Heb. 4:16-Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Go with me to a place where few enter, where you are saturated with the presence of God, where the glory is, where you are literally baptized in His awesome power.
As long as you are in this place, you no longer feel guilty or sinful. That was taken care of in the Outer Court. You pass through the Holy Place, where your soul begins to surrender to the will of the Father.
Then, something miraculous happens. You go beyond the veil, deeper with the Father than ever before. The flesh cannot enter. The soul can no longer talk or participate. Communion begins within your spirit. God speaks to you, deep inside. His presence is so abundant that you can only listen. You no longer talk. You must be quiet. In the presence of God, words are inadequate. You have entered into a higher revelation.
Quietness is all around you, but not as a sign of lack. It is a sign of abundance. Christ Jesus is no longer the Person about whom you’ve read. He becomes real, altogether lovely, the expressed image of God’s glory. This is where He reveals Himself.
The wealth of His presence is beyond the veil. Your spirit becomes more alive than you dreamed possible, for it responds to the Creator. The depths and heights are unsearchable.
Your life is changed forever, yet it is just beginning to change. You’ve begun to understand, in a small way, what David the Psalmist was acknowledging when he wrote, “You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man…” (Psalm 31:20
). It means total protection. Sickness is not allowed there. Enemies of God cannot enter.
). It means total protection. Sickness is not allowed there. Enemies of God cannot enter.
When it’s time to leave, you cannot wait to return—for you’ve just begun to experience a taste of what it’s like to be in heaven’s throne room.
Few humans enter the Holy of Holies, spiritually speaking. Why? The price is simply more than most people are willing to pay.
The price begins with a growing desire—an overwhelming hunger and thirst—for an intimate relationship with the Lord. Psalm 42:7 speaks of the Psalmist David’s own desire: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
I’ve been told that a deer likes to stay close to the water. If it is in danger of being attacked by any predator, it can run into the water where the scent will be lost. But when the deer is away from water and is being chased by an animal, the hart will literally begin panting for the water.
The word “pant” in the Hebrew means “an audible longing for thirst.” For the deer, it’s a sound of impending agony. It knows if it can get to water, the chances of survival will increase substantially.
The psalmist understood this agony, for as he wrote this passage, He was the “deer” in a dead-or-alive manhunt endorsed by a blindly jealous King Saul. David knew that without Jehovah’s protection, he would fall prey to Saul’s well-trained warriors.
Oh, that we could see how we are being pursued by the enemy of our souls: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
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It’s a matter of priorities. Those who put everything else in front of spending time alone with the Father cannot experience His best. There must be a thirsting in your soul before you can know God’s fullest presence.
Too often, as the old saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” We intend to spend time with God. We sincerely want to pray. We mean to give more and more of our hearts to Him. We want to intercede for others. We aim for time in His Word.
Yet we stray from godliness, not only through adultery, hatred, idolatry, or lying, but too often by simply forgetting or avoiding the things that please the Lord. We neglect to pay the price for the presence of God, and wind up wandering around in a wilderness being pursued by the evil one.
There is a much better way!
How we need to “pant” for His protection. Whether we are aware of being attacked or not, the presence of God will satisfy every need, every longing, every hurt, every hunger.
How? Let’s return to the anointed words penned by the psalmist:
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. (Psalm 63:1-3)
David knew, as we must learn, that the initial move toward true intimacy with God was moving from the “flesh” to the “soul.” The flesh is likened to the sacrifice for sins in the Outer Court of the Old Testament Tabernacle, which every studious Hebrew knew.
Inside the sacred tent, curtained away from the Outer Court, was the Inner Court, or the Holy Place, the place of the soul or inner desire. The Holy Place was 20 cubits long and 10 wide. It contained the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick, and the altar of incense—each with specific significance.
Inside the Holy Place, 10 cubits square, was the Holy of Holies, which contained the ark of the covenant, a sacred chest—the symbol of God’s divine presence. A veil of very costly material divided the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. No one except the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and he was only permitted to enter once a year on the Day of Atonement.
But everything changed for you and me at Calvary:
Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:50-51.
Christ’s death signaled the opening of a new and living way to God. Before, the veil kept people from coming into the most holy place where the Shechinah was.
The price of His presence was paid in full, yet so few believers are willing to do what is required to enter in to the Holy of Holies.
It begins with thirst and hunger for an intimate walk with Him: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16
Everything begins with a desire for closeness with Him, no matter the cost, and it is accessible to every Christian who is willing to pay the price.
That is my prayer for you!
Before I close, let me mention that a mighty outpouring is shaking the nations, as prophesied in Scripture: “I will shake all nations…and fill this temple with glory” (Haggai 2:7).
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Unprecedented doors of opportunity for the Gospel are opening in nations around the world with the potential to reach millions for Christ, just as Jesus promised when He said, “Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us, and are ready now for reaping” (John 4:35, LIV).
, LIV).
There is so much more to be done. More than ever, God desires to shake the nations!
Today, the world’s population is nearly 7.4 billion souls, and each one will spend eternity somewhere. Less than a third consider themselves to be Christians, even by the broadest of definitions. Some estimates point to a few as 10 percent are born-again believers!
In other words, somewhere between 4.9 and 6.6 billion people living today have not received Jesus Christ as Savior!
That number should shake us to the core. The shaking of the nations prophesied in Haggai 2:7 should begin with each of us!
We cannot look to the past and be satisfied. There is an aching need for more evangelism, not less.
That’s what God is telling me. We need even more, not less!
Just as He desires to draw us into His presence in the Holy of Holies, He is always drawing us to the fact that He desires to shake the nations—even more, not less!
I truly believe that all we have seen in past months and years is but a foretaste of what is to come. God has even more in store for us, not less!
his is the season of supernatural harvest, a mighty outpouring that is shaking the nations, and I believe we will see a glorious harvest of souls!
The nations are calling, and we must respond now before it’s too late. We must do even more, not less!
As God orchestrates our steps with divine perfection and opens the way, we will march forward together like a mighty army, obeying the Lord’s command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
I believe, more than ever, that God is asking you and me to go to the nations of the world and tell them about His precious Son, Jesus Christ.
Doors are opening all over the globe as never before, and the Gospel message is being welcomed in nations where borders were once closed. I’m willing to go. I’m willing to spend and be spent for the sake of the Gospel.
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