Inspiration:
My deepest desire is to restore that heart-to-heart connection between us. I want you to intimately experience Me, moment by moment, in the goodness of the Holy Now.
~In the Presence of Jesus by Paul Bane and Matt Litton
Scripture:
When Jacob awoke, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
~Genesis 28:16
We go through the everyday motions, but many of us struggle to feel excited about life. It is because we spend our time living in the past or the future in our thoughts. We all know what it’s like to lie awake at night, unable to sleep with our thoughts racing because someone said something hurtful about us. Or it might be the overwhelming regret or guilt you feel as it plays out in your head of what you should have done differently. (Calming My Restless Mind)
Likewise, even though Jesus says do not worry about tomorrow if you’re like me, my mind automatically bypasses that truth and contemplates the worst possible outcome. That’s the problem because the worst-case scenario never happens ninety-nine times out of a hundred.
For the Christian, learning to live our lives in the presence of God is our eternal calling. Instead of overthinking and being stuck in our pain, we can encounter the Author of Life and His resurrection power moment by moment.
It took decades for me to discover how to live mindful of the present moment. Matt calls it the “Holy Now” of God because it is the point in time between the thoughts of the past and the future. It was impossible until I realized it is where my experience of time and God’s eternal time powerfully intersect. The Holy Now is the moment I can unite my heart with His heart. (Inhabit the Moment in the Presence of God)
The past and the future rob us of the most sacred moment of time. It is the only real time we have the power to experience the presence of God in our lives. It is the time we encounter God, who is faithful and more loving than we can imagine and who is always present for us in the Holy Now of the moment.
(With over 500 reviews on Amazon, “In the Presence of Jesus” is an excellent devotional for a group study.)
