The only thing you need to truly celebrate Christmas is a glimpse of the glory of God in Christ. You don’t need the tree or the lights or the plum pudding. All you need is a glimpse of Christ. Christ came to show us a picture of the invisible God. More explicitly, He came to lead us to a fresh encounter with the manifest presence of God.   Read More

God invites you to become a life-long praiser. The last five Psalms in the Bible, Psalm 146, 147, 148, 149, 150 each begin with the exhortation, “Praise the Lord!” which is translated from the single Hebrew word, Hallelujah!  Read More

Raising hands in worship would be silly without the manifest presence of Christ; because of the manifest presence of Christ, however, it would be silly not to raise our hands in honor and appreciation.  Read More

Christ-encountering obedience and Christ-encountering worship will stretch you in many ways. A man with a withered hand had come to worship God in the synagogue on a particular Sabbath as he had done countless times before. But on this day, Jesus called him forward. “Stretch out your hand,” Jesus said to him (Mark 3:5). As the man stretched out his hand, it was immediately restored. It was so shocking that both Jews and Greeks began plotting immediately to kill Christ.  Read More

There is no limit to what God can do through us as long as we give Him all the glory. God does not enjoy sharing His glory with anyone. This does not call us to false humility; this is calling us to an accurate view of reality. The fact of the matter is, apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5).  Read More

When you set your heart to encounter the manifest presence of Christ every day, one of the subtle sins that God will deal with early in your journey is the sin of irreverence, or treating as common the holy things of God. Particularly for children born to Christian parents, or children born to career Christian workers, it is easy to become casual with the holy things of God. This is the essence of irreverence.  Read More

Christ-encountering prayer is a redundancy; all too often, however, it is sadly a necessary repetition. While all prayer is ideally Christ-encountering, at times prayer becomes more of a religious routine that comes up empty.  Read More

A Roman soldier only had six pieces of armor, but we as followers of Christ have an additional seventh piece of armor that makes our armor superior in every way. Having taken the belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword, we now take the piece of the armor known as all-prayer. Because we pray in the Holy Spirit, we have access to all prayer at every moment. As we take Christ as our indwelling Intercessor, we have in Him continuous access to every prayer we will need on every occasion.  Read More

The Bible is the written word, and the Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the Living Word. When you take up the sword of the Spirit today, be sure to encounter Christ in the process -- He is the Living Word. If your Bible reading has become dry or monotonous, pray. Most likely if the Bible is dry to you, it’s because you are not encountering Christ as you read. Ask Christ to reveal Himself to you in the Bible today.  Read More

God not only wants you to be saved, He wants you to know with absolute certainty that when you die you will live with Him forever. The helmet of salvation could be called the helmet of the assurance of salvation.   Read More

When you take up the shield of faith today, be sure to encounter Christ in the process. Christ is your Protector and He will shield you from all evil. There are many flaming arrows that the evil one shoots at us—lies, mockery, accusations, temptation, fears, and other evil spirits. The enemy knows when we are most vulnerable, and that’s when he shoots his arrows against us.  Read More

The shoes are the third piece of armor the Roman soldier would put on. Once he put on his belt and breastplate, he would then put on the shoes to protect his feet from injury. When you put on the shoes of the Gospel of Christ today, be sure to encounter Christ in the process.  Read More

As you put on the breastplate of righteousness today, be sure you encounter Christ in the process. Any good habit and spiritual discipline can become a hollow religious ritual if you are not careful. When you put on the full armor of God today, you want to be careful to recognize that your own righteousness is like filthy rags; your only hope of coming into the presence of God is to come fully clothed in the righteousness that comes from Christ alone.  Read More

When you put on the belt of truth today, be sure to encounter Christ in the process. Millions of believers put on the armor of God every day. This is a life-giving discipline. Don’t ever allow it, however, to become a mindless discipline.   Read More

A menudo se requiere el voto de alabar al Señor (TODA) para venir ante Él con acción de gracias. Siempre ayuda darle canciones de alabanza gozosa (TEHILLA). Luego, en medio de nuestras canciones festivas de alabanza, levantamos nuestras manos (YADA) en humilde gratitud y luego nos arrodillamos (BARAK) para bendecir Su nombre.  Read More

This single verse is calling for a four-fold progression in our worship. 1) We are called to enter His presence with thanksgiving. The Hebrew word TODA, means “to raise a hand as a vow to commit our praise to the Lord.” 2) And His courts with praise. TEHILLA, or “to give God our joyful songs of praise.” 3) To give thanks to Him. YADA, “to raise a hand (YAD in Hebrew) as an expression of our gratitude and acknowledgment of His manifest presence.” 4) And bless His Name. BARAK, “to bow our knee in humble gratitude.”  Read More

When you worship, don’t just sing—enter His courts and encounter His manifest presence! God wants to take Your worship up a notch from simply singing about Him; He wants you to sing TO Him. Realize that when you sing and worship Him, whether individually or corporately, that You are not static, but active. You are actually entering the gates of His manifest presence and coming into the courts of heaven.  Read More

The real problem with idolatry, or covetousness, is not simply attributing inappropriately high value to other things, but devaluing the manifest presence of Christ. Psalm 73 is a powerful journey of a fellow seeker who admits to the slippery slope of envy in verse 3—“I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” The Psalm then ends on a high note of transition from the common things of this physical world to the manifest presence of God. When the Psalmist says, “it is good to be near to God,” he could not have been referring to the omnipresence of God because you cannot get any nearer to His omnipresence; He was obviously referring to the manifest presence of God.  Read More

If you have set your sights on the manifest presence of Christ, one of the first sins God will deal within your own soul is the sin of iniquity, or treating as common the holy things of God. This is one sin God will not tolerate, nor should He. Do you value the manifest presence of Christ? Do you value the fact that you were chosen to draw near to His presence and to dwell in His courts?  Read More

You can praise your way through things you could never pray your way through. Psalm 34 is one of several acrostic poems in the Old Testament, each verse beginning with successive letters in the Hebrew alphabet. More importantly, Psalm 34 was written when David was fleeing Saul in Israel into the foreign land of the Philistines, where Abimilech was king. He found himself cornered in a cave and fleeing for his life. This marked one of the lowest points in David’s entire life, and yet against all odds, he began to praise the Lord. He would not allow anything to fill his mouth but praise. What an example for the rest of us who are seeking to make our way through the challenges of life. If David could praise the Lord when he was between a rock and a hard place, you can, too.  Read More

It is in the act of being worshipped that Christ most often chooses to reveal Himself. This was the Psalmist’s experience, and it can be your experience as well.   Read More

When we pray, we spend too much time listening to the voice of the enemy, and not enough time listening to the voice of God. The enemy is the accuser and the condemner who accuses us day and night of our sins and failures. He not only lies to us about ourselves, but he lies to us about God.  Read More

It’s not the person who talks to himself who is going crazy; the sign of going crazy is the one who listens to himself! Here in Psalm 103, David takes dominion over his soul and commands himself to remember all the blessings and benefits of being a child of God.  Read More

When was the last time your encounter with Christ was so overwhelming that it moved you to literally get on your knees in His presence? This is the kind of kneeling praise that King David is calling for today.  Read More