TRANSFORMED IN GOD’S PRESENCE

“MY PRESENCE will go with you, and I will give you rest” – Exodus 33:14

Central to the Believer’s Maturing process is being TRANSFORMED IN GOD’S PRESENCE: “MY PRESENCE will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exo. 33:14). The Rest of Faith is intimately tied to God’s Presence (Heb.4:3). Here, Moses experienced rest through the Presence of God in the wilderness as he led the Israelites after they escaped from Egypt. When Moses was worried about the fate of Israel and the effectiveness of his leadership, God comforted him with the assurance of His Presence. Amidst Moses’ concerns, God proclaimed that rest will be provided through His Presence. This was an era when God’s presence was crucial to Israel’s daily life. God dwelt with His people – as a cloud and in the tabernacle. When the cloud moved, the people packed up and moved along with the cloud until it settled again.

God is omnipresent! This means that He exists everywhere. He is in heaven, all throughout the earth, and even in hell at the same time. David affirmed that even hell cannot hide him from God: “If I make my bed in hell You are there” (Psa.139:8). Although God exists everywhere, His presence isn’t discerned equally everywhere. While we can never outpace His Presence, the top priority of every believer should be to actually experience God’s tangible presence regularly. We need clearer insight into this phenomenon which is referred to as ‘God’s Manifested Presence’ or “sensing the Presence of God.”

The Greek word for ‘presence’ is prosōpon which means face; hence, when we say we sense His presence, we are literally saying God’s face is near. Usually, the people we put our face near are those we are close to or intimate with. Sensing God’s Presence speaks of intimacy with and drawing close to the Maker and Sustainer of the universe, as He draws close to us! The believer is called to see face to face with God: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Cor.3:18). We do this with “unveiled face” – nothing covering our face and nothing covering His! This is intimacy in its purest form!

As we diligently and consistently seek God’s Face, we’ll overcome all fears and negativities that hinder us from being all we could be. Over time, our lives will be totally transformed by His Presence and by the Truth revealed to us in His Presence. Experiencing God’s Presence is about both the Word and the Spirit. Even the passion to study the Bible is increased as we learn how to encounter the Presence of God. The place of the Word is incontrovertible, but all Word and no spirit; we will dry up. On the other hand, all spirit and no Word; we will blow up. Putting the two together – Word and Spirit – we will grow up!

Encountering the Presence of God through both the Word and the Spirit, must be our top priorities! We must learn to read the Bible until we can almost feel God take words off the page and they begin to speak life to our hearts. We must consistently and fervently pray in the spirit until we sense Him. We must be willing to worship Him with reckless abandon until we know He is near! God’s Presence of God is what we were born for!  It’s all that will satisfy! 

It’s amazing in the New Covenant that God is not only present with us, but through our faith in Jesus, God dwells within us – through the Holy Spirit: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells WITH you and will be IN you” (Jh.14:15-17).