“…in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

Over the past few days you have been reading about the spiritual discipline of soaking and how it can be a tremendous blessing to you.

Anytime we stay in the presence of God, we cannot help but be changed by the experience, whether we feel it or not, whether we see any results right away or not.

When he came back to camp after spending an extended period of time on the mountain in His Presence, we are told that “Moses didn’t realize that the skin of his face shone brightly because he had been talking with God.” (Exodus 34:29).  It was so bright that he had to cover his face with a veil…wow!

It is akin to someone with fair skin spending time on the beach soaking in the rays of the sun and coming back home to hear others remark: “That’s quite a tan you’ve got!”

(Unfortunately, Sulojana and I have not had the pleasure of hearing this comment in that context…lol!)

You could say that Moses came from the Presence of God with a Glory Tan!

Mind you, the reason Moses stayed in His Presence was not to have a shining face, but it was a delightful side-effect!

Two women from a great church just south of the border from us came to one of our Soakathons several years back. They shared with us on Saturday morning how greatly blessed they were by spending 12 straight hours in the Presence of God.

Sunday afternoon, I received a message from their leader saying that she could visibly see the change in their countenance when they showed up in church that morning. Like Moses, they were not aware of it, but others could see their glory tan…praise God!

Sulojana and I were invited to go to their church, teach on Soaking and help them experience the Presence of God in a mini-Soakathon lasting 3 hours one Friday evening.

The leader’s husband, who heads up a ministry network, sat in on the session for a few minutes and then got up abruptly and left for an hour or more before coming back.

Later on he shared that for days he had been unsuccessful in coming up with a message for a very important service that weekend. Once he immersed himself in the Presence of God through soaking, revelation began to flow so fast and furious that he had to rush to his office and get it all down right away…praise God!

Once again, the reason he came to the mini-Soakathon was not to get sermon material, but it was an unexpected delight!

His wife came to our next Soakathon. She and Sulojana were lying on the carpet in the space between adjacent pews.

After a few minutes of soaking, Sulojana heard this unusual noise coming from her neighbour’s side that sounded like someone scratching incessantly.

The next morning she explained that she was also an artist who had been going through an extended period where it seemed that the well of inspiration had been closed up.

Once she started to soak in His Presence, it was as though that well had been uncapped and she kept on getting idea after idea for paintings. The scratching noise was actually her pencil sketching all six ideas as she started receiving them.

Again, the reason she came to the Soakathon was to spend time in the Presence of God, but the bonus was receiving downloads from heaven that would eventually lead to new paintings, an exhibition and a book…praise God!

The word translated “pleasures” in Psalm 16:11 comes from a root “naim” which means delight. Small wonder then that those who take the time to be in the Presence of God are privy to such unexpected delights!

How about you? Have you experienced anything similar?

Let me thank you in advance for sharing your unexpected delights with the rest of us.