Though we are thankful for God's blessings at Pierrepont, we are more hungry for His presence. There is nothing quite like the reality of knowing and sensing the tangible presence of the Almighty God whom we love and serve.

How can we prepare our hearts and our lives for more of Him? Jill gives us 3 D's:

1. Depart from sin. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. God, however, has never sinned. He has never made a single mistake. God has never told a lie, nor has he ever broken a promise. God has never been less than perfect - this is what it means to be holy. Scripture exhorts us to 'be holy as He is holy' (1 Peter). Let us seek to become like Him, by the power of His grace and His holy sprit at work in us. Let us 'conform no longer to the pattern of this world' (Romans 12) and depart from evil practises and ungodly behaviour such as lying, stealing, cheating, gossiping, sexual impurity, pornography, pride, rebellion, judging others, and everything else that is not pleasing to the One whose presence we so earnestly desire. We need to ask ourselves - 'what am I doing that might separate myself from His presence?'.

2. Delight yourself in the Lord. As we truly encounter Christ, the things that used to be important to us become less important, and the things of His Kingdom that were not important to us become important. May we allow Him to freely change us from the inside out, so that we delight in God Himself - so that we love Him more than life. May He be our first thought when we wake up in the morning, and our last thought when we go to bed at night. We need to ask ourselves 'what is my treasure?', 'what do I esteem?'. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. May He be our most valuable treasure - may we delight ourselves in Him and be fully satisfied in Him.

3. Doing God's will. "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). We must lay our lives down for His purposes and not our own. Perhaps we will experience a number of personal 'Gethsemane's', where God will call us to pay a personal price in order to follow Him and His plan for our lives. This is what it means to be one of His followers, to take up our cross daily and to follow Him, whatever the cost. As we do this He assures us that He will be with us - that we will know His presence. The price sometimes feels too high to pay, but His strength works perfectly in our weakness and His grace is enough for us. This is not about striving or being heavily burdened (in fact it's quite the opposite according to Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-29), but about simply obeying Him from a heart of love and thankfulness for all He has already done for us.

Lord, help us to seek Your face before we seek Your hand of blessing. Help us to know You. Help us to be those who depart from sin, delight ourselves in You, and do Your will. In Jesus' name.

Every Friday morning at Pierrepont (Home of NETS) we come together as a community to worship together, take communion and to feed on the word of God. Here you can listen to these Friday Sermons and discover what God is doing among us.