Pastor Stan Mons | + Baby Dedication
Sermon Transcription:
We're going to get into the word today. The title of the word the Lord has put on my heart for you is this: Let God win your presence. Let God win your presence. See, the Lord Jesus Christ really is the revelation of the love of God to us who are here on the earth. Us who have the scriptures that we can read. We have people called by God to speak into our life and remind us of those things that God has done. But ultimately, it is Jesus Christ who is the revelation of God and who reveals unto us the very love of God, the very love that God has for each and every single one of us. Without Jesus Christ, it cannot be revealed. It cannot be an accurate definition of love, and it cannot enter into your heart and truly enter into your life unless the very one that made you— as He made baby rain in the womb, the very one that made you— unless He carries it into your life and carries it into your heart, and into every aspect of who you are. You can't really understand or receive the love of God. Yet God, it was pleasing to the Father that through the frailty and the weakness of preaching— which is really presenting and speaking out loud those things that are in the heart of God for people that have yet to receive it— it pleased Him, through a vehicle, if you will, so fragile and so easily tainted by the fragility of men, to deliver things into the heart. He does that by the Holy Spirit, which is the spirit of Christ.
The spirit of Christ carries into your heart what Christ has done. He delivers, if you will, into your personal life what God has done, what Jesus Christ has done, and it begins to make us understand what it means that God loves us. Because we've all heard that sentence, "God loves people, God loves us." Some people even get upset by that sentence. Others don't really know what that means for their own life. Some know what it means, or so they believe, and then when the Holy Spirit carries it into their heart, their whole world opens up and finally they realize, "I never knew the love of God. I knew it in my mind, but no one had ever miraculously carried it into my heart." Yet this work can only be done by Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God, and the Holy Spirit, which Spirit has multiple names, but one of His names is the spirit of Christ. It is the spirit of Christ that helps us understand who Christ really is. And what does the Bible say? Whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. In other words, when the Holy Spirit helps you see Jesus clearly, now you understand who the Father really is. Now you get it. Let God win your presence.
Let me read to you Hebrews 9:24: "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true." That's talking about the Tabernacle and later the temple that the people of Israel had to worship in and to bring sacrifices in. "Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." This is what Jesus has done. He went into the holy places, but not the holy places that we may think of. Not a church, not a tabernacle, not a temple. The word tells us that the Tabernacle and later the temple, which in many ways produced a design that we take after in churches in measure, is a place that is dedicated for a specific purpose. The purpose is worship. The purpose is sacrifices.
What do we do? We sacrifice our life and we say, "Lord, I'm willing for You to be Lord of my life. I'm willing for You to lead my life. I'm willing for You to change some decisions in my life. I'm giving things up." That's, in a form, a sacrifice. And we come to a place week after week, day after day, not only to worship Jesus and to hear whatever God has in His word and in His heart for us, but also to have a place where others are welcome— anyone welcome to get to know the Lord, to take part in worship, and to get to know what this God has truly done for them.
Under that weak vessel, under that weak process of preaching, that only works if the Spirit of Jesus takes into the heart of a person made by Jesus what Jesus has done on the cross. Whoever now has seen the Son with an open heart has seen the Father. This scripture, "Jesus has now appeared for us in the presence of the Father," reminds me of a fiancé, because the word tells us that Jesus is the bridegroom and that His people, His church, are the bride. That's what the Bible explains. It is a picture to help us understand something.
Someone proposed; there's a bridegroom. He's not married yet. Someone proposed. The Gospel was proposed to your heart. The message of that weak preacher was proposed to your mind and to your heart. That proposal was made, and those who said yes to Jesus become now a part of what is called the Bride of Jesus, the Bride of Christ. It is a picture that the Bible is painting to help us understand something. What a bridegroom would do in that time—today, it may be a little different in many cases in our lives, but at the time, what the bridegroom would do was propose to a woman, the love of his life. And if that woman would say yes, that bridegroom would leave, and she wouldn't see him for a very long time. It's exactly what Jesus did. He made the proposal possible by His sacrifice on the cross, putting out an invitation to anyone ever alive that if you say yes to Jesus Christ with all of your heart, that means you cannot have any other lovers. That means you cannot have any other providers.
