Living in His Presence

“What a stupid world this would be if one never did anything different for fear of criticism.”

Living constantly in awareness of the presence of God is not a common thing for the average Christian, although I wish I could say it was. If we truly lived in constant communication with Christ, it would shape our lives. We would look completely different than we do right now. This should be our desire. If we are going to start to live in the presence of God, it is going to take a conscious effort to keep Christ on our minds at all times, praising God without ceasing and praying without end. As we go through the day, we should open our souls and entertain the glory of the Lord in everything we see.The only problem is that we fail. We fail often. No matter how hard we try to make every thought about Christ, we still get distracted oh so easily. It is okay to fail with this though. If you think about it, we are already living in failure as we spend a majority of the day thinking on temporal things which will not matter in eternity. Christ is always faithful to pick us up and get us right back on track though. After a while of living in constant awareness of God's presence, it will become habit.

  “If we are so impoverished that we have nothing to reveal but small talk, then we need to struggle for more richness of soul. Money, praise, poverty, opposition, these make no difference, for they will all alike be forgotten in a thousand years, but this spirit which comes to a mind set upon continuous surrender, this spirit is timeless.”

My prayer is that we will be in constant fellowship with the Lord to the point where small talk is boring to us, where everything that the world strives after seems completely pointless. I want my life to be all about living in the Spirit and letting God use me to advance His kingdom! This is the purpose of the church! Why are we so easily distracted? Let us ask ourselves at the end of each day, "Was my goal to glorify Christ today or did I live selfishly?" Let's be real, this is so hard for me. It is easy to be in Christ's presence during church or during my time in the Word and in prayer, but it's hard for me to live a Spirit-filled life all day long. I want to look at people using God as my glasses, colored with His love for them.
The disciples spent 168 hours a week with Jesus. They were with Jesus 24 hours a day for 3 years! What would happen to us if we spent our every moment in fellowship with the Lord? Our minds would be transformed, our spirit renewed. Our words would be streams of fresh water in a world that is cast in the desert. Think of all the times we think to ourselves about the things going on around us. What if we talked to God in those moments instead? Our hearts would be filled with the joy of the presence of the Lord. Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Let us seek Christ passionately in every moment to fill us up and send us out. In this process of seeking the Lord at every moment, we will not always have a deep emotional feeling, but we will have a peace that passeth all understanding. The emotions will have their moments too.

“The greatest pains or pleasures of this world are not to be compared with what I have experienced of both pain and pleasures in a spiritual state. Therefore, I am careful for nothing and fear nothing, desiring only one thing of God—that I might not offend Him.”- Brother Lawrence

I pray that our love of the Lord grows stronger each day and that our desires are only towards things of eternal value. Perfect love casts out fear. May our pains and pleasure only be in the spiritual realm. Let nothing of this world cause us distress and our only fear be of the Lord. Let us take pleasure fully in delighting in the Lord. It may mean surrenduring even harmless pleasures if they take any affection away from Christ to whom all glory is deserved. Let us live in the presence. Let us die in the presence.

“The Lord is not outside of you, pouring down favors. The Lord is within you. Seek Him there, within… and no where else.”

Can You Lose Salvation?

A big question in the church today is "Can you lose salvation?". Let's see what scripture has to say about it.


First off, let's look at the passages that people use to say that you can lose salvation.
Galatians 5:11-6:12
"Cncerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,  of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. 




*For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,  and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. * (the verses everyone uses to say you can lose salvation)


For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;  but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that acco mpany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,  so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."


First off, if this verse is saying you can lose salvation, then it also says it is impossible to be saved again after losing it. You must look at the context of this verse. It completely changes the meaning. I have put in bold some of the major things which tell the context of this passage. The writer here is talking about the fruit of salvation, not the root of salvation. When he says repentance, he is talking about repentance from dead works. Also, he goes on for a while about the christians having to be fed milk instead of meat. Unsaved people do not need milk. They need life. This passage is talking about saved people in need of growth. I put in bold the phrase "being burned". This phrase points us to the conclusion that the writer is talking about works. In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, we see how God tests our works with fire. Also in Revelations, it talks about how Jesus eyes are like unto fire which represents judgement of works. All Christians will be judged when we enter before the throne of Christ for every work we do. This is what this passage is all about. Once you do sinful works, it is impossible to be renewed unto salvation (from dead works) again. What is done is done. God will judge us for our sins, and that cannot be undone.


The next controversial passage is Hebrews 10:26
"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins"


Again at first glance at this passage, it looks as if it is saying you can lose salvation, but context completely changes the meaning. In this passage, the writer is speaking to Hebrew Jews who were still going to the temple to make sacrifices under the Mosaic law after Jesus had already died on the cross and changed everything. Continuing in the Mosaic law became a "willfull sin" because it denies Jesus, and Jesus Christ himself said "No man can come to the Father but by Me". Therefore, if they continue going on in the Mosaic law after receiving knowledge of the truth of Christ, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, Jesus' sacrifice.


The last passage many use to say you can lose salvation is Galatians 5:4
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."


The term "fallen from grace" does NOT mean losing God's grace unto eternal salvation. This passage again is talking about Christian living. If once you have been saved, you choose to live in a lower way of living, you are fallen from grace. This is a matter of sanctification (Christ making us holy), not salvation. We know from the Bible that our best works are still filthy rags in comparison to Christ's standards. This is where grace comes in. We cannot live the Christian life through our own efforts. Christ must impute His righteousness on us himself. Later in this chapter we are introduced to the fruits of the Spirit which God gives us by grace. This verse is clearly talking about those who try to do good works by the law and not by God's grace. Christ has no effect on them. They still use their own power and the law to justify it.


Here is a list of verses which support the assurance of salvation.


1 John 5:7-11: In this passage we see the trinity testifying that we are saved.
Hebrews 10:17 : God remembers our lawless deeds and sins no more.
1 John 5:13  : This says we can know we have eternal life.
Ephesians 4:30 : "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." This speaks for itself. We are sealed.


All of the verses thus far give biblical truth to "once saved, always saved", but there is still a problem. What about passages that say "faith without works is dead"? These kinds of passages make us think that works are involved in salvation, but this is not true. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Therefore salvation has nothing to do with works. It is completely God's grace that we can have eternal life. Works are just evidence of true salvation. If you are really saved, you will produce fruit. This is why I like to say "Once saved, always saved, IF saved." It is a heart change which brings about a change in the way you live.