The Presence of the Lord

Sep 22

Volunteers stood at the door ready for it to be unlocked and headed in to prep for service. After a quick team huddle, we set out all over the building to prepare for those coming to worship God today. Ana, our new Children’s Director, started prepping the room with the help of some of the children, her husband Angel hustled with some others to get the tech area set up, Kathi and Stephanie worked hard to get the coffee area set up, and had others faithfully serving God in preparations for service.

One of the favorite new additions to prayer time are testimonies and we had a few today. Jeremiah praised God for a leading in salvation of a family member, his dad Jesse was in awe of God for providing financially this week, and Pastor Ryan shared about a physical healing he received that morning. As we prayed over service, people, and for the presence of the Lord, we prepared to meet Him with the others who were on their way.

The room was full of loud sing and praising of God as we sang, I Speak Jesus to open worship and the service. We could feel the presence of God, His Spirit, over people and the room. After the song, Santi came up and we talked about some happenings in Cornerstone. Meanwhile, next door, the children began their lesson on Noah. We love seeing their faith grow as they learn from the Bible. Back in the main room, we took time to pray for Gracie, a friend of one of the children of Cornerstone, as Gracie battles cancer. We believe God is going to heal and restore her body.

Pastor Ryan spent time in the Word today going over what it means to be in the presence of the Lord. It was a timely sermon for many and hit home, deep in our hearts. You can listen to the full sermon here. Some of the highlights include:

Through Jesus and His sacrifice of Himself, we can now be in the presence of God like before because there was a way back to God.
Our position in the presence of the Lord and our vulnerability with Him is not to change our circumstances. It is to get in the presence of the Lord, expose our heart openly before Him and allow Him, through His presence and love and wisdom to change us.
There is a great promise that God has that when you are in pursuit of His presence: He will reveal himself.

A precious time in God’s presence followed with our worship of God. We saw many fall to their knees in adoration of our King. It was a sincerely peaceful presence of God, having Him meet us where we’re at and taking us deeper with Him. As we worship, faith began to rise and after we saw someone turn to Jesus and accept Him as their Savior! After that we prayed for healing over people, and God was certainly gracious in meeting people’s needs.

As the time closed for service to end, we enjoyed each other’s company and we all made quick work to tear everything down and put things back in their place. We are certainly thankful for the place we currently call home, and if the past few weeks are any indication, we could need a larger space for more people to fit into. God is good in all He does!