How do we enter the presence of God? We enter His presence because we will to be in His presence. But what is the energy behind our will? It is hunger. Ask the Father, “Give me the hunger that drives me into You. Help me to stop feeding on those things that are taking away my appetite for You.” Grow the hunger that enters His presence every day. Practice living in His presence and dwelling with Him and functioning in your walk with God in Him.

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Show Notes:

We should learn through the Holy Spirit to dwell for greater and greater amounts of time in the presence of the Father where Christ is. This is our Christian life. This is where we change. We do not change outside of being in His presence. If you feel like there is too little change in your life, that you continue to dwell on the same level and have all the same problems, then consider how much time you spend in His presence beholding Him. It is when you are beholding Him that you are changed into His image.

In this podcast I endeavor to give some keys that will help us enter the presence of God. And one of the greatest keys is hunger. We know we should be tithing of our time and spending it with the Lord, waiting on Him, worshiping Him, feeding on His Word. But what enables us to do that is a hunger in our hearts that is driven to be with Him. We must have a will that cannot be refused, that keeps seeking and keeps asking and keeps knocking until we abide in His presence and do not withdraw from Him.

The book of Revelation tells us that many people will seek to hide from the presence of the Lord when He returns. They will be unable to accept what they are in the light of who He is. Let us be the opposite of that. Let us be those who learn to live in His presence, drawing near by the blood of Christ “in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). Right now, Christ is the way to the Father and the door we enter through. Right now, you can be with Him where He is. Hunger to be in His presence.

Key Verses:

• John 14:1-6. “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
• John 10:9-10. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.”
• Ephesians 2:18. “Through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”
• John 3:5-7. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
• 2 Corinthians 3:18. “Transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”
• Exodus 33:12-18. “Then Moses said, ‘I pray You, show me Your glory!’”
• Exodus 34:29. “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone.”
• Hebrews 10:19-24. “Let us draw near … in full assurance of faith.”
• John 17:24. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am.”
• Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”
• John 5:19. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing.”
• John 12:49. “I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father … has given Me a commandment as to what … to speak.”
• Daniel 7:9-10. “The court sat, and the books were opened.”
• Exodus 33:20. “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
• 1 John 3:2. “When He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
• Daniel 7:13-14. “He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.”
• Revelation 5:4-14. “You … purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”
• Revelation 1:10. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.”
• Isaiah 6:1-8. “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted.”
• Matthew 7:7. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
• James 4:2. “You do not have because you do not ask.”

Quotes:

• “If we’re going to find the presence of God, if we’re going to dwell in His presence, if we’re going to stand in His glory, we are going to have that which drives our will to seek after Him and moves our spirit into His presence.”
• “At some point, we’ve got to be able to stand in the presence of His holiness and be able to tolerate the truth about ourselves.”
• “What is going on in heaven is of the utmost importance to us now. And it’s the place we need to learn to dwell to experience the transformation of our being into His likeness, so that we might be able to stand before Him without being shamed away from His presence.”

Takeaways:

1. Hunger to be in His presence. Stop feeding on other things in your life that are satiating you until you have no spiritual hunger. When you are hungry
   enough for the things of God, you will begin to have a drive that empowers your will to be in His presence.
2. Visualize being in His presence. Read the Scriptures about the worship that is surrounding Him, about the angels and the myriads that are singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Become aware of His power and His might, His righteousness, His justice, His glory, and His faithfulness. Let all those things become real to you.
3. Practice His presence so you do not withdraw from Him at His appearing. To stand in His presence is to stand in the presence of Truth. Every fig leaf and every lie you live is stripped away. That is why we must practice dwelling in His presence until the transformation happens for us, and we see Him as He is because we are like Him.