The Glorious Presence of the Lord in Christ Jesus!

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” – Jude 1:24-25 NIV

Without having Jesus Christ as our firm and solid foundation (Luke 6:46-49), we are bound to fall into hopelessness and despair. I heard that many people tend to literally sacrifice their lives into death because of hardship and difficulties about various situations and circumstances, such as being broken. In fact, all of us are broken in a way, even if it is not physical. We are being spiritually broken if we have not committed our lives to God through Jesus Christ. The main reason for this is that we are denying that we have been created by God (Genesis 1:27) and that the power of God is not working within us through the Spirit of God (Ephesians 3:20-21). This is exactly why we need to have Jesus Christ as our firm and solid foundation by believing in Him until the end of the age (Ephesians 2:1-10; Romans 3:21-26). “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:14)

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel… (Colossians 1:19-23)

Although temptations and persecutions may come to those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, He surely would not let us fall into despair easily (2 Corinthians 4:8-11). Temptations used to come to me, especially when I was watching television. This is because the Spirit of God used to prompt me to read and listen to the word of God or to spend my time for the glory of God, instead of watching television, but I did not obey the Spirit. Sometimes, I feel that I have to crucify my desires of watching television until I can manage my time correctly. The another example of mine for this happened a couple of days ago. I suddenly felt I was extremely bored that I did not know what to do myself and wanted to move out to experience what Christian homes are really like. After a short while, the presence of the Lord hovered over me that I felt that this is the way of God disciplining me through His Spirit (Hebrews 12:4-11) , to become a prayer warrior (Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Hence, I thank the Lord for realising what that moment has been. Nevertheless, the presence of the Lord hovers over us into different ways, but we have to trust that the Lord would not let us fall into hopelessness and into despair (Proverbs 3:5-8). In fact, the Bible repeatedly reminds us that the Lord is never going to leave or forsake us.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 31:8)

Moreover, we have to believe the fact that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ by believing in Him until the end of the age (John 3:16-18; John 11:25-26). Not only we sometimes can literally feel the presence of the Lord, we would feel His presence all the time if we stay in a relationship with Jesus Christ intimately until the end of the age, as we would meet Him by face to face. Thus, for this reason, I thank the Lord so much to the point that my heart explodes. Romans 8:1-4 always encourages me because this Scripture tells me that I do not have to face condemnation and the wrath of God (John 3:36) if I firmly hold the hope of God (1 Peter 1:3-9), that Jesus Christ is going to take me to the kingdom of heaven at the end of the age (John 14:1-7). Therefore, we have to stay in the relationship with Him intimately as much as we could (1 John 1:6-7)—through the prayer (Philippians 4:4-7) and through the Word (Philippians 1:27-29).

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)