The way into the Lord’s Presence
by Liz Griffin
King Joram of Israel wasn’t as bad as his father King Ahab because he did away with the idol to Baal but he did lead his country into sin. King Mesha took the death of King Ahab as an opportunity to rebel against paying his taxes to Israel. So King Joram sought help from his 2 allies, King Jehoshaphat of Judah and the King of Edom. They marched for 7 days and found themselves in a terrible predicament with no water supply. King Joram obviously had a guilty conscience before God for he assumed that God was punishing him. King Jehoshaphat wasn’t giving up that easily however, and asked for a prophet to come and help them. He wanted to take the problem to God and so the prophet Elisha was found. He was quite confrontational towards King Joram, his king, but he did respect King Jehoshaphat and so agreed to find out God’s will.
The interesting thing is what he did next. He asked for a musician. He must have known that was the way to come into God’s presence because as soon as the musician played his harp the power of the Lord came on Elisha. He spoke out what God was going to do to save them. God was going to miraculously provide water, but there was something for them to do. They had to dig ditches to receive the water.
How do we enter into the Lord’s presence? What focuses us on Him and rids us of distractions? When Campbell McAlpine wrote a book called ‘The Practice of Biblical Meditation’ he advised that we sit in a relaxed way with the Lord and either sing a worshipful song, or sit silently in His presence. We are not to let our mind go blank, but to think of Him. Then we are to hear Him speak to us through the Word. Another thing he suggested was that we could memorise Scripture by putting the words to our own music and singing it. Many of the Psalms particularly lend themselves to this.
The apostle Paul says ‘be filled with the spirit …speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:18-19).
In today’s world an excellent way of focussing on the Lord for many of us can be to listen to the Christian digital radio station playing songs of praise and worship. Before you know it you find yourself lifted up into the Lord’s presence.
Prayer: Dear Father God, please help me to feed my spirit and spend time in Your presence. Let me hear You speaking to me either in that still small voice or through reading Your Word. I don’t want to get distracted by all the cares of this world from basking in Your presence and knowing Your love. Amen.
Liz Griffin lived for 20 years as an expatriate in South Africa, Bahrain and Japan, as her husband Paul worked for an international oil company. Paul and Liz became involved with Ellel Ministries in 1991 as part of the ministry team and joined the full-time team at Ellel Grange in 1995. Paul and Liz teach and minister to those seeking healing in their lives and together have written two books, 'Anger - How Do You Handle It' and 'Hope and Healing For The Abused'.
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