Welcome to your first week of the “Power of Presence,” course! I’m so excited to share the next four weeks with you and have been feasting and savoring on what you’re about to experience and absolutely cannot wait to see how Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus and His Presence to us in even greater measures.
This week we will be giving laser focus attention to allowing Jesus the supreme and highest place in our lives.
In the following weeks we’ll build upon this foundation, by diving deeper into our relationship with the Lord, our true identity and fulfilling our prophetic destiny, all while remaining grounded to the underlying basis of our highest calling: to minister to the Lord and be carriers of His Presence.
For any type A people taking this course, (haha) here’s a handy dandy outline:
Week 1: WORSHIP – Supremacy of Christ
Week 2: RELATIONSHIP – Intimacy with Christ
Week 3: SONSHIP – Identity in Christ
Week 4: KINGSHIP – Destiny in Christ
If I could sum up this course in one line it would be this:
We exist to enjoy true intimacy, unbroken connection and oneness with Presence Himself – the beautiful God and Man Christ Jesus – and we get to champion His ways in the world around us.
Are you ready? Let’s dive in!
In the fall of 1978, my family immigrated to USA. As a wide-eyed seven year old, there were so many sights and sounds that were worlds apart from what I had known till then. That entire season in our lives is a whole other book for another time.
As our family got settled in our new surroundings and culture, my sisters and I began attending school. I struggled to fit in and awkwardly tried to make friends, speaking to them with my thick Indian accent…lol! The play ground was scary, the kids looked and talked so differently than my Muslim, Hindu & Christian friends from back home.
Being one of two students of color in the entire school I was in a whirlwind of emotions as I tried to find my place and wasn’t quite sure where I belonged. These kids all watched the same TV shows (I had never heard of “The Love Boat” or “Gilligan’s Island.” What?? Whaaaat was that??? Yes, I know I’m showing my age with that comment…lol!), they ate the same type of foods, played sports together and had sleep overs. I truly felt like a misfit and an outsider and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t fit in. Everything about me was different and stood out.
One of those days was particularly difficult, as some of the girls in my class were a tight, little clique and were all talking about a recent episode of a show they had watched. Soon, the conversation became very cliquey and I don’t recall all that was said, but I knew I wasn’t wanted in their group and didn’t fit in. As my tender 7 yr old heart became filled with stinging rejection and homesickness, I turned away to hide the tears filling up my eyes and saw a swing on that playground that faced our classroom window. Running towards it and with my back towards everyone, I began to swing and out from the depths of my little heart, in that moment of deep discouragement, flowed this song to Jesus:
In moments like this, I sing out a song
I sing out a love song to Jesus
In moments like this, I lift up my hands
I lift up my hands to the Lord
Immediately a sense of peace and stillness came over my heart and I felt like I didn’t have a care in the world, so I kept swinging up higher and higher into the air and singing out passionately to the Only One that mattered in that moment.
It was in that moment, that I had an encounter with Presence Himself that started me on a journey of experiencing intimacy and joy in worshipping Jesus and an intense longing for deeper places of His heart.
Here I was a misfit, scrawny 7 year old immigrant, trying to make sense of my new world, but when I encountered Jesus on that playground, a desire to worship Him began to stir and grow in me. As I sensed His very Presence wrap around me on that swing, my perspective shifted. I went from being an outcast to being aware of how deeply I was accepted and belonged to my King!
On a side note, isn’t it interesting that when we engage with the beautiful Man Christ Jesus and enjoy His Presence, we find our true, authentic selves? The one He always created us to be and thrive in?
Several years have gone by since that encounter on the playground and I’ve experienced exciting mountaintops and deep valleys in the “playground” of life. Countless times I’ve gone back to that image of engaging with my First, Supreme Love on that swing. It certainly hasn’t been a perfect walk of always being in submission to His heart, but because of His Spirit residing in and empowering me, that desire to enjoy Him and be devoted to Him has consistently been present.
You see it’s not perfection but our devotion that delights Him. (Freebie: True holiness is the fruit of delighting in and drinking the sweetness of His Presence).
As He draws me to deeper places of His heart, He has brought layers upon layers upon layers of healing, freedom and redemption to that little girl in me and continues to unveil more and more of His rich, satisfying Presence.
We were intentionally created to receive delight, satisfaction and life from the Supreme Source of Love: JESUS!
Like the story I shared above, I’m sure you can also recall discouraging moments of loss, loneliness and rejection. Life happens to all of us but what I can confidently say with firm conviction is this:
Jesus Christ is the Source of life. Every need for acceptance, significance and purpose must come from Him and is found in His Presence alone.
John 15:5 explains it this way, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
He is supreme and deserves our everything.
Apostle Paul (I call him my spiritual father – love that man!), inspired by Holy Spirit, said in Colossians 1:15-17:
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, 16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by Him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through Him and for Him. 17 He Himself is before all things and all things are held together in Him.
Our highest and supreme calling is to lay our lives down in abandoned worship to God and enjoy and rest in the relentless love of God. As Paul said in verse 16, “All things were created through Him and for Him.”
How does this scripture and the supremacy of Christ apply to you and me?
Westminster Catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” You and I were created for His pleasure. We were created to enjoy God. We were created to draw life from the Source of Life Himself.
We become restless and dissatisfied until we find our spirits lost in worship with the One we were created for.
Did you know that the greek word – Proskuneo – is most commonly used in the New Testament, when the word “worship” is mentioned?
Let’s dive into the definition of Proskuneo: pros-koo-neh’-o:
Worship is delighting in God’s goodness and responding to His supremacy. We respond by honoring, valuing and treasuring His Presence above all else.
C.S. Lewis reflects, “In commanding us to glorify Him, God asks us to enjoy Him.”
I’ve gone back to that memory of my childhood that I shared earlier hundreds of times. Even in the midst of trials, disappointments and losses around me, I remember that little girl swinging away and singing out from that place of playground rejection that seemed so crushing in that moment. I have thought about HIS great love and how He longs for our hearts to BE with Him. He longs for our hearts, no matter what condition we are in, He wants YOU. He wants ME. He longs for us to enjoy Him – in every moment. That’s why you and I breathe, exist and live out our days here on earth, to lavish on Him, the reward of His suffering. He is worthy of all our worship.
