Participants: Shelley Quinn
Series Code: PHP
Program Code: PHP000001S
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00:00 Welcome to Pressing in to His Presence.
00:02 Please, join us today to learn 00:04 how you can develop a passion for God's presence. 00:29 Welcome to Pressing in to His Presence. 00:32 Today, we are going to lay the ground work for this series 00:36 which is based on a book that I was very privileged 00:40 to write also titled Pressing in to His Presence. 00:45 Today, were going to be starting with chapter one 00:48 and this series is a series dedicated to prayer. 00:53 But we will start with my personal testimony 00:56 as to how I developed a passion for God's presence. 01:02 You know, for most of my adult life. 01:04 I lived in out of the way rural areas 01:06 and this is required driving 01:09 long desolate stretches of highway 01:12 to reach cities of any significant population. 01:15 Still any inconvenience of time consuming travel 01:19 has been offset by treasure times of talking with God 01:23 in one of my favorite prayer classes, my car. 01:27 In Matthew 6:6 Jesus said enter into that closet 01:32 and when you have shut the door and prayer to your father. 01:36 Perhaps He wasn't thinking of driving 70 miles an hour 01:39 down the highway while praying and I'm sure that 01:43 He would recommend total absorption in prayer 01:46 if you're surrounded by heavy traffic. 01:49 But my only traffic concerns were avoiding 01:51 the occasional tumble weed or an absent minded jackrabbit 01:55 that happen to amble across the path 01:58 of my prayer closet on wheels. 02:01 I will never forget an evening in 1996 02:05 when I headed west from our farm in Coleman, Texas 02:07 to visit my sister in New Mexico. 02:10 Slinging my suitcase into the back of the car 02:13 I pop down in the driver seat and pull the door close 02:16 shutting the world and all distractions 02:20 and in eager anticipation 02:22 of the seven hour trip before me 02:24 I prayed and headed down the road. 02:27 No radio or CD's for me. 02:29 With precious little time to myself 02:32 driving miles of near empty desolate highways 02:36 was something to be treasured. 02:39 I enjoyed the undisturbed silence 02:42 which served as an incubator for my inner thoughts. 02:46 The roads at night were lighted by a full moon 02:48 and only an occasional set of oncoming headlights 02:51 interrupted the serenity of the landscape. 02:53 Ahead was another travel adventure of hundreds of miles 02:57 over the most desolate highways imaginable 03:00 with only my favorite companion, the Lord. 03:04 Little did I know what God had in store for me. 03:07 Now, I'm about to share a story with you 03:10 that is more than a little unusual 03:12 and opening my heart like this is risky business. 03:16 I chance being misunderstood and even labeled strange. 03:21 Let me emphasize something first. 03:24 It was a one time occurrence in my life 03:27 and this particular experience is not 03:30 what the teaching of this series on prayer is about 03:33 it is however related in an exotic kind of way. 03:37 So I'll risk tell you but first let me ask you a question. 03:44 Have you ever prayed for over six hours 03:47 without distraction or interruption? 03:50 It has been my privilege 03:52 only once on that moon lit night in 1996. 03:56 It was an extraordinary event 03:58 that began with me praying Psalms 27:7-9. 04:05 "Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! 04:08 Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 04:12 When you said 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, 04:16 'Your face, Lord, I will seek.' 04:19 Do not hide your face far from me, 04:21 do not turn your servant away in anger, 04:24 You have been my help, do not leave me nor forsake me, 04:29 O God of my salvation." 04:32 I wasn't merely quoting scripture, 04:36 rather this was a sincere heart cry for weeks 04:40 I had had constant distractions 04:43 and they had eclipsed my time of worship with the Lord. 04:47 A deep sense of lost now overshadowed and overwhelmed me 04:53 and I mourned the lack of intimate fellowship 04:56 with the lover of my soul. 04:59 As I began thanking God for His countless blessings 05:03 praise for His goodness and mercy weld in my heart 05:07 and flowed from my lips. 05:09 I pleaded for forgiveness confessing the many ways 05:13 in which I had failed Him and soon 05:15 I was praying scripture promises 05:18 returning God's word to Him with thanksgiving 05:22 and I was absolutely persuade it that He had the power 05:26 to perform what He had promised. 