Returning to the Practice of His Presence - The Focus for 2025

This episode focuses on the call to return to prayer and spiritual devotion as we enter 2025. Nick emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with God through acts like fasting and prayer, urging listeners to assess their spiritual priorities and return to their first love in faith. 
• Reflection on political changes in 2025 and the need for divine guidance 
• Importance of personal balance between political engagement and spiritual life 
• Annual tradition of fasting and prayer as a means to draw closer to God 
• Insights from Zechariah on returning to God after periods of distance 
• Warning from Revelation regarding the heart's alignment with God 
• Emphasis on practices that cultivate relationship with God: fasting, prayer, and giving 
• Encouragement to seek treasures in heaven, prioritizing spiritual over earthly pursuits

Chapters

• 0:00 Returning to the Secret Place
• 7:23 Rekindling Love and Return to God
• 18:07 Practicing His Presence for Return
• 27:50 Prioritizing God

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The Koopalethis Podcast. Welcome to the Koopalithis Podcast. I'm Nick Kupalithis, your host, and it is episode number 28, and it is so good to be with you today. I want to share some insights on what I believe the Lord is challenging me personally, challenging our church with and possibly challenging you with. It is 2025. I'm recording this in the end of January. I can't believe it's 2025. Life is speeding by. 2025 feels like a date in the future, but the future is now and this is going to be a year of ups and downs. How do I know that? Because every year is a year of ups and downs, victories and challenges. I am glad to see 2024 in the rear view, but I'm excited about 2025. I'm excited about what God's doing. I'm excited about it. It's already proved to be a stellar year.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Now, some people don't like, some Christians don't like this, but I am so glad that there is a new political party 50 miles east of me in the White House. You say, well, I don't really like President Trump. I don't really like JD Vance. Did you like President Biden? Did you like Kamala Harris? They were our president and vice president, but they are gone. I'm glad to see them go. There was so much evil that they were legislating from the White House so many things that were going on. Goodbye DEI, goodbye gender confusion, Goodbye borders with no locks, goodbye being a weakling in the eyes of world power, goodbye. And so I'm excited about this president. I'm excited about where we're going.

Speaker 1: 2:15

I believe that this president is pro-America, america first. Pro-israel so important pro-Christian. Pro-israel so important Pro-Christian. And those are things that I appreciate about this president, appreciate about the vice president, appreciate about him. What he says is what you get in terms of the platforms and the promises, and that is how he is walking it out. You might not like him, you might not like his personality Fine but I am so grateful for him to be in the White House. And I can be grateful for it because in my heart and in my mind, I'm balanced. You know, when you're young you don't like balance, but as you get older, you like balance. And the balance is very simple I don't serve, I don't worship Donald Trump, I don't worship our political system.

Speaker 1: 3:07

I am a part of stewarding our political system. The difference is we worship Jesus. Jesus is the King of Kings. Jesus is the one who raises up kings and brings them down. He raised up Joe Biden. He raised up Donald Trump, and you know what? I know that there's a separation. The kings of this earth will pass away, but Jesus will be forever, and it is just as important to be a part of stewarding our own nation as it is stewarding our own lives and our own families. It's all together, but we worship one. We worship Jesus Christ, and that is about to get me into what I believe. The Lord is speaking to my heart and for our church, and possibly for you, for this year, the challenge that will bring us closer to the Lord.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Right after this, every January, the Victory House, which is the church I'm part of, and so many other churches, take three weeks to fast and pray, and it's not mandated, it's totally voluntary, but it is highly encouraged. And if somebody can't fast, we say, okay, somebody's going to fast for you. Okay. It's not something where if you don't do this, you're lesser of a Christian, or if you can't do it, you're not as spiritual as somebody else. It's none of those things. We just provide a framework for people to grow closer with the Lord, according to Matthew, chapter 6, where Jesus says when you give, when you pray, when you fast, and so it's not an, if it's a. When you do these things, guess what God will encounter you. God will reward you. Those are Jesus's words, not mine in Matthew, chapter 6. And so every January we take time aside to go after the Lord. And as the weeks went on, in this last fast we've just completed it. Thank the Lord, I don't get excited about fasting, I get excited about the results of fasting. I so enjoy the feeling of say what is fasting about? Fasting is not just changing your diet or abstaining from food even though that's what the word means but it is taking a moment to take inventory of your life and allow God to come in and clean you up and make room in your life for more of him.

