In the presence of a Holy God

Devotional worship:  

I’m sure, like me, you’ve gazed into the night sky or may have looked at some distant star through a telescope.  The Hubble Space Telescope has glimpsed the most distant single star it’s ever observed, glimmering 28 billion light-years away.  (One light year is the distance that light travels in a year which is approximately 300,000 km/s.)  These stars are so far away, and yet are so beautiful, that they remind us just how small we are!  Many have huge sizes, bigger than our Sun.

Yet even the most distant stars are just God’s creation.  Only God is ‘utterly other’, separate from us, devoted to Himself and nothing else.   Like Isaiah the Old Testament prophet, it is easy to be totally overwhelmed by God’s holiness.  In His presence we can feel unclean and broken.  (Isaiah 6:1-6)

Prophetic Focus:  

God gave me a picture of a land with numerous highways, leading to death and destruction.  There were many on slip roads onto these perilous highways and people literally accelerating along these slip roads.  Many were so blind that they had no idea in which direction they were heading.  God then reminded me of His highway of holiness.  It is a route only for those who chose to walk on that way and who chose to live clean.  (Isaiah 35:8) 

I believe that the Lord wants to remind us of these truths from scripture:

‘When you gave your life to me, I gave you the gift of my Holy Spirit who lives within you.  Invite Him into your heart today for you have indeed been set free from your sin and you belong to me.  Even when I appear distant from you, know that you are my beloved children.  Allow my Holy Spirit to purify your heart from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of a reverence for me.   Today choose to put on ‘the new self’, the self that I created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.’  (Hebrews 12:14, Romans 6:22, Hebrews 12:10, 2Corinthians 7:1, Romans 6:19, Ephesians 4:20-24)

The truth is that God has made it possible for us to come into His presence.  Not only that, but He has set His seal of ownership on us through the gift of His Spirit.  (1 Corinthians 1:21-22).  We belong to Him.  How amazing is that!

Prayer and Praise Focus:

1. In both Isaiah 6:1-3 and Revelation, we see that the only response when we come into the presence of a Holy God is to worship and praise Him.  Spend time worshipping, praising and thanking God for who he is.
2. Pray that God would fill you with His Holy Spirit today.  (Make this your practice to invite Him into your life every day.)  Allow Him to reign in your every thought and action.  
3. Pray for those amongst your family or friends who do not know Jesus that He would set them free from spiritual blindness.  Pray that they would know the amazing love and grace of God.