Holy Ground
What thoughts come to mind if I said those words to you? Because, actually I am! 🙂
Have you ever been somewhere that you would consider Holy Ground?
Or, has some encounter been Holy Ground for you?
I am interested to hear what constitutes Holy Ground for you. It is possible that the answers can be as varied as the number of people we might ask. I would be blessed if you would share in the comment section below your experience of what Holy Ground is to you!
I am sure you are interested to know what constitutes Holy Ground to me!
My definition of Holy Ground would be “somewhere sacred, peaceful, serene, and tranquil where I can experience a oneness with the Lord, seeing and feeling His presence.”
Where are some places I have experienced Holy Ground you might ask?
–In the sunrises and the sunsets
–In the beauty of bodies of water like the ocean
–At some worship services
–At certain physical places of worship
–At Christian concerts
–In the presence and stillness of someone near death
–In certain times of prayer
–In the majestic mountains
–In my car listening to inspiring music
There are two main ways that I experience Holy Ground in my life.
Sometimes it is the environment or physical surrounding that makes something Holy Ground for me.
One such physical place that I consider Holy Ground is a retreat place that I first attended back in July 2015. I have mentioned it before. If you go around to the back of the retreat house, your eyes will be stuck on beautiful Canandaigua Lake with some rolling hills in the background.
Being on a lake or near water usually brings me peace and comfort and this place fits that description. Looking at the rolling hills and the water, along with the sun beaming down from the sky, makes it Holy Ground for me. On my last visit, a gal mentioned about an isolated pond on the side of the property so I enjoyed walking there while observing some deer strolling along and the birds singing. Thankfully, I did not see the fox that she mentioned!
I have returned two more times to assist in meal serving for two other retreats. I always enjoy helping out in that way and love to be back on Holy Ground.
Sometimes it is the quiet, peaceful encounter in prayer or worship that marks a time as Holy Ground for me.
Examples of this type of Holy Ground in my life would be some church services, times at Third Day concerts, my favorite Christian band, and sometimes listening to inspiring Christian music in my car.
I must ask you…Have you ever experienced Holy Ground like Moses did?
I can’t say that I have yet!
From Exodus 3:1-20 (NIV):
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Please do take a moment to share what Holy Ground means to you and any experience of that in your life in the comment section below.
Oh, yes Holy Ground, I have been to several places, one is our Adoration Chapel, also at Ossernenon Land of Crosses in Auriesville, NY at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs.
Thanks so much for sharing, Mary Liz! I appreciate that. I bet some pictures looked a little familiar to you! 🙂 I hope you are doing well…sending you love and prayers!
Our house in Florida was across the street from a Drive-In Church. When we first moved there, I was a little flippant about the fact that it was an old drive-in theater converted to a church. But my neighbors told me that they all walk through the church property, either for exercise or as a short-cut to get to the beach. After I had lived there a few weeks, I took a walk there myself. I was taken aback by the feeling I had that I was walking on Holy Ground, There was a little garden with a bench where I sat down and prayed. After that, I had tremendous respect for the people who had the foresight to turn a closed drive-in theater into a place of worship where tourists and locals alike could feel comfortable worshipping in their cars or in the meeting room (formerly the theater’s refreshment area).
Wow….that is very cool, Martha. Thank you so much for sharing that Holy Ground place. It is great to see how God can use different things to bring us in a closer relationship to Him! Thank you for sharing…be blessed!
That’s the first time I’ve heard of another. My mothers church did this as well. It was a great thing for those that had a hard time walking or those that didn’t want to commit just yet to fellowshipping. My dad would read his paper in the beginning. And ultimately accepted the Lord.
Wow…that is cool to see! God is so good….I love to see Him work in our lives.
I’ve never thought about this. But I do know when life is just so crazy I can count on just sitting in our back yard and taking it in. We are blessed with a beautiful yard and away from noise. I guess if I had to say, it’s ground that is unspoiled. The enemy hasn’t taken it over. Thank you for making me think about this.
Thank you so much for sharing, Emily! Yes, I like that definition of Holy Ground too! And, yes, I agree when life is so crazy, it is such a blessing to pause and reflect on God and His beautiful creation! Blessings to you….thanks for blessing me today!
For me, the Holy Ground places change – and are wherever God chooses to reveal Himself to me at a particular time. Those times when the “light” from Heaven pours through a hole in the clouds down to earth is when I cannot help but feel His presence. The most dramatic experience I had was inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I looked up and rays of light beamed down in front of me from the highest windows in the church. It instantly brought me to tears. The feeling of God being there was so great….
Very nice, Carol! I appreciate you sharing! I don’t remember knowing that you were in Rome….that must have been very special and definitely a Holy Ground moment! Blessings to you, my friend.