IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
The people who are called by His name are believers and God is telling us that if we want to be filled with his presence, we must do the following things.
Humble ourselves and pray, seek his face, and turn from our wicked ways.
God does not promise us benefits from disobedience. God is saying, stop seeking His benefits and seek Him. We are not to seek His hands, but seek his face.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
If you’re not where you need to be this is a good time to get right with God. He only cares about your answer to one question, “Do you want Me?” God is coming back to repossess the church and there is only one thing that stops Him… he is not going to pour out his spirit where he doesn’t find hunger for His presence.
Psalms 140:13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
This is not a request if we want His presence, we must stay focused on Him as our creator and our God and give thanks unto his name, which is the great I Am—not I was.
Not being hungry for Him has forced people to live without Him in His fullness. He will only come when you are ready to turn it all over to him. But you have to be hungry.
Matthew 3:1-2 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repentance prepares the way and makes the road of our hearts straight. Repentance builds up every low place and takes down every high place in our lives, church, and families. Repentance also prepares us for his presence. In fact, you cannot live in His presence without repentance. Repentance permits pursuit of His presence. It builds the road for you to get to God, (or for God to get to you).
How long has it been since we’ve laid aside everything that ever occupied us and ran down the road of repentance to pursue God. When you pursue God with all your heart, soul and body, he will turn to meet you and you will come out of it ruined for the world.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Another promise spoken by Jesus, himself. If we are hungry and thirst after God and His righteousness, then we will be filled with the fulness of His presence. To be in the presence of God is to be in a state of absence from any worldly thought, or action. To be totally Christ minded or Christ Like.
If you are hungry for God, you have a promise from the Lord for you. He said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. The problem is that people have never really been hungry. I am not asking, “What do you know about Him.” I am asking you, “Do you hunger to know Him more.”
When people get just a little touch of God mixed with a lot of something that’s not God, it turns them against the real thing. People don’t sense Gods presence in our gatherings because it’s just not there. People have come to the churches time and again only to find too much man and too little of God there. Over and over, we talk about the glory of God covering the earth. But how is it going to flow through the streets of our cities if it can’t even flow down the aisles of our churches? If Gods glory can’t flow through the aisles of the church because of seducing spirits and manipulating men, God will turn and go somewhere else.
No matter what you need or feel you lack in your life, what you really need is the presence of God, and the way to get it is to get hungry for it. If we can get hungry, then He can make us holy, set apart from the world to be close to Him. There has to be more than what we are seeing. One reason I know there is more, is because of we who have encountered more.
Once you experience God in His glory, you can’t turn away from him or forget his touch. There will be a driving passion in your heart that will whisper to your spirit like nothing you have ever dreamed of. You will say I know there is more, the reason I know there’s more is because of those who have encountered “the more”. And we are never the same after our experience with the Lord.
Once you have had a “God encounter” you will never rebel against God. That is why Paul said, “I know whom I have believed”. He writes to Timothy and confirms who it is.
2 Timothy 1:9-12 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Even when facing execution, Paul’s hope and joy never wavered. He knew the power of God to deliver him to endure. These last days we will need Gods presence and the word working in our lives as we do have an adversary called Satan who very much wants to control us.
It seems that many believers have more of a “man encounter” with our programs, lights, music, and bi-laws, than a “God encounter” with the unforgettable Majesty and power of the Almighty God. What believers need is a Damascus road experience like “Saul or Paul” encountered with Jesus himself. As you read, pray for a Damascus encounter.
Acts 9:3-5 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
The word pricks, comes from a stick or iron rod on the oxen drawn cart. The stick was to guide the oxen. It was useless to kick them.
Churches and most believers want to see the manifest presence of God in their life, however for divine reasons, God chooses to reveal himself more strongly in one place than another. One reason is; the people need to be seeking His face, because His presence and his favor flows wherever His face is directed.
God told all his people for generations that if they would seek his face and turn from their wicked ways, “then” he would hear from them and heal their land. The only thing that is going to turn the favor of God toward us is our hunger for Him.
Psalms 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Most of the time God is present with you and other believers in a worship service, but how long has it been since your hunger caused you to crawl up in God’s lap like a child.
Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
When we come to God with and open desire as a child, knowing that He is so much more than we are, it turns the face of God to you. That’s what God desires, when his face turns, you have his attention, and you can receive freely from Him.
He can release His anointing making everything flow better. The purpose of the anointing is not to make men like you but to make the “King like you” as you receive His favor. The anointing and favor, whether it falls on us individually or on a congregation during a service, is not the end. The anointing of God is His presence.
The purpose of the anointing is to help us make the transition from flesh to glory. When the glory of God comes, our flesh will be so weakened by His presence that it is un-necessary for man to do anything other than behold Him in His glory. Because of sin we can’t stand in Gods glory and live, but Jesus’ death on the cross and our belief and repentance of sin allows us to receive God’s presence.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
When Jesus took our sin on the cross, for a moment, he was separated from God for the first and only time. Doing this, he gave us a gift so that we may enter into the presence of God. We want God to change the world, but he cannot change the world until he can change us. In our present state of sin, we are in no position to affect anything. But something is happening in the body of Christ.
More and more of us are unwilling to play the old religious games. We want the real and undeniable presence of the God. It is causing something like a warrior spirit is rising up within us.
Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
A warrior whether natural or spiritual, means warfare. We as believers are to be warriors on the spiritual aspect of our lives. That is why we need both Gods armor and his presence.
Time and time again we ask, why can’t I win my friends to the Lord, why doesn’t my family members seem interested in God? The answer may shock you, but the reason people who know you aren’t interested in your God may be because you don’t have enough of the presence of God in your life. No matter what you do or say, without His presence, you will be just another somebody to those around you.
Our churches are filled with people who want God’s blessings and things, but not more of God. They want revival but not the reviver. They want the hand of God but not the Face of God. Some Christians are not hungry for God. They want all His blessings, they want all His gifts, they want the best portion, they want, they want, they want. But they won’t turn from their own way of thinking and/or their wicked ways.
God wants us to seek His presence and seek His face and to get serious about Him. At the end of the day, do we manufacture memorized words, lay back in His presence just long enough to say our memorized string of words and deliver our wish list. That is not Christ like.
Then we Jump up and run off to continue our frustrated rat race lives. Much of the time many fail to find that place of perfect peace. All God wants us to do is seek Him and trust Him. He is waiting to receive our most intimate worship and praise. He has set before us an open door, but we will have to face Him. We cannot back our way into the door of eternity, we have to walk through the door by our own choice.
I am not writing this because you don’t know Gods word, on the contrary, I am writing this because the Lord wants to develop a new level of intimacy with His people. He wants us to know Him, not just about Him. When will we stop long enough to hear Gods still small voice saying, “Will you just love me?”
Stay in the Word and seek His face,
Brother Andy
