Hiddenness and Manifestation

I have been reading a new devotional series which studies different parts of God's Nature.  The first book of eight in the series is titled, "Hiddenness and Manifiestation." The Author is Graham Cooke.  Here is a portion of this book which I hope will encourage you today. 

"This book focuses on the area of Hiddenness and Manifestation and seeks to help the reader to discern these "seasons" of the ways of God.  Living within the flow of these seasons is a critical spiritual dicipline to learn.  Once you understand them and learn to flow with them you will enjoy a real sense of freedom and will not be buffeted by emotions, or circumstances as you once were.  

Manifestaion describes the times when you feel God's presence and His touch upon your life in a very immediate way.  He is just there! Those times are wonderful and effortless.  But God also bring seasons of hiddenness into your life, and although He is still very much with your, you don't feel His presence in the same way. It seems at times that God strips away all the external paraphernalia of your life and denies it to you.  At those times, you have to believe that you have peace with God, because you don't feel it in your emotions. 

Manifestation is about experiencing all that God is doing.  Hiddenness is about possessing the things of God through His Word by faith.  During times of hiddenness, you must rely on the promises that God has made to you through the Bible.  

        Manifestation is a time of blessing and 

Hiddenness is a time of building.

Perhaps the simplest way to explain it is to say that manifiestation is a time of blessing;hiddenness is a time of building.  God desires to bring you through seasons of hiddenness because He wants you to learn the discipline of walking by the Spirit.  

Developing an ongoing walk with God by the power of the Holy Spirit is a discipline.  Practicing faith is a discipline.  Hiddenness is God's way of establishing these disciplines in your life.  Once established, they prevent the enemy from invading your life and touching you, because regardless of your emotions, you know how to find the presence of God; you have a constant assurance of His presence and His commitment to you.

Understanding the fact that sometimes God is hidden and sometimes manifest will ground you in your faith and help you to have more consistent walk with Him. Whether it's a "good" day or a "bad" day, you know how to live in the grace of God.  Some days you will feel very close to God, and other days you won't - but it won't matter, because you will know that you can live, enjoying God's presence when you feel it, and enjoying living in you faith when you don't. 

Isn't that great!  That has encouraged me so much.  I love when God is manifest, especially in corporate worship times.  I am also learning, more and more, to walk with God by faith when He is Hidden and I cannot feel Him.  Those are the times when God speaks to me the most, when I hear his voice ever so clearly; even though I cannot feel His presence God still remains ever so committed to our personal fellowship.  When God is Hidden to me, which is most of the time, I cannot feel His presence, but I keep an ongoing dialog going with God based upon what I know to be true about His nature.  I know that He is always with me, never leaving me or forsaking me.  His ears are attentive to my prayers.  That He desires wisdom in my innermost parts.  That God gives wisdom to those who ask.  That God is my fortress and my refuge,  and I am under the Blood of Jesus.  That His banner over me is LOVE!  That God likes 

a thankful heart and responds to my worship and praise.  That God reveals himself to His people, His son's and daughter's, that we might know Him just as He is.   That God is faithful even when I am not faithful.  That his mercy makes room for me to be free from sin (actually dead to it) and alive in Christ.  That my Father knows the plans that He has for me...   THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT I base my ongoing dialog with God upon when I cannot feel Him close by.   Expressing my thanksgiving to God for Him just being Him, for the different, brilliant aspects of his nature, is usually where I start my conversation with God each day. Then I go through His promises that I have written on my heart from the Bible and begin to thank God for them and remind Him that I need every one of them, way more than that fancy iphone I have had my eye on lately... (grin) Throughout the day I keep listening in my spirit for God and when He speaks, or asks me a question, then I just follow his lead and that is where the conversation becomes intimate and revealing.  Quite often God reveals things about myself He wants to work on, change, develop, grow, kill! (hahaha "Pride", sound familiar).  Lots of times God just wants to show me how I need to change my thinking, or even change my incorrect perceptions or expectations of God, which in turn changes my perceptions and expectations of others as well. I have committed to being 100% honest with God when we talk, and really, you can't fool Him anyways, so why be cheeky, eh!

Today I am most grateful for my lovely wife, Holly, who is always innovative by coming up with great ideas to de-complicate life and keep things simple so that our family can enjoy every precious moment we get to share together. Three Cheers to wife's everywhere, to my wife who is the favour of God in my life, and to brown eyes, just because I love brown eyes so much...  

Loving being with you God.  You complete me.  

Peter