A Place Beside Me

A desire to be at a place beside the Lord, should be our deepest spiritual desire as people of God.  God offers unto us this place just as he did Moses, in telling him, that there is a place beside in the cleft of the rock.

Listen with intent to this episode message, and if you can believe, there is truly for us all, a place beside the Lord.

Transcript

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 0:02

One thing about being saved is that in order for you to be saved, or before you surrendered unto God to be saved, there was placed in you a desire. You and I, a desire for God. I say that because the word of God teaches us that no man cometh unto the Lord unless the Father draw him. Well, in that drawing, God placed a desire to seek him, to live, want to live for him. And that desire that he has placed in us, that desire should remain strong and constant throughout our saved lives. It should always be there, is what I'm trying to tell us. It should always be there. But I know there are times where our desire for God, and you know, when I say desire, I'm talking about when you have that that longing, hallelujah. That longing for the Lord, that want to be with Him, that want to spend time in His presence longing. Now, most of us can understand the analogy of in our pumpy little days when we wanted somebody, saw somebody we liked, we just desired them. Wanted to spend time with them, wanted to hang out with them, wanted to get the norm. They couldn't turn for us. We couldn't turn for them because there was a desire there. But that being a natural desire, but I I want to focus this morning on that spiritual desire for the Lord. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is that I don't know what other people do, what other people say people do. But I tend to, as far as myself, I tend to take examinations of myself. I tend to look at my life, excuse me, and see where I am with the Lord. Am I growing in the Lord? Am I getting slothful in the Lord? Or when it comes to my desire for Him, has it lacked, begin to lack some? You know, how sometimes we once we get the newer person, we uh and once we uh get that person that we desired in our lives, sometimes as years go by, as time goes by, we find ourselves in a state of taking them for granted, or well, I got you now, so we don't put forth that strong effort to show them that they still are our heart's desire. Well, sometimes in our spiritual life, if we're not careful, we'll find ourselves not longing for the Lord as we once did. And that's why I say I examine myself sometimes. I know I still got a desire for the Lord, but I'll be wanting the Lord is that that desire just as strong in me as it was when I know you called me off them streets. When you call me out from doing those things in the world, is my desire. I know how strong it was then, and I personally want my desire for the Lord to stay just as strong as it was 20 years ago, as it was 30 years ago. Now, I I I know everybody's convictions are not the same, but my spirit convicts me. I look it convicts me. And that's one thing I love about the Holy Ghost, and I don't want that that spirit of conviction to ever go away because it lets me know, all right, you get a little too old, you get too far left now, or you get too far off, straighten up, tighten up, and I thank God for that because that's like a warning system for my spirit when it convicts me of something that or doing something or going a certain way or thinking a certain way that I ought to not be doing because I don't want nothing, thanks of God. I truly in my life don't want nothing to diminish this desire that I have for God. And you and I, all of us, should not want nothing to diminish or lessen that the desire that we have for the Lord. And but see, here's the thing we guess why we got to be careful. Why? Because there are so many things out there in this world we live in that has a main objective is to keep us off track, to derail us, if you would, from staying on course. We're keeping the Lord first in our lives, we're keeping the desire for the Lord in our lives, to stop the love for God in our hearts, and we'll find ourselves have moved away from God in our hearts a little bit because the effects of what the things in the world are trying to do to us spiritually is so subtle that a lot of times we're not immediately aware of what's going on. That's why we need to stay close to the flame. That's why we need to stay close to the fire, stay close to the word of God, stay close in his presence. I'm gonna show you the word of God this morning, where several people in the Bible had a strong desire for the Lord. And when I read about people in the Bible that are doing certain things or have done certain things in their life that I want to accomplish and achieve, that gives me hope because if they got to that point in their lives, it's possible for you and I to get to that point in their life. This morning, we're gonna talk about what it means to have a desire for God and how that spiritual desire should remain fixed in us no matter what. And I'm talking about this this morning because so many thanks of God are getting discouraged, and they are losing their desire for God, and they are developing desires for other things that are not of God, and that must stop, that got to cease. So many of us who strive to live as God's people have failed in the knowledge of knowing that we are to have a godly desire for God. I mean at all times. It is grieving to the spirit to see a lack of desire in mankind for God. That just grieves me. This world ain't studying God, don't want to talk about God, don't want to include God in nothing. And what is even more troubling is the spirit here, this see every time you have one thing that's positive, a lot of the time there's gonna be a negative on the flip side. And something that's even more troubling when you don't have a desire for God is the spirit of rejection towards God and his ways. Because if you don't have a desire for him, you whether you'll realize or not, you have rejected him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And to reject God is one of the most terribly things we could ever do because we need him, we can't live without him, we ain't gonna be able to make it no further without God. How can we reject the very one that if it had not been for him? If our efforts and eagerness towards temporal desires would be applied towards true desire for God, we would encounter, and hear me, an unknown happiness in knowing that our desires for him and his kingdom are the most fulfilling desires that we could ever have to see him. To live with him and to enjoy him forever. There was a group of people, the God's team, the children of Israel, went through this phase of rejection, and it cost them dearly because they rejected God. We know the story, we've heard it before. They got to looking at what other nations hate. They got to looking at how other nations live, and it appeared to them in their own eyes that their way of life was better than their way of life, living for God. But that was a deception by the devil, but that desire to be like them, that desire to be like the world, that desire to be like other pagan nations, became strong in them. And they felt they had to have it. You'd be surprised how many people in the church world feel that they just got to have what the world got to offer. They just got to have it. Or the enemy make them think they got to have bad. Because living this way ain't no fun. Living Satan like this ain't no fun. Living a holy life that ain't no fun. Look like they always got something going on. They always having a good time. And they came to the man of God at that time who was Samuel. The leaders, the elders of the old head.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

