Restored in God's Presence by Bill Johnson

Last Saturday at Blazing Fire in our ongoing adventure through the book of Acts, I tackled one of the more challenging passages in the Bible~the story of Ananias & Sapphira. I loved some of the spirited discussions that followed and I plan to go a bit deeper as we progress further in Acts 5 this Saturday night to talk about the place that the Fear of God has in a Covenant of Love. In preparation, I thought it would be timely to hear from a spiritual father of mine, Bill Johnson, from his new devotional called "The Resting Place." May the kindness of our King and the awareness of His majesty and holiness lead us to repentance and bring us into a deeper love for His sweet Presence! ~Pastor Brent

Restored in God's Presence Trust is the natural expression of the one in deep repentance. The nature of these two realities is portrayed well in Hebrews 6:1, "repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." In this one verse we see the nature of both repentance and faith--from and toward. The picture would be of one making an about face, from something and toward something. Here it is from sin toward God Himself. His Presence is discovered in repentance. Repentance means to change the way we think. Our perspective changes regarding sin and God. With deep sorrow we confess (fully own up to our sin without excuse) and turn to God (upon whom we place our entire trust). Similar imagery is given in Acts 3. "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). Note the end result--that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. In these two verses we see the pattern, the order that God created to lead us to Himself, to His manifest Presence. While we were sinners, God chose us to experience Him in such a way that we were fully restored to our original design, to live in and carry His Presence. We are either walking in repentance, or we need to repent. Repentance is the lifestyle of being face-to-face with God. If that is missing, I must turn back. I must repent.