Carriers of His Presence

Carriers of His Presence by Nishan Patton We were dead in our transgressions Futile in our thinking Darkened in our understanding Exiled from Eden Living in the land of Nod Building our own kingdoms While Christ was bleeding His blood speaking A better word To these dry bones We were cut off Hope lost Blood Flesh Skin Merely existing Without truly living Prophesy to the breath That they may live The word became flesh And his breath came in And we became Living souls With a life giving spirit A new creation The last Adam was put to sleep To create the new Eve The church, His body, The fullness of Him who fills everything Flesh of his flesh Bone of his bone Redeemed not with perishable things More than silver or gold Or any earthly commodity The church demanded the highest price For anything The precious blood of Christ He died So that we might live for Him That the two may become one in spirit Betrothed to one husband Presented as a pure virgin For this reason She will give up mother and father To cleave to Christ Like the heart of a passionate lover Leaving it all behind Forsaking ambitions Until she can say with conviction I am His and my beloved is mine. Carriers of His Presence by Nishan Patton 1

We pray to live worthy of our calling Delighting not just in the gifts of the spirit But the fruit That Christ-like character may be produced For we have a restored image This is the fulfillment of your purpose That Christ may be formed in you This is the will of God: your sanctification Becoming the royal priesthood, Peculiar people Holy nation The salt of the earth The light of the world Pilgrims Servants Ambassadors A people for God's own possession Children without spot or blemish Carriers of His presence Spreading the fragrance Of the knowledge of Him In a crooked and twisted generation So we are always about our Father's business Refusing to divide our lives Between secular and sacred Every conversation seasoned with salt Everything we do, Whether we eat or drink, We do it all for the glory of God Every place our feet tread We claim territory Every encounter An opportunity To be a witness Of our restored dominion For Christ has been given All authority on earth and heaven And we have a great commission Go into all the world And preach the gospel to every nation Teaching them to obey His commandments Who do men say that I am? Flesh and blood cannot reveal What no ear has heard no eye has seen We are weak things shaming the strong Foolish things confounding the wise And we are scrutinized Persecuted Hated Dismissed With all the attacks And efforts to silence He will build His church And the gates of hell will not prevail against it He trained our hands to war Our fingers to fight To put on the full armor of God Be strong in the Lord And the power of His might Carriers of His Presence by Nishan Patton 2

And present our body as a living sacrifice Not as instruments of unrighteousness For this is our true and proper worship It s not limited to songs in services We take up our crosses and follow Him Like Moses We choose disgrace for Christ s sake Than fleeting treasures There is more pleasure In suffering than in sin greater fulfillment in pleasing Him So we make this our aim and ambition Not just focusing on what we have been given But that we are a gift to him We settle for nothing less than He desires Persisting even through fire Putting to death what is earthly Being poured out like a drink offering Shall not the lamb have the full reward of His suffering? This is our battle cry With tears in our eyes His word breathes new life To remind us In the testing of our faith We will reap If we do not grow weary or faint In the pressures and judgments Displacement and discouragement Crushing and pressing Distractions and frustrations Temptations to be offended We are learning to be dependent And when I am broken Of all self sufficiency I see Him working To will and do His good pleasure in me So that I might comprehend the measure The length, breadth, Height and depth of His love Nothing can separate us from We're not just carrying His presence He is carrying us For He tends his flock like a shepherd Gathers the lambs in his arms Keeping them close to His heart And in that surrendering We learn to trust Leaning not On our own understanding Being still and knowing that He is God We will surely see the salvation of the Lord So I dare you to compare how I appear When I refuse to be defiled like Daniel Eat the food or drink the wine given to idols Take me to the lowest I would rather die than deny Him Carriers of His Presence by Nishan Patton 3

Take me to the mountaintop Of the kingdoms of this world And its splendor I will not bow For God is the strength of my heart And my portion forever. Satan I will not be deceived by your lies Anything you can offer Is already mine by birthright The righteous is as bold as a lion You prowl around like one We are of the tribe of the Lion of Judah All things are ours Whether the world Or life or death or the present or the future We belong to the one Who upholds all things By the word of his power All are ours For we are Christ's And Christ is God's He is doing a new thing Will we not perceive it? Making a way in the wilderness Rivers in the desert So we feel the dryness and rain Opposition and abundance Ashes and garments of praise We must keep a steady gaze As He transforms us by His grace From faith to faith and glory to glory Birth and death continually In our suffering There is blood and water breaking Pressures of labor pains All creation in travailing Groaning to see The sons and daughters of God revealed So we push Through every resistance and hindrance Not by our power or our might But by His spirit To secure our deliverance Like Jacob we hold on Desperately crying out "I won t stop until you bless me" And what shall we receive? We are wrestling for identity When the day breaks and shadows flee "I will give you a new name For you have striven with God and with men And prevailed" You have struggled and overcame And this one Will eat of the tree of life In the paradise of God He breathed And these dry bones stood on their feet An exceedingly great army Declaring with authority Carriers of His Presence by Nishan Patton 4

Afflicted in every way but not crushed Perplexed but not driven to despair Persecuted but not forsaken Struck down but not destroyed Always carrying in our body His death So in us His life would be manifest This is our evidence This is our heritage This is the spirit of faith for which we speak and believe In the words of the writer of Hebrews 11: "...what more shall I say? For time would fail me To tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Of David and Samuel and the prophets Who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice Obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword Were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, Put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, So that they might rise again to a better life Others suffered mocking and flogging, And even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, Destitute, afflicted, mistreated Of whom the world was not worthy Since we are surrounded By so great a cloud of witnesses Let us run this race to win Shedding off every weight and sin Not acting like mere men But partakers of the divine Coheirs with Christ Understanding what we have been given We are carriers of His presence. Carriers of His Presence by Nishan Patton 5