05:28 It was as if I was inhaling relief 05:33 and exhaling every negative feeling that numbed my joy. 05:38 That night I strived to worship earnestly in truth 05:43 and in spirit longing to draw near to him, 05:46 to press into his presence. 05:49 He was definitely drawing near to me 05:52 just as He promised in James 4:8 05:54 which says "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." 06:01 Those frequently traveled roads were so absolutely familiar 06:07 that this journey required no concentration on directions 06:11 and that freed me to become completely immersed 06:15 in worship of my Lord and Savior. 06:18 Six hours of seeking His face were swiftly absorbed 06:23 into the sponge like trough of this bliss 06:26 and then a familiar landmark appeared announcing 06:29 that I only had 45 minutes remaining to my destination 06:32 and I cried out oh, Lord, 06:34 I'm not ready to stop worshiping You. 06:38 I've never before sensed Your presence as which I like. 06:42 It's true Father, as Psalms 16:11 says, 06:46 "In Your presence is fullness of joy 06:49 and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." 06:52 And I said oh, Lord, 06:53 I love you with all of my heart, soul 06:57 and mind caused me to love you with all of my strength 07:01 and I prayed David's words of prayer in Psalms 42:1 07:07 which says "As the deer pants for the water brooks, 07:12 so my soul pants for you, O God." 07:18 What happened next is indescribable. 07:21 It was in Acts 2 upper room type of experience. 07:27 Not with the mighty rushing winds or tons of fire 07:31 but certainly with an outpouring of His spirit. 07:34 Suddenly, unexpectedly 07:37 joy cascaded over me in wave after wave 07:42 and words are insufficient to describe it. 07:45 I sensed that God was communicating with me 07:48 but not in any language it was deep calling into deep, 07:53 His heart calling into my heart, 07:55 His spirit calling to my spirit. 07:58 He flooded with His love. 08:01 It reminded me of Psalms 42:7-8 08:05 where David wrote "Deep calls unto deep 08:08 at the noise of Your waterfalls, 08:10 all Your waves and billows have gone over me. 08:13 The Lord will command 08:15 His loving-kindness in the daytime, 08:17 and in the night His song shall be with me, 08:20 a prayer to the God of my life." 08:24 You know, if there is one thing 08:27 that Bible commentators agree on 08:29 it is that King David was pouring 08:31 emotions of devastation as he penned Psalm 42. 08:35 Cut off from worshiping in the sanctuary 08:39 David was distressed with holy zeal for God. 08:43 He so thirsted for living water from the living Lord. 08:47 Most commentators believe that David refers 08:50 to the overwhelming afflictions of his soul 08:53 as being God's waves and billows cascading over him. 08:57 Now, I'm not a theologian 08:59 and I don't presume to correct Bible commentators. 09:03 Still after my experience of pressing into His presence 09:06 that night I can't help but look at Psalm 42 09:10 through a different lens. 09:12 David had first written these words in Psalm 42:5. 09:18 "Why are you in despair, O my soul? 09:21 And why are you become disturbed within me? 09:24 Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him 09:28 for the help of His presence." 09:32 Is it possible that in the midst the angst 09:35 that David expressed that he pressed into God's presence 09:41 and experienced the same unique visitation I had? 09:44 Is that why he was able to rise 09:47 so rapidly from the debts of disband 09:49 and seek to the heights of faith and confidence. 09:53 You know, in Revelation 14:2 the apostle John wrote, 09:56 "I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters." 10:01 When David referred to the noise of God's waterfall 10:06 was he describing God's presence pouring out over him 10:10 in powerful wordless communication, 10:13 deep calling into deep like the roar of the waterfalls 10:18 the voice of many waters. 10:21 Could that explain why he also penned in Psalm 42:8 10:27 "The Lord will command 10:28 His loving-kindness in the daytime, 10:31 and in the night His song shall be with me 10:34 a prayer to the God of my life." 10:37 And why he concluded with these words in verse 11, 10:41 "Why are you cast down, O my soul? 10:44 And why are you disquieted within me? 10:47 Hope in God for I shall yet praise Him, 10:50 the help of my countenance." 10:54 You know, I don't mean to take poetic license 10:58 or to try to rewrite Bible commentary. 11:01 This is simply something that causes to wonder 11:04 and since it's not a doctrinal matter 11:07 I trusted its okay to share my musings 11:09 about David's experience and relation to my own. 11:13 Sadly, my encounter 11:15 was a one time occurrence in my life. 11:17 Never since have I communed with God for six hours 11:21 in such earnest uninterrupted prayer. 