Living in the holy presence of God is to be clothed in divine majesty. Can you imagine being invited by a King to live in his palace? Can you imagine how that would change how you speak and how you would behave in general? Living in the presence of God begins when we realize that God is with us.   As we acknowledge the presence of God’s divine majesty in our life, slowly but surely, everything begins to change. We begin to see the Sacred in our lives as we start recognizing God’s presence and providence through the power of His Holy Spirit.

“For this is what the high and exalted One says– he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Isaiah 57:15

Do you begin the day by greeting God? Do you end the day by speaking with Him?

If you lived in the King’s palace and sat at his table for breakfast would you not feel privileged and honoured to be able to speak to him and live with him?

I now find myself acknowledging my Lord Jesus, my King, throughout the day. We begin our day together and my morning prayer is usually, simply “I love You Jesus!”  Jesus is my King and my God and I feel I am living in His royal presence perpetually, but it wasn’t always this way. There were many important milestones in my spiritual journey that enabled me to discover the Sacred presence of God.

I was lost in the world when Jesus interrupted my life nineteen years ago. The interruption consisted of a profound sense of feeling ‘incomplete’. The space in my life that was to be occupied by God was empty because I was not inviting Him in. Sin had separated us.

“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.” Deuteronomy 4:30-31

I don’t know why human beings so often wait to be in a state of distress before they reach out to God, but that was my experience too. I was seeking ‘joy’ and ‘personal fulfillment’ but I was not finding them because I was looking in the wrong places. My identity was excessively rooted in my ‘career’ and my ‘career accomplishments’. I was moving up the career ladder, but the more money I made, the less fulfilled I felt.

What was missing?

What was missing for me was a sense of my TRUE IDENTITY.

How would you answer the question: Who are you?

Who would others say you are?

Like most of us I had many identities. I was a wife, a mother, a daughter, an employee, a friend BUT I wasn’t acknowledging my role as a CHILD OF GOD and DISCIPLE OF CHRIST.

God calls us in so many ways and in so many ways we reject Him. The beginning of my conversion was to realize that the missing in my life was Jesus! I ultimately realized that nothing would fill the Sacred place in my heart except the Sacred Presence of God. When we don’t have the right relationships in our life we can’t feel fulfilled and the most important relationship we need to nurture is our relationship with Jesus, Our Lord, Our Saviour, Our King. When we are sick we put our trust in physicians with the talent and medicine to heal us. A sense of being empty and dissatisfied is a sign that we need to turn to the divine healer, Jesus Christ.

To begin to live in the presence of God we must acknowledge our need for God’s love, God’s wisdom, God’s mercy, God’s compassion and God’s healing. God desires to come very near to us, but He won’t force this Sacred Spiritual Communion.

The Scriptures say: “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” James 4:8

One of the most important things I did early on in my spiritual journey was to confess my sins and pray for God’s help. As I confessed my sins I opened a Sacred Door allowing Jesus to come back into my life.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

The process of spiritual purification for most of us is an ongoing one that takes many different forms. I would say that, in general, God ‘decluttered my life’ in the same way as we declutter our homes of things we don’t need that are just getting in the way. I don’t know how many Saturday’s I once spent shopping for ‘stuff’. This energy spent shopping was largely a waste of time. For me one of the big milestones was giving up my shopping expeditions to spend Saturday mornings learning the Bible. No more shopping for the frivolous, I was now searching to get to know this great King, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and a group of Christians well versed in the Holy Scriptures were charitably offering up their Saturday mornings to teaching me and others the Word of God. It was an uplifting, beautiful experience.

If we want to live in the presence of God we need to strive to get to know Him, to learn from Him, and to listen to His voice speaking to our hearts. There is no better way to do this than to read the Bible and study the Word of God. The more I learned about Jesus, the more I grieved my sins and when I uncovered this Scripture I realized I had something important to give Him.

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:17

It took many years for me to realize that this grief I had in my heart for my sins (for the things I had done to offend God and the things I failed to do to please God) was a very big GRACE. It was this sorrow for my sins that would allow REVERENCE FOR GOD and HOLY DESIRE FOR HIS GLORY TO GROW AND GROW.

Jesus continued to encourage me.  He drew me closer to Him with two words spoken to my heart over and over again and those two words were: “TRUST ME”.   Surrendering to God took time, but God was very patient with me and He will be patient with you, because that’s just who God is PATIENT AND KIND.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

To live in the presence of God we must first strive to repent of our sins and become humble.  We must acknowledge God’s wisdom and our profound need for His loving and merciful presence in our life.  We need God’s grace to help us to see the errors in our ways and to discover the true path of God’s Will.

I remember I began to pray the ‘Our Father’ prayer in a way I had never prayed it before. I reflected deeply on every single word, like I was standing before the great King making a solemn oath, each word would be a promise. But as I tried to do this I quickly found I had reached a STUMBLING BLOCK. The words “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” caused me to worry. At this point I had returned to Mass and I was quietly watching the congregation pray these words ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’ without even a little pause, like there was ‘no problem at all.’ Except for me there was a problem. There were some people in my life that I wasn’t sure I wanted to forgive. They had not said, “I am sorry for hurting you.” So did I need to forgive them?

Well God had a plan for me and this is what He did.

