Daily EncouragementSample

“The Lord is there.” Ultimately that is all we need to know about the city. The same is true of the completion of the Church: “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). God’s presence is the supreme feature of the final manifestation of “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’” (Rev. 21:2-3).

The searching question for any activity or ministry which professes to be part of “God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9) is just this: Is the Lord there? The activity does not have to be big or even successful by worldly standards. That God is omnipresent, we have no doubt, but this is different. Charles Wesley has expressed the distinction well:

Jesus, we look to Thee,
Thy promised presence claim;
Thou in the midst of us shalt be,
Assembled in Thy Name.

Present we know Thou art
But O Thyself reveal:
Now Lord, let every waiting heart
Thy mighty comfort feel.