We want to king like everybody else.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 13:50

But they didn't need no king. Let me tell y'all something. We, as God people today, don't need nobody or nothing else ruling over us but God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We don't need to, yeah, we give respect to people in authority, people, all that kind of stuff. That's fine. But to rule your life, that place is reserved for God. And this is what the children of Israel had, but no longer wanted. Flip it over. The opposite of desire is to reject. And some of us need to go and do a check. Have I ever rejected God? You might not be in a state of rejection right now, but it's always good to just check. Have I ever rejected him? Because what, see, what I want to do, what I want us to know this morning is if you ever made a decision to disobey God, to be stubborn, to be hard-headed, to not do what you know his spirit is leading you to do, that was a moment of rejection. When you knew what you suppose had done, and did it not. That was a state of rejection, and it also was a state of sin. Because my book still says, He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is a sin. That was my book said, and the truth of Israel demanded, and Sam is being a man of God. No, y'all hold up now, don't y'all going too far. Come on now, we don't need no cave. And it grieved that man because he was a true man of God. And to see God's people talking like this, acting like this, grieved his heart. But let me tell you something about God. There's a scripture in the Bible. You never have time reading. And when you find it, it's gonna tell you something like this here. God granted them their request. But he sent leanness to their soul. Hallelujah. Listen, don't be silly, don't be stupid. When you think devall, oh, I finally got what I wanted. Don't think it was cause you got it because the Lord done blessed you with it. It could have been something you didn't need, but you wear it God so much and you acted like you had to have it. God will not let you have it because He's gonna use it now to teach you a lesson. He's gonna grant the request just so you can experience the leanness to your soul of wanting something you ain't supposed to have. You ain't supposed, they wasn't supposed to have no cane. So God tells Samuel, this time you have to read this in your study time, the first Sabbath of that eighth chapter. I'm just gonna put I'm just gonna get one verse so you can know that it's in there. God, Samuel's heart was green, and he went to God on. He went to God about it because he needed help with these folks. They're allowed to see. If you read the story, you're gonna see what they call them old. Savage, you don't got old. You ain't gonna be here alone, and you you know all them songs you got, and don't none of them act right now. So for you go with your old self, a point of the king, so we'll have somebody step in. When you whether as Sabbath be there or not, we y'all still got the one that's gonna be ruling over you, which is God. Anyway, I'm gonna read this one verse to you. The seven verse says, and the Lord said unto Samuel, hallelujah, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee. Listen to them, go ahead and listen to them, give what they ask for. I got, don't worry about it, I got don't get what they asked for in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, they rejected you, son. Still across the line. I want you to do this so I can get in it, but they have rejected me. This God talks to Savannah, they have rejected me that I should not reign over them, that I should not rule. They don't want me to rule their lives no more. And I'm the one that brought them out of Egypt, I'm the one that brought them through the Red Sea, I'm the one that fed them food from heaven, angels, angel food, man. I'm the one that kept them alive. I'm the one that dried the Pharaoh's army. No, no, get what they asked for. They done rejected the wrong thing. Because they telling me in my face they don't want me to rule over them. And we need to be careful that we have not rejected God. Hallelujah. In not one area of our lives, our actions can show that we have rejected God and no longer have that desire for Him. See, I gotta keep the desire. Hallelujah. I got to keep the desire for God. I'm talking about me. I got to. I