God took my family on a spiritual pilgrimage to Lourdes France to the Sanctuary where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette. Now if you don’t believe that the Virgin Mary appeared in Lourdes don’t leave, keep reading for you may profit from this.

In the Sanctuary at Lourdes I had my first experience of the ‘Stations of the Cross’. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is ‘Walking the Way to Calvary’ to experience the Passion of Christ. Lourdes is nestled in the Pyrenees Mountains and this walk requires that you climb up a mountain to the place of Christ’s crucifixion.  The walk begins with a steep staircase where we see Jesus being condemned to die. Most of the pilgrims were climbing up on their knees so not wanting to appear different I too dropped down to my knees thinking ‘this is painful!’ Well I had no idea how painful this walk would be nor could I imagine that I would be taking this walk to Calvary every day for the rest of my life!

The life size statues at each ‘station’ brought me back in time to experience the Passion of Christ right before my eyes. It didn’t take long before I was crying. Jesus was carrying His Cross with such determination, with such love and all because He wanted to save us! He was being crucified; He was dying, the innocent God-Man because He wanted to forgive us!

When I got to the Station called ‘Jesus Falls for the Second Time’ I paused and stopped silently as I prayed the prayer ‘make miracles Lord’. There were so many people in Lourdes hoping for a miracle of healing and I wanted God to heal them.   What I didn’t realize is that I needed a miracle of healing too, but not a physical healing. I needed a spiritual healing that would enable me to do something I was struggling with—FORGIVENESS.

I think at this time in our history when so many people are suffering, it is important for us to understand HOW WE WILL SECURE VICTORY AND DEFEAT EVIL.

Living in the presence of God is not always a joyful, peaceful experience, sometimes it is a painful experience full of grief. If we want to live in the presence of God we must be willing to experience with Jesus, Our King, His joy and His pain. God suffers to see His children on earth fighting, hating and killing one another and He especially suffers to see people killing in the Name of God.

Our brothers and sisters who were martyred for their faith in Jesus lived in the presence of God to the very end! TO LIVE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS TO NOT DENY JESUS.

“But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.” 1 John 4:3

“Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.” 1 John 2:22

St. Paul says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26

We cannot ignore our responsibility to pray for one another, especially the persecuted Body of Christ and for all persecuted and oppressed people (regardless of their faith) and for those that persecute them for THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD. “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5: 44-45

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52

We cannot live in the presence of Our Lord and King Jesus Christ and be blind to His Will and His Pain.  Our world needs to be restored by God’s love.

PRAY FOR CONVERSION TO THE TRUE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!

Live in the Holy Presence of God, moment-by-moment, day-by-day and let your life become a living prayer always giving glory to God and to His Only Son Jesus Christ!

Let our words give God glory. Let every choice give God glory. Let us pray with boldness for an end to all wars and for the conversion of souls because in this way we will prevent the brutality that is happening all over the world! Believe in the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ that was shed to bring all humanity to LOVE AND FORGIVE!

“Because God’s children are human beings–made of flesh and blood–the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.” Hebrews 2:14

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel–not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

Jesus Christ conquered through the power of His Holy Cross and we will through the grace that comes from Jesus Christ conquer evil by believing in Him and allowing Jesus to live in us.

Let us live in the presence of God and be clothed in His divine majesty as He enters our hearts. When we become truly aware that the holiness and love of God is being poured into our hearts as a healing balm through the grace of Jesus Christ and through the power of His Holy Spirit we will begin to transform into the people God wills us to be. God’s dignity becomes a part of us as we surrender to His love and this surrender slowly but surely begins to influence every word we speak, every choice we make, so that God’s priorities become our priorities.

We are created in the image of God but we can only realize our human potential if we allow Jesus to enter into our lives so profoundly that there is no separation between that which God wills and that which we choose to do. To live in the presence of God is to NOT deny Jesus.

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

So I INVITE YOU TO JOIN THE MERCY MOVEMENT!

We are disciples of Jesus Christ praying for the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth and Love to convince all people, especially those most in need of God’s mercy, to turn away from sin, hatred and violence of all forms.

THE MERCY MOVEMENT IS A CHRISTIAN PRAYER MOVEMENT FOCUSED ON CREATING A PEACEFUL REVOLUTION ON EARTH THROUGH THE POWER OF GOD’S LOVE AND HOLY SPIRIT!

We will conquer through our faith in the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Divine Sacrifice, to silence the power of evil in our world. We will conquer through our prayers and through our lives offered up to God for His glory as we live perpetually in His Holy Presence, humbly, peacefully believing in the omnipotence of God to save souls and to heal our suffering world.

GOD DOES NOT WANT VIOLENT REVOLUTION! GOD WANTS PEACEFUL REVOLUTION!

Let us bow down to Our Lord Jesus Christ confessing our sins, acknowledging our need for His Grace and His Mercy to end violent persecution and war and to restore peace in our world.

Remember the promise of God:

God says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

“Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” 1 Peter 3:11

Never let a day go by without remembering the Passion of Christ. Please join disciples of Jesus all over the world that are stopping @ the Time Jesus died for us, every day, 3pm (in our local time zones) to pray for peace, for conversion and for healing as we remember the greatest sacrifice and the greatest love that the world has ever known and will ever know, the Sacrifice and Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, True God – True Man. More info here