Presence Before Programs: God's Heart for Relationship

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Presence before programs. This simple but profound truth stands at the heart of genuine relationship with God, yet so often we reverse the order. We frantically build spiritual structures hoping God will eventually show up and bless them, when all along He's been waiting for us to simply sit at His feet.

The Father has gone to extraordinary lengths to remove anything that might separate us from His love. Sin and death, those seemingly insurmountable barriers, were overcome not through brute force but through the paradoxical power of the Lamb's gentleness and sacrifice. This demonstrates a kingdom principle that challenges our conventional thinking: true strength often manifests through meekness, and victory comes through surrender rather than aggression. The Lamb overcame the beast not by mirroring its violence, but by embodying love.

Like Mary who chose the "better part" while Martha busied herself with preparations, we're invited to prioritize divine presence over religious performance. God isn't impressed by our spiritual productivity or ministerial credentials. He's after relationship—genuine communion where His presence and our presence converge. From this intimate connection flows authentic kingdom advancement, not manufactured church growth. When we align with this divine order—seeking His face before launching our initiatives—we discover the wisdom, strength and supernatural ability to participate in what He's already doing rather than asking Him to bless what we've already planned. Have you been building programs hoping God will endorse them, or have you been sitting at His feet, allowing Him to direct your path? The invitation remains open: cast down your crowns, lay aside your agendas, and rediscover the joy of simply being with Him.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This podcast episode is a real exhortation, and what
I mean by that is that there'ssomething that God has been
conveying to me over and overand over for the past several
years, and that's this he wantshis presence known more than he

(00:30):
wants his programs known.
He wants his presence knownfirst.
He wants us to know him.
He wants relationship with usto know him.

(00:51):
He wants relationship with us.
He desires relationship with usso much that he's gone to the
fullest extent to remove everybarrier, anything that could
hinder us from experiencing hislove.
He has destroyed it Literally,he has demolished it.
He's made a public spectacleout of those things that would

(01:14):
try to keep us from the love ofGod that's in Christ Jesus.
The scripture says that neitherheight nor depth, nor any other
creature will be able toseparate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus.
Excuse me, love is more thanjust a word.

(01:43):
Obviously, love is theheartbeat of God.
God is love.
The Apostle John said that verystatement over and over and
over again God is love.

(02:05):
And then he said beloved, letus love one another, for love is
of God.
That's all relational talk.
That's all relational in itsheart, right At the very heart

(02:26):
of this whole kingdom dynamic isthe love of God.
God's kingdom is full ofrighteousness, peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit, but it'smotivated by love.
Love flows from the heart ofour Father, love flows from

(02:50):
Jesus, love flows from HolySpirit, and we are called into
that.
Now, yes, there areorganizational things that need
to take place and that will takeplace.
That do take place.
God is organized, he's notchaotic, but he wants us to know

(03:11):
his presence first.
Programs can come later, notprograms first, then his
presence.
He wants us to carry his glory.
He doesn't want us to put it onsome sort of program, so maybe
it can fit in to our schedule,but he wants us to feel the

(03:35):
weight of his glory and have itbe something that's with us all
the time.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
And so he wants us to know hispresence.
He wants to know him with usall the time.
Hallelujah, and so he wants usto know his presence.
He wants to know him, and heprovided that way through
sending his son, jesus, toannihilate the barriers.

(04:04):
The two main barriers were sinand death, and he overcame them.
But he didn't overcome themthrough violence or through
tanks and guns.
He overcame them as the lamb,interesting how gentleness and

(04:27):
meekness are actually powerfulthings.
You'd think that, well you know,brute force is where it's at.
Let's get real militant aboutthis.
Well, yeah, there's a time andplace for that, sure, but by and

(04:47):
large, love never fails.
Love has within itcharacteristics that exemplify
meekness, kindness, gentleness,self-control.

(05:07):
Those are things of love andgentleness and meekness.
The lamb, the lamb.
The lamb overcame the beast.
The lamb, the lamb that wasslain.
Worthy is the lamb, the lamb,the presence of the lamb, yes,

(05:35):
we want to feel the roar of thelion, but also we need the
dynamic of the Lamb, theconquering, gentleness and
meekness and love of the Lamb ofGod, jesus Christ.
So God sent him and heannihilated these things that

(05:56):
were so blatantly pretending tobe powerful and were, but they
were no match to God.
And in God's gentleness heovercame them.
He didn't even have to exudehis mighty power, although his
mighty power was demonstrated ingentleness and meekness.

(06:19):
But there's coming a point intime where the decision-making
power of God, the judgment ofGod, is going to require of
himself to execute the finalityof his judgment, in which he
will take Satan and he will hurlhim into the lake of fire.
It behooves us not to bealigned with that creature or

(06:45):
his kingdom.
It would be very wise for us tobe far removed from that.
But presence, presence,presence before programs.
And you know what God wantsfrom us.
He wants our presence.
He doesn't want our programsfirst.

