When we want God to do something in our lives, the first step is to get closer to His presence. Bringing our brokenness, we don’t have to beg God for a blessing or for an answer to our prayers. He wants to do good things for his children.
The people of Judah were already in a state of distress when their king had died (Isaiah 6:1). God had warned this nation of severe judgment for their wicked ways. With an enemy threatening an attack on the land, the people of Judah had questions and doubts concerning their future. Everything was so up in the air. With surmounting fear and hesitancy, Isaiah, desperate for answers, got in the presence of the Lord.
Here on his knees, Isaiah received a revelation from God. The holiness of the Lord shined a light on the sin and darkness in Isaiah. “Woe is me! For I am lost and a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah 6:5 NIV
This was a work of humility in Isaiah. It was the place of brokenness and surrender that allowed Isaiah to be used by God.
We are not strangers to God.
We don’t have to convince Him for salvation. You and I have full access to his favor and healing. We don’t have to beg for access to His goodness, His grace, His provision, and mercy. God’s children have access to His sufficiency through Jesus. You just need to accept it.
When we operate in our own ability and power, we only glorify ourselves. And when we use our solutions to address a situation, we have the potential to do more damage than good. A believer’s aim is not to be spiritual know-it-all’s. Our goal is for the Holy Spirit to be the reigning voice inside us.
When we walk in His presence, we operate out of His power.
There are times God allows a desperation in our soul, spiritually, to draw us back into His presence.
In desperate places, the temptation is to take matters into our own hands. We might create a list of things we need to change. We might want to fix our own failures. In the end, we learn that trying to make ourselves good enough for God is futile.
There’s no spiritual work happening in our hearts when we take matters into our own hands. When we operate out of our own strength, we try to do what only Jesus can do for the soul. When the Holy Spirit brings conviction to your heart, it’s not because He thinks you can clean up the mess in your strength.
Our Restorer will repurpose sin to draw us into His presence.
Sometimes our circumstances corner Jesus with bitterness. We might hold grudges against God because our situation isn’t good. It hurts. So we spend less time in His presence. We might even rebel against everything God wants from us. That’s what Judah did. The devil will devise every distortion of the truth to draw us away from God’s purpose, which is being in the Healer’s presence.
When a tragedy has us asking ‘why,’ the answer begins with bending our will to His.
If it’s not a place of pain that’s driving us away from God’s presence, it can be the competition of our own priorities.
The volume of our to-do’s and want-to’s can drown out the whisper of a should-do in the stillness with Jesus.
Often we wait until our plans hit a roadblock, or until things aren’t working out the way we rigged them before we seek favor from the Father.
When we release the weight of control in our grip and reach this position of surrender, God can go to work in His power and His grace.
Your problems are meant to point you to His strength. This is His grace.
It’s our brokenness and submission that opens our spiritual ears to hear from God. Once Isaiah humbled himself (Isaiah 6:5), God delivered a word.
In God’s presence, with God’s word, Isaiah was able to walk out His purpose.
God has a purpose and a plan for you.
Living out the purposes of God begins with being in the presence of God.
Prime your purposes in perennial prayers in proximity to God’s promises.