Day #361 - Present You
The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” Jude 1:24-25 NIV
Have you ever tried to hold onto something so hard and then you lose it?
Was it maybe a relationship, a goal or a career opportunity that you pursued with all of your heart and then it slipped away? I don’t have anything major on my mind at the moment but I know there have been many instances when I wanted something badly and as I tried to make things happen they just wouldn’t work out. Sometimes we hold so firmly to something but it just ends up draining us from all the effort and its not really something that God had for us.
The good news about our relationship with God is that its not about our effort to hold onto God, but about His ability to hold on to us. Life in “the Presence” is not about what we pursue, but the reality and invitation we respond to by the grace of God. He pursues us and only in response to His pursuit may we purse Him.
At the conclusion of the short book of Jude, we are reminded about our life in “the Presence” not being about our effort alone or our effort primarily. Jude says that the “glory, majesty, power and authority” are through Jesus who is “able to keep you from stumbling.” Not only does He keep us from stumbling, He will one day “present you before His glorious presence without fault and great joy.” Jesus is active now in our Christian walk to keep us from stumbling and in the future to present us in His glorious presence.
What a marvelous truth that Jesus looks forward to presenting us without fault and with great joy! Jesus takes joy over us being with Him forever, free and clean in His presence. He is present with us now through the Spirit but there is a day where we will live in His full, immediate and unhindered glory. The One who was present before the ages began, will join us to Himself for the ages forevermore!
This life in “the Presence” is about God’s ability to call us to Himself, His ability to keep us and His ability and promise to present us before His presence in the age to come. Our time with Him is a response and yielding to the great work of His grace and active presence in our lives. Jesus Christ our Lord delights in us. Enter into the presence of His joy and His delight.
Lord Jesus, my love for You is a response to Your great loving pursuit of my life. You have been present to empower me and help me overcome my stumbling and one day You will present me faultless with great joy! How I long for that day where I spend eternity in the fullness of Your glory. In Your great name, the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, Jesus Christ my Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore amen!
So, so good!! I often wonder what it’ll be like to live for eternity. No disease 🦠.
No hatred. 😡 No violence.🔫 No murder. No “Deep State” government. The list is long.
Then I remember I shall see Him in all His Glory. And behold Him in the Beauty of His Holiness!!! The thought of it wrecks me!!
I find myself longing for that day. But I know, that I know, I am here at this time in history to war for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on Earth. I have a part to play in bringing a Billion souls to Christ. I was born to be a warrior in the KINGS ARMY. So, by His grace and will, I will occupy until He comes. Amen. Even so, Lord Jesus, come.
Thank you, Pastor John, for reminding and teaching us that it is is God who is able (Greek dunameou) to keep us and present us before His glorious presence without fault and great joy. Before I read your devotional today, I was reading through Matthew and came to 26:64. There Jesus replied to the high priest who adjured Jesus to tell them whether He is the Christ , the Son of God. Jesus said to him, "You have said it; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."(NASB) In my Greek-English New Testament it reads "the Power" (Greek dunameos). The same Greek work is used in the two passages, a verb in Jude, a noun in Matthew. It means "inherent ability; inherent capacity to carry out, power by virtue of one's own ability and resources" (The Discovery Bible Synonym Glossary, Moody, 1987). So it is truly God's own power that keeps us and will present us before His presence. We can relax and rest in His power to get us to His presence in heaven.