One of the things about this trip that I am so grateful for, is that I have been able to feel God. I have been able to spend time in His presence. I have also been able to serve Him, worship Him, and honor Him in new ways.
I am going to share my experiences most recently about entering into the Lord’s presence. Here in Malaysia my team and I spend multiple hours in the Penang House of Prayer (PenHOP). This has given me a wonderful opportunity to encounter God, and to do it consistently.
I know everyone has multiple ways to encounter God, and I don’t believe that just one way is right. I am just going to share my experience recently in case it helps some of you encounter God at home.
How I have been focusing and entering into His presence in the house of prayer:
I start by meditating in worship. The prayer room is great because they start out with personal devotional time, and play worship music in the background. Feel free to play your own music on your iPod.
I sit on a pillow on the floor. Close my eyes. Breathe, slowly. Focusing on my breath until I can clear my head of all my thoughts. Sometimes it helps to visualize a little man come across my mind and sweep out my thoughts. I then start focusing on the words I am hearing in the music. I continue to just sit, and soak in the worship music.
At this time, if I feel led to start singing a long I will. I won’t utter the words until I have listened to them, and make sure that I agree with them. Then I go in and out of song and prayer. Just sitting and soaking. Relaxing. If any thoughts come back into my mind I again sweep them out. If it is something I feel like God is bringing up, I will write it down and then continue focusing on Him.
I do the above until I feel relaxed, focused, and peaceful. I then read the word. I start out with four chapters of the new testiment. This gets my brain into a student mentality. Then I read and pick apart two chapters of the new testiment. Taking notes and highlighting any verses I feel like God is picking out for me in that moment. (Side note – It is wonderful to continuously encounter the Spirit, but make sure you are equally in the word. Some people take for granted that we literally have the Holy Spirit breathed Bible in our grasp. We can read it and hear God. I am reading through the entire bible this year, and I highly recommend others do the same).
After that, I write a prayer in my journal. In this prayer I am giving God anything that has been on my mind. Anything that I am worried about, or have questions about. I write down anything I am thankful for, or even just how magnificent He is.
Then I go into my devotional. Right now I am working through Art of Listening Prayer by Seth Barnes. In this time I complete the days devotional, which is about speaking with the Lord and listening to Him. At the end, it always has you sit and ask the Lord questions. After I finish the devotionals questions, I ask my own. I’ve been writing down things I need to ask the Lord, or seek His counsel on before I enter the prayer room. This would be the time I would bring it to the Lord and ask for His response. He responds, and soon after I am in His presence having a conversation with Him.
If you don’t know what questions to ask, ask Him if He has any that you should ask. Talking with the Lord is just like having any other conversation. After I talk with the Lord I normally close our time together with another prayer. Typically processing the information He just revealed to me, or praising Him, or both.
Then I spend time in worship. With my heart being in the right place, I can sing the words and mean them. If you are by yourself and don’t have an environment like a House of Prayer, I encourage you to play worship music on your computer or iPad and worship like that. You don’t need a super impressive worship set, you just need the Lord’s presence. Soak in the lyrics, or sing a long with the words coming through the speaker.
Then just enjoy Him. Truly worship Him. This time typically ends with me on my knees in tears. It is hard for me to come into His presence with dry eyes.
Feel free to respond to His presence however you respond. You can scream, clap, cry, fall to the ground, dance, or even draw, or journal. No specific response is better than another. The Lord has created you specifically unique for a reason. He knows that you will worship in a specifically unique way. He loves your creativity and your responses to Him.
As this time continues I find myself praying faster and faster. Feeling the importance of interceding for the people around me, the nations I will be sent to, my family back at home.
This is a new experience for me. I never use to intercede, at least not this passionately. I would pray for people, and for situations, but I wouldn’t be in a place of worship and then feel moved to prayer.
Back during month four of the Race in Zimbabwe, my host prophesied over me that I had the gift of intercession. I didn’t believe it back then. I was on a team with a girl who interceded, I didn’t get as passionate in prayer as she did. I didn’t think I had the gift like she did. Then PenHOP happened. I’ve found myself in more intercessory prayer these last two weeks than I ever have experienced before. There are times I can’t help but to intercede.
I have also started spontaneously worshipping more freely than ever before. I will be worshipping and singing a long to the songs, and just feel led to sing a different song. The freedom in the Penang House of Prayer has really encouraged me to worship freely. It is Him I am here for, no one else. Unless of course, the spirit moves me to intercede.
As you spend this time with the Lord, I encourage you to do what the Spirt leads. Even if it makes you uncomfortable. Even if you haven’t done it before. Even if it is as simple as Him telling you to kneel. When you are obedient in the little things, He will trust you with more. When you are obedient and listen to His still small voice, you will hear Him more clearly.
Close your time with the Lord however you typically end it. I tend to just finish with prayer, and then later process more about what happened during the encounter.
One thing I’ve noticed about truly being in His presence, is that you really do feel rested afterwards. Even when we leave PenHOP at 12:30am, I am always on a spiritual high. I always feel awake, peaceful, and loved.
Matthew 11:28-29 “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”
There is rest in His presence. One thing you’ll notice as you practice encountering Him more is that when you enter into His presence, you will want to do it more. The 14hours a week I am spending in PenHOP doesn’t defer me from my personal podcasts, worship, and time with the Lord, it spurs it on even more.
James 4:8 “draw near to me, and I will draw near to you.”
Be passionate about encountering Him, and He will encounter you.
