There's freedom in Your presence.

Ha, so Jesus is being cool again, so this is just me trying to organize some thoughts before I go insane.

This morning my pastor from Elevation Church, Steven Furtick (http://www.stevenfurtick.com/) continued his series on the Holy Spirit, and we looked at Ezekiel 36.

 ²⁴ “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God."

He was talking about how we do things with wrong motives and how we use God a lot of the times. You know, like freaking out and asking the Holy Spirit for direction on things in life- where to go to school, where to get married, what house to live in, all those things. But then we don't seek a relationship with Him. What the Holy Spirit wants to do is purify us, taking away our idols and sin and crap, and have a relationship with us. To make his feelings our feelings- to turn our heart of stone into a heart of flesh and to move us. I posted a blog post about this one time, the one about the time I fought those children while my friend ate six burgers. Yeah, that was a nice time. Anyway, I tried to explain that I was with a bunch of my girl friends who I loved a whole lot, and I wanted to make them happy, so I did something I knew they would think was funny. I knew them well enough to just do something like that without them forcing me to or even asking me to. It just happened because of my relationship with them. That's what's going on here. He wants to be so close to us that we know His heart and we are able to just do what we know He would want, and not just use Him as a fortune cookie. The example Pastor Steven used was asking the Holy Spirit where you should get married, and it's like He shouts back, "I don't care where you get married! Get married in a barn or in Fiji or in Disney Land! I just want you to have a God-honoring marriage and for your hearts to be right!"

So, my pastor stressed that this isn't about finding answers, it's about being in His presence. At least that's what I got of it. There is freedom and healing and peace in His presence. (2 Chronicles 3:17 Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.) And above all else, we need to be pursuing this relationship and allowing Him to purify our hearts. That is what matters.

So, quick story. I was praying today and I was all, "Man, God. Well, okay, help me seek Your presence more than anything else, then. You're not just an answer to my problems. I want You more than I want healing- but there is healing in Your presence, so You'll take it from there, for Your glory. Let me seek Your face instead of Your hand. I will feel what You feel, even if I don't always feel Your presence. Help me fix my eyes on You and let go of the idol of focusing on my problems." or something similar to that expressed in about a million different ways.

And then one of my friends on Facebook posted this right here and... Jesus. I don't know why I doubt.

“For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.” ~Luke 11: 10 AMP

from Sarah Young’s JESUS TODAY: EXPERIENCE HOPE THROUGH HIS PRESENCE- -- I WILL RESTORE YOU TO HEALTH AND HEAL your wounds. I am with you, within you, all around you— continually at work in your life. When your awareness of Me grows dim, My Presence continues to shine brightly upon you. This Light has immense healing Power. So dare to ask great things of Me, remembering who I am. I am able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think. Pondering My limitless ability to help you will strengthen your faith and encourage you to pray boldly.

Praying in My Name— with perseverance— can accomplish great things. Learn from the parable of the persistent widow, who refused to give up. She kept bringing her petition to a judge who neither feared God nor cared ab

out men. Eventually, her persistence wore him down, and he gave her what she sought. How much more will I respond to My children who cry out to Me day and night! Though you may have to wait a long time, do not give up. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds.

“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” declares the LORD, “because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.” ~Jeremiah 30: 17

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. ~Ephesians 3: 20 NKJV

“I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” ~Luke 18: 1– 8

Keep praying. Don't ignore your problems, just make sure you're seeking His presence above all else, because that is what you need. There's a reason for it. Maybe He just hurt you to heal you, and cut you just to touch you. For His glory. (John 9: 1-3) Oh, and the Holy Spirit is mad awesome.