Song of Songs 8:1 "If only I could show everyone this passionate desire I have for you. If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.” Today's episode discusses how we can get in our own way regarding our relationship with the Lord. It explains that there is no limit to how deep our relationship can be with Him; it is limited only by our willingness to trust Him and be vulnerable. It also discusses how great it would be to do as the verse states and not worry about what others might think. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Jesus In My Presence
Song of Songs 8:1 "If only I could show everyone this passionate desire I have for you. If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.”
This is another verse from the Passion Translation of Song of Songs. As I read and re-read this translation, I notice how I am beginning to see Jesus differently. I was reading our required reading book for this quarter last night.“Personal Prayer: A Guide for Receiving the Father’s Love.” The authors of this book were talking about how to relate to God, and they said, “The key is that we need to be sure we do not let God be or remain abstract when we pray. Sometimes, we mistakenly think of Him as far away, off in the heavens somewhere. This seemed to hit home with me and really made me think.
When I think about it, I can tell the difference in my prayers when I think of God as sitting right there with me and praying to my Father in heaven. When I go to Eucharistic Adoration, I sometimes picture Jesus sitting on the altar. Not the Eucharist form of Jesus, but the actual man, Jesus. My prayers differ when picturing Jesus in my presence or even feeling the Lord in my presence. They are more personal. They are more intimate. The book says later in the chapter, “If we treat Him like a stranger, He will remain a stranger to us. If we only share ourselves with Him at a superficial level, the relationship will remain superficial. If we only spend time with Him sporadically, the relationship will remain at the level of acquaintances. If we bring our whole lives to Him and share our fears, our hopes, our wounds, our failures, and our love, then we will see that the relationship opens up more and, because He is God, becomes infinitely deep.”
The author is not saying anything complex here, but I needed to hear it. It’s like it is common sense, and yet, it was something I had never thought of before. Who wouldn’t want a deep relationship with the Lord? Why would anyone choose to keep it superficial or the Lord as a stranger? I am going to guess that most people aren’t consciously choosing to stay distant from the Lord. I don’t think they are thinking in their mind, “I think I will keep my distance.” Although now that I write that, I could see how some people might be saying that. If they have been hurt in the past, they might be reluctant to let anyone in, even the Lord. Others don’t realize they are keeping the Lord at a distance. The author says, “In fact, there is no limit to how deep our relationship can be with Him; it is limited only by our own willingness to trust Him and be vulnerable with Him.
Our willingness to trust the Lord and be vulnerable with Him can vary significantly from person to person and depend on our past experiences. If we have been hurt and let down repeatedly, we may find it very hard to trust the Lord and be vulnerable with Him. If we lose a loved one, we might be so angry we don’t know how to trust Him again. We can work on our openness to the Lord, yet many of us don’t know there is a block there. We don’t know that there is more love to be had. We don’t know anything other than our relationship with the Lord, the one we already have.
As a teenager, I longed for more with the Lord. I didn’t know it at the time. The Lord just reminded me of it now. When I was going through confirmation prep, and they asked why I wanted to make my confirmation, I said because I wanted more. I wanted to be as much a part of the church as possible. The Holy Spirit is putting on my heart now that what I really wanted was more God. I wanted to know Him more intimately, yet I didn’t know it then. I wonder how different my life would be if I had started to read scripture back then if I had been journaling and talking to the Lord. I wonder how different it would have been if I knew God was right there with me. Not just in an abstract way but right there next to me. He was so close I could sit and talk with Him. I wish I had known back then that I could ask Him questions, and if I sat and listened, He would answer them. I am grateful I know this now, and I pray you know it, too!
Yes, I know I have not talked about my chosen verse. I know someone needed to hear all that because it was firmly on my heart. The verse above says, "If only I could show everyone this passionate desire I have for you. If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.” This verse goes along with all that I said above because if we want to have a passionate desire for the Lord, we need to spend time with Him. We need to remember that He is not distant. He is right next to us at all times. I like this verse so much for two reasons. The first I talked about the other day. I wish I could tell the world about my love for the Lord. I wish I could tell every single person on the planet about God’s love and how much He loves them. I honestly would shout it from the rooftops if I could.
