You are going to meet a really good friend for lunch.  On the way there you are thinking about the goodness of this friend towards you - how much benefit the friend has brought into your life.  You think about the ways this friend has loved you the way you are, through the hard times and the good times, through the times you were loving and the times you were not.  You consider the character of your friend and how that character has been evidenced in all that has been done.    Your heart wells up with thankfulness and joy as you ponder.  

 Then you arrive and there is your friend, standing there waiting.  You give a big hug and all the joy in your heart flows through your body and is transferred to a living person.  You are now sharing in the joy of your friendship.   You look into the eyes of your friend and you experience the communion of all you know that friend is.  You hear the voice of your friend greeting you warmly and sincerely asking how you are doing.  And for the next hour you simply relate, not needing to ask for favor or care.  You simply bask in the joy of the relating.

Now consider a comparison to our time together as the Body of Christ -- a time when we expect that we will indeed be meeting the living God, joining in the manifestation of His very Presence.

You are going to church to meet with the Friend of sinners.  You are not going alone, however, you are going with all the saints in your midst.  On the way to His presence being manifest in the midst, you and the other saints give Him thanks.  Together we remember corporately and share with each other the joys of the benefits brought into our lives.   We share with each other the ways this Friend has loved us the way we are, through the hard times and good times.  We share how He has loved us through the times we loved and the times we did not.   As we give thanks we think about the character of God that is indicated through the things He=s done.  The thanksgiving wells over into praising Him for who He is and honors Him for His personhood.   

As we center our attention on Him, He manifests Himself in our midst by the Spirit.  Psalm 22:3 says that He inhabits the praise of His people.   And where the Lord is present, all that He is becomes present and active.   He comes as the Holy One of Israel, the Shepherd, the Prince of Peace, the King, the Mighty Deliverer, the Healer, God Almighty.  He comes as the great I AM.  We see Him with our spirits, and our hearts are moved, and our lives are touched and changed.  We hear His voice, and relate to Him, basking in the joy of relating to one who loves us as we are.  We share in the joy of His friendship.    

Let us expect that Friendship to be present as we prepare to meet together, or as we prepare to meet with Him in our individual devotion time.  Let us bring a heart of thanksgiving and offer praise to Him, expecting that He will enable us to worship in Spirit and Truth.   Let us expect that He will manifest His presence in ways that will touch our lives and draw us to Himself.