The Presence of God

The Presence of God is the single most important thing that we as believer have to have in our lives. We need His presence in our lives everyday. In the Old Testament, the presence of God was manifested in a form of a fire, or a cloud. That certainly gave the Israelites in those days a sense of assurance that they can see and feel. But today, we have Jesus. Through Jesus, we have the Spirit that is in us. God now is truly with his people.

The presence of a person when he/she enters the room can change the whole atmosphere. I remember this one incident when my discipline teacher entered my noisy class during one of the free periods in high school. The whole class went from being a wet- market to a library. The whole class went silent. You could almost sense the fear in all of my classmates when they knew that he was in the room. As he stood there for the rest of the hour, all of us were quiet as though we have lost our voice. The presence of my discipline teacher brought a sense of fear and obedience to the whole class. But it the total opposite when he was not there.

Similarly, the recognition of the presence of God in our lives will change the way we think and act. Just like the presence of my discipline teacher, the presence of God will change the whole atmosphere of our daily lives.

“If You (God) don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. For how will anyone look favorably upon me – on me and on your people, if You don’t go with us? For Your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth” – Exodus 33v15,16

Moses recognized the power of the presence of God and what God is capable in doing. In Exodus 33, God had a mission for Moses. He told Moses to lead the Israelites to the land that is flowing with milk and honey. God’s instruction was very specific. But later, He then said in verse 3, that He (God) will not travel among them because of the Israelites stubbornness and rebellious attitude. Moses then pleaded with the Lord on their behalf for His mercy upon their lives and God heard his cry. I love the way God replied to Moses in Exodus 33v17. He said, “I (God) will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you and I know you by name.” In other words, God is saying that He will personally go before him.

For some of us, we only experience the presence of God in a Sunday morning in church, during worship. But God’s presence is not limited to a specific place. The presence of God is there at any given moment. We just need to know to usher it.

But how do we have the presence of God in our lives?

1. Prayer

Prayer is talking to God. Prayer is conversing with God. The more we pray and talk to Him, the more we will know Him and the more we know Him, the more we recognize Him and the more we recognize Him, the more we can feel His presence in our lives.

2. Reading the Word

There is power in the Word of God. God always speaks through His word for it is life. We need to read the Word of God in order to know Him better. Yes, prayer is important, but I think the reading of His Word is just as important. When we read His Word, we get to know Him more. And as we continue to know more about God, we understand Him better. Hence, by understanding Him better, we allow God to come and work in us.

3. Worshipping God

Worship is not songs we sing on a Sunday morning. Instead, worship is the life in which we choose to live. We worship God through our words, actions, thoughts, etc. When we choose to do something that pleases Him, He is please with us and He will dwell with us and we will be able to feel Him more in our lives.

Because the truth is, we need God’s presence in our lives everyday. We need Him when we are in school, in the bus and at home. My prayer is that we become like Moses, to be willing to say to God that we will not do anything unless He (God) go before us. Because when we do have God’s presence in our lives, we are set apart by Him and for Him only.