Focus: Find Your 'THERE'!

Text: Ex.24:12

"And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be THERE…"

There is a 'there' for every believer in Christ. It is a place where heaven and earth meet. It is a place of meeting between God and the believer. It is a sacred space or an altar that connects together the vertical and the horizontal. It is a place that you must identify for yourself, and for your information, that place is more about what you do that moves God than about where you go. It is a place of being and doing that is well-pleasing to God. It is a private place of divine appointing where divine interaction and transaction with God take place. God says to Moses, "Come up to ME… and BE there." It is a place where God is and a place to be. It is being in a place of where God Himself is. It is a place where you encounter the presence of God for yourself. Find there, get there, and stay there.

Be faithful there! Sustain the effort! Practice the culture of consistency! John says, "And Judas also, which betrayed him, KNEW the PLACE: for Jesus OFTTIMES RESORTED THITHER with his disciples" (Jh.18:2). Judas knew the place because Jesus Christ exposed him to it, and Christ Himself frequented there. It was there that His arrest took place, and it was from there that He was taken to where He fulfilled His ultimate destiny.

Adam missed a place like that. The Scripture says, "And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" (Gen.3:9). Adam was found missing from his place of meeting with his God. A French proverb has it that God visits, but often times we are not at home. God came to the sacred spot of meeting with Adam, but he was absent. He was missing from the sacred spot. 

That holy location speaks of his relationship and fellowship with God. It typified his spiritual position before God and divine connection with him. His position before God was to be found and enjoyed on that spot.

Let me share with you some of the places called 'there' that I have found in the Scripture.

*The 'there' of divine discovery or of God's self-disclosure

On a certain spot Jacob encounters the Lord, and exclaims, "The LORD is in this place, and I knew it not." He found himself 'there' without even knowing it. I believe God can and will help you discover new places of encounter with God. Moses reports, "And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD IS IN this PLACE, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this PLACE! this IS none other but the house of God, and this IS the gate of heaven" (Gen.28:16-17). Jacob discovered to his greatest amazement that he was right in the dwelling place of God and the very gate of heaven. He marked and memorialized the place by setting up an altar there to the Lord. God made Himself known to Jacob right there. Jacob himself made discoveries there that changed his life forever.

*The 'there' of His presence

The Lord says to Moses, "And THERE I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat…" (Ex.25:22). God instructed Moses to construct a place for Him. God wanted to be in close proximity with His people. It was a place where the transcendent God became immanent. In that place God came down, and that is what we know as the manifest presence of God. That is God localizing Himself. It is not the omnipresence of God, but the localized presence of God.

*The 'there' of divine supply

The Scripture says concerning Elijah, "And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the RAVENS to feed thee THERE" (1Kgs.17:2-4). This was the place where God hid Elijah from Ahab and where He provided for him in times of famine. Elijah had to be there or he would miss out on God's provision and protection.

The 'there' is not tied to a place, but to new places as God would reveal from time to time.

When the brook dried up, God showed that He had other places as well. God is not limited to a place, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So we read, "And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell THERE: behold, I have commanded a WIDOW woman THERE to sustain thee" (1Kgs.17:8-9). God uses different things, people and places to actualize His own purposes. God used Cherith; now He uses Zidon. God used ravens; now He uses a widow. We enjoy the provisions of God to the extent that we are willing to go with God and do what He says. 

There is always a divine 'there' for you, but are you willing to be there? Sometimes, our lacks could be as a result of not being 'there' - in the place of God's appointing.

*The 'there' of prophetic fulfillment

Jesus Christ said to two of His disciples, "Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him… And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him" (Mk.11:2,4). Centuries before Christ, Zechariah prophesied, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee… and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass" (Zech.9:9). Jesus Christ knew exactly where to find the ass, and He sent His disciples to go there. 

God has an ass tied somewhere and He needs it for His use. Can let God send you to where His colt could be found? God can direct you to where you will find His resources.

*The 'there' of unity

The psalmist declares, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!… For THERE the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore" (Ps.133:1,3). There is a 'there' for unity, and in that place of togetherness the blessing of God flows. The blessing of unity is incredible and indescribable. Abraham said to Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren" (Gen.13:8). We are brothers indeed. The blood of Christ is our bond.

*The 'there' of obedience, worship, sacrifice, vision and provision

God says to Abraham, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him THERE for a burnt offering upon ONE of the mountains which I tell thee of… Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the PLACE afar off… And they came to the PLACE which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar THERE, and laid the wood in order… And Abraham called the name of that PLACE Jehovahjireh: as it is to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Gen.22:2,4,9,14). God told Abraham where to go and what to do for Him. Abraham says to his servants, "I am going with my son somewhere beyond here to worship, and then return." And then he got there and sacrificed his son in a figure. And there Abraham saw God's vision and discovered God's provision. And all of this happened because Abraham obeyed.

*The 'there' of spiritual blessings - "In Christ"

Paul declares, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings IN heavenly places IN Christ" (Eph.1:3). All our spiritual blessings are located in Christ, and that means to be outside of Christ is to miss the blessings. 

It is only in Christ that we can access the blessings. Christ is our 'there' for the blessings. He is both the sphere and means of the blessings.

*The 'there' of eternal glory

Jesus Christ says to His disciples, "I go to prepare a PLACE for you… where I am, THERE ye may be ALSO" (Jh.14:2,3). We will finally and forever be with Christ wherever He is. Ezekiel writes, "And the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is THERE" (Ezk.48:35). It is the 'there' of His eternal presence and glory. In Isaiah 12, we read, "Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee" (Isa.12:6). Yes, we have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God! Glory be to God!

I can go on and on, and talk about the 'there' of prayer, of power, of truth, of intimacy, of hearing from God, of obedience, and of commitment.

I pray God to help you get to your divine 'there' and stay there. Life is sweet when you are there and do what He requires of you there. Find your 'there' and stay there! Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter