Video from Westmont College
Dallas Notes: How is God with Us? How Can We Know It? (May 26, 2011)
We can't separate from the love of God that is in Jesus
His presence in our life and our presence in His life
perfectly safe, no matter what may happen
this universe is a perfectly safe place to be no matter what happens
good basis for mental health. no grounds to fear.
able to be at peace no matter what
God is there with you and will take care of you
Ps 23
'I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me'
[said in different interview he prays through every morning]
God's sufficiency is the basis of our security, mental health, Godly character, anointing for service
He is with us and has authority over everything in heaven and on earth
Heb 13: let your lives be without greed and be content with what you have b/c He has said I will never leave you or forsake you. so you have everything that you need and can't be separated from it by any circumstance
'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want'
Ps 73: the nearness of God is my good
The Lord is my portion. I've got the Lord and that is enough
beyond omnipresence (physical fact)
relationship, manifest presence of the Lord
Aaronic blessing
Perception since God is invisible, if we're going to be aware of Him, we have to turn our minds toward Him
Paul in 2 Cor 4: while the outer person is going downhill, the inner person is being renewed day by day. we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen. for the things that are seen are temporal and the things that are unseen are eternal
the main way that God is with us is our awareness of His presence.
God is gentle. if you don't want to see Him, you don't have to (at least for now)
i expect there will be a time when everyone will see him, an unhappy time for people who are not used to seeing him now
if we want to see God, we have to seek him. it's the key to this way of God being present with us'seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near' -- Is
He's not always near and seeking Him is the condition of awareness of Him
the awareness of God is not something that just happens to us. we have to focus on it
sometimes, of course, God makes it happen. God gives you an awareness of Him and His presence. certainly that happens to people in the Bible
and even if that's happened to us, we still have to seek Him. 'seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness...'
how?
turn our mind to God. fix our minds on God.
can be difficult at start. but that's the way seeking goes.
if you're going to see something in the physical realm, you have to turn your attention to it. and if you're going to see it well, you have to examine it closely. you may have to move toward it. you may have to take steps. you may need a microscope or a telescope.
does not develop passively. you have to commit yourself and pursue it.
God wants us to want Him. Your life is kind of like a party that God wants to be invited to.
the main way we seek Him is by dwelling on Him in our minds
how and what we perceive determines the character of our lives
when you have trouble with something, the key question is 'what are you putting your mind on?'
students who are not doing well in a course do not have their mind on the content of the course
goes for family, occupation, community, etc.
we have a choice about where we place our minds and, if we want God present in our life, we have to hold Him before our minds
Practice of the Presence of God
putting your mind upon God and keeping it there
took Brother Lawrence 10 years to get the hang of it.." from the lecture notes.