don't want no other desire but the desire of God. I'm gonna read something, I'm gonna read you something. ASAP gonna tell you something in a minute. I got something ASAP saying in a few minutes. I won't do like ASAP when I have to read it to you. Now I had to go there about the rejection so we can be aware of it. Because you gotta watch these spirits, you gotta be aware when the spirit ofjection try to come or take over you so you can rebuke it, so you can resist it. But my main talk this morning, I want to talk about having that desire, that desire for God. So we won't mess around and be found in rejection of him. David said it like this in Psalms 27. One thing, have I desired of the Lord? Come on, David, come on now. Talk to me. One thing, this is what David said. That's one thing. Have I desired of the Lord? That will I seek after. I'm gonna keep seeking him. I'm gonna keep the desire. To seek him, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, listen to David, all my days. See, that's a that's a that's the strong desire you want. To dwell in the house of the Lord all your days, he said, all the days of my life. I don't want to do nothing but dwell in the house of God. That's another somebody to in his presence all your days. However many days God got us for us to live. Now that we don't come into the light, now that we don't come into the knowledge of him, we all want to spend all our days that he got for us left on this earth to be in his presence and that desire to continue to see that presence. He says, Excuse me, to behold, listen at this. He said, to behold means to look at the beauty of the Lord. Ooh, Lord, come on now. Somebody grab this, grab this. So just sit up and look at the beauty of God and all the beautiful things he's done in my life. And to inquire in his temple, in his presence, when he abide. David says to God, When thou said this, seek ye my face. David said, My heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I see. You ain't got to do, you ain't got to do. See, when you desire the Lord, he ain't got to do what he just tell you what to do. You're gonna say, Yes, that's what I'm gonna do. Yes, Lord. God has told all of us, seek my faith. Which means to desire me. David heard him when he told him. He said, When thou said, seek my faith, I didn't just say it with my mouth. He said, My heart said, Oh, hallelujah. My heart said it. You see, before it came out of my mouth, it had to be in my heart first. My heart said, Thy face, Lord, will I see? I'm gonna seek your faith. You say seek your faith, I'm seeking it. To have a desire for you, I got a desire for you. Because you have instructed me to seek your faith. It's your faith I want to seek anyway. Because you my God. And it's you I want to rule over my life. As David had a desire to seek the presence of the Lord, so must we desire and seek his presence also. This ain't no one-time thing. This is a continuous thing, a daily thing. Seeking the Lord, stay in his presence. This must become the most treasured thing in our lives. Do you hear me? Seeking God, desiring God should be the number one most treasured and valuable thing in our lives. The continuance of seeking and desiring God. And we must pray for this spiritual desire. In faith with a godly purpose, seeking God with a purpose, desiring God with a purpose. Not just to be doing something. Have a purpose in your heart for seeking God. Have a purpose in your life for desiring God. I'm gonna say it again. David was talking to God, and God says to David, Seek ye my faith. God telling you what to else what to do. God telling us what to seek, seek me. That's what he's saying. God tells David this. Those of us who are driven with a desire to seek the Lord and dwell in his presence have the assurance, hallelujah, that God's goodness is reserved for us. His goodness is for us. We just keep the desire. Keep the desire for God. But we got to stop letting outside influences, worldly opinions, naysayers, busybodies, prognosticators, philosophers dictate to us about how we are to desire and seek our God when God has already told us how to do it. See my face. Don't work like that. And too many of us are being deceived, thinking that what's going on with us is something good, when it's really a deception, a look alike. If it's not God, it ain't God.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