Speaker 1: 5:40

And during this fast I just kept feeling that the Lord was calling his people back to a place of prayer. There's a great quote by Bill Johnson. I'm going to read it to you, and then I want to read a little bit from Zechariah, chapter 1. But Bill Johnson said this. He said it is from our knees that we have the greatest effect on the world around us. It is from our knees, it is from our place of prayer, of intercession, that we become actual partners with God. God's not looking for people who know how to stay busy. He's looking for people who know how to represent his heart. And I'm not going to represent in action what I have not found in prayer. It's the connection with the heart of God that gives me the authority to represent him with absolute confidence in action. Prayer without action is incomplete, in the same way that faith without works is dead. It's from our need. It's from our need that we connect with the Lord. Bill Johnson, what an amazing quote that is. It's from our knees that we have the greatest effect on the world. And that is really what I believe God is speaking to us in the church and what God is speaking to my own heart. And maybe again, maybe this isn't for you, but I think that there is something that God is saying so clearly to his church right now, and that is to return to that secret place, return to that place of prayer.

Speaker 1: 7:23

I'm reminded in the Old Testament of the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah was prophesying to the Jewish people who had gone into exile, and he was speaking to them, giving them the promise and the word of the Lord that, as they returned from being in exile in many of the nations Babylon, assyria, persia as they returned to the promised land that God would meet them. See, there's something that happens in life where we get so busy, where we get so filled up with good things sometimes God things that we actually forfeit the promise of God because we forget why we're doing these things. Yeah, we sort of remember in our head, but we don't have it in our heart, and so what begins to happen is we drift away from the presence of the Lord. And what I love about God is that God is in. Let me say it this way God is invested in you more than you are in him, and God is willing to pursue you even when you're not pursuing him. This is the amazing thing about the Lord. And so God was even pursuing his people, the Jewish people. He still pursues them today when their heart was not pursuing him.

Speaker 1: 8:46

And I love what Zachariah says by the word of the Lord. In Zachariah, chapter one, verse three, he says therefore, say to them. Thus declares the Lord of hosts return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you. Says the Lord of hosts, do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out. Thus says the Lord of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds. But they did not pay attention to me, declares the Lord.

Speaker 1: 9:20

I love this word that the prophet is giving from the heart of God. It's a word with a wonderful promise. God is saying to his people return to me and I will return to you. James says it like this in the New Testament draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Return, return to me. Return, you could also say the word repent, because what is repent? It's repenting, it's turning to God, it's changing the way that you're thinking. And so, in the same way, god is, through his love, through his compassion, through his kindness, is speaking through Zechariah to say come back, come to me, come to me. And as God's people were to turn their hearts towards the Lord, what they would be met by would be a very present, loving, forgiving God, who was going to empower them and strengthen them and forgive them. And so this is so much of what I believe that God is saying to us right now Return to me.

Speaker 1: 10:29

But there's also a warning in this, and the warning in this was don't be like your forefathers, who are the forefathers? They were the ones that were living in the promised land. The promised land. It was a promised land because God said to Abraham I'm going to take you out of your land and I'm going to bring you to a place and that's going to be your dwelling, your place. The Jewish people are still there today. That's why that land there in the Middle East it's so hotly contested. One of the main reasons is because that's what God gave to the Jewish people, and so the forefathers of the people that Zechariah was prophesying to.

Speaker 1: 11:09

They were living in the promised land, they were reaping the benefits of the promised land, they were enjoying God's blessing in the promised land, and yet their hearts began to drift away from the Lord. They were drawn to other lovers, the gods of the nations around them. They became not only immoral, but they rejected God. And when they rejected God, god allowed the consequences of their choices, also known as judgment, to fall upon the people. And when that judgment came, the nations of the earth fought, came and fought against Israel and Israel and let me tell you this Israel was never saved by their own military power. They were never saved by their own political power. When you read the Old Testament, you realize Israel was saved because of God's power in them. But when they rejected God, they did not have that grace, they did not have that blessing. And so when the nations came, who outnumbered them, outgunned them, so to speak, outsorted them I don't know, it doesn't sound the same they came Assyria and Babylon and so on. They could not resist their armies, and so the forefathers were then exiled. They were brought into captivity in foreign lands like Assyria and Babylon and Persia.

