I’m newly intrigued by a certain thought within the realm of our worship to Jesus. I have so many questions and still so much to be thinking about and exploring. How does the presence of God work? How do we encounter the Holy Spirit? What’s really happening in the spirit realm when His presence is manifesting in our physical realm? I really am starting to believe that the Lord has empowered us as His children to play a much larger role in worship than we have ever thought.

His presence is really a beautiful, majestic, wondrous thing. It is freedom. It is love. It is peace. It is power. But why does the presence of God look different and feel different to me than it does to you? Isn’t God the same yesterday, today, and forever? Why is it that we experience and perceive him in such a variety of ways? It seems to me that there are two very distinct realms that come into play when we enter into worship; there is the realm of the spiritual and supernatural, and there is the realm of the physical and natural. A veil of sorts separates these two realms. But I think that the veil is much more something concocted in our minds rather than a true barrier.

When Jesus died on the cross he said something very important: “It is finished”. The veil in the temple which separated the presence of God from the rest of the world was torn. I picture His presence pouring out of that crack and flooding the earth, saturating everything in Creation. It is finished. What does that really mean? I think it could mean that Jesus was and is the eternal fulfillment of God’s nature, purposes, and promises here on earth. Jesus is God’s everlasting “I love you” to his children. We now have access to His eternal love, wild joy, unfathomable peace, and His powerful presence. He is all around us. His presence is everywhere. But how do we encounter that presence? I almost feel as though there is another phrase that the Lord is speaking over all creation as a follow-up to “it is finished . . . now what are you going to do about it?”

We don’t worship for a response, but we worship as a response, remember? We can only ever respond to what the Lord has already done, for it is finished on His end. His love is knocking on our door at full force for eternity. The question isn’t when will my Lord show up and knock on my door; the question is will you open the door that has been knocked upon since the beginning of time. It’s completely up to us. That is how the Lord has empowered us! He has given us the beautiful gift of free will. Imagine his presence all around you and you know that it is fully within your power to open the door and invited it in to change your life and the lives around you. The invisible barrier separating our two realms is within our power to tear down. So, what will we do about it?

I like to imagine the Lord saying it like this to me: “Jonah, I love you fully and eternally. What are you going to do about it? Jonah, my presence is all around you just waiting to be welcomed into your physical realm. What are you going to do about it? Jonah, my peace and joy are knocking on your door. Will you open it up?”

This thought is strangely empowering. The ball is in our court.

-Jonah