Outside the Camp 6-9-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me get quiet and settle in to the place of the peace of Your presence. ... "Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp" (Exodus 33.7). When I pray in the mornings, I like to slip a covering over my head. It's become a physical act of the spiritual truth that I am slipping away from the world for a while to be alone with You, under the covering of Your presence. It's like pitching my tent outside the camp, far off from everything else that distract me or divert me from my morning mission of the communion of prayer. Even the children have learned to quietly slip back and give Daddy a little space when his head is covered in prayer -- most mornings, anyway. As we seek Your presence in the communion of prayer, our human spirits become the tent of meeting with Your Holy Spirit. "Deep calls to deep" (Psalm 46.7). The tent of our body becomes "a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6.19). There, in the quiet of the morning or whenever we can slip away from the camp of the chaos of our lives for a moment, we have a chance of getting quiet enough to hear Your still, small voice. And all is well, no matter what's going on back at camp. Even when its time to pull back the covering of quiet and return to camp, the tent of meeting remains -- way down deep inside. Teach us how to enter the tent and never leave; teach us how to carry on the communion of prayer throughout our day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!