Lord God, I have experienced such highs in Your presence and have walked in cold darkness wondering what happened. Where did the feelings go? Why do You seem so distant?

I thought that I had achieved a place of spirituality that would carry me only to find the euphoria evaporating and my default setting of flesh still active and ready to assert itself when the feelings died down.  What happened? Why can I not stay in that bubble of euphoria? Your presence is so wonderful, so fulfilling. It is all I want.

Your presence is with me always

Then I learned that Your presence is with me always, not just when I feel it.  You are always with me wanting me to keep my eyes on You, to be consumed with You, having eyes only for You.  But my eyes are easily distracted and I turn to the left or to the right to see what my enemy is trying to show me. He is trying to get my eyes off of You. 

Daily let me learn to ignore all his words, his lies, his questions, his ‘what abouts?’. Especially, when he points out my needs or my wants. He is a liar. He distorts the truth. He wants to destroy what I have with You. He is envious and wants my attention. 

My focus

Just like in the Garden of Eden, he wanted Adam and Eve’s attention. They succumbed to his carefully worded lies and gave him their attention. They took their eyes off their creator and believed lies.  He wants me to listen to him. He is mad that I love You, that You have my attention.

Most of life is very ordinary. It is a walk, not a race. Your presence is always with me as I daily walk with You. Help me not to faint in my walk, but keep my eyes on You. Then every moment, every situation will be touched with the divine as You lead me in triumph in Christ and through me diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge everywhere.

I trust in Your presence

You have all in hand. I need not worry about anything. I will not find fulfillment in personal gains no matter how they are presented. Me is not important. Self-esteem is a trap and a lie. You are all important and through You I find complete fulfillment. I understand it is backward and upside down, but I’ve learned Your ways are not our ways nor Your thoughts, our thoughts.

I commit my way to You for Your safekeeping as I walk with You in the valleys, as well as, the mountain tops. Amen

Words to light your path this week

• Isaiah 55:8-9  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.   ESV
• Isaiah 40:31  but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.ESV
• 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  ESV
• Ephesians 5:8  for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  ESV
• Ephesians 4:1-3  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ESV

• Life Abounding
• The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith  Oswald Chambers