AUGUEST THEME – “Seeing Revival From God’s Perspective”
Join us in prayer and celebration as Belmont Baptist Church celebrates our Year of Jubilee, marking fifty years of God’s amazing faithfulness and looking forward with grateful hearts to all He has yet to do.
BEATS FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART
IT’S EASIER TO SEEK GOD’S HAND THAN TO SEEK GOD’S PRESENCE
EXODUS 33:14–15, “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”
WE OFTEN WANT WHAT GOD CAN DO MORE THAN WE WANT GOD
It is easier to seek God for what He can give us than simply to seek Him. We want His healing, His protection, His provision, His answers, and His blessings. We want Him to fix our problems, change our circumstances, open doors, remove difficulties, and make life easier. There is nothing wrong with bringing our needs to God—He invites us to do so. But there is a danger when we become more interested in the gifts than we are in the Giver. Sometimes we can become so consumed with what we need God to do that we completely miss what God wants to be to us. Moses wanted something greater than what God’s hand could provide. He wanted God Himself. Moses essentially said, “Lord, I don’t care where we are going, what You are giving us, or what awaits us when we arrive—if You are not going with us, I don’t want to go.” That is spiritual maturity. The Promised Land without the presence of God would no longer be the Promised Land to Moses. The greatest blessing God can give you is not something from His hand—it is the conscious reality of His presence.
IT’S EASIER TO ASK GOD TO CHANGE OUR CIRCUMSTANCES THAN TO RECOGNIZE HIS PRESENCE IN THEM
We naturally pray, “Lord, get me out of this.” We want the difficulty removed, the sickness healed, the relationship restored, the financial problem solved, and the burden lifted. But sometimes God does not immediately say, “I am going to get you out of this.” Sometimes He says, “I am going to meet you in this.” We are often looking for an exit while God is preparing an encounter. The three Hebrew children were not kept out of the fiery furnace; God met them in the furnace. Daniel was not kept out of the lions’ den; God met him in the den. Paul and Silas were not kept out of prison; God met them at midnight in the prison. David still walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but he could say, “Thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4). God does not have to remove you from a place for His presence to transform what that place means to you. Sometimes God’s greatest demonstration of power is not delivering us from something but revealing Himself to us in it. We must stop measuring God’s presence by the absence of problems. The storm may still be raging. The diagnosis may still be frightening. The family may still be struggling. The answer may still not have come. The burden may still be heavy. But there is one truth that changes everything: GOD IS HERE. Peace does not always come when the storm ends; sometimes peace comes when we discover Who is standing with us in the storm. When I know He is here, I can rest even before He changes anything. I do not have to understand what God is doing to know that God is present. I do not have to see the answer to know that He has not abandoned me. His presence becomes my security before His provision ever becomes visible. Faith reaches its deepest level when the presence of God becomes enough while the answer is still on the way.
IT’S EASIER TO CREATE RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY THAN TO CULTIVATE AN AWARENESS OF GOD’S PRESENCE
This is especially dangerous in church. We can have preaching without power, singing without worship, programs without transformation, crowds without conviction, excitement without holiness, and a full calendar with an empty altar. We can become so busy doing things for God that we fail to spend time with God. One of the greatest dangers of ministry is learning how to keep doing God’s work after we have stopped consciously depending upon God’s presence. Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). That does not mean we cannot organize, preach, sing, teach, meet, plan, or perform without Him. We can do all of those things in human strength. It means that nothing of eternal spiritual significance can be accomplished apart from Him. Activity can fill a schedule, talent can fill a building, and emotion can fill a room—but only the presence of God can fill a life. We can organize a revival meeting, but we cannot manufacture revival. We can preach truth, but we cannot produce conviction. We can sing about surrender, but we cannot make someone surrender. We can counsel a broken heart, but we cannot heal it. We can explain the Scriptures, but only the Holy Spirit can illuminate them to the heart. Only God can do what only God can do. When we attempt God’s work without God’s power, we may produce impressive results without producing eternal fruit. Our greatest need is not better methods, greater talent, louder music, more programs, larger crowds, or more activity. Our greatest need is God Himself. If He is present, the simplest song can become worship, the simplest sermon can pierce a heart, and the quietest prayer can become life-changing. What the church desperately needs cannot ultimately be organized, advertised, scheduled, or manufactured—it must come from God.
IT’S EASIER TO ENJOY GOD’S PRESENCE THAN TO LET HIS PRESENCE CHANGE US
Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up,” and immediately cried, “Woe is me! for I am undone” (Isaiah 6:5). Why? Because God’s presence exposes everything we have learned to hide. In His presence, pride breaks, excuses disappear, sin becomes serious, hearts become tender, confession becomes specific, and surrender becomes necessary. The closer we get to the holiness of God, the harder it becomes to remain comfortable with anything in us that is unlike Him. We often want enough of God’s presence to comfort us but not enough to confront us. We want Him close enough to make us feel better, but sometimes resist when He gets close enough to reveal what needs to change. We want peace without repentance, blessing without surrender, and intimacy without transformation. But God loves us too much to merely comfort what He intends to change. The presence of God is not merely a place to hide from our pain; it is a place where God exposes and removes what is keeping us from becoming like Christ. Genuine encounters with God always leave fingerprints upon our lives. Moses came down from the mountain and his face reflected that he had been with God. Isaiah encountered God and became willing to say, “Here am I; send me.” Jacob wrestled with God and walked away differently. You cannot continually behold God as He is and remain content to stay as you are. The greatest evidence that you have been in God’s presence is not that you felt something while you were there—it is that you are different when you leave. Worship that never produces surrender has stopped short of its purpose. The proof of an encounter with God is not merely tears at the altar but transformation after we leave it.
