COME, LORD. NOT FOR SAFETY, BUT FOR PRESENCE

Stafford Greer, Bearspaw Lead Site Pastor

“Oh God, with all our hearts, we long for you. Come, transform us to be Christ-Centered, Spirit-Empowered, Mission-Focused people, multiplying disciples everywhere.”

We’ve recently been ending our services by reciting our denomination’s vision prayer. In doing so, we are praying along with over 400 other Alliance churches across the country that we would be transformed so that we could create and multiply disciples.

This series of To The Pointe, will be short devotionals that will look at each phrase of the vision prayer and tease out what it might mean for us to pray it with sincerity and to see it come to fruition in our lives. Today, we look at the second phrase: “Oh God, with all our hearts, we long for you. Come…”

Read: Exodus 33:1-17

The LORD had just promised that Moses and the Israelite people would inherit the promised land, but the LORD was not pleased with them: “But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you along the way” (v.3b).

If Moses were only looking for outcomes, he’s got a pretty good promise he could take from his meeting with the LORD: a guarantee that generations would inhabit the land and that the current occupants will be driven out through military victories. But that wasn’t enough for Moses. He wanted more than just success in battle, he wanted more than just a promise that it would all work out in the end; he wanted God’s presence to be with them.

Moses then pleads: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). Moses didn’t want promises without Presence. He knew that the only thing that made Israel distinct, the only thing that gave them identity, hope, or future, was God being with them.

When we pray, “Come,” we are echoing Moses' cry. Not “come fix this,” or “come make us comfortable,” but “God, come be with us.” But if your goal in faith and life is to be comfortable, praying for God’s presence to be with you can be dangerous: because God isn’t always about our comfort. God gives his presence to us so that we can be bolder in our faith, trusting in him.

Locked Doors and the Presence That Breaks In

In John 20, the disciples are huddled in a locked room, afraid. Their teacher has been executed. Their future is uncertain. Fear drives them into hiding. And then Jesus comes: “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” (John 20:19)

Jesus doesn’t knock. He doesn’t wait for the right moment. He shows up right into the middle of their fear. And that changes everything. Jesus didn’t actually DO anything to change the disciples' situation: the Jewish leaders were still after them, the Romans were not interested in an insurrection breaking out, there was still lots to fear! But He was with them, and that changed everything.

When we pray “Come,” we’re asking for that same kind of presence:

Presence that brings peace.

Presence that transforms fear into joy.

Presence that commissions us and sends us out.

Fear Makes Fortresses. God Makes Disciples.

Too often, Christians have responded to fear by building fortresses; hunkering down, circling the wagons, or locking the doors. We become motivated by protection instead of purpose. We can desire safety over sacrifice.

But the Gospel of Jesus doesn’t produce a fearful people. It produces a sent people. When in that same chapter, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” (John 20:21), He’s showing us that His presence isn't just for our comfort, it’s for our commission.

When we pray “Come,” we’re not asking God to shelter us from the world. We’re asking Him to send us into it — with courage, with joy, and with His Spirit.

Come, Lord — Make Us Aware

Sometimes, when we pray “Come,” we imagine that God is far off and needs to travel to us. But Jesus' promise in John 14:18 reminds us: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

He’s already come. He is already here. But we need to wake up to His presence.

So maybe the prayer is less “come to us” and more “make us aware that you are here.”

May we be a church that is aware of Jesus’ presence in our lives so that we can respond boldly to his leading in sharing the hope of the gospel with a hurting and broken world.