Presence

Presence: the part of space within one's immediate vicinity

Fact: the presence of God changes and convicts the person within.

Verse for the day: Jonah 1:1-3

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

How many times in our day have we decided to run from the Lords presence? How many times have we not walked out in a obedience after learning a truth or a revelation of something that needs to be done in our life? Jonah, A prophet of the Most High, a person whom you would think LOVED the presence of God and loved all the times when God had given him a word for the people of Israel. But yet, when this one word came, he either became to prideful and didn't want to go, or became fearful of what Nineveh was, and ran the opposite way. He didn't want to listen. He ran from the place that was his source of inspiration and strength, the presence of God.

We all know the rest of the story, but i seem to realize that too often I relate to that story. I get caught up in myself, thinking I can control my own business; that my plans are really going to be ok, and start to avoid my place with God. I need to realize more that this place is really the starting place for everything else. There is NOTHING BETTER THEN THE PRESENCE! There is peace within it, joy abounding, love out pouring. But i believe many times the reason we don't press in to it is because it is also convicting. That's why Jonah had to run because he knew he couldn't stay and disobey at the same time.

Convict: to find or prove to be guilty

That's apart of the presence of God for He is Holy, but also loving. He does bring peace, but He can't stand sin. I pray that I would be able to live constantly with the mindset of living in the presence of God. That I would be willing to seek it out, no matter how convicting or life -changing it is, for I know,

" Better is one day in Your courts then A THOUSAND elsewhere, O God"