Moses was standing beside an ordinary bush in an ordinary desert on what began as an ordinary day. Then God spoke: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). What changed? The dirt did not change. The desert did not change. Moses’ circumstances had not changed. The Presence changed everything. The presence of God can still turn ordinary places into holy ground. Your kitchen can become holy ground. Your automobile can become holy ground. Your bedroom can become holy ground. A hospital room can become holy ground. A church pew can become holy ground. A lonely room in the middle of the night can become holy ground. Any place becomes sacred when a heart becomes consciously aware that God is there. You do not have to get somewhere special to meet with God—you simply need to become conscious that He is already there. We sometimes spend our lives searching for a place where God will meet us while failing to recognize Him in the place where He has already put us. You may be asking God to take you somewhere else while He is waiting for you to take off your shoes where you are.
LORD, I WANT YOU
Maybe we have spent too much time asking God, “Bless me. Help me. Protect me. Provide for me. Fix this. Change that. Open this door. Remove this problem.” None of those prayers are wrong. Our Father cares about every need we bring to Him. But there is a deeper prayer: “Lord, I want You.” The deepest prayer is no longer “God, give me what I need,” but “God, become more precious to me than anything I think I need.” Moses understood something we desperately need to rediscover: it is better to walk through a wilderness with God than to enter the Promised Land without Him. The wilderness with His presence is safer than Canaan without it. The best place in the world is not where everything is going right—it is wherever God wants you to be and where you are walking consciously with Him. So today, do not merely seek His hand; seek His face. Do not merely seek His blessings; seek His presence. Do not merely ask Him to change your circumstances; ask Him to reveal Himself in the middle of them. Do not merely ask, “Lord, what are You going to do?” Begin asking, “Lord, what do You want me to discover about You here?” Perhaps the greatest miracle God wants to perform in your circumstances is not changing what surrounds you, but changing the person standing in the middle of it. And when His presence becomes more precious to you than His presents, you will discover something the mature believer eventually learns: having Him is enough. When the answer is delayed, He is enough. When the path is confusing, He is enough. When the burden remains, He is enough. When everything else is stripped away, He is still enough. When you possess the presence of God, you possess the one treasure circumstances can never take away.
WARFARE PRAYER
Father, forgive me for the times I have wanted what You could give me more than I wanted You. Forgive me for becoming so occupied with my problems, responsibilities, ministry, and circumstances that I have failed to recognize Your presence. Never allow the blessings You give me to become more precious than the God who gave them. Lord, I do not want to go anywhere You are not leading. I do not want to accomplish anything without Your power. I do not want merely to perform religious activity—I want to know You, walk with You, hear You, obey You, and become increasingly conscious of Your presence. I would rather have Your presence in the wilderness than success anywhere without You. Make me conscious of Your presence today. When I walk through the valley, remind me that You are with me. When I enter the furnace, let me see the Fourth Man. When I cannot understand what You are doing, teach me to rest in Who You are. When I cannot trace Your hand, teach me to trust Your heart and recognize Your presence. Search me. Convict me. Change me. Break whatever needs to be broken, remove whatever is hindering fellowship with You, and bring into surrender whatever I am still holding. Do not allow me merely to experience Your presence emotionally; allow Your presence to transform me spiritually. Lord, do not merely visit me—change me because You have been with me. Lord, I do not merely want Your hand. I want Your heart. I do not merely want Your blessings. I want You. If You change my circumstances, I will praise You; if You ask me to walk through them longer, I will trust You. Whatever You choose to give or withhold, never let me become satisfied with anything less than You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
DAILY CHALLENGE — SEEK HIS FACE BEFORE HIS HAND
Before asking God for anything today, spend a few quiet minutes simply acknowledging His presence. Do not begin with, “Lord, give me…” Begin by becoming still before Him. Remember Who is there. Worship Him for Who He is before speaking to Him about what you need. Before you seek an answer from God, seek an awareness of God. Begin with this simple prayer: “Lord, You are here. I am Yours. I want You more than anything You can give me. Make me conscious of Your presence and change me because I have been with You.” Then remain quiet for a moment. Perhaps today you do not need God to do something new nearly as much as you need to recognize the God who is already there.
THURSDAY’S PRAYER NEEDS
Darlene Kelley – Our Cousin – Recovering From Cancer
Darlene Thaxton
Ginny Ford
Deanne Boynton
Anna Belle Taylor – Irregular Heartbeat – Jackson’s Special Friend
Rob Davis – cancer
Kim McClain’s Mother