What's Your Position?

By: Jenifer Metzger

Have you ever prayed and felt as though your prayers were hitting the ceiling and bouncing back? You've deeply desired a touch from God, yet nothing happens? Sure you have. We all have at some point. We want God to touch us, we want to feel Him, see Him move, but nothing.

Let me ask you this: What is your position?

There is a woman in the 7th chapter of Luke who desperately wanted to be touched by God. This woman knew something that often we forget. She knew that she had to position herself to be touched by God. She couldn't just sit outside hoping that He would touch her or stay home locked in her bedroom wishing to feel Him. She took a leap of faith and positioned herself right where she needed to be.

 And a woman in the town who was a sinner found
out that Jesus was reclining at the table in
the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster
jar of perfume and stood behind Him at His feet,
weeping, and began to wash His feet with
her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair,
kissing them and anointing them with the perfume.

Luke 7:37-38 CSB

Knowing that she was a sinner and would be looked down up, as she is in the following verses, the woman could have been afraid or ashamed and stayed home. How easy it would have been to just wait and hope Jesus would pass her way and touch her. What would you have done in her shoes? If I can speak honestly, I would have been tempted to just stay home or at the least hide in the shadows and wait for Jesus to come out. But this woman, this brave woman, she came out and put herself in the perfect position.

 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do
you see this woman? I entered your house; you
gave Me no water for My feet, but she, with
her tears, has washed My feet and wiped
them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she
hasn’t stopped kissing My feet since I came in.
You didn’t anoint My head with olive oil,
but she has anointed My feet with perfume.

Luke 7:44-46 CSB

Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 7:48 CSB

And he said to the woman, “Your faith
has saved you. Go in peace.”

Luke 7:50 CSB

When you want to be touched by God, do you stay back hoping it will happen, wishing to feel God, to have your sins forgiven, to feel peace, to see change? Or do you position yourself to feel God?

Here are 4 important ways to position yourself to feel God.

Get in the Word! The Bible is God's message to you. He wrote it for you. Spend time reading and studying His Word. Adam Cappa says, "Don't say God is silent if your Bible is closed." To feel God, get in the Word.

Talk to God! Prayer is simply talking to God. A two way conversation with Him. Spend time talking to Him and spend time listening to Him. If you don't hear Him, tell Him that you want to hear Him and listen. If you are truly listening, I promise, God will talk.

Give praise and thanks! Spend time in your prayer as well as throughout your day giving praise and thanks to God. Tell Him how much you love Him, tell Him how great He is, how thankful you are for His blessings and provisions in your life, and just say hallelujah over and over. Giving praise and thanks to God is so important. Think of how you feel as a parent. If your child is constantly asking you for things yet never says they love you or appreciate you or never just wants to be with you, it gets tiresome. We long to hear our kids talk to us with more than words begging for more. God wants us to talk to Him with more than asking for more.

Remove distractions! So many things in our lives can be distractions; TV, music, iPad, social media, games, the list goes on and on. And not everything on that list is something bad. But if it is distracting you from being touched by God, you need to remove it, even if only for a few moments. I love to read. I love Christian fiction and I love devotional type books, both really good things. But sometimes I get so wrapped up in reading books, that I spend less time reading and studying The Book. Think about the things in your life. Is there something distracting you from being touched by God? Maybe it's something good that needs to be laid aside for a short season or maybe it is an addiction or sin that needs to be dealt with and walked away from permanently. Whatever it is, remove it.

If you are ready to feel the presence of God, to feel His touch in your life, position yourself correctly and He will touch you, my friend.

Discussion:
1. When was the last time you felt the presence of God? Where were you? What were you doing?
2. What else can you think of to help you position yourself to feel God?