I love my brother Asa.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 29:45

But after God got through dealing with him, saying that wrong that all of us just pray that God deal with us to get us straight, straighten our lives out. The two million, we done got out of hand with our spiritual walk with the Lord and our spiritual living. We done just got out of hand. And drifted too far. And you know the sad thing about that to me is you can drift so far from the Lord that you get so far out there you won't have a desire to even try to make your way back. Lord, that's gonna be sad. That's sad to me. You done drifted that much. You done dibbled in dabble that long that you don't even have a desire to even pull your way back to his presence. I ain't got to go into all of it for you. Just read. That's Psalm 73. I'm just gonna read one verse, let you know it's in there. And ASAP became strong for the Lord. See a lot of books of Psalms, a lot of people know David done wrong, but this one other folks got some buttons. Solomon got some writings and songs, but this particular one, Psalm 73, that's ASAP. And he got strong in his desires for the Lord. Hallelujah. And I want it. I want it just like that. Whom have I in heaven but thee? Who I got in heaven but you, Lord? And he said, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. I want nothing. You know what Islam said? I want them to go. Who I got in heaven but thee. I know I'm on the head, but ain't nobody down here I desire but thee. When I'm all of that, if I make it in heaven, you the only one I desire. Now, what God ain't said to this point, he had to go ahead and take him to some things. And some of us don't have to go through some things for me to come out and develop this, the realization of what our lives consist of. Hey, I did a message. Y'all know I did a message three months back. Why are we here? Go back and listen to that CD. We need to understand we were put here for the purpose of God. But we as human beings with free will, we don't want to be here just for the purpose of God. We want to do what we want to do and how we want to do it. As much as we want to do it. Oh, but if God ever gets through with you, you're gonna be talking like, hey, hey, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. I don't care who they are, I don't give them a mama, I don't give them a father, ain't nobody upon earth that I desire besides thee.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Can't nobody do me like you do me.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 33:47

I can't be blessed in the presence of nobody but you. Because he's everyday people. He went through some things, he fell off, but God got him back straight. See, that's the thing about God in his long suffering. God is long suffering. What I'm talking about, God will put up with some of our stuff because he knows we ignored, he knows we need help, he knows we need growth, and his patience and long suffering will go along with us and bring us to a place where we come out, and when you come out, you're gonna see yourself. And the one thing he gonna show you, show you yourself what it will be like without him in it, and it's gonna scare you. Because you're gonna realize I can't do this without God. What was I thinking? I can't do this without him. I got to have him. And in order to keep him in my life, I need him to increase the desire, increase the burning, increase the anointing, increase the seeking. Cause who I got in heaven is him. Who I got on the earth is him. Cause I won't memorize him. Cause ain't nothing else gonna help me to make it. Ain't nobody else gonna cause me to have salvation. It's got to be God in everything. For God I live, and for God I die. One man of God in the Bible. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Hallelujah has such Hallelujah Has such a strong desire for God. Hallelujah. And he had got so close to God that he was able to ask God something that no man had ever asked God before.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 37:27

