“For the LORD God is a sun”

—Psalm 84:11

“The sun provides heat, light, energy, and ultraviolet rays—radiation. When we place ourselves in the sun of His countenance, the radiation of His glory does violence to those cancerous iniquities that we often feel helpless to fully overcome. Time in His presence is perhaps the most potent procedure to deal with the chronic sin issues that plague us.

“Sin is like a cancer; God’s presence is like radiation on that cancer. The longer you’re in His presence, soaking in His word and basking in His love, the more power you’re ingesting into the very fiber of your being. The only way we change is when we come close to the Lord. His presence is the place of change.

“Distancing ourselves from God always produces spiritual regression; proximity to God always produces spiritual progression.

“Now, through the blood of the cross, sinful man is able to come into the immediate presence of the holy God and subject himself to the glory that will change him. As we surrender to this glory, we are being changed into the likeness of the glory of Christ! The amazing part is this—that despite our weakness and failure and sinfulness we are now able to come into the immediate presence of the altogether Holy One! What a privilege!

“When we step into the presence of God, we are exposing ourselves to eternally powerful forces. Everything within us changes when we touch the radiating glory that emits from His face.

“You don’t know you’re being exposed to radiation when it first happens…The effects of radiation are always delayed. The same is true of God’s glory. When you spend time in His presence, your first thought is, ‘This isn’t accomplishing anything.’ However, if you will believe the truth and just devote yourself to mega-amounts of time in His presence, the effects of spending time with Him will eventually manifest.

“Powerful things happen inside when you spend time with God. When you’re in His presence for extended periods, the molecular composition of your soul gets restructured. You start to think differently, and you don’t even know why. You start to have different passions and interests, and you don’t even know why. God is changing you on the inside in ways you can’t cognitively analyze.

“The more time you spend in His presence, the greater your tolerance becomes for even greater manifestations of radiance and glory…Those who expose themselves to large quantities of the radiation of God’s glory become candidates for even greater glory. ‘From glory to glory.’”—Bob Sorge

My Prayer

“Oh Lord, I need You more earnestly and passionately. Even when I don’t feel You, help me to remain focused on You, Your Word and Your Spirit. Crush in me, Lord, that recurrent desire to always step away from You to attend to other ‘seemingly more important things.’ Teach me to spend extended times—alone—with You. Let the power of Your radiating presence soak into every fiber of my soul and spirit, and let the inner transformation I so desire take place as I remain under Your glorious radiation. Take me from this glory to the next one, Lord. There is a higher glory in You and I cannot settle for where I am today. Lord, as I sit at Your feet in humble quietness, systematically deconstruct every detail of my being that isn’t conforming to Your likeness, and reconstruct me through the power of Your presence. Shapen me and remake me, as I wait on You, Oh Lord. Help me I pray. I am desperate for more of Your radiation therapy. In Your name I pray. Amen.”

The Challenge

Just commit to sit longer hours before God’s Word. That’s the only decision worthy to make today. Amen.