Manifestation of God

As I was reading scripture today, and thinking about my wonderful Lord, and beautiful Savior, Jesus...I came across a scripture that spoke to my heart (as many of them do!) The scripture today is:

John 14:21 (NKJV):

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

My eyes stuck on the word "manifest." I hear people in my service talking about the manifestation of God's giftings and gifts of the Spirit, but I decided to look up a definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary and this is what it said:

"manifest" - 1. readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sight
2. easily understood or recognized by the mind

So...going back over this scripture, I realized that if I have the commandments and I keep them, I love God, and if I love God, then I am loved by the Father, and Christ will love me and "manifest" Himself to me. This is one of those scriptures that I have to chew on, but it confirms the current state of my relationship with Christ. You see, over the past year, I have been seeing God make Himself more real to me every day. He continually reveals Himself to me on a daily basis, and he lavishes on me His presence and His love. Every time I think he has become completely real to me, He reveals something new about His nature and character, power and grace. I am floored right now by the infinite nature of God's ability to interact with us as another human would, but on a deeper spiritual level. God is showing me how much he loves me right now, and it is an amazing time of realizing how I am cherished by God. What an amazing thought to know that God desires me. He shared a scripture with me other day via a sister in Christ's gift of prophecy. He told me that he desired me and was "enthralled by my beauty" (Psalm 45: 11, 13). And I thought I was the one worshipping Him! It sounds to me like he values me very much, but it is important to say that he values every person this much. This is not something that is exclusive to me because I am special.

John 3:16 (NKJV) says:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

God loves everyone in the world so much that he gave His only Son to die for our sins, so that we could have everlasting life. And because we are reconciled to God through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we can also see him "manifest" in our lives. He becomes more real through the senses. Lately, he has been doing this through his manifestations of healings, speaking in tongues, and prophecy in our church. He has spoken things to me from my own heart through others in the church (that were unknown to them) by word of knowledge, and he continually pleasantly surprises me as I delight myself in His presence. There are times when I close my eyes in church, worshipping him in song, and I can feel Him all around me. His presence is something that I can hardly explain to anyone, but he constantly reminds me just how real he is. And His presence NEVER gets old, or boring, or leaves me feeling dissatisfied. All that is found in His presence is JOY.

It is better than any drug or temporal pleasure the world has to offer. There is no special drink, cigarrette, drug or sexual activity that can even come close to how I feel in the presence of my King. His presence can make me laugh, cry, shout, sing, fall down, spontaneously give love to others, and it can definitely heal. Sometimes, I feel like David in the psalms dancing around almost naked with unrestrained joy in His presence. I could dance naked in front of my Lord and feel unashamed. He sees me for all that I am, and all that I can be, and he loves me. Who wouldn't want to know God if he makes life a joy every day? I love my Lord, and I want the whole world to know about his goodness! I pray that every person comes to know my Lord the way I do, and even on a much deeper level than I may ever experience. I truly have no regrets in life when I am walking with Him.

Lord,

Today I pray for all these people who are reading this blog. I pray that you would continue to seek them out if they do not know You. I pray that if they do know You, You would draw them closer to You, where You can manifest Yourself in a greater way. I pray that the spiritual darkness in their lives would not keep them from your glorious presence, and from the joy that is set before them. You know each of them intimately, as you created them in your image. You know their comings and goings, and all their deepest thoughts, desires and fears. Please reveal Yourself to them today in a new way. I thank you for the joy of being in Your presence and I ask that you would bless them today with salvation, and a knowledge of who You are. I pray all this in Jesus precious and holy name. Amen.

Rejoicing in Him,

Sarah