Protecting His Presence (2)

SKI School Talk

Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have passed over me. 8 The Lord will send His goodness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.

01/09/2025

Opening- testimony

Talk- Protecting His presence, how that looks, soaking, journaling, worship (different forms)

Not judging your time by how other people spend theirs.

NO MULTI TASKING.

Jesus went away from the crowds to strengthen Himself.

David.

Intimacy creates trust, trust builds faith.

(I submit to you that He would rather have you soak into one paragraph or page than to have you rush through the chapter and miss a crucial promise or word of knowledge that He has tucked away for you.)

Sharing my testimony-

Because of sexual trauma, I did not understand that intimacy could come without pain. I didn’t have an accurate picture of the Father because my father did not keep me safe. He did not protect me. And my stepdad did not keep me safe, while there was forgiveness there later, he was none the less, a source of abuse. There were so many, that I was never able to feel safe in the presence of men, even as an adult.

I was able to connect with Jesus as my Savior, but it took me a while to see Him as a source of safety. But it was very hard for me to see Him as my Beloved, to see God as a good and loving Father, or even Holy Spirit as a safe source of comfort until I began to heal. He began to speak to me in dreams about communion and intimacy. I had one dream where I was in a wedding dress standing before the Lord and all He repeated was “Intimacy does not have to be sexual”. I’m sharing this because until you have an accurate picture of who He is, you will have a hard time going deep into your secret place.

And until you can begin to build intimacy, you will not be able to fully trust.

Intimacy builds trust, trust builds faith.

I never understood how truly broken I was and how it caused me to view intimacy through such a skewed lens. The enemy had distorted what it meant to have true relationship. It isn’t sexual. It is communing, it is spending time in one another’s presence, it can be quiet, it can be loud, it can be reading His word, It can come in the night or in the day. There is no exact time, there’s no formula. It is only about YOU and HIM. That is all. And it is precious, and you must protect it. I’m not talking about just prayer time, although you may pray during your time with Him, but what I am here to talk to you about is your secret place time.

This is time that is especially put aside for you and Him. It is time spent in His presence, how you begin to build your relationship and how your spirit man grows and how you learn to know His voice. You will learn to be able to “tune out” the noise of the world around you and still be able to go into His presence. One foot in the spirit and one foot here, so to speak. We are after all, seated in heavenly places.

This is why Jesus would go somewhere alone, to pray. He needed that time with Abba, alone. To recharge. Mark 1:35 tells of Jesus going to a solitary place. That word SOLITARY in the Greek means uninhabited, remote, solitary, and lonely. When the boys came and found Him, He said “Lets get going on into the neighboring country, for that is why I came out.” He went to an empty place to pray, and seek the Father, to be filled and prepared for His next day of ministering to the crowds. Ministering to people is exhausting, even Receiving healing is exhausting. You must have that time to refill. He strengthens you during these times. In 1 Kings 19 we find that Elijah has just defeated the prophets of Ba’al, he has turned the Israelites back to the one true God, had this massive victory in the Lord, and Jezebel says something that causes him to be gripped with fear and he runs. He runs over 80 miles and flees to a cave where he is hiding. Alone, God speaks to him. “What are you doing here Elijah?” Elijah responds, To GOD and says “He replied, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.[1]” This entire interaction is so fascinating to me. Elijah is scared, and he is gripped with fear. At one point, he is suicidal. And here in this cave, Abba meets him with gentle correction and teaches him.

11 And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;

12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.

13 When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

14 He said, I have been very jealous (Jealous can be translated as zealous, to fight for) for the Lord God of hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left, and they seek my life, to destroy it. [2]

15 And the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

16 And anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in your place.

17 And him who escapes from the sword of Hazael Jehu shall slay, and him who escapes the sword of Jehu Elisha shall slay.

18 Yet I will leave Myself 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. [3]

Elijah received not just a refreshing, but he had remove his focus off himself and his situation to be able to hear the quiet voice of the Lord and His receive strategy. God will share His plans with us, but we must learn to be quiet and listen. He wasn’t in the storm, He wasn’t in the earthquake, and He wasn’t in the fire. He was the gentle stillness. He will heal our pain, our brokenness, our anxiety fear and depression- but we must come to Him.

Also of importance in this passage of scripture is that Elijah was burned out. He was trying to do everything on his own- “I only I am left!” Abba says Actually, you need to appoint another prophet and a son.