He, as a bridegroom proposing, made that proposal—if you will—at the cross. He made that proposal possible at the cross to anyone ever alive, and then He left, just as a bridegroom would. And a bridegroom would, after his proposal, leave. Why? Because what did he go to do? He would go to his own land to build a house for his wife-to-be, and she didn't know when he'd be coming back because he wouldn't come back until that house was built and prepared for his bride. She wouldn't have to do anything; she wouldn't have to get anything ready. And then he would come back for her. If she waited for him, he'd, right then and there, plan the wedding—next week, big party, set up. And the Jews really knew how to have a party. They did it for a week. We can learn something from that, amen? Amen. We may have to save a little longer, but, uh, it's getting quite expensive today. But seven days, they would have a wedding feast, and then the bridegroom was now married and would bring his bride home to the house that he prepared.
Jesus tells us, "I go to the Father to prepare a place for you." He's being a bridegroom. As a fiancé, He appeared in the presence of the Father, the word says, for us. What does that mean? He comes to the Father's house, and all of a sudden, the doors of the Father's house are open to you because of the Son of that house. Because you are with the Son, Jesus appeared in the presence of the Father on our behalf, and no one questions you when you come in. No one stops you at the door. No guard, no angel says, "Uh, I'm sorry, what are you doing here?" Because you're with the Son, and because the Son appears before the Father, you are always welcome to come with Him. It's as if Jesus comes home to the Father and He says, "Father, I'm home, and I got somebody you got to meet. I got someone to introduce you. I would like for you to meet my bride." No one at the door, no one in the presence of the Father, can do anything about it because you are with the Son of that house. You're with the Son of that Kingdom. A bride hasn't done anything; she got the, if you will, she got the wrong last name. She does not have the performance, maybe not the nobility, not the royalty to just walk into that Kingdom and be somebody or be welcome. But because she said yes to the Son of that house, everyone treats her as if she is a princess, as if she is a daughter of that house, as if that house belongs to her.
This God we are speaking about, through Jesus Christ, shows us that He loves us and that He loves for you to be brought close to Him. That's what He reveals in the entire word of God, that story of the bridegroom and the bride. Time and time again, it's brought up. It's given by design from God so that we can understand one step at a time, a little better, what it means that God loves me and that God loves for you to be brought close to Him. We don't always—our heart, our heart doesn't always feel that way. I can tell you so many times that I've heard a person say, "I don't feel so close to God. I feel this year I really got to get closer to God. I feel this year I really got to become more spiritual. I feel this year that I really got to get right with the Lord, and I got to get my devotional life right. I got to get in the word of God more. I got to pray more." But Jesus didn’t come to this earth and give you a list of things to do in order for you to get close to God. That's our flesh speaking sometimes, the devil speaking really, telling us it's not finished. There's still something for you to do. If you want to be close to God, if you want to be right with God, then there are still things for you to do. And if you do them, then maybe that can take place this year. Maybe that can come to pass.
Jesus, when Jesus is shown to our heart by the Spirit of Christ, we begin to understand things we could not understand before. We begin to see things that we could not see before. That's where worship really is born. Worship is not us worshiping God 'cause He's greater, more powerful, and we're slightly afraid of Him. We should worship. No. Worship is what comes out of a person that God has poured undeserved things into. When the heart begins to see that God undeservingly sent His Son for me, that God undeservingly made a proposal possible for someone like me—with a bad background, with a bad family history, with bad habits—yet God made that proposal possible for me, and when all I did was say yes, I was welcome in the Father's house. Not only just welcome, I was the guest of honor. He loves for me to be brought close to Him. That's where worship is born. When our heart begins to see that God is not waiting for you to do something, or change something, or make up for something, but the Spirit of Jesus shows to your heart what Jesus has really done for you, all of a sudden, we begin to understand the Father wants me in His presence. And many of us may wonder, "Why? Why does the Father—if this is true—why would the Father want me? Because I have a bad history. I've done things wrong. I've committed sins. I haven't done that much for God. I'm very poor at how well I read my Bible. I'm pretty poor at how well my prayer life is going." Why would the Father, why would this be true? Well, the only answer is love. The only answer is He loved you. That's why He proposed to you. He loved you. That's why He wants your presence in His kingdom. That's why He wants you to be brought close to Him, because He loves you.
Well, that's where the question is raised: Do we believe? That God has loved the world this much? You're included in that world. Do we believe He loved the world this much, that He sent His only begotten Son to go and propose to the people of that world, and then come back to prepare a house for the people of that world? And one day, He will come for those that are waiting for Him and bring them home. Do we believe? Do you believe that God loves you, wants you to appear in His presence, be brought close to Him? With what Jesus has done on the cross, your standing with God has changed, so your relationship to Him, you are now related as— as we have our families here on Earth, again a picture of helping us understand what that means—we have been adopted into the family of Christ. We are now related to the Father. That's the standing. That's a done deal, finished work. The standing has been changed. But what is an ongoing thing is the very title of this message: Let God win your presence.
