If Your Presence doesn't go with us...
By Ryan Dawson
I love how honest Moses is with God. So often Moses just tells God how he feels about situations and we see this in his exchange with God recorded in Exodus 33. Moses and the Israelites are in their wilderness experience and the people have been struggling to follow God, succumbing to fear, doubt, and their false loves. Sounds familiar doesn’t it! God has told Moses to take the people up to the Promised Land but Moses is not yet convinced that God will escort them. Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:15-16
I resonate with Moses on this. I long to see more of God’s presence in my own life, and I long to see that in our church. We have so much before us as a people as we step out in faith to share Christ with friends and neighbours, launch new Impact Communities, plan for The Impact Centre, lean into important justice issues, launch new Sequoia sites and church plants, all in an effort to see thousands of people experience the Kingdom of Jesus together, wherever we live, work, play, and go. But if God is not at the centre of all this I don’t want to go. We desperately need God’s presence and His power if we hope to accomplish all that is before us. We need the Spirit to lead and to guide us. The issues are too complex for us, and the journey will be too hard without God’s wisdom and strength. We need God’s presence!
God is with us, and His presence is available to each and every one of us. But it starts with us as individuals as we seek God in our daily time with Him. Spiritual power flows from our time studying His Word, praying, and enjoying communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I appreciate the challenge from Andrew Murray in the book The Believer’s Secret to Spiritual Power.
“Decide now and forever to hold fast to the promise of Christ and never think yourself or anyone else fit for the great work of the Church until you have received a rich endowment of power from on high. I beseech you to more thoroughly consider this matter, to wake up and lay it to heart, and rest not until this subject to the endowment of power from on high is brought forward into its proper place and takes that prominent and practical position in view of the whole Church that Christ designed it should. Spend time in prayer daily, that you might be of use to God and a faithful servant in His kingdom, that His power might work mightily within you.”
So how is your prayer life? Are you seeking God’s presence daily? Are you desperate for God to show up in power? God is faithful, and He will meet us as we seek Him. He will fill us and empower us with His Holy Spirit as we surrender to His ways. So pray for renewal in your own life. Pray for God’s presence in our worship gatherings, especially as we approach the Easter season. Pray for our Impact Communities. Pray for God’s provision and leading as we take steps of faith. Pray for the strength and courage to lean into the justice issues we are currently talking about.
I believe that God will meet us as we seek Him, and the words shared with Moses will ring true for us: “The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’”
For Christ and His Kingdom, Ryan
I love how honest Moses is with God. So often Moses just tells God how he feels about situations and we see this in his exchange with God recorded in Exodus 33. Moses and the Israelites are in their wilderness experience and the people have been struggling to follow God, succumbing to fear, doubt, and their false loves. Sounds familiar doesn’t it! God has told Moses to take the people up to the Promised Land but Moses is not yet convinced that God will escort them. Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:15-16
I resonate with Moses on this. I long to see more of God’s presence in my own life, and I long to see that in our church. We have so much before us as a people as we step out in faith to share Christ with friends and neighbours, launch new Impact Communities, plan for The Impact Centre, lean into important justice issues, launch new Sequoia sites and church plants, all in an effort to see thousands of people experience the Kingdom of Jesus together, wherever we live, work, play, and go. But if God is not at the centre of all this I don’t want to go. We desperately need God’s presence and His power if we hope to accomplish all that is before us. We need the Spirit to lead and to guide us. The issues are too complex for us, and the journey will be too hard without God’s wisdom and strength. We need God’s presence!
God is with us, and His presence is available to each and every one of us. But it starts with us as individuals as we seek God in our daily time with Him. Spiritual power flows from our time studying His Word, praying, and enjoying communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I appreciate the challenge from Andrew Murray in the book The Believer’s Secret to Spiritual Power.
“Decide now and forever to hold fast to the promise of Christ and never think yourself or anyone else fit for the great work of the Church until you have received a rich endowment of power from on high. I beseech you to more thoroughly consider this matter, to wake up and lay it to heart, and rest not until this subject to the endowment of power from on high is brought forward into its proper place and takes that prominent and practical position in view of the whole Church that Christ designed it should. Spend time in prayer daily, that you might be of use to God and a faithful servant in His kingdom, that His power might work mightily within you.”
So how is your prayer life? Are you seeking God’s presence daily? Are you desperate for God to show up in power? God is faithful, and He will meet us as we seek Him. He will fill us and empower us with His Holy Spirit as we surrender to His ways. So pray for renewal in your own life. Pray for God’s presence in our worship gatherings, especially as we approach the Easter season. Pray for our Impact Communities. Pray for God’s provision and leading as we take steps of faith. Pray for the strength and courage to lean into the justice issues we are currently talking about.
I believe that God will meet us as we seek Him, and the words shared with Moses will ring true for us: “The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’”
For Christ and His Kingdom, Ryan