God is Near: The Message Of Heaven Come ConferenceSample

God is Near: An Invitation

This devotional series focuses on communing with God and exploring what it means to be “gates of heaven” on the earth. This idea presents itself in Genesis with Jacob, and in the New Testament through the life Jesus and at Pentecost. We created this series as a way for anyone around the world to engage with the theme of our Heaven Come Conference: "God is Near". 

Whether you join us in person or not, this series invites you on the same journey the Lord has invited us on: to draw closer to the One who is closest to us. We open our ears, hearts, and hands to how our lives can become a more radical, consistent expression of His goodness.

We do not worship a distant God. We have an ever-present Father that relentlessly pursued humanity by giving up His Son in order to be fully close to us again. His love welcomes us back into a family and gives us a future and inheritance (Jeremiah 29:11). Not only that, the gift He gave of his Spirit enables us to manifest this Love and hope to others.

He promises that as we abide in Him, he abides in us (John 15:4). His presence alive in us becomes a wellspring from which His kingdom can be established. Our time spent with God hearing His voice and focusing on His nature becomes a garden inside us from which others can receive and know Him too. From the inside out, He has made His home in us and longs to display His powerful love through us in the form of lasting transformation.

The more we experience Him as the One who is near, the more empowered we become as His church to release this promise into any environment we touch, as living gates of heaven. We have been qualified by his blood and the in-filling of His Holy Spirit.

We believe it is an important time in the earth for this generation to experience the hope that God is near. Fear, confusion, and questions are frequently stirred by the issues and challenges facing our world and communities, but the Lord remains as confident as the day he spoke creation into being- that what He has made is good and that He has not poured out His love in vain. Every solution, healing, provision, and comfort can be found in Him. He is available and He is kind.

Thanks for joining us on this 5-day journey of discovering more of His goodness and His truth. We pray that as you reflect and encounter Him, “the God of hope would fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13).

Pray & Reflect:

• Ask God to show you a circumstance, relationship, or area of your life in need of greater knowledge of His nearness. This could be something in your personal life, or something you are connected to and passionate about on a larger scale. 
• Ask Him for a picture of what it will look like on the other side of what may seem impossible, painful, or unclear. Give Him space to speak and show You. Thank Him for what He shows you and write it down. 
• Thank Him now for His nearness toward that thing and for the role you have in partnering with His heart to see this become reality.

Scripture Reading: 

James 4:8, Jeremiah 29:11, John 15, Roman 15:13

Learn more about the Heaven Come Conference: “God is Near” (bethelmusic.com/heavencome).