Just because the Lord is near doesn’t mean you are aware. You must grow in your awareness of the nearness of God.
Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. NIV
With Jesus, nearness is this atmospheric progression. Imagine what was taking place in the spiritual atmosphere when Jesus would enter into a community. A spiritual shift would gradually begin to take place as He came closer and closer and when He arrived all heaven broke loose!
The Lord is near. He’s coming. A spiritual shift is gradually taking place and we must learn to grow in awareness of the nearness of God!
We are learning to live in that abiding place with Christ. We must learn to calm our thoughts and listen to God as our way of life.
God is exposing us to mere glimpses of His overwhelming majesty that awakens the capacity which exists within us. Being in God’s presence shapes us in a variety of ways as we learn to be responsive to Him
We are born with the capacity to speak but until we develop the ability, we just make a lot of noise. We are born again with various capacities but we must be intentional about developing our spiritual abilities.
Just because you are spiritually alive doesn’t mean you’re spiritually developed. Just because the Lord is near doesn’t mean you are aware. You must grow in your awareness of the nearness of God.
Spiritual giftedness isn’t the same thing as spiritual maturity. God’s purposes always come with a process to release God’s anointing in your life. Oil only comes from the crushing of olives. Wine only comes from the crushing of grapes.
1 Samuel 16, David was revealed as a gifted king, he was maybe 15 years old. The Bible says the spirit of the Lord came upon him. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. The house of David grew stronger and stronger. The house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. Do you hear the essence of the process in it all? Twenty chapters later David is finally anointed as King at thirty years old.
In today’s world, we are far more interested in being discovered than we are in being developed. If the selfie doesn’t make us look the best, we take another.
There was a day when cameras had a roll of film that you had to load into the camera. When it was used you had to take it to a place that develops the pictures. You’d drop it off and wait for a week. Then you anxiously opened the envelope hoping for the best.
Developing the film meant the film was to be taken into a dark room. This wasn’t exposed to others in the light before being developed alone in the dark. Over-exposed, underdeveloped pictures never fully express the beauty of the image they have.
Over-exposed and under-developed pictures like over-exposed, underdeveloped people never fully express the beauty of the image they’re designed to express.
It takes time alone in prayer and the Word to grow in awareness of the nearness of God that He desires for us to possess. The Lord is near!
It is interesting that “listen” and “silent” are constructed from the same letters.
Calm your thoughts and listen to God. This becomes our way of life as we watch for Grace and follow favor. We learn to respond rather than react, doing only what we see the father doing because we are not easily drawn out or spun up.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Be very intentional about practicing God’s presence this week. Reflect on Philippians 4 with an unhurried mind as you start your day every day.
Awareness of the Nearness of God: The Lord Is Near
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
“Unto us a child is born” and He will be called Immanuel” which means “God with us”. The nearness of God is always there. We must work on our awareness of the nearness of God. This is all about practicing the presence of God as our way of life. Sometimes we need to look up to be reminded of his presence within us.
Don’t mistake God’s silence for his absence. Sometimes God uses his presence to bring guidance. Pay attention to the presence of grace. Pay attention to the absence of grace! God gives direction by what he graces with his presence. This is a sense of Kingdom awareness. We are learning to watch for grace and follow favor as our way of life.
Psalm 16:8 I am always aware of the Lord’s presence; he is near, and nothing can shake me. (GNT)
Great encouragement comes from rehearsing God’s Word. It is God’s plan is for us to spend time drawing close to his heart and hearing his voice together as a family. This is why we start each meeting with this question first:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Realize there is great power in just reading the Bible together and allowing the Holy Spirit to awaken his conversational nature in the group.
Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. NIV
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words.
3. What do these verses teach us about God?
4. What do these verses teach us about people?
5. What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing?
6. Who comes to mind when considering a person you might share this with this week?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Be very intentional about practicing God’s presence this week. Reflect on Phil 4 with an unhurried mind as you start your day every day.