The Lord has been teaching me to be very, very aware of His presence! How can we be aware of something that is not always tangible? We know His word, we know His voice, we know truth....we know Him.
A few months ago I was on my way home when my tire went completely flat. I pulled onto the side of the road and called my husband to let him know what had happened, so he could come to my rescue. He was not close by and it was going to take him a while to get to me, so there I was stranded and alone with dark storm clouds covering the sky. It wasn't long before thunder, lightning and heavy rain joined those dark clouds. I was surrounded by darkness, or so it seemed. Panic was rising up in me, but then immediately I began to pray and speak His word...
"You are my refuge, You are my strong tower, I have not been given a spirit of fear, Your perfect love drives out fear, I am Your daughter and You are such a good Father, You tell me to not be afraid for You are with me, I am not alone, I am surrounded by You." Then these lyrics came alive in my spirit...
"It may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by You." Though surrounded by dark clouds and loud thunder, I was even moreso surrounded by His light and His gentle whispers. The Holy Spirit reminded me of Psalm 32:7 in that moment:
"You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance."
As I sang to my Father, not only did I become aware of His overwhelming presence, He was surrounding me with songs of deliverance! He sings and rejoices over us, what a humbling and beautiful truth!
I was so very aware of His presence that I didn't even notice the gentleman who stopped to help, he was very kind and patched up my tire enough where I could make it home. When we deliberately switch our focus from fear to Jesus, we can't help but break out in worship of who He is!
More recently, my husband was working out of town and yes, God has delivered me from fear, but I am still more aware of those little noises at night when he is not home. I began to ask the Lord one night to show me the angels He has stationed around our home. I heard the word "rampart" all night and was led to Psalm 91:4 the next morning....
"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."
A rampart is a defensive wall, it is to fortify and surround. When we worship and surrender to Him, He breaks through our walls of fear and doubt and raises His rampart of divine protection and peace. He was faithfully showing me again that He has me surrounded, He is my protector and refuge. His faithfulness, His truth is my shield and rampart. He covers and surrounds His sons and daughters! Oh, what peace to be very aware of His presence!
We may be surrounded by darkness, chaos, or fear, but we do not have to surrender to it! We cannot allow the darkness we see with our physical eye to blind us from God Almighty's presence and light that is surrounding us. I choose to submit and surrender to His truth, to Him.
Lord, gives us eyes like Elisha! When we are like his servant and only see the enemy army surrounding us, open our eyes so we may see that we are surrounded by you!! (2 Kings 6:13-18) Help us Lord to be very aware of your presence!
When we are aware of His presence, there is no place for confusion or doubt and fear must flee!
I have this quote on my mirror in my room:
"God incarnate is the end of fear; and the heart that realizes that He is in the midst... will be quiet in the middle of alarm."
- F.B. Meyer
Yes, may we realize He most definitely is in the midst and our hearts can be quiet and at complete rest even in the middle of alarm. We are surrounded! Thank you, Jesus!