Elijah entered the came alone. And came out part of a community. And a father to Elisha.

There are many instances in scripture where we are shown people praying alone. From Jesus and the apostles in the NT to the OT accounts that began in the garden. Our quiet time with Him is so profoundly crucial and it demands to be protected.

Communion is about more than bread and wine; it is truly becoming one with Him. I would submit to you that it has become routine for some people to go up on Sunday and receive a cracker and juice, it has become habit, and lost the true representation, the true meaning behind it. It is not about tradition. It is about sacrifice. He allowed Himself to be broken and poured out for us, that we may be brought back into true relationship. In fact, Merriam Websters defines communion as this “intimate fellowship or rapport”. Intimacy. He does not desire tradition. He doesn’t want candles, doesn’t care if there is music or if everything is “perfect”. There is no formula to follow. It is only about the time you give Him. He loves you. He doesn’t want you to wait until you feel worthy enough or have the perfect soaking music. He just wants YOU. This is where you gain your strength. This is where you get equipped and receive your tools. This is where you learn where to fight from. This is where you learn about who YOU are and who your Abba is. This is where you begin to see yourself through HIS eyes. And once you see yourself and other things through His eyes, you will never want to go back. But first, you must get to know Him.

This is why the enemy will come at you with every distraction known to man. Your phone will ring, someone will need help, the dogs will fight, your kids (or in my case, my grandma) will get hungry, something will come up, you will develop the world’s worst case of a.d.d. Doesn’t matter if you have never had it before, it will start. You’ll get sick, you will feel rushed, you will have 10 million things running through your head. You think I’m kidding, but I am not. Every single one of these things has happened to me. Once it was someone I had not heard from in YEARS. They suddenly called and wanted to chat. Anything and everything to try to derail you. You MUST PUSH THROUGH IT. I would say this is like building muscle. You get into shape by repetition. This too, is developed by repetition. You will never learn someone’s nuances and idiosyncrasies if you don’t spend time with them.

As you begin to go quiet and seek His face, you may start to get a flash of a picture, a word, or maybe a smell. Perhaps it’s an overwhelming sense of peace.

Not everyone encounters Him the same. But Everyone CAN encounter Him. Do not allow yourself to be so busy longing for an experience exactly like someone else has had, that you miss your own.

I had an instructor last year who shared that she began to train herself by lying still for 90 seconds. She would set a timer on her phone and lie back for 90 seconds. She worked her way up over a period of time and became so close to the Lord that for her, there is no line between the two worlds. She is one of those people who can be talking to you here, and in the presence of the Lord at the same time. And it began with her asking herself “What If?”

“So, I can’t do an hour, but what if I start with 90 seconds?”

And He met her in those 90 seconds and helped her grow to longer and deeper times with Him. If she can start with 90 seconds and work her way up to where she is now in her journey, so can I. Not everyone can begin with the ability to start at a full hour, it is a skill that is developed over time. Just like everything else.

I fell in love with the story of David and how despite what he had done wrong, God loved him still. Even after adultery and murder, he was still called the ‘Man after Gods Heart”. (I have a theory that David, being a king and a prophet, walked so closely with the Lord, He was a man who was WAY ahead of his time. But, I digress...) David was in training for years before he was able to physically sit on his throne.

He had to be trained to “Seek first the Kingdom”.

I read a book called The Three kings. It was about Saul, David, and Absolom, how at one time in our lives we are faced with a Saul, David, and Absolom in others, and, in ourselves.

There is a chapter in this book where the author describes how God used Saul and his madness to train David so he would learn to be a truly godly king.

God placed David under king Saul so that he could teach him to dodge the spears of Saul, and of others. He had to be able to stare the men right in the eye without flinching. One thousandth of an inch to one side or another would mean certain death. He trusted God, for his strength and discernment. Later, after David has fled the palace and is on the run; In 1 Samuel 30 You see where he and his mighty men have been out to battle, they come back from a multi-day battle only to find to find the city and their homes burned to the ground, their wives and children taken captive. His men, his friends, all turn on him and want him dead. He standing there facing these men who are supposed to be his friends and they all want to see him stoned, and the scripture says “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God”.

