"Jesus said to them
      'Truly, truly I say to you
              before Abraham was, I AM.'"
John 8:38

The Lord Jesus is the present reality of God.
The Lord's Great Name is "I AM"
for which I may fill in the blank of
my current, this time, need.

Christ is God with us and
His name I AM is the revealing of
His here-and-now presence.

God's presence is now,
His word is spoken for the Now.

He is in this moment. If I am not,
I am not with Him.
And! Not IN Him.

As I am imagining the future, reliving the past
I have left Him for what is...death.
The past being over, it is dead.
The future being unlived, it is dead.
Now is alive. 

Living any other place than now this moment
is playing God.
We are sheep who have
no abilities and no protection.
HE is the shepherd. I can carry no burdens of
the future and no mistakes of the past.
I crack. I crumble. I can live and endure
this time, this moment
only in His present grace.
When Jesus is the Shepherd and I, the sheep,
dependent and following,
I shall not want.

This moment is sacred because it is the only
place of God's will and His attention.
Should I leave the moment I leave the holiness
of my created, surrendered life...
my life IN Christ.
Grace and mercy are mine NOW, poured out
in sufficiency for this moment.

The only adventure is NOW,
the only provision I can see is for - NOW.

To live in the moment becomes
pure and exuberant gratitude.
All is rendered JOY, all things and common
activities are wonders to be savored. 

I am IN the day instead of
ENDURING the day.
He handles the past and owns the future.
Knowing Him is now. 

If future work requires now-attention, then
that is my NOW and I can be fully in it
and with the Lord.
But what I cannot do in this moment
for the future is not my concern.

God is. I live, I am, I exist, I have my identity
when I am fully, attentively
with HIM where He is and
He is here. Not there.

The child lives fully in the experience of the moment.
And the current joy or grief he spends and leaves,
to go on into the next-moment.

To be fully in the moment is to be fully in God.
and HE...fully in you.

For in this moment alone, I can live Christ's Life.
I am indwelt NOW, only NOW.
And when I live the moment, I experience
His presence, His life, His power to live.

God in this wonderful NOW issues in Worship!
The Son worshiping the Father and doing so
in me!

And His ecstasy of adoration is
my crushing experience.

Copyright © 2006 Martha Kilpatrick