The Pathway to God’s Glorious Presence

Every believer is invited to walk on the pathway to God’s glorious presence. This journey requires holiness, dependence on Christ, and guarding the gates of our lives against the enemy’s schemes.

God has called each of us to be the priests over the temple He has given us—our lives, our bodies, and our sphere of influence. And since we’ve been called by God to take on this task, we should approach it with reverence, commitment, and gratitude.

Guarding the Gates of Your Life

When you guard your gates and resist Satan’s temptations, you glorify God—and the enemy loses his power to influence your behavior, values, beliefs, and relationship with Him!

But when we fail to resist the enemy, we invite destruction into our lives and block ourselves from intimacy with the Lord. God is holy, and He requires holiness of all those who desire to spend time in His presence:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior (1 Peter 1:14-15).

The only way you are made holy is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Once Jesus’ blood covers and purifies your sin nature, you are responsible before God for maintaining your purity through your choices and actions.

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psalm 24:3-5).

Keep in mind that attempts to maintain your purity simply by zealously watching over the gates God has called you to guard will eventually become nothing more than religious striving and futile attempts to obey self-imposed rules. And according to God’s Word, striving to obey religious laws ultimately results in failure (Romans 7).

Walking the Pathway to God’s Glorious Presence

However, when you . . .

• rely on God and His Word to overcome temptation (Psalm 119:11)
• know that He will deliver you from all temptation (Matthew 6:13)
• trust that Christ in you is your hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)
• believe you can do all things through Him because He gives you strength (Philippians 4:13)
• endeavor to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16)
• resist the devil so that he will flee from you (James 4:7)
• and choose to glorify God with your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

… then you are empowered to continue on the pathway leading to God’s glorious and intimate presence, walking in the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone.

If you feel that you’ve stumbled along this path and feel weak to guard the gates you’ve been asked to protect, we’ve provided a resource below that will help you walk more deeply in the intimacy, grace, and mercy of your Heavenly Father.

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Take the next step on your spiritual journey at our Spiritual Growth Hub and discover resources to help you walk closer with God every day.