11:24 Oh, yes, I've attended all night prayer vigils 11:27 where we prayed around the clock, 11:29 still these were times of seeking God's hand 11:32 to move in specific answers to prayers. 11:36 Not an uninterrupted season, a sincerity seeking His faith. 11:40 I tried myself sometimes for being 11:43 spiritually lazy and apathetic. 11:46 Why haven't I tried 11:48 to repeat the unique events of that evening? 11:51 Well, first I'm afraid it wouldn't happen again 11:53 if I were to seek "the experience." 11:58 Besides if we go to God with the expectation 12:02 of some type of phenomenal experience 12:05 we are seeking Him for the wrong reason 12:08 and we become in danger of receiving 12:12 a psychologically educed result. 12:15 So I will settle for this perhaps 12:17 once in a lifetime event. 12:21 You may doubt what I have just shared 12:24 attributing the event to emotionalism, that's okay. 12:29 I confess that hearing such a story from someone else 12:32 would really leave me skeptical. 12:35 My defense is simply that 12:36 I'm not an overly emotional person 12:40 and I not a sensationalist. 12:42 This story was not shared tout 12:45 the tail of some mountain top experience 12:48 but merely to illustrate the power of heart felt prayer. 12:54 You see, prayer is like a multifaceted diamond 12:59 and the benefits of prayer are like multifaceted. 13:04 Our practice of prayer needs a little polishing 13:08 to realize its brilliance. 13:10 We too often regard the purpose of prayer 13:13 as the matter of simply laying our request before God 13:17 oh, but they are so much more. 13:20 The underlying purpose of prayer 13:23 is to know God on a more intimate level 13:27 by communicating with Him on a more intimate level. 13:32 So, how do we develop a passion for God's presence? 13:36 Let's look at Jeremiah 29 13:39 and we are going to begin with verse 11. 13:42 Here God says "'For I know the plans I have for you,' 13:46 declares the Lord, 13:48 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 13:51 plans to give you hope and a future. 13:54 Then'" notice first He says I've got these plan for you 13:59 "'then you will call on me and come and pray to me, 14:02 and I will listen to you. 14:04 You will seek me and find me 14:07 when you seek me with all your heart. 14:10 I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 14:13 'and will bring you back from captivity.'" 14:18 Did you notice that I added emphases to the word then? 14:24 "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me." 14:27 The question is when? 14:29 When do we call upon God 14:31 seeking Him with all of our heart? 14:34 When we recognize 14:36 that He has a good plan for our lives 14:38 then we become motivated 14:41 to seek Him with all of our heart. 14:44 God does have a plan for our lives 14:47 and it is better than the one we are living. 14:50 We find it in His holy word and when we discover His plan, 14:55 acknowledge His sovereignty and power and understand that 14:59 He performs on behalf of our eternal benefit. 15:04 Our hearts well up with eager expectation. 15:07 We develop an incredible desire 15:10 to spend time in the council of His will, 15:14 the Bible and we exhort increased effort 15:18 to whole hearted communication with the lover of our souls. 15:23 In other words, we develop a passion for His presence. 15:28 A greater understanding of God's plan for our lives 15:32 naturally progresses to a passion for His presence. 15:36 The closer we draw to Him the more we become like Christ 15:41 and the more Christ like we become the more 15:44 we develop an increased sensitivity to His moment 15:48 by moment presence with us. 15:51 He is always with us. He never leaves us. 15:53 He never forsakes us. 15:55 And if we are not experiencing His presence 15:58 it is due to our indifference. 16:02 Spiritual indifference is a dangerous heart condition. 16:08 You know, King David had a passion for God's presence 16:12 and that passion caused to seek God earnestly 16:16 and in return God saw David. 16:19 He saw him to be king 16:21 calling him a man after his own heart. 16:24 In his prayer journal which is what I call the Psalms, 16:28 this is David's prayer journal. 16:30 He is refereeing to himself in these words 16:33 found in Psalms 21:6 and he says, 16:37 "For you have made him, David most blessed forever. 16:43 You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence." 16:47 You know, we can look to the Old Testament 16:49 and realize that David spiritual love 16:51 had its ebbs and flows. 