“Open for me the gates where the righteous enter.” Psalms 118:19a NLT

Do you long to deepen your spiritual life? Does it feel like gates are barricading your way, preventing you from growing and developing spiritually in the way you want?

The secret to going through the gates is not your ability to do good, but God’s inner righteousness. No amount of trying will make you clean enough to enter. Accept His righteousness and then:

“I will go in and thank the Lord.” Verse 19b

When we find Him, all we will want to do is praise. So often, our motive for pressing through spiritual gates is for a personal blessing because all we think about is ourselves and how we feel. But when His righteousness enters our hearts, all we think about is saying thank you to God from the depths of our hearts.

“These gates lead to the presence of the Lord.” (verse 20)

What greater joy than to enter the gates, begin to praise and find to our utter delight the presence of the Lord?  There is nothing better!

Recently, we have witnessed a lovely move of the Spirit of God in the church. We have found it difficult to close our services as we could go on singing for hours. Over the years, we have known different movements of the Holy Spirit in the church. Some have brought a wave of holiness and fear, whilst others have brought cleansing and deliverance. This particular wave of the presence of God has brought a sort of endless happiness in being in His presence. We don’t want to leave and could sing for hours, happy to be in our Father’s company.

We’ve had visitors come along, who appear interested and seem to enjoy the services, but when the Spirit of God begins to sweep in, and we begin to respond with song, their cheeks are soon wet with tears. You can see the presence of God moving on them. It has little to do with the preaching or any other part of the service; it is His presence.

This verse reminds me of this wave of the presence of God in the church at this time. It captures in words the longing of my heart in every service.

“Open for me the gates where the righteous enter ...These gates lead to the presence of the Lord.”

This is the only place I want to be right now, in the presence of the Lord. God grant the church worldwide will crave to be in the presence of the Lord more than anything else.