Speaker 1: 12:36

And Zachariah is saying here don't be like them. Don't be like them. Because the thing that you realize when you're reading through the Old Testament is that even in their sin, god would send prophets and say to them repent, return to me, return to me. And over and over and over again, god's people would say no, we rather have our sin than have a savior. We rather indulge in the pleasures of sin for this season than pursue you. And because of that they went into exile, because of that they went into horrific we're talking horrible things but captivity.

Speaker 1: 13:17

And Zechariah's saying don't be like your forefathers, don't be like those who had hard hearts, don't be like them. Here's the promise of the Lord Return to God and he will return to you. This is such the heart of the Lord and you can see this all through the Bible. If we looked in Revelation, chapter two, we see the heart of the Lord again and this is, I'm sharing with you what I believe the Lord's saying. So the first thing is return to me and I'll return to you, and this is where we really get a picture, I believe, of what God is addressing in you and I in this season, the busyness of the season, and I want you to see this. In Revelation, chapter two, verse two, we'll start there.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Jesus says to this church, a church of people I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. He's saying I know that you hold to the values of truth and I know that you are standing up and you're coming against lies and you're coming against false preachers and you're coming against doctrines of demons and you're testing those people that they call themselves apostles. They're saying they're sent by God but they're really not and you're actually doing the work of ministry and you're figuring it out and you're actually upholding a standard of truth and morality. He goes on, jesus, to this church in Ephesus verse three and I know you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and you have not grown weary. He said I'm seeing the hardship, I'm seeing how you're suffering, I'm seeing how you're saying no, we love Jesus, we're followers of Jesus, we are bearing up. I mean, that's such strong words. We're bearing up under persecution, we're bearing up under suffering. And here's the crazy part they're doing all of this ministry. They're doing all of this things that are godly. You know, they got the label on them. It looks so good. And actually Jesus is like, yeah, you're doing a great job in the work of ministry, you're doing a great job.

Speaker 1: 15:38

But he says something in verse four that slows everything down. He says but I have this against you. This is actually such grace and mercy from God, thank God, he's not someone that goes well, you're doing the work of ministry, I don't care about your heart, you're getting the other things done. He's like, no, no, no, I care about your heart, I care about you, not what you do. Let me say it this way Not just what you do, but I care about who you are. And so verse 4, revelation 2, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you have at first. Wow, they're doing all these things, but they lost the love of God. They're doing all the right things, but they lost the love for their Savior.

Speaker 1: 16:37

This is what Jesus says in Matthew. He says there's going to be people that stand before me, basically on judgment day, and they said like we did all the, we prophesied and we preached and we did all the Christian stuff. And this is my interpretation we did all the, we did all the good things, we did them for you, lord, and the Lord will be. Jesus says this that he would look at him and say depart from me. I never knew you. Yeah, you did a lot of good things and you did things that I wanted you to do, but you didn't know me anymore. And this is what he's saying to the church in Ephesus You're doing all these things, but the love that you had for me it's gone. That fire of passion that was once in your heart is now cold and dark.

Speaker 1: 17:24

And so he gives so much grace and mercy here, verse five he says remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. And then he goes on. He says if not, I will come to you and remove the lamb stand from its place unless you repent, meaning like, if you're going to be my church, be my church. If not, then you know what. We're not going to have a church there. You might still gather. See, that's the scary thing about churches. That would be the most scary thing when I think about being a senior pastor that we're doing all the things that churches should do, but God's not there. We're conducting the work of ministry, but without God's presence.

Speaker 1: 18:07

And so God says here there's two things for you to do if you're in this spot. He says first thing is repent. Remember. Zachariah says return. Those are very similar in what God is accomplishing Repent, I'm turning to him. I'm returning to him in my heart, I'm returning to him in my way of thinking. I'm turning to him, I'm returning to him, and in that God will come.