16:54 Still his desire for God's presence always returned 16:58 as consuming waves of passion. 17:01 In the wilderness of Judah 17:03 David wrote these words recorded in Psalm 63:1-4. 17:09 "O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You, 17:14 my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for you, 17:18 in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 17:22 I have seen You in the sanctuary 17:24 and beheld Your power and glory. 17:27 Because Your love is better than life, 17:31 my lips will glorify You. 17:33 I will praise You as long as I live, 17:36 and in Your name I will lift up my hands." 17:42 Do you desire to be like David, 17:45 to be God's loving child seeking Him earnestly 17:50 a person after his own heart? 17:53 To experience the reward God has 17:56 for those who earnestly seek Him? 17:58 Oh, I do. 18:00 Unfortunately as with David's occasional omission 18:04 I look back over my life 18:06 and recognize the occasional times, 18:09 I should say the many times that I have experienced 18:12 the loss of my passion for His presence 18:15 and I wonder how could it happen. 18:18 Have you ever lost the rhythm of your relationship with God? 18:22 Have you ever just awakened one morning and wondered 18:25 what happened to your zeal for prayer and Bible study? 18:29 The cares of this world can be like crashing waves 18:32 that was the best of our intentions out to see. 18:36 I can't fully explain these cyclic rises 18:39 and falls in my spinning earth life. 18:42 Why do I occasionally no, 18:45 even a number of times turn my face from Him. 18:48 Oh, I believe that I'm still headed in His direction 18:52 and that I remain His child. 18:54 But it hurts me to disappoint my loving Father 18:58 but praise God these reversals are short lived. 19:02 My passion for God's presence always returns again 19:06 like a surging tidal wave washing over me. 19:10 Let's fast forward it to three years. 19:13 We're going to fast forward to September 1999. 19:16 Then for the previous 18 months 19:19 I had traveled the United States 19:20 working 12 hour days, six to seven days a week 19:24 with a start up company in Houston, Texas. 19:27 And my demanding travel schedule made it impossible 19:30 to attend my Sunday keeping church. 19:33 And I've reasoned well, 19:34 this is a special career opportunity 19:37 and I promised God it wouldn't-- 19:39 it would only be for a limited time 19:41 that I percept the assembling of the saints. 19:44 I had also abandoned the practice of speaking 19:48 and praying God's promises back to Him. 19:52 But I beautifully read a chapter of the Bible 19:56 each night hoping that that would suffice. 20:00 Lots of scripture was hidden in my heart 20:03 but I felt secure still unwittingly 20:08 I had unplugged from my power source. 20:11 I was operating spiritual battery power as my standby 20:16 and I failed to notice how badly I needed a recharge. 20:20 Over those 18 months 20:22 my prayer life had gradually diminished 20:25 to several minutes here and there during the day 20:28 and the obligatory prayer that kneels in bedtime, 20:32 you know what I mean, those little prayers 20:34 that are often just have for our conscious. 20:38 The scripture that I had hidden in my heart was playing out 20:41 and God's promises no longer sparked 20:44 my thoughts without effort. 20:46 I have been unplugged too long 20:48 and my spiritual current was rapidly just charging. 20:53 I lamented my lost intimacy with the Lord 20:57 and I'm embarrassed to admit it 20:58 but my prayers became increasingly winy 21:02 as I begged God to change me 21:06 and to do something in me while all the while 21:12 I made no sincere effort to change my own behavior. 21:16 You know, Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, 21:19 "Seek first the kingdom of God in his righteousness, 21:24 and all these things shall be added to you." 21:29 That I was following His counsel. 21:31 Once again faulty reasoning 21:34 had caused to assign higher priority to my job 21:38 than to seeking God's kingdom first. 21:41 I thought I had a good excuse. 21:43 My husband JD had joined me 12 months earlier 21:46 in becoming employed by the same start up company 21:49 that demanded such personal sacrifice. 21:52 And like a NASA shuttle their success had skyrocketed 21:57 then the unthinkable happened, they filed for bankruptcy 22:02 owing us a good deal of money on our expense accounts 22:05 that we knew we could never collect. 