{"id":19837,"date":"2014-05-23T00:15:23","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T04:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19837"},"modified":"2014-05-22T22:29:15","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T02:29:15","slug":"dont-feel-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/23\/dont-feel-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"When You Don’t Feel His Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
\nand when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
\nWhen you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
\nFor I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
\nIsaiah 43:2-3<\/p>\n

I will be honest. I don\u2019t feel God\u2019s Presence every minute of every day. \u00a0But I have the faith to know that He is there because He promised. \u00a0His Word tells us not to fear but sometimes there are reasons to fear, true? \u00a0If you read the news or just step outside your door, you see a few. \u00a0Did you notice that in the verse above, it says \u201cWhen<\/strong> <\/em>you pass through the waters…\u201d ? Not \u201cIf<\/strong><\/em>\u201d because He knows that because of sin, we will<\/span> encounter trouble but He is with us. \u00a0He is ever present, never leaving us, and that is our comfort. \u00a0And His Word reminds us of this over and over.<\/p>\n

If I say, \u201cSurely the darkness will overwhelm me,
\nAnd the light around me will be night,\u201d
\nEven the darkness is not dark to You,
\nAnd the night is as bright as the day.
\nDarkness and light are alike to You.
\nPsalms 139:11 and 12<\/p>\n

Hebrews 13:5 says \u201cNever will I leave you; never will I forsake you.\u201d You cannot escape the Presence of God, but you may not feel it.<\/p>\n

In Matthew 14:25-32<\/a>, in the middle of a storm, Jesus walked on water. \u00a0His disciples, who were terrified, did not feel His presence but Jesus said, \u201cTake courage! \u00a0It is I. \u00a0Don\u2019t be afraid.\u201d \u00a0The storms continued to rage until Jesus got into the boat. Yes, there was something to fear\u2014a huge storm in a small fishing boat\u2014but Jesus\u2019 Presence brings peace and courage. \u00a0And notice…Jesus did not say, \u201cTake courage! I am calming the storm.<\/em> Don\u2019t be afraid.\u201d Instead, with the winds raging, He said,\u201dTake courage! It is I.<\/em> Don\u2019t be afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The truth is\u2014Jesus doesn\u2019t always calm the storms, at least not immediately. However He always calms His child with His Presence. \u00a0I imagine Him saying,\u201dDon\u2019t worry! \u00a0Yes there are winds that are strong and blowing and the waves are really high and frightening but I am God over everything. \u00a0And if I do not calm the waves immediately, it is because I want you to watch Me walk on water.\u201d \u00a0I still don\u2019t enjoy the storms that I have to go through and I don\u2019t want to go through it all again, but what I do still cherish is the closeness I have felt with Him and how much I desired to be with Him and hear His words. \u00a0I was desperate for His strength and I couldn\u2019t get enough of Him.<\/p>\n

Are you ready to accept His Presence in your life? Do you want to enjoy God in your life more than ever? If you said YES!, then take the time to pray and ask Him to give you faith and to teach you how to enjoy Him abundantly! He loves you and He created you with a desire for fellowship with Him. He is your Creator so He knows you more than you will ever know yourself. So you can trust Him always and know He will never leave you.<\/p>\n

Feelings are just feelings and not facts. So not feeling His Presence doesn\u2019t mean He is not there. Spend time in His Word and get to know Him. Hear His promises for yourself. Your faith will grow and so will your relationship with Him. Your life will blossom and there will be a peace that passes all understanding. And know that I am praying for you today, whatever you may need today. If you don\u2019t have a relationship with Him, you can. All you have to do is ask Him into your heart.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pray with me today<\/strong><\/span>: Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I need a Savior. \u00a0I ask for forgiveness. \u00a0I believe you died for my sins on the Cross and I am forgiven. \u00a0Walk with me now and forever more. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[6373,338,1287,425,442,3466,494,6370,6374,6375,589,6372,6371,938],"class_list":["post-19837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-courage-in-storms","tag-encouragement","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-gods-presence","tag-gods-promises","tag-hebrews-135","tag-isaiah-432-3","tag-jesus-calms-the-storm","tag-jesus-walked-on-water","tag-kim-spring","tag-matthew-1425-32","tag-psalm-1397-12","tag-scripture","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-59X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19842,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19837\/revisions\/19842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}