Author name: Don Gray

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” —Hebrews 4:13

This sentence strips away all the pretense and the facade I build around my persona. It cuts right through the exterior bull crap, whether it’s thoughts, imaginations, justifications, false bravado, presumption and the like and cuts straight through to the heart of who I am standing naked before Him.

Poised on a high and lofty throne sits the Creator and Judge of all. With one word He could condemn me for my shortcomings and sins, His judgment fair and true. I stand at His feet humbled by His awesome presence. I have no defense for my transgressions, only confession, only agreement that He is just to judge.

But instead of judgment comes compassion. Instead of punishment comes mercy. For my nakedness He clothes me in His righteousness. For my weakness He gives me grace to overcome.

Seated next to the Judge at the right-hand of His throne sits the Son, the Lamb of God, the Great High Priest who covers my sin with His own righteous Blood, who understands my weakness and grants forgiveness so that I may stand at the throne just as I am and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” —Hebrews 4:15-16

It is not the Father’s desire to condemn us. Out of love for us He sent His son for this very reason. Hebrews 1:3a says, “And He[Jesus] is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.” Jesus represented the Father’s will, His compassion for His children. So stand in that Presence and let it strip away the pretense and facade. Let Him clothe you in His righteousness and let the truth of His mercy and grace free you to be who He made you to be.

(originally published 3/19/13)

“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” —Genesis 5:24

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” —Hebrews 11:5

Wow. Selah (pause and think about that). That blows my mind. Here was a man that lived a different kind of life than most of us can fathom. He so pleased God on this earth that God spared him from death, the Lord translated Enoch to heaven. The next verse in Hebrews, verse 6, says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” So we know that Enoch was a man who walked in faith. The Genesis verse says he “walked with God,” so we also know he had a very personal relationship with God.

The Bible doesn’t list any of Enoch’s exploits. As far as we know God didn’t use him to build an ark or father many nations or slay Philistines. He is only mentioned for one thing, that he pleased God by walking with Him in this life. And that was important enough for a notation in His eternal Word.

When we walk with God we put ourselves in a place (hint: a secret place) to hear His voice, to receive instruction, correction, and promise…oh, and just to hang out. In this intimate place of His presence His Word becomes alive to our souls, it changes from head knowledge to revelation. We exercise our faith, even mustard seed faith, with this “revealed” Word to bring the unseen into the seen, to see fulfillment of His promises and be transformed in our person.

There are a collection of letters and conversations written by a monk named Brother Lawrence some 400 years ago called “The Practice of the Presence of God.” Brother Lawrence, after years of frustration in wanting to be closer to God but unable to attain it, discovered that just the act of being aware of God’s presence throughout your daily life brought that peace and intimacy.

Two quotes from Brother Lawrence:

“It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church. We may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love. Every one is capable of such familiar conversation with God, some more, some less. He knows what we can do.”

 “I must, in a little time, go to God. What comforts me in this life is that I now see Him by faith; and I see Him in such a manner as might make me say sometimes, I believe no more, but I see. I feel what faith teaches us, and in that assurance and that practice of faith I will live and die with Him.”

 Abraham had this kind of relationship with God:

“and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.” —James 2:23

 I want to be called God’s friend. I want to converse with Him when I’m shopping or driving to pickup my kids or cooking dinner. I know that I know that I know that this is what He desires, craves from each one of us. He isn’t the great Clock Maker that set everything in motion in some cold and distant fashion to watch and see how things turned out. He wants to be intimately involved with His creation, with us who He made in His image.

I want to be an Enoch, not so I can escape death, but that I might know Him and be transformed into the person He made me to be. I hope you do to. It starts with us wanting it, then telling Him we want it, then making time to be alone with Him. He knows how to get us there, we just need to take the first steps.

Be blessed!

(originally published 3/14/13)

 “For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.
 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all…”

—Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-23

                               

So many of the events that happened to the Israelites in the Old Testament were set as types and shadows to their spiritual counterpart in the New Testament. God did these things as examples (see I Cor. 10:11) so we could understand His plan of redemption for us through Christ. The above scripture draws on the awe inspiring experience Moses and the Israelites had at Mt. Sinai when they met God “face to face” for the first time since leaving Egypt.

Exodus 19 lays out the events. Three months after crossing the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai where a physical manifestation of the “I Am” appeared for all to see.

“Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.” —Exodus 19:18-19

What an awesome sight it must have been, the mountain lit up with fire, lightnings, and smoke, thundering and quaking shaking the ground under their feet and the blast of a loud trumpet announcing His visitation. I can just picture Steven Spielberg making a movie about this with really cool special effects.

It then goes on to say that God came down on the top of the mountain and called Moses up to meet with Him. Here Moses communed with the one, true living God, the Creator, the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful Ancient of Days. God delivered to Moses the Ten Commandments and instruction for leading the people of his covenant promise, the descendants of His friend Abraham.

Below, at the edge of the mountain, the Israelites watched:

“All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.” —Exodus 20:18

When Moses came down the people entreated him to be their go between with God.

“Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.'”  —Exodus 20:19

 I think a lot of the time this is us. We want someone to go to God for us and tell us what He says. We are too sin conscious or afraid to face Him ourselves or not willing to work on our own hearts to be in a place where we truly allow ourselves to hear his voice. We think if we go into that place of His presence and hear His voice “we will die.” Truth is, yes we will. When we do finally do this, we end up dying to ourselves and finding life in Him. As Paul said, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). I’m learning that being dead is okay, God has new life for us when we finally lose our own.

Moses wasn’t satisfied standing at the base of the mountain watching God from a distance. He sought after God’s presence, pursued it with a passion. Because of his heart attitude, God used him mightily.

We, Church, have not come to this Mt. Sinai that once rumbled and burned and shook but we have come to Mt. Zion and to the City of the Living God. We no longer have to stand at the base of the mountain watching, we can climb up the Mountain of God and into His presence to hear His voice for ourselves. We can enjoy that fellowship and presence that Moses treasured.  So, I say it again, RISE UP and enter in, God is welcoming His people to this mountain and to this shaking that leaves only the things that cannot be shaken remaining. For our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

Be blessed!

(originally published 3/11/13)

“For there will be a day when watchmen
On the hills of Ephraim call out,
‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
To the Lord our God.’” –Jeremiah 31:6 (NASB)

I only recently discovered this scripture. When I read it it jumped out and planted itself in my heart. God has been dealing with me lately about dwelling in Him, about finding that place in His presence, that “secret place”, that resides above all the cares and turmoil of this world. It’s a place filled with peace, strength, authority, and acceptance. It’s the atmosphere of Heaven, the tangible glory of God’s presence, and it’s available to believers now. We don’t have to wait for the “sweet by and by” or be in a good church service to experience this blessing. We are now, in this present moment, authorized and encouraged to draw near to God, to come with confidence before His throne (Heb. 4:16) and experience the splendor of His presence.

For it is in His presence that we are changed. It says in I John 3:2-3, “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” When we experience that glory of His presence we are transformed into His image from faith to faith and glory to glory. Have you every just felt the presence of God and been overwhelmed by His love and peace? I believe He wants us to daily walk with Him in these moments on purpose. 

The writer of Hebrews draws a comparison of the earthly tabernacle to the spiritual tabernacle that it was patterned after. In this comparison, he shows how Jesus is the true High Priest that offered up once and for all the only acceptable sacrifice ever needed for sin. How He entered the Holy of Holies with his blood and made and offering to God on our behalf. 

Hebrews 10:19,22a says, “Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place, by the blood of Jesus…let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…” God made the way! We weren’t created to grovel and live like worms on the earth in separation from our Creator. He wants us to dwell with Him, to commune with Him, to walk with Him….daily. We can come into His presence with “confidence” and “full assurance of faith” because of what Jesus did for us. It was His plan all along! 

We were made to draw close to our Lord, walk with Him and talk with Him, to hear His voice, receive counsel, wisdom, healing, peace, joy…all of it, to bask in His love like Adam in the Garden before the fall. We don’t do it because we don’t think we are worthy and the cares of this life bog us down. But there is a way to lay aside those cares and the guilty conscience of sin and accept the power that is in that precious Blood! A way to walk hand in hand with the Living God, the source of Life and Light. The One who gives purpose and meaning; Who gives help for the present and hope for the future; Who redeems and gives purpose and meaning to life. So RISE UP and step on in, reach up and take His hand. He’s got a seat waiting for you in the heavenly places, seated with Christ (Eph. 2:6).

Be blessed!

(originally published 3/9/13)