SAN DIEGO (BP)–“There’s a thin line between determining you are going to do something great for God and something great you are going to do with God,” said Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board.
Asking the question “Are you more focused on experiencing the provision of God or the presence of God?” Reccord addressed participants in Reach ’98, a national conference on evangelism and church planting held Sept. 8-11 in San Diego.
The person who desires the provision of God more than the presence of God, Reccord said, will be:
— more focused on the problem than the problem solver.
— more focused on what God can do for you than who he is to you. “Go back in your mind over your last two weeks of prayer time. How much time did you spend talking to God about who he is compared to asking him what he can do for you?” Reccord asked.
— more focused on asking than on praising.
— more focused on output than intake. “Its amazing to me that as Southern Baptists we have confused business with godliness,” Reccord said. “The busier we are the closer we must be to God. I never find God saying in the Bible ‘be busy and know that I am God.’ He says ‘be still and know that I am God.’”
“God says while I may still give you my provision through my hand, you will not experience my presence in your midst,” Reccord added. “That ought to shake you with fear as you walk in his way.”
