Contemplatio:Pure Passion Leads To Profound Presence

By Jeff Slaughter
Director of the European Worship Institute
This blog is part five of a five-part series.

As worship ministry leaders, we don’t want to be ‘Sunday morning worshippers’, only giving God His due from the platform once a week. We want to live in His presence every day. But often, life gets in the way and we forget that. What might help us remember to walk more closely with Him?

Here’s a thought:
To live in His presence, we need to be passionate.

Psalm 84:2
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 84:10
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

2 Samuel 24:24:
“I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that costs me nothing.”

There was nothing half-hearted about David. From the time he killed Goliath, to the years he was chased by Saul, to his affair with Bathsheba and the murdering of her husband, David was a passionate man. This passion got David in trouble, but when controlled and directed toward God, led him to being called “a man after God’s own heart.” Imagine that – someone who committed adultery and murder could still capture the heart of God.

If we’re to live in His presence, we must be passionate. David used words like ‘yearn’, ‘faint’, ‘cry out’. These kinds of words mark his passion. What kinds of words mark our passion? When we speak about our time with God, can we describe it with the same passion that he did?

It’s true, pure passion leads to His profound presence.

This blog post concludes our five-part series ‘Living In His Presence’. Over the past five posts we’ve learned from some amazing seekers of God’s presence: Jesus, Abraham, Mary & Martha, Zacchaeus and David. Through their lives – things they did right or things they did wrong, we’ve learned a few things that can help us better live in His presence every day.

To live in His presence we must…
1. Unplug from the world and plug into God.
2. Be intentional on purpose.
3. Prioritize seeking over serving.
4. We must persevere.
5. Keep our passion pure.