God's Presence

 This is a topic that I can’t express fully in words because it is much bigger than words and much bigger than anything I can fully understand or comprehend, neither do I sit and pretend that I know all or have huge experience in this area. But it is something that God is taking me on a journey to learn more and more about, in the hope I can experience Him at an even fuller capacity and know Him deeper. Because that’s the true meaning of life that we can never lose focus for; meeting God. And in order to meet God we need to know how to enter His presence. From listening to a series of messages by the lead Pastor of my church, Bishop Joshua Heward-Mills, something that I deemed has important is to study the people that came before me. The people that God had chosen. The people that God had described to be His friend. The people that God spoke to and instructed. When I have begun to open the Bible for myself and study through the first books of the Old Testament a common theme I noted amongst these great Prophets such as Abraham and Moses is obedience to Gods instructions. “Hearing His voice must be your greatest desire because it is the sign of His presence in your life,” is a quote that sticks within me that I read by Bishop Dag Heward-Mills. Upon reading this I instantly thanked God for speaking into my life. We can often become irritated as people when we receive many instructions. For example, if our parents are constantly asking us to do the washing up and then asking us to do the weeding in the garden, swiftly followed by asking us to hoover the living room, we can quickly become annoyed and soon dread hearing their voice. Because their voice comes with instructions, and often instructions that go against our natural pleasures and desires. But when you move out and move away from your parents there is often times that you miss these instructions that they give you because now you don’t hear their voice it is because their presence is not with you. And their presence is what makes the relationship enjoyable.

Many times we can become desperate as Christians trying to recreate that beautiful aura we feel when in a church service with an anointed man or woman of God, to become discouraged that it can seem so hard to recreate the same for ourselves at times (or maybe it’s just me that becomes frustrated by this), but reading this gave me so much relief and encouragement that what I need to seek is the voice of God. I just need to listen for those instructions and take those small steps of obedience to receive more of His instructions, and that is how I know the presence of God is with me. God will only give you more instructions once you obey what He has given you first. When God seems silent in our lives it is important to ask ‘what command has God given me that I haven’t obeyed yet?’ and once you have taken a step in faith to obey this that is when God will continue to speak again. Any Christian that has become born again and received that baptism of the Holy Spirit has the ability to hear the voice of God because the voice of God is the Holy Spirit in us, for the Bible says in John 14:17 (KJV) “…but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” The tabernacle was once how the presence of God dwelt with His people, however the tabernacle was merely a temporary method that foreshadowed a future temple where the presence of God could dwell, us. “the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience…But Christ came as High Priest of good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation” (Hebrews 9:8-11 and 10 NKJV). The tabernacle was to illustrate a greater and better dwelling place of God. The tabernacle was also to represent what we are meant to be like in order for God to dwell in us as now, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT). When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is in us. When the Holy Spirit is in us then the Lord can begin to speak to us directly and we can hear His voice and commandments to obey. We then make the choice to obey God and as we obey His word the Holy Spirit changes and transforms us into a vessel that is conducive with the presence of God and that is how we begin to have the Holy Spirit with us, the aura and presence of God.

Abraham was a man that had the presence of God because He was obedient to the Lords voice. When the Lord spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12 his immediate response to Gods voice was obedience, “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him…” (Genesis 12:4 NKJV). Many times when God gives us a command we can question, we can doubt, we can complain – but the response of Abraham was instant obedience without a second thought, doubt, question or complaint that he had to leave everything he knew behind. A great woman of God Kathryn Khulman said that something she learnt to enter Gods presence is that she doesn’t need to understand everything that God is asking of her. It is not for us to worry about God and what He is doing, it is up to us just to be obedient. That is why obedience takes faith. It takes us to fully surrender our trust to God to walk in obedience. It takes faith during fearful situations to obey God. We will struggle to obey God if we don’t have faith. When Moses was taking the Israelites to cross the red sea the people were afraid and criticized Moses for his decision, however he told them to not be afraid and to trust God. He followed the commands God gave him exactly and therefore God made a way by parting the sea for the Israelites to be delivered from the Egyptians. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV). This was the first scripture I ever memorized as a Christian, when I became born again at 20 years old and it has taken me five years to feel as if I can relate to what it means now. It is often the scriptures we are recited often that we can overlook the most that have beautiful hidden treasures inside that God wants to reveal to us about seeking His presence.

Another powerful verse that was explained to me through a great man of God Derek Prince that I often use to lead prayer during church but realised I had become familiar and overlooked the hidden treasures inside is Psalms 100:4-5.

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.” (NKJV).

Other than obedience how can we invite Gods presence into our lives? Through thanksgiving and praise. A disobedient Christian is an unthankful Christian because they have forgotten why they should be thankful to the Lord. It is only by being thankful to God that we can also walk in obedience to His Word because when we say thank you we remember His goodness. Now I am sure we all have very personal and individual circumstances that we can use to testify Gods greatness and gives us a reason to say thank you to Him. However my eyes opened to a new revelation listening to Derek Prince. The Bible actually gives us three reasons in verse 5 why we should be thankful to God.

1)        Because the Lord is good.

2)        Because His mercy is everlasting.

3)        Because His truth endures to all generations.

The EASY version translates that “Yes, the Lord is good. He ALWAYS loves us as His people. He ALWAYS does what He has promised to us and to our descendants forever.” The key word here is ALWAYS. The reasons that the Lord gives us to thank Him are permanent reasons that depend on Him. They reasons that depend on changing feelings or changing circumstances. Therefore our thankfulness to God should not be dependent on our circumstances, but instead dependent on the everlasting characteristics, truths and promises of God, and that is why we should always remain thankful. If you rely on your circumstances and feelings to be thankful to God then it will be hard to remain thankful always and therefore it will become hard to be obedient always and to be in His presence always. I have so much more to learn, and a lot more to experience of His presence. I am so excited for this journey to continue and I thank God for His beautiful presence that we can all experience. I feel as if I have only touched the edge of the greatest and most important part of our entire existence and this universe.