There\u2019s nothing I need more than the smile of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The brightness and warmth of God\u2019s smile is heaven to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing else compares to having God touch me and say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI love you. I am pleased with you. I am with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing can compare to having God\u2019s actual presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is possible to KNOW God is present,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not feel His presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I KNOW that faith should always believe,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But beyond believing, I want to experience God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to hear God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to feel God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to see His smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to feel His embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to experience the warmth of the divine presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I know all this is possible because I\u2019ve experienced it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know all this is possible because our spiritual fathers lived in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They tasted Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They walked with Him as friend with friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They saw Him and longed for more of Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is my greatest need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Religion is boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Religion provides methodology without experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Religionists are satisfied with knowledge and stop there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while knowledge is key to this experience,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faith takes us beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to rise on the wings of faith,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising up away from the murky waters of self-centeredness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising up away from the dungeons of fear and worries,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising up away from faithlessness and religiousity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising up away from my human pride and stubbornness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I need to rise up and enter the bright morning of God\u2019s light,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To enter into and behold the smile of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, how I long to move up with You Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t want to occupy my days with fighting vain battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord, I don\u2019t want to live in the pressures of the daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to turn my back away from the mundane and the urgent,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To look for Your face in the midst of the days\u2019 busyness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh Lord, give me Thy inner quietness everyday,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stir in me the strong hunger for more of You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your face is my greatest insurance from anxiety and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know Your smile is there and Your smile is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I live for Your smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing Your eyes of love and approval is enough for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please Lord, in all Your giving,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please do not deny me this one thing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because everything else is empty vanity compared to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ministry success is vanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recognition and applause is vanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Financial success is vanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Family unity and personal prosperity is vanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only seeing Your loving face and feeling Your warm embrace is everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is my greatest need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh Lord, do not deny me this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still my inner fears and restless pursuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grant me strength to take down every strange altar in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Help me bring down every stronghold that hides Your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All that obscures Your face is evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord, thank You because as I still myself under Your mercy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will experience Your love and warmth again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank You Jesus. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s nothing I need more than the smile of God. The brightness and warmth of God\u2019s smile is heaven to me. Nothing else compares to having God touch me and say: \u201cI love you. I am pleased with you. I am with you.\u201d Nothing can compare to having God\u2019s actual presence. It is possible to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-heartcry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Heartcry.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5772,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions\/5772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}