This brings me to the second reason I like this verse so much: It says, “If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.” This is definitely one of my top 5 wishes of all time. I wish I weren’t hindered by what others might think of me or my fear of rejection. I wish when I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit, I could act and not hesitate, not chicken out. I wish I could worship like David did. I wish I could get up and dance like no one was watching. I am getting better at this and will keep practicing and trying. I am grateful to my Encounter Ministries group because they encourage us to get up and express ourselves freely while worshiping, and there is no judgment.
It is not just while worshiping, though. I know I missed many opportunities to pray for people because I was afraid to ask them. Honestly, I don't know what I am afraid of. What is the worst that can happen? I know in my head the worst that can happen is that they say no, which is not the end of the world. Yet, for me, I get in my head. What if they say no? Then I will cry and feel dumb for crying, so I will cry more. Okay, even if this were all true, which has happened before, so what? So what if I cry and they think I am dumb? The alternative is that I don’t ask someone if they need prayer, and what if they really need prayer? What if they were going to say yes? Our teacher told us once that if the Holy Spirit is prompting you to pray for someone or to say something to someone, He has already prepared their heart for it.
I miss out on many opportunities to share my love of the Lord with others due to fear. This is why this podcast is called Walk Boldly with Jesus. That is my mission and my goal. I want to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to be able to talk about Him to anyone I meet. I want to worship Him in any way I want to. I want to ask everyone I meet if they need prayer. I want to do all of this without fear, even if it is not possible, despite fear. I want to shout from the rooftops all around the world that the Lord is Love and that He loves us so much. I want everyone to know that God loves them just as they are. They don’t have to change anything for God to love and accept them.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to have a deep relationship with you. Please help us to realize you are not some distant God in some faraway place. You are our Father, right next to us each step of the way. Help us understand we can talk with you and that you will talk back to us if we give You time and if we listen. Lord, help us think about what was said in that book. Help us to realize the ways we might be keeping you as a stranger or ways we might be keeping our relationship with you superficial. Lord, help us to open up; help us to be vulnerable. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. As promised, I have details of my new group coaching program that starts in November. Here is the description from my website. Have you ever desired a more personal relationship with the Lord? How great would it be to incorporate your spirituality into your daily routines? Have you ever been around people who seem so in love with the Lord and longed for that same relationship? Have you ever wished you knew more about praying, worshiping, praising, and so much more? Why is it that if we want to get better at something, like gardening, painting, or singing, we will seek professional help? However, we rarely do this when it comes to our faith. Yet, this could be the most critical area for improvement. The coaching sessions will be on Tuesday nights at 8 PM EST. My teachings will be for about 20-30 minutes. I will have a brief question and answer session, and then we will break into small groups where you can talk about what you just learned and how you will apply it to your life in the upcoming week. This is an excellent opportunity to create peer partnerships, which will help to create an environment of encouragement and motivation. You can help each stay on track and ensure you aren't just learning these things without applying them to your life. It is much easier to grow in your faith when you have a community of people on the journey with you. I will also have a Facebook group where you can post your progress, struggles, and questions. I honestly believe I am where I am today because I had a community surrounding me the whole way. So many of us feel alone, and when you join a community like this, you find out you are not alone! Please consider going deeper with me on this journey. I will discuss this for the next two weeks as I prepare for the launch. However, if you have questions, please feel free to reach out by email or social media. I hope to answer those questions here because others probably have the same questions. One person already asked if it would be strictly Catholic. The answer is no. I am Catholic, and so some things I say will be Catholic. However, this coaching program is not about religion. It is about how we can all grow closer to the Lord. It will not be a lot of theology as I am not a theologian. It will be more about how we get to know the Lord more. We will talk about prayer and incorporating Jesus into our everyday life. We will cover things like forgiveness, humility, trust, and whatever you might be struggling with. I want to help those in the group, so the topics I teach will depend on what those in the group need.
I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!