Satan will most likely step it up a notch as he sees us seeking to live before God’s face, for he is both terrified and enraged at the thought of us awakening into deeper awareness of the actual Presence of Christ Almighty in us.  There will be trials when we must forsake discouragement to tenaciously hang on to our coram Deo resolve.  When we fall away we will have to diligently harness our guilt-ridden hearts to immediately return to God and to be sprinkled in the fountain of His Son’s blood, instead of scampering away to plop in the pigpens as penance. 

We will need to be aware that many times we are merely tempted, without having actually sinned.  Temptation makes us feel filthy as if we have already sinned the same way walking by and overhearing a filthy conversation would.  However, just as we would not be held responsible for overhearing the filth, we cannot help when we are tempted.  We only fall into sin if we engage in the filth. (Smith 1998) We must understand that there is no humiliation in temptation; otherwise Satan will have us thinking we are defeated before the battle even begins.  Like Martin Luther penned, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building nests in your hair.”

No matter what comes, if we resolve to let nothing convince us to forsake the high calling of abiding before His face, we will find ourselves overcoming like never before.  We will stand our ground each time we are tempted. If we are tempted to despair, we will do the opposite and praise Him until despair flees and joy comes.  If we are tempted to strike with our tongues, we will do the opposite and bless with our tongues.  If we are tempted to fear, then we will do the thing we fear.  Although none of us will do this every time, only the prevailing attitude of “I’d rather die a 1000 deaths than sin once” that will ultimately cause our enemy to give up and flee. (Jas 4:7)

Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html

Nothing in this life can compare to the fullness of walking in the actual Presence of Christ. The Lord is jealous for us to come to the point where there is nothing we relish more than HIM, for there is nothing He relishes more than us:  “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us.” (Ja. 4:5) The prize that awaits those who count all things but loss for the sake of living before Christ’s face with unadulterated resolve is HIM.  Not just a theoretical, theologized Jesus, but THE actual Spirit of Jesus ALIVE and DWELLING in us.  His actual life flowing through us like an unhindered surge of peace, contentment, joy, love.  That is abundant life, and that is our high calling as Christians:  Him in us without reserve and us in Him without reserve.

That is our coram Deo resolve.  

God, I am in a pit of dung.  This pit gives me (comfort, pride, pleasure, security, escape, __________).  I am helpless to the point that I can’t even stop desiring some of the things that keep me in this pit, and I’m sorry.  Give me a strong loathing for anything that separates me from Your Presence.  I hand it all over to You.  Burn it all away.  Drive every evil thing from my midst.  Help me to continually surrender these by placing them before Your face each time they rear their ugly heads.  Remind me to come to You without condemnation knowing that You are my Forgiver and Deliverer 7 x 70 times a day.  Remind me not to look inside myself or into the world or to religious works for refinement, but always to You.  Oh Lord, “Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink…” (Ps. 69:14) Lord, I desire to live in Your Presence—coram Deo—at all costs.  

Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html

““For I resolved to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:2

Paul had one life resolution, to know Jesus.  Living coram Deo—before the face of God—requires that same single resolution.  So often we make good resolutions to renew our purpose and give us fresh focus, but they usually keep us focused on what we want to do, or what we can do, or what we haven’t been able to do.  It is this carnal mindset on we instead of He that has sabotaged our good intentions from the very start.  To know Jesus and Him crucified means that instead of walking in a self-centered manner, we see ourselves hidden in and seated with Christ.  Like Paul, our resolutions need to be fleshed out and simplified.  Our simple coram Deo life resolution is: 

I resolve to live before the face of God at all costs.

Any distraction or temptation that would cause our heart and mind to entertain it and leave the excellence of God’s fellowship is simply not worth it.  It costs too much.  We are to be on alert for every hindrance that taps on our heart, trying to get us to engage it instead of engaging Christ first and chiefly.  Anything that would cause our inner man to slip away from the high calling that is ours before the face of God in Christ Jesus is dung.  Paul addressed this type of coram Deo resolve:

“I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ…that I might know Him… I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Ph. 3:8, 10, 14, KJV, bold print added
Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html