Do you feel like you are living a less than abundant life? Do you feel like you’re striving in your relationship with God? Are you struggling to get free from sin? Are you struggling with depression or anxiety? Are you lacking power in prayer? Do you feel like you want to go deeper in relationship with God, but aren’t sure how?
I’d say that the presence of God is your answer to all of the situations listed above.
In this blog, I hope to help you understand God’s presence a bit better and help you learn how to cultivate His presence in your life.
So, cultivating the presence of God. What does that even mean?
The presence of God. What do people mean by that?
Some may believe they fully understand God’s presence, how to cultivate it, what all His presence entails, etc. Some others may believe this is a rather elusive phrase, and they don’t really understand what people mean by it. I think I probably land somewhere in the middle. I’m still growing and I don’t fully understand it, but I’m definitely learning and am falling in love with what I know to be true about the presence of God and cultivating His presence. So, I’m going to share a brief bit about what I’ve learned in hopes of helping you grow in whatever area of your life that those questions above applied to!
For clarity purposes, I will say that “the presence of God” I’m discussing in this blog is different than God’s omnipresent characteristic. While God is everywhere (Psalm 139:7-8), the presence I am referring to is a bit different.
With that in mind, let’s kick this discussion off with a working definition of the presence of God. I would define the presence of God like this: The manifestation of God’s glory that transforms an environment, a situation, or a person’s life. The main difference between his omnipresence and the presence of God I’m covering in this blog is essentially the transformative power of the latter.
So, the question that I asked God, and the one that you should be asking is: how do I manifest this transforming presence in my life for the glory of God, the good of others, and the good of myself? I hope to provide a satisfactory answer to this question.
The transformational, powerful, presence of God manifests in my life when the reality of God and awareness of His indwelling presence and external presence becomes greater than any other reality or awareness. Essentially, it’s perspective. The transformational power of God’s presence is continually ready to invade anybody and any situation. And this presence is always with you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. The question is, can we see that, believe that, and keep our eyes fixed on that?
I have learned through practice that seeing God’s strong desire to step into this world and redeem it, believing that He WILL, and keeping our eyes fixed on that reality is the key to carrying the transformative presence of God into your life and the lives of others.
So, real quick, I’ll give you 5 tips, with Scriptural backing, that will help you to see, believe, and fix your eyes on God’s readiness and willingness to invade this world for good at any point in time.
Tip 1: Hunger For God’s Presence (when no one is looking).
– All God wants or needs from us is a “want to”. He doesn’t need your gifting, talents, or efforts. He just needs you to want a greater awareness of His presence. He will do the rest.
– “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” Matthew? ?5:6? ?NKJV??
Tip 2: Get Alone with God (when no one is looking).
– The ability to carry the presence of God into every day life situations is cultivated behind closed doors.
– “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew? ?6:6? NKJV
– God rewards you in the open with His presence.
Tip 3: Have Faith That God Will Cultivate His Presence In You (when no one is looking).
– We must believe (have faith) that God will meet our desire to carry His presence with an emphatic “Yes!”
– “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew? ?7:7-8? ?NKJV?
– “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James? ?4:8?a NKJV??
Tip 4: Yield to Holy Spirit (when no one is looking).
– Allow Holy Spirit to take over and entirely possess your life. He is in fact THE presence of God inside you.
– “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans? ?8:14? ?NKJV??
– “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans? ?14:17? ?NKJV?
Tip 5: Worship Jesus (when no one is looking).
– Worship in its simplest definition is to give our attention to someone or something. You become what you behold. The more often we fix our attention on Jesus when no one is looking, the easier it will be to fix our attention on Jesus when everyone is looking.
– Additionally, God inhabits the praises of His people. So, worship will bring a greater reality of the external presence of God in your life.
– “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Psalms? ?22:3? ?NKJV??
One thing that should stand out in these 5 tips is the emphasis on “when no one is looking.” I truly believe this is the key to these tips actually successfully cultivating the presence of God in your life.
Something beautiful happens when you are alone with God behind closed doors expressing your hunger and desire for greater intimacy with Him; because, in this situation, either God is real or you are crazy. I absolutely love putting myself in that kind of scenario. I’ve seen more growth from that reality right there than I ever have from any sermon or community group.
So, now it’s time for the call to action. If any of the questions above applied to you, and you took the time to read this blog, you MUST ACT on this message. Knowledge without action is useless. I challenge you to be a doer of the word. I PROMISE YOU, IF you apply these tips, and get alone with God with a sincere heart, you WILL walk with a greater awareness and reality of the presence of God in your life. And that’s what we all want. God’s presence is everything. It is the key to our life and other’s lives being transformed. We all need to be more aware of how near He actually is. As an encouragement to act on this word and not just read this and move on, I’ll leave you with a quote from the Lord Himself.
““Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”” Matthew? ?7:24-27? ?NKJV??
YOU ARE the wise man (woman). You are NOT a fool. So, go implement. 🙂
I love y’all very much! Make sure to check out the next blog. We’ve already seen 11 salvations and some healings here in Lesotho! God is so good. I’ll be recapping the story of a day that I got to be part of two salvations on the next blog.
Blessing on each of you! You’re amazing!
#AsYouGoChristianity #LoveAsYouGo #YayGod! #WorldRace2018 #11in11
BONUS TIP for reading all the way through!
– PRAYER and FASTING! If you want to really tap into your spiritual vision and suppress the carnal way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, praying and fasting are your new best friend! If you’ve never faster before, try just skipping one meal and spending that time alone with God. You can move up to a day or however long you want after that. But truly, truly, prayer and fasting are great tools from the Lord to help us increase our God vision and suppress our man vision. Give them a try!
– “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew? ?6:17-18? ?NKJV??
