Deeper Intimacy with God: Host His Presence & Release His Power

Excerpted from Daily Surrender.

I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me (John 17:20-23 NASB).

The God of all creation, the King of Glory, is looking for a people to dwell with.

This is not new news; this has been going on since the beginning of the creation of man. Our God is a God of union and communion, a God of connection who wants to live fully and wholly connected to His people in such a powerful way that we would be one with Him and unified as His body. This powerful union can only happen by the indwelling and residing of the Holy Spirit.

This was the prayer of Jesus in John 17 for His disciples and for all disciples to come—that we would be one with the Father as He is one with the Father. This is the dream that is on the heart of God for all of His people—that there would be no separation between Him and His body—and He will not rest until we step into this fullness, nor will the Church.

Presence matters. In this technological day and age, we can text, call, FaceTime, or Zoom, but nothing replaces that moment when you are reunited with the person you love. I live halfway around the world from my family; the Lord has called us here to Redding, but we deeply love many back home in South Africa. While I am incredibly grateful for modern-day technology and the way we can connect through it, I eagerly wait for the day when I fly into the airport and meet my loved ones face-to-face.

Presence matters. God knows this because He designed us to live in His presence, walking with Him daily. God is the God of love; His nature is love, and therefore, His nature is one that longs for connection and to be known by those He loves and those who love Him.

Take a moment to sit in the presence of God. Ask Him to make Himself known to you today. Listen to a worship song and wait on the Lord. Invite the Holy Spirit to come and fill you up and speak to you.

God, I am sorry for when I have been hurried and too busy to wait on You. Lord, I repent for the times when I have looked beyond You for the next thing to do or say or be. God, I am grieved to think that You have been waiting patiently for me and I have not always recognized my need for Your presence and have instead tried to fix myself or strategize my way out of the challenges I face. I do not know how to walk in sustained unity without You. Would You fill me, unite with me, and send me into the world to reveal Your heart to the lost and broken. Make me one with You. In Jesus’s name, amen.

More of Him

I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me (Proverbs 8:17 NASB).

Encountering God goes beyond the moment we feel Him near or moving; it goes far beyond a good testimony.

These moments of power, passion, or freedom in the Holy Spirit are invitations to know Him more, to seek and find. The tension lies in receiving the outpouring, not analyzing it too soon, and learning to steward it in due season.

When we have profound moments with the Lord, yielding to them and allowing Him to do a great work in us is vital. When the Holy Spirit is tangibly upon you, it is not time to be introspective but time to receive. It’s the season after that we must take the time to press into His work in us and pursue His heart to know His intention. This is a covenant, not just a moment; and while moments of encounter are vital and valuable in covenant, it is the day-to-day pursuit that anchors those experiences and causes them to flourish.

If we let the seed He deposits in us during those encounters take root in our lives and nurture them until they grow into maturity, we will bear the fruit of the word. Receiving the seed is just the first step. We must nurture it so that the world can reach out to taste and see His goodness emanating from our lives lived in full connection with Him.

To think that the violent shaking I experienced for six weeks was the extent of His availability would be ludicrous. There is so much more in Him, and there is so much more about Him. There is so much more He has for me and you that if we were to ask for it now, I believe He would respond to us as He did to His disciples in John 16:12 (NASB), saying, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time.” An encounter with God is an invitation to more in Him and a lifelong relationship of pursuing and being pursued by the King of all. As we seek real relationship with the Lord, we create space for the more of Him we desire.

Our King longs to be hosted by His people; the precious Holy Spirit longs to be wanted, to be invited, and to be cooperated with. It is the place where we offer all of who we are to Him so that He comes to rest on us markedly.

Lord, I am in awe of Your love, which calls me deeper into relationship with You. Lord, help me to steward the seeds You plant in my heart, nurturing them so they may bear fruit in my life. Teach me to yield to Your presence, to receive without hesitation, and to trust in the work You are doing within me. May I not settle for a single experience, but pursue You daily, anchoring my life in Your truth and love. Holy Spirit, I invite You to rest upon me, to shape me, and to lead me into greater intimacy with You. I long to be a child of God who hosts Your presence, who welcomes You fully into my life, and who walks in the fullness of all that You have for me. May my heart remain open, my spirit hungry, and my life a testimony of Your goodness. Amen.

The Fruit of Life

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8 NASB).

We all have incredible gifts operating in our lives.

These are gifts given by God, and Romans 11:29 says that these gifts are irrevocable. That means these gifts can never be taken away, regardless of how we use them. For example, say I bought my husband a brand-new, top-of-the-line guitar, but the gift was contingent on him playing it five times a week in the evening and practicing specific songs I had chosen.

Though my instructions may be beneficial and help him steward well what he had been given, it would not be a gift at all because gifts don’t come with conditions. Gifts are freely given, and the receiver can choose what to do with what they are given. Now if my husband never played the guitar or, worse, used it in a damaging way, I may never give my husband a lavish gift like that again, but the guitar is his to use as he sees fit.

In the same way, God has given us gifts and taught us many excellent principles in the desire that we would steward them in our relationship with Him. But He does not and will not control what we do with His gifts because He is love, and love always gives a choice. We must not mistake gifts for rewards. So many times, we can make the mistake of thinking that the gift on our life is the evidence of the presence of God operating in our lives, but it is actually the fruit of our lives that marks whether we are walking with Him or in our own strength.

In all our options in this world, the Lord invites us to surrender and submit to His Spirit. It is in this place that our gifts no longer operate in our strength, they now operate filled with His limitless power—and impossibilities begin to bow.

This yielding to His power is the same reason the disciples had to wait in the upper room after Jesus had ascended to Heaven. In order to be obedient to His call, they could only fulfill the commission Jesus had given them after they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and His power. The same goes for us. The call of the Christian life is one of significant risk and reward, but neither can be entered into without complete dependence on the Lord. Jesus wants to fill us and empower us to do the impossible in our everyday life, but it requires full awareness that we depend on His Spirit.

Lord, thank You for the incredible gifts You have placed within me—gifts that are freely given by Your grace. I acknowledge that without Your Spirit, I am limited, but with You, all things are possible. Lord, I surrender my heart, talents, and desires to You, asking that You fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Just as the disciples waited for Your power to come upon them, I, too, recognize my need for Your presence in my life. Let me not operate in my own strength but in dependence on You, Holy Spirit, that I may be a true witness of Your love, truth, and power in this world. May the fruit of my life reflect a deep and abiding relationship with You, and may everything I do bring glory to Your name. In Jesus’s name, amen.