I'll give you an example of what I mean. We just had Valentine's Day, and my wife and I, we went out last night. We, uh, we went a day late. But, um, when—it always amazes me, and I love to look around at people on Valentine's Day, but also couples when they're out having dinner together. Because some couples are near to each other. They're sitting at the table together, but they don't got each other's presence. There are times that couples are sitting across from each other, and it's so funny to see that they're both on their phones or they're both distracted with something else. They are very near to each other. They come and go together. They sit together. They eat together. But you can tell if you watch them long enough—they're not very present in each other's day. They're not very present in the very moment that they are near to one another. And so, just because you have been brought close to God doesn't mean that He really has your presence every day—that He really has you present in the very nearness that He made possible.
Just this last Tuesday, we received the word that was titled A Love Affair. A Love Affair—that was something the Lord put on my heart right then and there. And throughout this week, I really felt the Lord pull me deeper and deeper into that message and into His heart for your life and for your walk. We talked about following Jesus into prayer, allowing the place of prayer to become that love affair—that lover’s journey, that lover’s affair—where Jesus leads us into prayer. And because He is the love of our life, time goes off the table. We just want to be alone with Him. We love to spend time with Him. He's a part of our prayer life. It’s not a dead, cold, and hard place where the minutes seem to go slower. No, it has become a love affair where I get to spend time with my Lord, and the hours fly by—and it doesn’t feel like the hours have flown by. We talked about the fact that when you first fall in love with someone, you don’t care what you go do together as long as you get to do it with that person. You can have coffee for hours together, and you can’t even drink that much coffee. You can walk on the beach for hours, and you never did that before in your life. It’s not about the activity—it is about spending time with that person.
Time goes out the window when it’s spent with the person that you love. And Jesus so longs for the place of prayer—for the place of relationship, if you will—to be rekindled into a love affair. Not a work. Not something you have to do. Not a place where you run to when you're in trouble—then I pray. But to follow Him into prayer because He loves to spend time with you. See, what Jesus really did is rescue you from the absence of God. That’s what He did on the cross. He saved you from being separated. He saved you from being separated from God in this life, and He saved you from being separated from God for eternity. So at the very least, we can conclude that a great measure of the intention of Christ revealing the love of God has to do with you being present with the Father here in life. He wanted you to have His presence so badly that when Jesus went home, He said, I'll send My Spirit to dwell with you while you are waiting for My return to bring you home. I don’t want you to be alone. He said in the Word, I’m not going to leave you orphans, as if you were adopted into the family of God but you don’t get the benefits, you don’t get to be a part of the family, you don’t get—I'm going to abandon you.
Jesus says, I don’t want that for you, so I’m sending My Spirit that even while you’re here on Earth, you are not alone, but you are near to Me. And then, for eternity, He promises, I’m preparing a place for you where you can finally be with Me. And the Word tells us, you can see Me. You can see Him as He is, as He has known you. And yet, God is not content. He saves you from being separated in life. He saves you from being separated for eternity. And yet, God is not content. Because God is not a parent that just wants to set you up for the future and have you live in the home right now. He wants your heart. He wants a relationship with you. He’s not, in that sense, a busy parent—busy with whatever He’s doing—and He'll set you up for the future and provide for you today. He’s not like that. He wants your heart. He wants time with you.
He wants you to see with the eyes of your heart how much He loves you, how much you mean to Him, how much He desires your presence every day.
Jesus brought you into the presence of the Father, but now He wants to win your presence daily. Jesus brought you near to the Father, but the Father wants to win your presence in the moment—daily. That’s what He desires. That’s His will over your life. If you’ve ever wondered, What is God’s will for my life? What does He want to do with my life?—He may have some assignments. He may have some specific things He wants you to do. You’ll never have to worry about that. He’s man enough to speak for Himself. He can make that known to you in a heartbeat. But the will for your life is revealed in Christ Jesus: He wants you to be present with Him. He wants you to be alone with Him at times. He wants you close to Him. Everything Jesus did had to do with bringing you close.
Ephesians 2:11-13 Therefore, remember—that's an assignment. Remember. Call it back to mind.
Remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—that’s for us who are not Jewish—once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, decision made in the flesh by hands. In other words, you were not part of the people that Jesus came to first. You were not part of the people that were called by God first. You, you, you were not a part of that.
Verse 12: That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. This is who you are. If you ever struggle knowing who you are, this is one of those places where the Bible tells you exactly who you are—you are near. That’s part of who you are.
This is what Jesus Christ accomplished for you—to bring you near to God. But do you let Him win? Do you let God win daily? Do you let Him win the battle for your attention? Do you let Him win the battle for you to become present in that love affair? Do you let Him win your presence?
Think about it for a moment. Just reflect on your own life for a moment. If you would, close your eyes with me and honestly ask yourself, between you and God: Does God have a love affair with me, or am I just living in the family home? I’m enjoying the same privileges, but I’m living separate lives from the Father. Does God have a love affair with you? See, there are so many days in my life that God is so near, and I’m so aware of it. And this is true for you as well—you have been brought near. There are so many days that He is so near, and you can be keenly aware.
How are you aware of the nearness of God? Reading the Bible may just pop into your mind on random days of the week—just the thought. You may not do it, but the thought just randomly pops up. The thought to pray about something may randomly pop up. You’re doing something wrong, and all of a sudden, you kind of feel like someone’s watching, and you feel like you shouldn’t be doing that thing. And the nearness of God is so evident in your life. You can enjoy that nearness. You can be so keenly aware of that nearness and never let God win—never let Him win you over, to draw you away from everything that you’re busy with, and to get alone with Him, and to listen, and to speak with Him from your heart, and to treat Him as you would someone that you dearly, dearly love. The goal is not how much time you do or do not want to spend. The goal is just to be with that person. Do you have a love relationship with God? Does God get to have His will over your life? Does God get to have His way over your life? Do you let God win?
He brought you near by the blood of Christ, but He is so gentlemanlike. He lays that invitation out. He brings you near, showing you, There’s no problem between us anymore. I’ve brought you near. I’ve done the work. I’ve done the dying in your place. I’ve done the paying for your sins. I’ve brought you near. Jesus appeared in the presence of the Father for us, telling the Father, I—she said yes. I have a bride now that has trusted Me, that has said yes to Me. But letting Him win— I don’t know of any Scripture portion that explains this more accurately than Song of Solomon 5:2-4. Here’s the bride speaking: "I slept, but my heart was awake." That’s how we know there’s a picture being painted one more time here in the Word of God to teach us something—because she’s saying, I was asleep, but my heart was awake. And that’s so true for us believers. We can be asleep, but our heart is awake. In other words, we’ve been saved.
Jesus started a work in our life. He made our heart come alive. Somehow, we’re not fully engaging. We’ve fallen asleep. "I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! Still hearing—my beloved is knocking: 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.'" In other words, I’ve done all the work to come knocking on your door. I’ve closed the distance to get to you. And here’s how she responds in her heart: "I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?" Their floors were not clean and of the same material as we enjoy today. Once you got in bed, if you got out, dirt of all kinds would be on your feet again, and you would have to wash your feet again to get back into the bed. That's her response: "I had put off my garment—I already got ready for bed. How could I put it on? I had bathed my feet—how could I soil them?"
My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. Her beloved is knocking on the door, but she doesn't get up and open—not in time. She stays in the bed. She says, "My heart was awake; my heart was even thrilled when I heard him trying to open the latch." But in her heart—what she said, not out loud, in her heart—she said, "This is kind of inconvenient. This messes with my plan. This messes with how I was spending my evening. This messes with my comfortability. I already put off my garment—how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet—how could I soil them?" And you and I have been there. It may not have been the exact same words, but you and I have been there. We've been brought near to the Lord. He knocks on the door, and we go, "Lord, I'm at work—I'm busy right now," and we push that thought of picking up the Bible for a couple of verses out. Or we push that thought to go and pray out.
"I'm in the middle of a conversation with somebody else right now, Lord—You want me to really interrupt this for You? Lord, I'm... I'm... I'm... I'm on my way, and I have an important appointment. I have this and I have that. I... I already committed to laying in this bed, and now You want me to get up and to get out and get my feet dirty? It's going to cost effort. It's going to be inconvenient." And our heart has this reasoning. And it—it—it happens in a split second. And—and all of a sudden, we realize—nobody's trying to open that latch anymore. As this bride realized—He's gone now. And He's not gone because His presence is gone. He's a gentleman. He’s not going to force His will upon you. He’s longing for a love affair every day. He’s longing to see you respond to Him. The standing-in has taken care of your life. It has been paid for. He loves you. He’s brought you into the Father’s house. But He didn’t just want to have the same—if you will, if you allow me to paint that picture—He doesn’t just want the same last name and then live separate lives.
