Someone pointed out that we should never pray starting with, “Father, we come into your presence…”.
Coming into God’s presence implies we are outside His presence to start with.
It’s OK to come back into God’s presence if we have left God’s presence, but it is not necessary or wise for us to go out from God’s presence. And if we are coming back into His presence, He can figure that out without our telling Him.
What we need to do is stay in His presence always. Why would we want to go out from His presence? To sin? Do we feel uncomfortable when God is around? Do we feel ashamed of Him when we’re around our friends and family? Is our relationship with God injured by sin?
If our ability to pray is hurt, that usually means we are clinging to our sin, and we need to let it go. If we give up sinning while there is no temptation but resume sinning when the temptation comes back, then we have not truly repented.
We may try the mercenary approach to Christianity giving up sin for the moment when we want something from God. We may try momentary or situational repentance to get what we want and then carry on with our sin when we’re fine and nothing we value is in jeopardy. But, does it matter that God’s feelings are hurt? Are we OK using God and loving what He gives us without loving Him? Would we be happy if our spouses were as faithful to us as we are to God?
If we are outside God’s presence, we need to repent and stay in God’s presence always.
