An Invitation to Dwell

Bible Readings: Luke 10: 38-42 ,Exodus 33:10-17, Psalm 84:1-12

Many moms would know how it is having your kids follow you around like a tail 😛 .

My daughter does the same thing.

They always desire our presence and attention especially the littles, right? 

Do you know dwelling is a lot like this?

Mary had a craving for His presence.

She always made good of every opportunity to sit in and learn in His presence.

She knew when to draw near and sit at His feet.

She also know the Master won’t turn her away.

Jesus will never say 

No place for you…

No place for your kind…

No invitation for you…

Go away

Ever being told those lines…I am glad with Jesus is not the same.

He longs for us to have a relationship with Him.

Please don’t turn Him down. Don’t turn down the invitation like the men in Matthew 22:8

When the master said to the servants go to the street, go get everyone you find Matthew 22:9.

There were no specifics.

The party was open for us all.

There is room for you!

There is room for you to dwell in His Presence

Whether your baggage is heavy or not.

There is space for you who have known how to be rejected.

There is a place for all we folks called, undesirable.

You that have being unsought, the Lord bids you to come over.

All things have been made ready.

Your name is on the Lord’s guest list.

The question is, would you yield?

One lady wrote me and all I could hear in her message was,

“what would the Lord do with someone like me?

How can He accept me?

I am all messed up and good for nothing”.

Like her, may be at some point in your life, you struggled with this.

May be you have asked…

‘Have the Lord a place for someone like me?’

Yet He says, come dwell here in my Presence.

If He has a place for Rahab, He has a space for you.

If He can give the Samaritan woman a place, He will do the same for you.

Same goes for Hannah, Ruth, Tamar, Elisabeth, Martha, Mary, and Deborah…all of those unique women found a place in His Kingdom.

In the midst of life turbulence, they each found God in those trenches. God met them with an invitation to dwell in their unique challenges, differing ages, varying timelines.

To dwell implies plugging intently and unmoved in God’s presence.

Not shovelling around or randomly drop by His presence.

Dwelling is grasping, fixating and rooting in where the Lord is.

I want to be consistently found in His presence.

I want to be lost in the beauty of His awesome glory.

To be saturated with His presence is my longing.

I really hope you desire the same

Every time we fall we want hideaway from God’s presence.

Sin is separates us from His presence.

Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:1-2

God’s presence is what makes a difference in our lives.

When Moses asked for God’s presence he understood the mystery behind it. The only guarantee that we arrive at our destination is His presence over our lives else nothing will happen.

Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Exodus 33:13-15

It is a precious invitation to dwell unmoved in God’s presence. 

Journal Activity

1. There are blessings in dwelling in His presence. Read and write out these scriptures in your journal Psalm 27:4 Psalm 16:11 and Psalm 84:7

2. Make a decision to live a life to keep His presence there with you.

It is hard to catch Him when we are lost in this vain world. In the tents of wickedness is nothing that pleases the Lord (Psalm 84:10). 

We find peace, strength, joy, goodness, security and everything we will ever need in God’s presence.

Did you catch that?

We need to learn to quieten our hearts, seek and dwell in His presence.

We all have a choice in these things; a choice to dwell or to wander off.

I implore you to make the choice to seek and maintain God’s presence over your life.

The same Mary whose sister complained she wasn’t in the “business of busyness”.

The same Mary who believed the Lord that He could raise Lazarus.

It was Mary all along who grasped the depth of God’s love for her.

She was an ardent believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

She stopped, sat still, listened and soaked herself in the Word Jesus spoke. His Words were not mere words. Her moments in His presence were not futile.

Her stillness brought her heart to the right place where it ought to be.

Mary made a choice to dwell.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. Luke 10:39

Mary chose the one thing that mattered most to her destiny,

the one thing that will set you apart from your contemporaries.

The one thing that will make God notice you–> Dwelling

Yes, Notice!

Martha flip-flopped about preparing meals and serving tables.

She wondered why Mary was comfortable at His feet rather than serving at the table.

Maybe you have Martha’s heart, you need to be sensitive to know when to withdraw and retreat.

It is good to have Martha’s heart but better to have Mary’s wisdom. 

It is important we know what the Lord requires of us.

While Martha was up and about, Jesus of course appreciated it but He desired her presence more than her service.

Jesus desires us more than our service and our gifts in the Kingdom

Ponder on this:

The Lord desires that we know Him and how can we understand His heartbeat for us when we don’t spend time in His presence?

Short Video

Prayer

Lord, I lay at your feet and my heart desires solely to dwell in your presence. Wrap me in the stillness of your presence and open my heart to receive the word you have for me. Pour down your blessings upon me as I continue daily in your presence. Hold me tightly and never let me go in Jesus Name.

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I invite you to join me as we study in together in the next 14 days.