22:08 JD took temporary employment in the panhandle of Texas 22:12 while I scrambled to take advantage 22:13 of a business opportunity of our own. 22:16 And to meet the mid January 22:18 launch deadline of our new company 22:20 here I was again working 12 to 14 hours a day from home 22:24 developing business building seminars for clients of CPAs. 22:29 So giving God empty promises my days were consumed with work 22:34 and my nights with pouty prayers. 22:37 I had lost my sense of peace when I forfeited 22:42 the favor of intimate fellowship with Him. 22:45 I knew my spiritual apathy grieved God. 22:49 Then I remembered 22:50 how Moses had pled for the Lord's presence 22:53 when he had prayed for God to grant to him 22:57 and the airing children of Israel 23:00 the return of His presence to accompany them 23:03 as they made their way to the promise land. 23:05 And our God of infinite love replied in Exodus 33:14, 23:12 "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 23:18 That's what I needed. 23:20 I needed His presence and His rest. 23:25 Walking outside into the crisp night air 23:28 I gazed at His celestial glory. 23:31 The spectacle of His thy host blurred 23:34 as hot stinging tears bring my eyes 23:37 and I prayed, oh, Father, 23:39 please forgive me forsaking my first love. 23:44 That was all I've said 23:46 but it was not all that the Lord heard. 23:48 When troubled eyes are turned toward heaven 23:52 the tender trickle of tears 23:54 is heard by our loving Father as prayers. 23:57 Psalms 9:12 tell us 23:59 "He does not forget the cry of the humble." 24:05 Misplaced priorities and negligence of prayer 24:10 testified to a life 24:13 that was not fully surrendered to the Lord. 24:16 I was humbled, it was time for a change 24:20 and change was in the wind. 24:23 My passion for His presence surged. 24:28 We're out of time today but I hope that 24:32 you will join us next time for the rest of the story 24:36 to see how the Lord moved 24:39 to eradicate my spiritual apathy. 24:43 You know, I have to tell you 24:45 its a bit embarrassing to be talking about myself 24:50 but without sharing this with you-- 24:53 I'm not doing it to-- well, it's embarrassing. 24:58 I'm not doing it for my benefit. 25:00 I'm sharing this with you 25:02 so that you can see how God works. 25:06 I know that at least this is how He worked in my life 25:10 and He did such an amazing job, He changed my life totally. 25:15 When He taught me how to press into His presence 25:19 its something that I just cannot tell you 25:24 how much today's church the Laodicean Church 25:29 needs to change their prayer life. 25:33 If we have a vital prayer life we will be on fire for God 25:40 and we will be following 25:41 in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. 25:44 It is something else to know that really 25:48 we are all in the same-- 25:50 we're all in the same condition. 25:52 We all need more of God. We need to know Him. 25:57 Jesus said in John 17:3, 26:00 this is eternal life to know the one and only God 26:05 and the one whom He sent Jesus Christ. 26:08 Let me say a prayer for you right now 26:10 and please, join us next time. 26:14 Father, we come in the name of Jesus 26:17 and oh, Lord, how we praise you Father, for who You are. 26:23 We praise You Father, for Your love. 26:26 We praise You for the gifts of Your Son Jesus Christ 26:30 and we praise You Father, for the gifts 26:33 of Your Holy Spirit and Your word. 26:35 And Father, I pray in the name of Jesus 26:38 that You will forgive us for not being-- 26:45 Lord, more humble. 26:46 For not recognizing that Your plan 26:48 is to be totally depended upon You. 26:51 We come now in the name of Jesus asking that 26:53 You would change our prayer life, Father. 26:56 Change us, O God. 26:58 And we thank You in advance Lord, 27:01 for the answer to the prayer of faith. 27:03 In Jesus name, amen. 27:06 Well, next time we'll be talking about 27:09 how God eradicated this terrible problem in my life 27:16 and I think you're going to enjoy it. 27:17 You know, this is an exciting teaching 27:20 I was-- I always thank God that 27:23 when He teaches me something I want to ask Him first 27:28 show me how You got me from point A to point B 27:32 so that I can find my way back. 27:35 I like to share what God has shared with me 27:38 but I also want to record it so that we can have a way, 27:44 markers if you will for me to find my way back. 27:48 Spiritual apathy is really a dangerous heart condition 27:54 but it is one that if we turn to God He will eradicated 27:58 and that's what we will be talking about next time. 28:01 Our prayer for you today 28:03 is that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 28:05 the love of the Father and the fellowship 28:07 of the Holy Spirit is with you always. |
Revised 2025-04-02