What does it truly mean to cultivate the presence of Jesus? I suppose our first question should be, "What is the meaning of the word cultivate?" According to Oxford Languages, the word cultivate means "to prepare and use a piece of land for crops or gardening." How does this translate to our relationship with the Lord? Imagine your heart as a piece of land with soil strongly influenced by the conditions it rests in. Now picture this soil producing different crops and fruits. These crops and fruits represent what is yielded from our relationship with the Lord. Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23, says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." When our hearts are submersed in the presence of God, we learn His nature. We learn what draws Him and what deters Him. The soil of our hearts becomes familiar when He is near because He brings life. His presence brings fruit. The more we intentionally sow time in our relationship with Jesus, the more we reap the nature of who He is. We reap His likeness and the character of who He is. This intentionality blossoms into a steady relationship and then into sweet intimacy.
Now, the original question was what it means to cultivate His presence. I feel the answer to this question is found in how we position our hearts toward Him. Is the land of our hearts tainted with bitter soil? Have we sown into the fleshly desires? Or have we grown in closeness and sweetness with Him? Have we maintained complete transparency, allowing Him to uproot any unclean thing inside us?
We learn to cultivate His presence by showing up every morning, ensuring we nurture the soil and the post ure of our hearts. This cultivation isn't meant to be showy or boisterous. The cultivation of His presence is intimate. We cast our gaze on His beauty and thank Him for His faithfulness. Gratefulness opens the pores of our hearts and waters what is planted in the secret place. It waters love, longsuffering, patience, kindness, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It waters the very characteristics of who He is! However, we cannot make the mistake of thinking we are the sole owners of the soil of our hearts. When we accept Him as our savior and say yes to forever with Him, we enter into an eternal unification with Jesus. This holy covenant allows Him to plant, pluck out, and grow anything inside of our hearts so that we may remain one with Him. As it says in Galatians 5: 24, "We have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." In casting ourselves away for His glory, we make room for Him to move. Cultivating His presence is a gift we often take for granted because we overlook the beauty of it. My prayer for the bride of Christ is that our eyes would be open to the beauty of who He is. I pray that we would not be afraid to cultivate His presence but rather invite Him with a fresh boldness to move in the hearts of His people.