He longs for your attention. He longs for you to be present with Him. His Spirit calls to you and me. That’s that knocking on the door. That’s that hand going to the latch. It’s the Spirit of God reminding us and showing us: "Hey, I've brought you near for a reason. I've already brought you near—even on this side of eternity—for a reason. I'd love to spend time with you. I'd love to reveal things to your heart that no preacher could ever make you understand. I'd love to heal things in your heart that you've never asked Me for or prayed for. I want to show you how I want to love you. I want to take care of you. I would love for you to get up, and whatever inconvenience it may cause, I want you to spend time with Me. I want you to want to spend time with Me." So many people in the body of Christ today—they are enjoying the nearness to God, but they don’t let Him win. Other things compete for our attention. Other things compete for our trust. Other things compete for how we want to spend our day.
But sometimes, we have to really remember: God is a person—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—three persons in One. One God, three in person, one in nature. He’s a person. Every person you’ve ever met has a will. Every person you’ve ever met has needs and things they would like to contribute. Every person you’ve ever met has a preference for relationship. Some people would like to have very deep and intimate relationships with very few people. Other people love to have relationships with as many people as possible. In every case, each person that you have ever met cannot live without relationship. When we are born into this world, unless we have a relationship with our earthly mother and father, we’re not even going to survive. That relationship is needed. God is a person. He has a will. But He won’t force His will upon you.
The Father never forces His will upon you. He has a will—He brought you near—but He doesn’t make you fall in love with Him.
He doesn’t make you change your routine. He doesn’t make— He will give you an invitation: "I’m right here. I’m near. I would love to spend time with you." It’s an invitation. He brought you near to Him. Your heart can be thrilled. Your heart can be thrilled when you’re in a time of worship, and you can be genuinely grateful for what Jesus has done for you—but not let Him win. Your heart can be thrilled when you mess something up again, and you realize, "What I did right now was sin again. I am so grateful that I am forgiven before God, or else I would be back in trouble right now. I am thrilled. My heart is thrilled for the kind of God that has loved me, that has brought me near, that has saved me." And yet—not let Him win. That quality time that He so longs for just with you— He wants to win your presence. He’s not looking to win my presence over yours. He wants to win your presence.
What’s it going to take? That’s what He wants. That’s what He longs for. Can you even begin to grasp the humility of God? That a perfect, all-together sufficient God longs for your presence? Longs for you to make some time in your day to say, "Lord, undivided attention—I love You. Thank You for bringing me near, but I don’t want to just waste that time being near to You. I want to spend time with You. I want to trust You. I want to hear from Your heart. You are the love of my life." He desires your presence. Let me read to you James 4:8. James writes:
"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." You see, God took the first step in bringing you Christ, and Christ bringing you near to God. God also will take the last step of drawing near to you. But after that very first step of Jesus Christ bringing you near to God, we have this strange, almost mysterious scripture where James says, "Now—it’s your turn. You draw near to God." "Jesus already brought me near—what does he mean? I’m already near to God. Draw near to God? What does that mean?"
It’s that answer to a lover’s life. It is that answer to that love affair with God. It is that answer to intimacy. It’s that putting the phone down and having true dinner with your wife or with your husband—being present while you’re near someone. It’s the small things that cause distractions to be put away so you can spend quality time with that person that means so much to you. You love spending time. Doesn’t really matter what you do together—you love spending time with them. That’s what he’s referring to: "Draw near to God, and then He will draw near to you."
What is going to happen? God took the first step in bringing you near. He’ll take the last step, bringing you even closer. But after bringing you near, He wants to win you daily. He wants to win your presence—your being present with Him in the moment. He wants to win you daily.
He wants to see you make that little choice. He’s already near. It’s the little choices that cause you to be present with someone. We teach our kids, when you talk to someone—what do we teach them? "Look them in the eye."
When you talk to someone and something is happening here, don’t go looking at what’s over there. That’s disrespectful. You want to pay attention to the person that is talking to you. It teaches them that that person is important to you—that what they have to say to you is important to you. It is the very small things we learn to do that allow us to stay right here. And when we’ve practiced it long enough, we know how to have a good conversation uninterrupted.
The world may fall apart all around us, but we can have a conversation. That’s what the Lord wants with you. When life falls apart—when things are calling for your attention, when things are trying to take your focus away—He wants you to be right here. To spend time with Him.