He had spent so much time with God, alone with God. Sometimes he would spend forty days and forty nights with God. He eat nothing because he was in the presence of God. When he did come down at times from spending time with God, he glowed like a light night light. His face glowed. And it scared the people. See a man walk around here glowing. Scared him. Moses had to start wearing a veil to block the glow. Hallelujah. That God had put on him for being in his presence. But Moses had got close to God. And his desire for God was strong that he could go to God and ask him, show me your glory. When you allow yourself to be pulled by that spiritual tug of desire to get closer to God, your request for God is, Lord, I want more of you. You're going to stop begging for natural things all the time. You're going to stop. You're going to get me yarned. I need my bill paid. My car needs gas. You're going to get to the point where you're going to start design those things that other people don't desire. And those things, being, hallelujah. To just be touched by God, to just be in his glory, his presence. You're going to start asking God, Lord, I want more of you. I got to have more of you. Yeah, I thank you for what I do, God. But you'll get to the point in God where you just can't be satisfied. And you got to have more. Moses wanted more. He says to God, this is what he said to God. He says, Now, therefore, I pray thee. This is him talking to God. If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee. See, that's another benefit right there, and another blessing. When you desire God, you're going to want to know him more. He said that I may know you. I remember Paul saying that to God. That I may find grace in thy sight. And consider that this nation is thy people. Excuse me. And the Lord said to Moses, see, I wish I had time. When you establish a relationship with God, and show God how strong your desire for Him is. Throughout the course of this relationship between you and God, God will talk to you. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Hallelujah. Yes, Lord. Hallelujah. The book said, and the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken. For thou hast found grace in my sight. Oh, if God was to tell someone right there, if God was to just talk to me and tell me that I believe I'll faint. I'll faint for everything. I'm gonna thank him though when I wake up. For him to say, You have found grace in my sight. Do you understand when God tells you something like that? What that means? He telling Moses, thou hast found grace in my sight. I watched your life. I watched how you have established a relationship with me. I know you for me. I know you want to live right. I know you want to live whole. I don't watch your life because I see everything. While they was down there dancing naked, round that golden care. You wasn't Moses. You was in my presence.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

You have found grace in my sight.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 43:21

And God goes on to tell Moses, and I know thee by name. Hallelujah. Come on now. Did you hear what God said? See, when God said he knows your name. Well, Pastor didn't God know everybody's name. Yeah, but this is different here. This is him. Just listen to him and learn something. When God says he knows your name, he's telling you I know you on a different level, on a whole Level, on a godly level, on a righteous level, I know your name. And Moses goes on to tell God. And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Hallelujah. Sure, coming, Lord. Because I want to see more of you. It ain't that I don't believe you again. I just want to see more of you. And your glory is one thing I want to see. God goes on to tell him. And he said, I will make all my goodness. Come on now. Listen if God talked to me this man. Because he has a desire for it. Go show him all his goodness. I will make all my goodness pass before thee. Come on, Lord. Thank you. And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. You won't see it? I'm going to show you something. I can't show you anything, but I'm going to show you what I can show. And I will be gracious. Isn't that God? Isn't that God? He's going to say something right here, y'all. Catch this. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. If you show God how bad you want it, God will reward that. He will be gracious to him who he wants to be gracious to. And I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Show me you want me. Show me you desire me. Show me you seek in me. And I will have grace on your life. And I will have mercy upon your life when you need. What that girl? That girl got that song up. You know my name, Tasha. Tasha Carr. You know my name. God know your name when you live it right.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

I'm trying not to get excited.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 46:34

But I see a relationship here between God and Moses that you and I can have if we so desire. If we just put forth effort.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

If we just diligently begin to seek it.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 46:56

