Entering His Presence: The Path to True Oneness

Ron:

Welcome to Live Behind the Veil. I'm Ron, your host, and today we're talking about entering His presence, the path to true oneness. What does it mean to live with the continual awareness of God's presence? Is true oneness among believers something we can create through effort, or is it the natural result of a deeper relationship with the Father?

As we share experiences from Israel and reflect on the importance of prayer, worship, God's love, and the work of the cross, we'll discover that genuine unity is not found in agreement alone, but in becoming one with Christ. Join us as we explore how entering His presence transforms our lives and brings us into the oneness He has always intended for His people

Ron:

Everything is started with prayer. I realize by doing that, it brings your life focus back to the Lord all the time. It really does. And I've been, man, I've got about four or five Psalms memorized, and I mumble them all day long. These are the Word of God that we're supposed to be incorporating into our lives and meditating on, which means mumbling them all day long.

We went to a Jewish—I don't know how to pronounce this—I think it's called a Kehilah, K-E-H-I-L-A-H. And it is, for a better word, a synagogue, but it's Jews that have accepted Yeshua. It was an amazing, amazing experience.

First off, the Jews, remember, come from all different parts of the world. So you've got Japanese, Chinese, and all these different nationalities in this congregation. I don't know if this guy was a rabbi, but he was, in a sense, leading the service. He gets up there. He just has regular clothes on, and he's got an old gun strapped to his belt. That's Israel.

His wife is up there with him, so he's speaking in Hebrew, but then his wife would interpret in English. They give you a book when you walk in, and it's how they lead everyone in the service. So on one side is all Hebrew, and on the other side is all English. Each paragraph off to the side has a scriptural reference of what you're actually reading. Because everything is Scripture, either New Testament or Old Testament. It's all Scripture that they're voicing.

All of a sudden, people would be standing up in the congregation, and they would either be voicing some of these paragraphs out loud or they'd be singing them. It was like the Body of Christ moving. It wasn't canned. This was real.

Young men, young ladies, probably 12 or 13, teenagers, and then older people—they'd say where they're coming from, and they'd start. Everybody would follow it. Sometimes it was antiphonal. They would sing, and the whole congregation would sing with them. It was so fun.

Then they would stop, and they would open up these doors in front, and they would bring out the Torah and lay it on—it's not called a podium, but anyway—they'd lay it down. There'd be three men, one on each side and one standing in front. The ones on the side would unroll the Torah, and then somebody would get up there from the congregation and read or sing the Torah.

We had one young man, probably about 19 years old, and he probably sang for 15 minutes. Oh my God, what a voice. Beautiful, beautiful voice. This was the congregation worshiping.

Ken:

I think it's awesome what the Lord is doing throughout the earth. We have no clue how everything is going to come out and take place, do we? All we know is that we have a walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's leading us every moment of every day. We see all these events taking place all around us, and we go, "I didn't think that was going to happen," but it is happening. We just have to open our hearts and allow the Lord to really show us exactly what is taking place. It doesn't matter what takes place in this world in the sense of us being concerned, because we know who we believe in and who's led us all of these years. There's a path that God's given us to walk on, and we just stay on the path. Until the Lord shows us something different, we don't move. We stay right there.

Bill:

The Jewish people, I think, and Israel itself, are an example of people that have to be in motion. They've hardly ever known a time where they can just sit back and relax. There's always somebody coming after them. Our situation is not because of that. I think, for me, the distinction is that we're still going somewhere. Stay in motion, and that's where we can help one another.

Mike:

Yeah, that thing about motion is key when you tie it together with the oneness. When Ron mentioned that thing about prayer before everything going on, what hit me was I think the Father is trying to get the sons to realize that you're going to be in His presence for eternity. Get used to it, folks. And I'm thinking, man, oh man, am I so far from that aspect. I appreciate what Ron shared there, but boy, it's a challenge to my spirit to even think about changing my awareness of how much I communicate with the Lord—or don't communicate with the Lord—on a daily basis. I'm thinking I need to start changing my focus from these things and that thing and whatever, and get more into this relationship with our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Debbie:

We're always growing. We're always changing. We're always becoming. Because the Lord never stops, and He's taking us into His presence. He's taking us into a place where we're going to be constantly in prayer, constantly in adoration and worship. To think about that is really not in our DNA. It's hard for our brains to comprehend that. But the Lord is helping us and enabling us. This is where we're going. We're going into His presence. We're going into just worshiping Him and honoring Him and blessing Him. That's who we are. The Jewish people maybe have a little better handle on certain aspects of it, but we all are in our place where we're supposed to be, and we're all coming into the presence of the Lord.

Dale:

We're coming into our inheritance. God is finishing this thing, and it's happening very rapidly. That priesthood is being established as we speak. The promise is that we will be grafted in, and God's going to keep that promise. We're going to fit in perfectly and be a part of that. It's neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female. We're fitting perfectly into that new creation.

Ken:

What's the one key, the one denominator, that keeps all of us focused and moving forward together? The first two commandments. The Lord our God is one. He is one, and we shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with everything within us, really. And we shall love our neighbor as ourselves. This one thing that we keep focused on is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He is the key factor in us moving forward and loving God and loving each other. We're all just different parts He's made us to be. We're the Body of Christ. He's the one that fits us in where He wants us. Oneness is the key. It is the key factor of us going forward in God and taking each new step together. This oneness is forever. It's not about theology. It's not about ideology. It's not about any of that. All those things will fall aside if they're not what God wants. The main thing is our oneness, guys. The main thing is our drive to keep that oneness intact. Never leave the oneness.

Dean:

All of us partials begin to flow in that oneness. We don't have to do it organizationally. We definitely don't need to conform to each other. We're to be conformed to Him. Just because we're different doesn't mean that we aren't one.

Ken:

The one ingredient, too, that enables us to really come into this level of oneness is God's love. Not your love—God's love. God loves His creation. He loves every part of what He's created. But He loves the people. That love is sustaining. It's the enablement to really love your neighbor as yourself. It's God's love.

Dean:

We're not going to be judged by our doctrines or whether we had it all done right. But the question is, did we love one another? That involves loving ourselves. I don't think we can love one another without first loving ourselves and accepting the fact that God loves us. Love God. Love our neighbor as ourselves.

Dale:

There is no entering in except through the cross. We can thank our Father for that because He said, "I'm putting My Son through this on your behalf." And your turn is coming, or has come, or will come. But that's the only way. There's no way into oneness. There's no way into anything except through that cross.

Ron:

To the extent that you've entered into your oneness with the Lord, to the extent that you've reached into Him, that's the extent that you're going to be one with one another. So it really just goes right back to the simple focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ and upon the Father and the Holy Spirit. If your drive is into Them, then the oneness is a byproduct. It'll just happen.

Ron:

Thank you for joining us on Live Behind the Veil. As we've discussed today, true oneness is not something we strive to achieve through human effort. It is the fruit of a life that is continually being drawn into the presence of God. As we grow in prayer, worship, surrender, and love, we find ourselves becoming one with Him, and in turn, one with each other.

May the Lord continue to draw you deeper into His presence, reveal His love more fully in your heart, and lead you into the fellowship and unity that can only come through Jesus Christ. Until next time, keep pressing into His presence and living behind the veil