"The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend…The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here..." Exodus 33
There was nothing else Moses desired than God's PresencePresence was the sustenance for his heart, mind, soul, and strength, especially as he fasted(twice) for 40 days. His craving could not be silenced. As we see from today’s verse, Moses begged not to have to go anywhere without the Presence of God going with him. Coram Deo! If God had asked him, “What would you rather have right now, your very life or My Presence?” Moses would have exclaimed, “YOU! Just give me YOU! You alone are all I need. You are my life! Give me Your Presence or give me death!” That is the kind of coram Deo desire God wants to place within each of us.
Imagine if Moses had been offered the chance to carry God’s Presence all the time! Would he not have rejoiced and never scorned a moment’s opportunity? But that’s the greater ministry we have!
We cannot walk as we are called without a personal encounter with the Lord every day. Like Moses, we need a holy addiction to His Presence so that He truly becomes more important than bread. This is our greatest pursuit. (Joyner Torch and the Sword 2004)
What we have access to is much greater than what Moses and Old Testament believers had. They had to be in a specific location in order to be in God’s glory cloud, whereas we are the temple of God carrying His Presence into our specific locations. In the Greek, being His temple means that we are the “naos” or “holy of holies.” In the Hebrew, being the abiding place where God “dwells” means “shakan.” The “shekinah glory” was the abiding or dwelling glory found in the holy of holies. (Sheets Intercessory Prayer 1996) In Christ we are the naos of God, which means we are no longer to picture God on some throne in heaven or in a temple in a far away time and place: He’s in us! Living before His face takes place within us.
Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html
There was nothing else Moses desired than God's PresencePresence was the sustenance for his heart, mind, soul, and strength, especially as he fasted(twice) for 40 days. His craving could not be silenced. As we see from today’s verse, Moses begged not to have to go anywhere without the Presence of God going with him. Coram Deo! If God had asked him, “What would you rather have right now, your very life or My Presence?” Moses would have exclaimed, “YOU! Just give me YOU! You alone are all I need. You are my life! Give me Your Presence or give me death!” That is the kind of coram Deo desire God wants to place within each of us.
Imagine if Moses had been offered the chance to carry God’s Presence all the time! Would he not have rejoiced and never scorned a moment’s opportunity? But that’s the greater ministry we have!
We cannot walk as we are called without a personal encounter with the Lord every day. Like Moses, we need a holy addiction to His Presence so that He truly becomes more important than bread. This is our greatest pursuit. (Joyner Torch and the Sword 2004)
What we have access to is much greater than what Moses and Old Testament believers had. They had to be in a specific location in order to be in God’s glory cloud, whereas we are the temple of God carrying His Presence into our specific locations. In the Greek, being His temple means that we are the “naos” or “holy of holies.” In the Hebrew, being the abiding place where God “dwells” means “shakan.” The “shekinah glory” was the abiding or dwelling glory found in the holy of holies. (Sheets Intercessory Prayer 1996) In Christ we are the naos of God, which means we are no longer to picture God on some throne in heaven or in a temple in a far away time and place: He’s in us! Living before His face takes place within us.
Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html