(07:08):
He's not.
We'll build a program and Godwill come.
No, we come together and thenhe will provide wisdom on how we
go about things, but not buildthe ox cart and put the art on
it.
Someone tried to do that andpeople wound up, killed.

(07:34):
People get hurt when we try todo things our own way.
The Tower of Babel was a fiasco.
It was man trying to do thingsman's own way and God said they
can do a lot, but they can do alot of damage.
So I'm going to confuse theirlanguage so they don't kill each

(07:57):
other.
There are things that God doesto dismantle things in his love
and his mercy that sometimes welook at and say why did you do
that?
It really looked so good.
But good isn't great and Goddoesn't want us to settle for

(08:21):
good.
He wants us to have the best,and he's best and his presence
is best first, and he wants thebest from us and the best we can
give him is first our presence,meaning our time, our energy
and our resources.
We offer our best.

(08:44):
We offer our best.
We don't need to build programsAgain.
I repeat myself, but it's worthrepeating because this is an
exhortation.
I'm exhorting you in the nameof Jesus.
I implore you, by the verymercy and grace of God, to hear
this and adhere to what I'msaying.

(09:06):
Drop the programs that you'veplaced in front of God and
embrace his presence first andwait upon him and he will renew
things like strength, likevision, like abilities.
He will empower us to do thingssupernaturally, things that we

(09:28):
can't do on our own.
He doesn't want us to show himwhat we can do and then him to
come and endorse it.
He wants us to know each other.
Come and reason together.
Let's have a relationship.
Let's have a meal.
Come and reason together.
Let's have a relationship.
Let's have a meal.
Let's sit down.

(09:49):
Let's sit down and just spendtime together.
Doing what?
Just enjoying one another'spresence.
How about that?
There were two women that weresisters of Lazarus, mary and
Martha, and one of the sisterswas busy doing stuff, and it was

(10:15):
good stuff.
She was preparing things forthe get-together because Jesus
was coming to their house andJesus went to the house of
Lazarus because she feltcomfortable there.
Side note does he feelcomfortable in your house?
I want him to feel comfortablein my house, in my body, but
also in the home that I live in.
He can come and be comfortable.

(10:36):
Wait, he went there and one ofthe women was busy, busy, busy,
busy, busy, and the other sisterwas sitting in her seat
listening and she was enjoyinghis presence and he was enjoying

(10:59):
her presence and they werehaving fellowship.
And the other sits said, master, tell her to come and help me.
And he said I'm not going to dothat because she's chosen the
right thing.
You're concerned about a lot ofthings, but really you need to

(11:22):
be concerned about this.
First, spending time with me.
Set the other stuff, set theprograms aside, the busyness,
doing things for God.
He doesn't need us to do thingsfor him, he wants us to do
things with him, things with him.

(11:54):
So that's the exhortation inthis particular podcast episode
the presence of God and yourpresence converge.
And then the kingdom programsafter that not church growth,
not business, but kingdomdevelopment and kingdom

(12:18):
advancement.
The kingdom of God, the rule andreign of God, the basileia of
God, the realm in which Godmanifests in heaven to be
manifest in the earth.
Father in heaven, holy is yourname.

(12:43):
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done in earth asit is in heaven or on earth as
it is in heaven.
Whichever you prefer, presenceand then wisdom to help see

(13:06):
things, so we can have ourknowledge that he gives us
applied, because wisdom isapplied.
Knowledge going from point A topoint B to point C, and knowing
how to do that is wisdom.
Knowing how Knowledge is,knowing the stuff we got to do.
Wisdom is knowing how to do it,and he'll give that to us when

(13:31):
we spend time together.
But first and foremost, heloves us and wants us to spend
time.
We don't need a program in ourmarriage with one another or in
our friendships with one another.
Well, I got a friendshipprogram.
I'm going to work on what, whatI have, a relationship that I

(13:53):
live out with my friends, withmy family, with God.
And let's put the order likethis with God, with my family,
with my friends, and theconcentric circles go on and on

(14:15):
and on Presence first, programslater.
Let's pray, father.
Thank you for your simple wordsof encouragement, god, but
they're powerful.

(14:35):
Help us see things in properperspective and, where we've
been too busy, help us, holySpirit, calm down and to lay
down our agendas.
Cast our crowns before you,jesus.

(14:56):
I cast my crown down before you.
My accomplishments,achievements, all things, cast
them before you as though I'vedone nothing, and I ask you to
teach me, o Lord, your ways andshow me your paths, that your
kingdom come and your will bedone.
Father, we stand here in thename of Jesus and we pray these

(15:20):
things.
We say amen, amen, amen, amen.
Alright, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atliferonthefire, at gmailcom, or
type in lifearoundthefire andlook us up on the web.
We would love to hear from youIn the meantime.

(15:41):
God bless you.
Adios amigos.