God tells Moses, thou canst not see my face. Now you can't, I love you, Moses, but you can't see my face now. For there shall no man see me and live. Can't no man handle seeing my faith. Now while we in this human body, this mortal body. Now, once we are changed, I don't have time to go into it. Once we are changed from this that we are, we will have the means to see God face to face. But no, it can't see do it nothing. Not in this human body we in will die. Yeah, I know your name. And I know you desire me. And yes, you have found grace in my sight, but no man can see my face and live. But I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. And the Lord says, Hallelujah. The Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me. There is a place by me. One thing we need to understand, there is a place for us by God if we so desire to be there. That's a place by me, he said. Can't see my face, but that's fine. It's so much more of me. You can be a part of. And there is a place by me. And thou shalt stand upon the rock. And I don't take Jesus. I don't have time to go into it, but this is this metaphor of rock talking about Jesus. We can only do it through Jesus now. Uh-huh. This place by me. But if you get in Jesus, I'll put you in that place that you so desire to be. Are we aware that there is a place beside God? Hallelujah. To be desired. I want to be in that place, y'all. I got to speak for myself. I'm just telling what I want. I want and I desire to be in that place beside God. And I know I'm going to need God's help to get me there. Because I got to get, we all got to get beyond these other things that's pulling us every which away. And center ourselves mentally and spiritually in the desires of God to get to this place beside Him. Are we? Are we aware that there is a place, a real true place beside God to be desired that's meant for us? Some of us don't even know that ain't never known that. But it exists. And if we ever get our focus right, we'll begin to see this. Do we even have a desire to occupy this godly place beside God? Do we even want to be there? Two man's want to be somewhere else and involved in other things. But have we ever asked ourselves, have our desire to occupy that place that God meant for us to have and be a part of that's beside him? To know this place is to draw nigh to him and find grace in his sight.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

Hallelujah.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 51:14

And it God goes on to tell Moses, and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by. That I will put thee in the cleft of the rock. That Jesus again. I talked to a lot of people, and they wonder. Well, Jesus in the old test. I told him Jesus is from in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, if you know where to look. Because he had many different forms. And him categorized as the rock is used a lot in the Old Testament. And you see here, God is using these metaphors. Put thee in the cleft of the rock. See, it's got to be through Jesus. Ain't no way we can even come to God like this if we ain't in Jesus. If we ain't on the rock. He said, I will put thee in the cleft of the rock. Well, God is really saying, I will put thee in the cleft of my son. And will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. That's why we gotta have Jesus to cover us. He said, and I will take away my hand. When I pass it, I'm gonna cover you up first because some things you can't see. When I get to that part, you can look at it. He said, I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. Because you desire this of me, because you have this relationship with me, because you proclaim me as your God, and I know you by name, because you have spent a lot of time in my presence, Moses, which lets me know that you desire to be with your God, and your desire for me is strong. Well, brothers and sisters this morning, I tell you, we too can have this strong desire for God. Hallelujah. And everything that's got to do with him, whether it be his word, whether it be meditation, whether it be in prayer, whether living a holy life righteous, doing things that's right. All that can show God that you want to be in his presence. Stop being so wordly. Stop being so street-minded, gets on my nerve when I hear say folks try to talk and use the vernacular of the world. Use slang talk like the world used. That gets on my nerve. Come out from among them. You trying to get to God. God don't want to hear all that gibberish. God wanna hear his word.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Hallelujah.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 54:44

And you and I can have that. If we were to go and do a self-examination upon our own life, not nobody else's, on your life. Because we all, when we examine ourselves, you're gonna find something that needs to be improved. That's gonna keep you busy, too busy to be worried about what somebody else ain't doing or is doing in their life. It's time to get closer to God. It's time to desire more of God. It's time to go higher, it's time to seek Him on a deeper depth, a higher level of understanding, a higher level of knowledge, a higher level of truth. Because there is a place beside God that's meant for us. Hallelujah. There's a place beside me. You heard what he said. Why would God say there's a place beside me? Because he letting not only Moses know, but letting us know that there's a place for you in God. How many people want it though? Like I said, I can't speak for everybody else, but I'm gonna speak for myself. I want it. I got to have it. But I'm like Asa. I can't make it without it.

SPEAKER_02 56:32

Who else I got? Who else I got in heaven but you?

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 56:41

And even on the earth, he should be our all in all. Until he comes and take us away from him, he should be our everything.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

Hallelujah.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 56:57

What it means to have a desire for God. And I pray that we pray for God to increase this holy desire for Him, that we may live a life of preparation to be ready when He comes. Seeking desire Him and live in His presence. God bless you.