I see it play out in my mind, and it is always the same. David is facing his men, and they are watching him through a murderous lens. He turns around, with his back to them; and for him, the world goes quiet- and it is just him and the Lord. I see him standing there, shoulders slumped, a weight of defeat causes his shoulders to slump. Then, he takes a deep breath, and asks “Lord, What do I do?” When he turns back around, he calls for the priest to bring the ephod, and says “Lord, shall we pursue them?” And the Lord answers him, “Yes, pursue them. For you will surely overtake them and you will rescue ALL”

In my opinion, this was the moment that changed Davids’s life. It wasn’t when he called Goliath an uncircumcised philistine and slew him and took his head with his own sword. It was the moment he turned his back to a murderous mob to seek the face of the Lord his God to find strength.

That moment turned David into a hero for me and I set my sights on becoming even closer and more intimate with my Abba than anyone ever before. I wanted my relationship with Him to be even closer than the one He had with Jesus when Jesus walked the earth.

I changed the way I viewed my private time with Him and I guard it, because it IS precious, and it IS a privilege and a honor to be in His presence. His love language is not just obedience, it is also quality time.

I pick up my phone and shut the ringer off.

But sometimes, I will go so far as to shut the phone itself off and take it in a different room.

And I am completely unapologetic about it. My time with Him is precious to me and I know it is to Him.

Sometimes, it doesn’t get to be an hour, sometimes it’s only a few precious minutes, But, I submit to you that He would rather have 100 percent of you for that time, than to rush through, or even worse, not come at all and miss a crucial promise or word of knowledge that He has tucked away for you.

So He gets all of me, because He deserves it. There is NO multi tasking when I am with Him. He is worthy of ALL of me.

I don’t do this because I have to, or because it is what is expected. I do it because I WANT to, I LONG for Him, for His presence. I love Him beyond measure, and I know now what David meant when he wrote in Psalm 42 “As the deer pants for water, so my soul longs for you.”

My spirit wept when I read in that same Psalm:

Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have passed over me. 8 The Lord will send His goodness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.

Because that is how I feel.

True intimacy is formed in the deepest places where sometimes the groans are so deep within you and your soul, you aren’t able to find words.

He showed me once where He was in a room full of people, they were milling around laughing and carrying on and He was standing there coming near to each one, but they had no idea. They had no true relationship with Him, they hadn’t taken the time to develop intimacy- they did not recognize His presence when He entered the room. And Jesus was weeping. He said “You must protect my presence you must protect my presence you must protect my presence” 3 times He repeated that to me, while weeping.

YOU must protect His presence.

Be aware of Him. Get to know Him. He is so much more than a goosebump, or butterflies in your stomach. He is REAL. He is a PERSON.

Guard your time with Him. This doesn’t have to be a 5 am or 6 am wake up call, it may be different for you than for the person sitting next to you. But YOU must make it happen.

You must have deep roots.

I love to journal. In my time with Him, I write my dreams from the night before, the visions I see, prayers for my family and friends, myself. I put down my anger, hurt, you name it, it comes out. And He meets me there. But that’s my time.

Yours may look vastly different.

Perhaps you paint, write music, poetry, dance. Maybe you are someone who can get lost in scripture and receive massive downloads and revelations, that’s amazing! The HOW you meet with Him isn’t important. What matters is that you DO IT.

I want to tell you that EVERYONE can hear from God. We were created to hear Him.

The world convinced us, or tried to, that our imagination was not real. That is a lie straight from the enemy. HE created our imagination! He made you creative! He made you a dreamer! He speaks to you through the song you wake up with, or the scent you suddenly catch a whiff of, the picture that just pops into your head, those are all Him!

We are made to hear Him. Not always in an audible voice, but I promise that he does speak to you. And the more time you spend with Him, the easier it is to hear Him.

He told me once “Francie, this relationship is a marriage. You get out of it exactly what you are willing to put in. It takes time. Society expects everything instantly now. It has become a microwave culture; they want it in 30 seconds. But that’s not what this is. This is Covenant.”

True covenant is not 1 sided. It is about two people working to do what it takes to grow in one another, listening, and hearing the heart of one another. It is about trust and vulnerability. Allowing Him into the deepest darkest places of hurt and gunk so dark it looks like sludge and allowing Him to come in and ever so gently walk you through cleaning it out and piecing your brokenness back together into a beautiful mosaic.

I can promise you that if you have never been able to get to this place you can and you will. If you are doing this already- I challenge you to go deeper. Allow yourself to be stretched. It will only grow stronger

[1] The Amplified Bible(La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), 1 Ki 19:10. [2] The Amplified Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), 1 Ki 19:11–14. [3] The Amplified Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), 1 Ki 19:15–18.