Speaker 1: 18:32

But he doesn't just say repent. And I think this is actually really important. We know this that we're not saved through our works, for by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing, it's the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one can boast. So you're not saved by works, but maybe we sometimes don't emphasize this enough. But when you repent, your life is going to bear fruit. There are going to be things that you do out of a heart of love for God, right? So in this process, sometimes we go.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Okay, I repented at the altar on Sunday, I repented in my own private time, and yet we don't change our mindsets and we don't change our ways of living. And so what Jesus is saying here? He's saying do the works you did at first. Repent, number one, get right with me. But then also do the works you did at first. And so we have to ask the question what are the works that we did at first? And I would argue that this is not necessarily go do street evangelism or go do preaching or go pray for the sick. This is just me. Okay, you take this and you filter this, okay. I think this is a call that's a lot deeper than the work of ministry, Cause he's saying listen, you, you're doing the work of ministry, you're testing the apostles, you're doing that. No, no, no, do what you did at first. Well, what did you do at first? What were the things that you did it for? You know what you did when you first met the Lord you practiced his presence.

Speaker 1: 20:21

Most people, when they got, when they get right with God, they have such a heart for the Lord that they take time and they go God, I want to practice his presence, I want to walk in his favor, I want to walk in his love. Maybe you didn't, I don't know, but the heart to know him was more powerful and carried more gravity, so to speak, than the heart just to make him known. See, I think this happens. So much is that we think that a Christian walk is just to make God known, is that we think that a Christian walk is just to make God known. But to make God known is the overflow of knowing him. Once I know him, once I have that relationship, naturally I will want to make him known. What happens is we get good at quote unquote making him known and we lose the fire and the anointing and the passion on the inside. And so I would define the works like that, and this is important and this is all through the scriptures.

Speaker 1: 21:29

Matthew 3.8 says bear fruit in keeping with repentance. James 2.17 says faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. Titus 3.8 says, and I want you to emphasize these things so that you who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. But I believe these good deeds, these goods, works. The fruit of repentance begins in the practice of his presence, begins in the practice of his presence. Matthew, chapter six. Okay, matthew six here. This is so vitally important for you and I. This is what I believe the Lord's saying Repent and do the works that you did at first. Matthew, chapter six. Sometimes we call them the disciplines, but I really believe they're the practice of his presence, they're the willingness to cultivate relationship with God. So what are you talking about?

Speaker 1: 22:30

Matthew, chapter 6, jesus says there's three things that are the characteristics of walking out a relationship with the Lord. He says the first one is giving, the second one is praying and the third thing is fasting. Notice, I didn't say the first thing was preaching. The first thing was building your platform. The first thing is making yourself known. The first thing is learning how to communicate, getting a degree. No, no, these three things is what the Lord gives to his disciples, gives on the Sermon on the Mount. See, matthew chapter 5 is about the culture of the kingdom. Matthew chapter 7 is about the culture and the reward of walking it out. If you walk out his words, you build your house on the rock, and when the storms of life come, the house doesn't fall. If you build your house on the rock and when the storms of life come, the house doesn't fall. If you build your house on the sand, which is rejecting and not obeying his words, when the storms of life come, you fail. So that's Matthew 5 and Matthew 7.

Speaker 1: 23:34

But right in the middle, matthew chapter 6, really the whole chapter shows what it looks like to walk out our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember when I first got saved it was like oh, we're supposed to give, let's give generously. Oh, we're supposed to pray, let's pray passionately. Oh, we're supposed to fast. I don't want to fast, but let's fast with sacrifice in mind. Right, why? Because the reward is God himself. See, this is the thing.

Speaker 1: 24:02

When you look at Matthew chapter six, what do you see? You see a couple similarities in these three things. You see number one some people practice this stuff to be seen by others. Right, they're hypocrites. I'm just going to pray, fast and give to be seen by others.