To speak with Him. And here is the incredible promise: When you let Him win your presence, your soul will see Him come even closer to you. The Word says, "He’ll draw near to you."
He already brought you near—you’re coming near to Him, and He’ll come on top of that again—near to you.
He will come even closer to you. He reveals it to the heart. He shows you things that other people are not seeing. He reveals things no pastor, no teacher could ever reveal to you.
It’s where the relationship becomes beautiful. It’s where it becomes personal. It’s where it becomes intimate. No one can make me feel like my Lord does. No one can communicate love to me as my Lord does. And I’ve told you before, church—He—He has a way of making me feel that—He—He feels privileged when I give Him my presence. The humility of God. The desire in His heart for your presence is so humble. It’s so loving. It’s so longing. But He wants to win it.
He doesn’t—He doesn’t make that happen in your life. He doesn’t overrule your will. He doesn’t force His will upon you. He brought you near. There’s an open invitation. And He’s done everything in this world that love could possibly express over your life. The invitation is there.
"Would you come? Would you let Me win?" And He whispers to my heart: "Stan, you’re the apple of My eye. Stan, I dance over you with singing." But that’s what He wants to show to you. No preacher can show you that. No teacher can show it to you.
Only the Spirit of Jesus carries into your hearts an understanding of what Jesus has really done in revealing the love of the Father. Whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. Now you can see clearly who the Father is. How He feels about you. How He thinks about you. That He desires your presence daily. The deep things that are in the heart of God for you are revealed to you when your soul sees God draw near to you. It’s like a king getting off of his throne to come close, to come sit by you. When the heart can understand that God would do that for you—all of a sudden, the heart can see how much He longs for my presence. How much He longs for your presence. The Spirit of God is who reveals that to the heart—helps you understand it, helps you see how loved you are. And when you are loved by God—who can—who can tear your life apart? When you’re loved by God—who—who—who can you be afraid of? What disaster?
Come what may—when your heart can see the King would get up to draw near to me—to come and sit with me and dine with me and be close to me—He would do that for me. Surely, I’m going to be taken care of. Surely, He’ll protect me. Surely, He’ll make a way for me.The daily call comes in the nearness of God. We can grow pretty cold to it and pretty careless to it.
I’ve been there, church—where me and Jesus had a work relationship, and my love life with Him was all about you—by mistake. But it happens. But when the Spirit is knocking—you may be asleep, but the heart is awake. You can still hear something. When the hand is on the latch—there’s still a little sparkle in the bottom of your heart that recognizes who it is. You know who’s knocking on the door. Other people may not know. But somehow—you know who’s knocking on your door. You know who it is. And there may be 110 reasons as to why it feels for you like you are a dead bride. You’re already in the bed. "This is inconvenient. My feet—I already did this, that, and the other thing, and I’m going to get dirty, and it’s work, and—and—it doesn’t fit in my schedule. It was unexpected. It is the most inconvenient time." "Well, Jesus, You sure got a way of showing up in the most inconvenient time."
It may be 110 different things, but if your heart can still hear, what He wants is—He wants you to receive open eyes in the heart so you can see the Father more clearly. That’s the goal. The only way to get there is by spending time together, and He pours it into your life. You’ll see—the eyes of your heart will see Him draw near to you. It changes everything. If God would draw near to me, then I don’t have to look for Him anymore. If God would draw near to me, then I’m never far from Him. I’m never in trouble. If God wants to draw near to me, then when I haven’t read my Bible for two days, I don’t have to feel guilty. All He desires is for me to become present again in the nearness, and He will bring me what I don’t deserve. That’s what He is like. If God desires to come near to me, there are no problems anymore. The heart can now see that it’s finished—everything is finished on my behalf. I’m wanted in this Kingdom. I’m wanted in the presence of the King. If you would stand with me...
The daily call comes. Jesus paid for your forgiveness. He did it with all of His heart. And anyone who believes that Jesus’s payment is enough—the Bible tells you—you are saved. God will send His Spirit. You’ve been brought near to the presence of God. But the daily call comes. The nearness is given, but He calls to us: "Come away with Me. Come away with Me." It’s a lover’s call. "Come away with Me. Come and talk with Me. Come and pour out your heart to Me. Come and listen to what I would like to speak with you about. Come—come and let Me minister to you. Come and let Me be God to you. Come and let Me be a bridegroom to you. Let Me provide. Let Me make a way. Let Me deal with your problems. Let Me deal with your enemies. Let Me—let Me be God to you. Let Me be a bridegroom to you." "Come away with Me."
-Pastor Stan Mons