The Presence of God
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14:3
I heard in sermon that Christ is preparing us to be in the presence of God. This statement is very powerful and lifted God to an all new greatness in my heart. You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. (John 14:28) Jesus says ‘the Father is greater than I’, then we need Christ to prepare us to be in the Father’s presence.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) Fulfill this verse and be ready and highly motivated to be in the Father’s presence.
The Father wants us to know him, love him, and have a great desire to be with him in Heaven. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3) Our life on earth is to know God through Christ, and to live doing the Father’s will which comes from a heart of love.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) We learn about the Father from his words to the prophets in the Old Testament, and through the words and life of Christ. Now we only know in part but when we see face to face, we will know in full. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) While living this life, we can never fully understand God’s thoughts and his ways, but we have faith in his thoughts and ways because he is perfect and loves us more than we can imagine.
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father? (John 14:9) We focus on the words and heart of Jesus because Jesus’ heart reflects the heart of the Father. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12) With our hearts full of God’s love, we will know the Father. And when Christ returns, we will be ready to go home and meet the Father.
Today, ask the Lord to prepare you to be in the presence of the Father. Ask to fill your heart with his love and your mind with his wisdom from the Word. Seek to understand the heart of Christ because it will prepare you to understand the Father.
Prayer: Lord, continually fill my heart with your love, and guide me to obey your divine will because this will enable me to know the Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen.