Life in the River

I remember hearing someone teach on the verse in Revelation 4, where God invites John to "come up here!" The teacher suggested that as people who live by the Spirit should not just try to "come up here" when they're thinking about God, but to also "stay up here" and attain to live life with spiritual awareness. For years now, I've realized that the Spirit of God is always present - we never have to 'invite Him' to be with us, He's never distant or far away. He's closer than our next breath... ALWAYS. I've spent a good portion of my days over the last several months learning about how important and powerful it is to focus. And, one of the main things I've been focusing on is that fact that the Spirit of God is ALWAYS near - even within and empowering me. I am fully confident that God empowers me and uses me on a daily basis to encourage others and helps me attain my dreams and desires. Scripture tells me that God has placed these desires in me - He's wired me to love what I love - so, I can be assured that the things that I aim for are worthwhile. I am confident to chase my dreams because, I know I'm working toward a great purpose! Anyway... focus! God's Spirit has been described as a river - flowing everywhere, bringing life to everything He touches. There have been several times in my life where I found that if I focused and prayed long enough, I'd drop myself into this river and feel... electric, hot, overjoyed... basically overall wonderful! Lately, since I've been learning about the power of focus, I've found that I can plop myself into this river, pretty much any time I want. Take this morning, for example: I was recounting this past Sunday when I was praying for a couple - specifically, the woman - to experience more of God's Spirit. This month at church some leaders are teaching about life in the Spirit, and how we, as Christians, can 'live in the Spirit' on an ongoing basis. After the sermon, a group of us were invited to pray for people who wanted to be 'filled with the Spirit'. I'm so glad that I was part of that group because, I was on fire! I'd been focusing on the hot points of the sermon and soaking up all that the Spirit would allow. During that prayer time, those of us gathered definitely felt this river flowing. A couple of us were so 'in the river' or 'being filled by the Spirit' that we began to tremble - it was great! As I was recounting this, I put myself into the river again, and was feeling an overwhelming joy! Though, I have to temper myself b/c it's not a great idea to burst out into uncontrollable laughter while driving 100kph down the freeway! I'm feeling that river flow right now, as I sit in my living room, typing. He really is everywhere, ALWAYS! I don't have to spend a significant time in prayer, anymore. Those days were probably important for tuning my spirit to be able to feel His, but I love that He's ALWAYS here! I think the key to the Christian life - any life, really - is to learn to hear or detect the presence of God's Spirit. I've been finding that the more time I focus on God's presence, the easier it is to learn new ideas and concepts - there seems to be an innate wisdom I'm tapping into. I can easily and clearly communicate with people about God and spiritual concepts, regardless of their spiritual background. I am able to communicate new ideas at work, and relationships between once feuding departments have never been better! I've been told countless times how great of a boss/supervisor/co-worker/employee I am. And, my dreams and goals all seem to be coming true in due time! Is it all peaches and sunshine? Of course not! Life happens. But, I find, it's what we choose to focus on is what determines how 'hard' life becomes. My wife and I don't always see eye to eye, for example, but the things that would put our marriage into a funk a few years ago, are dealt with and overcome in no time at all! We choose to realize the River of God's Spirit is flowing all around me and through me ALWAYS. I LOVE IT!