Hi again!

Today I heard a song that gave me chills. Have you ever had that happen? Well the song I was listening to is called “Jesus in Disguise” by Brandon Heath. The whole song is about how we probably all have been in God’s presence before, but we may have not recognized it.

The song goes like this: Ever get something in your head/It’s nothing you heard, or something you’ve read/Ever had a cut, but you never saw a blade/Brought to your knees, but you never prayed/Jesus in disguise/Jehovah passing by/The burden of a tear/ Hanging in your eye/ Jesus in disguise/A scar across the sky/ You were looking for a king/You would never recognize/Jesus in disguise/ Ever feel like you’ve been somewhere before/ You hold the key, you know which door/Speak the word your lips have never known/Because your heart tells you so/Jesus in disguise/Jehovah passing by/The burden of a tear/ Hanging in your eye/ Jesus in disguise/A scar across the sky/ You were looking for a king/You would never recognize/Jesus in disguise/So open my eyes, wide as I can/Blind as I am, blind as I am/So open my eyes, wide as I can/Blind as I am, blind as I am/ Jesus in disguise/Jesus in disguise/.

So, I get chills not because this song is amazing, which it is, but because it is talking about a God that gives me chills. This song is talking about God’s presence! I’ve felt His presence personally, and just thinking about the experiences I’ve had makes me shake. The line “Jehovah passing by” stuck with me for some reason. Maybe it’s because I’ve felt Jehovah passing by. Almost a year ago, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I HAD to pray for a friend of mine. So, I shook off my sleepiness and prayed for her. That was my first experience with the Holy Spirit telling me to do something that I remember.

There have been many more incidents since. In May I went to a Christian youth convention with my church. We were there for two nights, and on the first night, I could not go to sleep. Somehow, I ended up sleeping on the floor of our hotel room reading my Bible. I flipped around awhile, until I saw a passage that jumped out at me. It was Exodus 25:1 “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive a contribution from them.” I had the thought, “My words are my contribution to God. I need to be in ministry.” It kind of startled me, because I had never really been sure of what job I was going to do. I still wasn’t sure, though.to last On the second to last day,one of our youth leaders (who I am now very close to) came and hugged me out of the blue and told me I was going to do great things for God. I later learned that my pastor, youth pastor, the leader who hugged me, and a bunch of youth leaders brought up me and some of the things I had said. Coincidence? I don’t really think so.

This past June, I was at a church camp we had a sermon every night, followed by a song or two to close. The sermon was about God’s purpose for our lives. I remember that out of nowhere, I started to cry. Like, cry cry. Loud, ugly, cry. Then I remember, that all the sudden I had this thought and it was, “You were made to be a youth pastor.” I didn’t hear a voice or anything, it was just a thought. But I knew it came from God. Recently I read something that said that you don’t always hear God’s voice, but when you’re in His presence, He directs your thoughts. That’s what happened to me that night.

At that same youth camp I was praying for people, and had been prayed for and I felt God’s presence. It filled the room and enveloped all of us in it. More recently, it’s happened when I pray. I pray for people that I haven’t though of in months. And then I open my eyes, and it’s like waking up from a dream. I can be praying for what feels like half an hour and then check the time and see that only mere minutes have passed by. Or when I’m in youth group and my heart starts pounding in my chest and God gives me words to say and I have to say something. I’ve even actually gotten up on stage and said something to the whole group, which is absolutely terrifying.

But that’s the thing about asking to be in God’s presence: sometimes it’s scary. Sometimes God asks you to do things that you don’t want to do. Sometimes you think thoughts you never thought would enter your mind, like me. Maybe, you speak in tongues when you pray, which means that the Holy Spirit prays for you, usually in a language you haven’t learned. Maybe someone that you just met weighs on your heart and you feel like you need to pray for them. Maybe you have started crying, out of nowhere and couldn’t tell why. If you’ve ever felt like the air was full of something you couldn’t put your finger on, or reveled in the beauty of God’s creation that takes your breath away, you’ve probably been in God’s presence, even if you didn’t recognize it. God’s presence is holy, filling for your soul, and totally unique. You will never experience anything like it. Perhaps you’ve never felt it, but now you want it. Pray about it, and sit, by yourself with no distractions and your Bible and wait.

God does not hide His presence from his people. I don’t know exactly how you’ll experience but Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

May God bless you with all with His presence,

Bright Eyes