David writes in Psalm 27:4 (TPT), “Here’s the one thing I crave from God, the one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with Him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of His face, filled with awe, delighting in His glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to Him that He takes pleasure in my every prayer.”. So much truth in this verse for the Christian walk. I must point out that David wrote this before the temple was built. David longed for being in God’s presence frequently.
David craved a good thing, he craved being in the presence of God at every moment. What more could we really want? Keep in mind, David was under the Old Covenant when this was written. To be put in right standing with God a blood sacrifice was required. Thank God we are under a better Covenant now, because of what Jesus did on the cross.
But as we are believers under the New Covenant, do we really understand the depth of what it means to crave being in communion with God at every moment? So many believers have not come to the knowledge of who we are as a result of the finished work of Jesus Christ. My Bible says that the moment we repent and accept the finished work of Jesus Christ by faith we are New Creations.
We not only are New Creations, but we also have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 (AMP) tells us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]?”. Read that verse again and again. The very presence of the living God is within us as believers, the Spirit of Truth dwells within us Who will lead us into all truth. We don’t have to wait for a temple to be built as David did, the Bible says we as New Covenant believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We must recognize this truth here, there is a power source that is within us and that is the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that fell on those in the upper room in the Book of Acts.
If we could just rely on the source of Power that is poured out into us as believers how our very existence would change. Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8 (NKJV), “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”. 2 Timothy 1:7 (TPT) tells us, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].”.
Too often we believers rely on the things of this world to strengthen us rather than the Holy Spirit. We must ask God every day to fill us up a fresh and a new of His Spirit so that we can be poured out for His Glory. Since we are temples of the Holy Spirit we can be in total communion with God at every moment if we just yield to the Holy Spirit fully surrendered. David craved for this very lifestyle that we all can walk, but sadly not many believers want to fully surrender to the Holy Spirits leading. It is one thing to get into the presence of God during a corporate service, but it is a whole other thing to do this in private. We must be developed in the secret place. Jesus during His earthly ministry would go into the secret place and seek the Father.
If you can set aside just 20-30 minutes a day to get alone with God and yield to His leading you will not be the same. Don’t just read the Word to mark off your Bible reading plan, cry out to God for Him to teach you and reveal truths to you. If you can yield yourself to this for 20-30 minutes a day, He will change your total existence. We make huge lifestyle changes to move across the country for a new job, go to a better school, or even lose a few pounds, but why don’t we take this same level of dedication when it comes to our walk of faith for the Glory of God?
I pray that you will begin to crave this more and more to be in communion with the Father so frequently. I pray that the church’s focus this year would be taken off the things of this world and that the church this year would cry out to God for greater manifestations of His Glory. I pray that everything that is worldly that has infected the church would be ripped out and that there would be a call to repentance for loving the things of this world which are passing away. It is time for us believers not to have the aroma of the world, but to have the aroma of the Kingdom of God. Let the people who are lost in darkness be able to immediately tell something is different with us, rather than us quietly just blend in with the rest of the world. Let us crave things that are above and be more Kingdom-minded!