds are renewed and we are transformed in our innermost parts as we come to meet with God for the sole purpose of intimacy. This is when Christlikeness starts to shape us. 
We never truly enter into the secret place and leave the same way we came in. His presence is the transformative power we need to become like Him.
 
There are times and seasons for intercession, warfare, and doing business with God, of course. The goal of personal worship, however, is just to be with Jesus. Placing ourselves completely open before Him, giving Him permission to have full authority and leadership over every part of us. 
 
Corporate worship is powerful because when we come together as believers we are bringing with us the culmination of what has been happening behind closed doors between us and God. It is a celebration, not a replacement for that personal devotion and intimate daily interaction where we build our home in Christ and He comes to make His home inside ours. All the other things that can aid our Christlikeness fall void without first submission to the Holy Spirit. God must be present as we pray, read, study, fellowship, worship, and move throughout our disciplines or we are building in vain. 
 
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
- Psalm 51:16-17
 
“Here’s the one thing I crave from God,
the one thing I seek above all else:
I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house,[a]
finding the sweet loveliness of his face,
filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace.
I want to live my life so close to him
that he takes pleasure in my every prayer.”
- Psalm 27:4

Author | Christina Hensley
Student 2008-2012
Intern 2012-2015
Director 2015-2018