Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer echoes the heart of what God wants for you, to know with settled confidence that He is the Lord your God and to live in the reality of His presence from this day forward.
That verse in Ezekiel looks ahead to a day when Israel will no longer doubt who their God is. God Himself will have so clearly shown His power and mercy that no distance remains. What He promises to His people there, He also desires for you personally today, a deep, unshaken knowing that you belong to Him.
That kind of assurance does not come from trying harder or measuring your own faithfulness. Many sincere people go to church for years and still wonder from week to week if they are truly saved, because they are resting on their own efforts. Full assurance only comes when you rest by faith on the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ. When you understand that forgiveness is complete, that where sin abounded grace has overflowed, and that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, when you sin, you can stop striving to earn what has already been given. The mystery that was hidden for ages is now revealed, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is His indwelling life that becomes the ground of your confidence, not your performance. God is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before His glory with great joy, and His acceptance of Christ, shown in raising Him and bringing Him to the Father, is His witness that this righteousness is enough. Nothing less would be accepted, and nothing more is needed.
You asked that He wash away doubts and remove any distance. That is exactly what His presence does. Moses understood this when he said, in effect, if Your presence does not go with us, do not send us at all. He knew the difference between God Himself going with him and any substitute, and he did not want to take one step without Him. The Lord answered, My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest. It is foolish to venture anywhere apart from that presence, and it is wise to ask as you have, that His presence would be your constant reality. Scripture teaches that He is everywhere present, you cannot flee from Him, and through the work of His Spirit He is restoring in you what was lost, conforming you to the image of Christ until one day you will stand in His presence complete and faultless.
You will come to know His will and His nearness more progressively as you walk with Him. A simple daily surrender, Lord, my life is Yours today, lead me by Your Spirit, opens the way for Him to reveal His will step by step. Part of that will is learned in giving thanks in everything, which you can only do when you are convinced that He loves you and that His hand is guiding even difficult circumstances. Often it is only looking back that you can see how He was leading you through trials you thought meant He had forgotten you, and how He was preparing you to be of use to others.
So take heart. Your doubts are not removed by focusing on the doubts, but by looking to Jesus, the living Word, the bread of heaven, who Himself is your life and your assurance. Keep trusting His grace, keep asking for His Spirit to fill you afresh, and ask Him to knit your heart together in love and in understanding of who Christ is in you. He who has promised is faithful, and He will do it.
May the Lord grant you today the riches of full assurance, wash away every fear, draw you close, and cause you to sense His presence going with you and giving you rest, so that from this day forward you walk in His truth and never turn away. In Jesus' name, amen.
That verse in Ezekiel looks ahead to a day when Israel will no longer doubt who their God is. God Himself will have so clearly shown His power and mercy that no distance remains. What He promises to His people there, He also desires for you personally today, a deep, unshaken knowing that you belong to Him.
That kind of assurance does not come from trying harder or measuring your own faithfulness. Many sincere people go to church for years and still wonder from week to week if they are truly saved, because they are resting on their own efforts. Full assurance only comes when you rest by faith on the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ. When you understand that forgiveness is complete, that where sin abounded grace has overflowed, and that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, when you sin, you can stop striving to earn what has already been given. The mystery that was hidden for ages is now revealed, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is His indwelling life that becomes the ground of your confidence, not your performance. God is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before His glory with great joy, and His acceptance of Christ, shown in raising Him and bringing Him to the Father, is His witness that this righteousness is enough. Nothing less would be accepted, and nothing more is needed.
You asked that He wash away doubts and remove any distance. That is exactly what His presence does. Moses understood this when he said, in effect, if Your presence does not go with us, do not send us at all. He knew the difference between God Himself going with him and any substitute, and he did not want to take one step without Him. The Lord answered, My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest. It is foolish to venture anywhere apart from that presence, and it is wise to ask as you have, that His presence would be your constant reality. Scripture teaches that He is everywhere present, you cannot flee from Him, and through the work of His Spirit He is restoring in you what was lost, conforming you to the image of Christ until one day you will stand in His presence complete and faultless.
You will come to know His will and His nearness more progressively as you walk with Him. A simple daily surrender, Lord, my life is Yours today, lead me by Your Spirit, opens the way for Him to reveal His will step by step. Part of that will is learned in giving thanks in everything, which you can only do when you are convinced that He loves you and that His hand is guiding even difficult circumstances. Often it is only looking back that you can see how He was leading you through trials you thought meant He had forgotten you, and how He was preparing you to be of use to others.
So take heart. Your doubts are not removed by focusing on the doubts, but by looking to Jesus, the living Word, the bread of heaven, who Himself is your life and your assurance. Keep trusting His grace, keep asking for His Spirit to fill you afresh, and ask Him to knit your heart together in love and in understanding of who Christ is in you. He who has promised is faithful, and He will do it.
May the Lord grant you today the riches of full assurance, wash away every fear, draw you close, and cause you to sense His presence going with you and giving you rest, so that from this day forward you walk in His truth and never turn away. In Jesus' name, amen.
