Listener: As I stood over the Lord’s Table this morning His Presence was so strong and His Peace so deep that they engulfed me. I thought, this is a foretaste of what we will experience forever after we are called up to meet Him as His Bride. I recorded this in the Daily Bread journal and returned to the Lord’s Table, but as I stood over the Bread and the Wine again, the world began to intrude with thoughts of the morning’s schedule, an early appointment and what I must do before leaving to keep that appointment. I did not choose to think these “other thoughts;” they came into my mind uninvited. And that wonderful moment of Presence and Peace was no more. Would that I could have retained it; would that when we come into the Presence and Peace of the Lord we could continue there throughout the day. Sometimes, when we can manage to have an extended quiet time, we are enabled to linger in His Presence and Peace…these are precious times. Perhaps we should focus, in thanksgiving and gratitude, on the fact that we are blessed to experience this great gift rather than on regret that so often it is only a brief interlude…and pray that we may be enabled to so rest in His embrace that we can begin to remain there for longer and longer periods of time. Holy Spirit: Listener, you often say, to yourself and to others, that I Am always with those who have believed, and this is true. However, even though you know this truth and speak these words, you fully experience that which you know and speak for only relatively brief periods. I Am. You do not come into My Presence; you are always in My Presence, but for so much of the time your perception of My Presence is diminished or extinguished by worldly distractions. A constancy of perception is required to remain in awareness of My Presence for extended periods. Remember when you attempted to swim underwater. At first you could manage to hold your breath for only a few seconds, but with practice you were able to remain underwater without breathing for longer and longer periods of time. The same principle of practice applies to continuing in My Presence, where you do not have to hold your breath but must be able to breathe My Breath of Life even as you continue to breathe in the natural. The time will come when you will no longer need to breathe in the natural, when you will breathe eternally in My Presence. But know that now you serve Me best by remaining in this life to do My will and that to which I have called you…until the day when I call you to meet Me in the air. Shalom.