Speaker 1: 24:16

The second thing is you see that all of these, if done well, it comes out of relationship, because Jesus says you do these for the Father. The Father sees what you do and actually it's all of them have this element of doing this in secret, and that's really the practice of his presence. That's really the building of relationship. It's taking the time in secret to cultivate the relationship, to cultivate the friendship, to cultivate the love. And so the first thing, a characteristic, it's that don't be a hypocrite. The second one is you do this for your Father in heaven. You cultivate this thing in secret. You fast, fast, pray and give, not so people pat you in the back, not so you put it on your Instagram, but you fast, pray and give because you're like oh, this is what it means to practice his presence and walk in that.

Speaker 1: 25:17

And the third thing that all of these have in common and Jesus said this he says you do these things guess what? Your father not only sees it, but he rewards you. He rewards you for it. You say do you do it just because of reward? I'm not going to minimize or maximize it, I'm just going to say Jesus said that there would be a reward. What's that reward? More love, more peace, more of him more favor. It's all of things. Sure, you might emphasize one or the other, but all of it God's like the kingdom is yours. He's so gracious, he's so compassionate. And so here's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 26:01

Let's boil it down what is God saying in 2025? What is God saying in 2025? It's time to return to the Lord and repent of just being busy, of just all the clutter, all the stuff, and allow God to move in us in such a way where his love is reignited in our inner being, where we are passionate again for his name and we're passionate out of relationship, not out of duty. Where we're passionate we say, god, we want to practice your presence. I just want to pray so I get to know you. I want to fast to clear out the excess stuff that's in my life to make more room for you, lord. I want to give because, god, that's what you did. You gave to me first. You gave me your love, you gave me your son. I want to give because, in these practicing of the presence of the Lord, you are here. That's really what it is, all right.

Speaker 1: 27:00

Last thing here, jesus is read all of Matthew 6. Jesus is read all of Matthew 6. He says this don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth, rust, destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal right. So this is a little later in Matthew 6. He's talking about the benefit and the reward. Make sure that your reward is not just earthly, make sure your reward is heavenly and it's for eternity.

Speaker 1: 27:33

God's not against wealth, he's not against big bank accounts or cars or houses. He's not against or for anything. He's just saying don't make anything an idol. Sometimes poverty can be somebody's idol. Wealth can be an idol. Just don't make things your idol. Sometimes poverty can be somebody's idol. Wealth can be an idol, just don't make things your idol.

Speaker 1: 27:50

But then he says this where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. How do we get to the spot where we take the goodness of God and the love of God and the mercy of God and we trade it for the work of ministry or for doing things? You know what it is. We've misplaced our treasure. Jesus didn't say where your heart is there, your treasure will be. He says where your treasure is.

Speaker 1: 28:23

What you actually prioritize in your life, what you actually value in your life, what you actually value in your life, what you actually give your time to in your life, tells you what your treasure is. And whatever that treasure is, everything in you will pursue that treasure. If God is your treasure, you pursue him. If the world is the treasure, you pursue the world. It starts like that what's your treasure? Because if your treasure is off, your pursuit is off.

Speaker 1: 28:54

And this is what I believe God's saying. He's saying it's time to get back on our knees, just like that Bill Johnson quote it's time to get back on our knees. It's from that place of prayer, it's from that place of intercession that everything else in our life happens. And maybe you're listening to this and you're like this is kind of a preachy podcast and you can went for a long time Listen.

Speaker 1: 29:16

This is more important to me in this season than anything else is that we would return to the Lord. Our answer and our blessing is not in the White House, it is in God's house, and you know what God's house is. You and me, let's return to the Lord and do the works that we did at first, which was practicing his presence. Let's get back to it. You say I'm there already. Well, keep going, keep going. Let's do in secret what we used to do, just because we loved him so much.

Speaker 1: 29:51

God, I pray that you would do this first in me and then every person who's listening, god, that there would be such a drawing in their soul back to the one who gives life, because when we return to you, what we find is that you never left and you're right there pursuing us. You demonstrated that your love for us while we were yet sinners. You died for us. God, we give you 2025. We give you the today. The future is now God, and it's you In Jesus' name. Amen, love you guys, be blessed. If you're listening to this, you are the resistance.