SEEK GOD’S PRESENCE

 

A, Introduction:  Almighty God is Omnipresent or present everywhere at once.  There’s no place God is not.  This means that because God is everywhere, you’re never not in His presence, no matter who you are or what you do.  We are talking about learning to live with the awareness that God is with you.

  1. This series comes out of one of the most famous statements in the Bible: Ps 23:4—Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me (ESV).
  2. This passage was written almost three thousand years ago by King David of Israel. Even though David faced many fearsome, life-threatening situations during his life, he was able to say:  I fear no evil because you are with me—When I am afraid, I put my trust in you (Ps 56:3, ESV).
  3. David knew that wherever he went, God was with Him because He is everywhere present: I can never escape from your spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!  If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead (hell), you are there (Ps 139:7-8, NLT).
  4. God is present everywhere at once because He is Omnipresent. God is also Infinite, which means without limits.  Therefore, God is with you as though you are the only person in the world.
  5. To appreciate the full blessing of knowing that God is with you, you must first know that He is wants to be with you. With is a relational word.  With means in mutual relationship.  God desires a mutual, voluntary relationship with us.  We choose to live in relationship with Him.
  6. In tonight’s lesson, we’re going to talk more about what it means to have God with us, as well as how we become more aware of His presence with us.

 

  1. God created human beings for relationship with Himself. He made us in His image and likeness so that mutual relationship is possible.  He created us to be sons and daughters who live in loving relationship with God our Father and reflect His glory to the world. Gen 1:27; Eph 1:4-5; Rom 8:29; Eph 1:12; etc.
  2. As God’s creations, we are dependent beings. Without Him, we are nothing, have nothing, know nothing, and can do nothing.         We are dependent creatures whose purpose and place of highest satisfaction in life is found only in Almighty God, in relationship with Him. John 15:5; Gal 6:3; etc.
  3. However, all human beings have chosen independence from God through sin. The essence of sin is doing what I want my way instead of doing what God wants, His way. Isa 53:6; Rom 3:23
  4. Two thousand years ago, Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ, incarnated (took on a human nature) and was born into this world to die as a sacrifice for sin. By doing so He opened the way for us to be restored to our created purpose and position through faith in Him. John 1:1; John 1:14; Heb 2:14-15; I Pet 3:18; etc.
  5. God created each of us for relationship and calls us back to it: I Cor 1:9—God is to be trusted, the God who called you to have fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord (Good News Bible).
  6. The word fellowship means sharing, having in common, a participation recognized and enjoyed. It is the condition of friendly relationship existing among persons (Webster’s Dictionary)
  7. The word fellowship is relational. It means friendly relationships that exist among people (Webster’s Dictionary).  Fellowship involves enjoyable talk, interaction, and participation.
  8. While on earth, Jesus said: You are My friends if you do whatever I command you (John 15:14, NKJV).
  9. God invites us into this relationship. I Cor 1:9—He is the one who has invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (NLT).
  10. Paul the apostle visited the city of Athens, Greece (AD 51) and preached to a group of pagan philosophers at a place filled with numerous altars to various gods.
  11. One of the altars was inscribed: To the Unknown God.  Paul responded:  I know this God.  He is the God who made the world and everything in it.  He needs nothing men can supply, including temples.  Note what Paul said next.
  12. Acts 17:25-26—He himself…gives life and breath and everything else to all men. From the one man he created all races of men, and made them live over the whole earth.  He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live (Good News Bible).
  13. Acts 17:27-28—His purpose in all of this was that the nations (races) should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist (have our being) (NLT).
  14. God is not only Omnipresent and Infinite, He is Omniscient or All-Knowing. According to Paul, He knew when and where every human would be born, as well as all the circumstances of our lives.  He knows each of us by name and how many hairs we have on our head. Matt 10:30
  15. David was also aware of this: You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  How precious are your thoughts about me, O God (Ps 139:15-17, NLT).
  16. These are more than statements about God’s Omniscience and Omnipresence. They are expressions of His love and concern for each of us, the beings He created.
  17. You will never cease to be God’s creation, made in His image, known and loved by Him—even if you reject Him and live forever separated from Him in Hell.
  18. We were created to live in relationship with our Creator, this wonderful Being who is the source of all true joy, fulfillment, and contentment. Relationship with Him is the only path to true happiness for a human being.  Note three statements David wrote about his relationship with the Lord.
  19. Ps 16:5—You Lord, are all I want! You are my choice, and you keep me safe (CEV); Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing (NLT).
  20. Ps 21:6—You have given (me, the King) the joy of being in your presence (NLT); You have made (me, the King) glad and joyful because you are with him (me) (NIRV).
  21. Ps 23:4-5—I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me…You prepare a feast for my in the presence of my enemies. You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil.  My cup overflows with blessings (NLT).

 

  1. How do we become aware of God with us? Almighty God is invisible or beyond the perception of our physical senses.  This means we cannot see or feel Him unless He chooses to manifest Himself to us in a tangible way.  But we can relate to Him by faith.
  2. Faith is belief or trust in Someone you cannot see. I believe what is a fact and recognize an unseen reality.  Heb 11:1—Faith perceives as real fact what is not yet revealed to the senses (Amp).
  3. God is here with me whether I see or feel Him, whether I believe it or not. Faith is confidence in a Person.  By faith, I talk to Him, relate to Him, like He is here—because He is.
  4. The presence of God is automatic. However, awareness of God’s presence is not.  Awareness of His presence must be cultivated.  Becoming aware of His presence doesn’t mean having a supernatural manifestation or experience we can see or feel.
  5. Rather, we develop an awareness or a consciousness of His presence with us by purposefully talking to Him and thinking about the fact that He is with us. When you have an awareness or consciousness of someone or something, it affects how you think, feel, and act.
  6. Sincere Christians talk about getting into God’s presence, but we are always in His presence because there’s no place God is not. Entering His presence doesn’t involve getting into something (going from one place or state to another).  It’s becoming aware of Who is there, even though we can’t see or feel, unless He chooses to reveal Himself to us in a tangible way.
  7. David lived with an awareness that God was with Him. It wasn’t a supernatural experience that he could see or feel.  It was an awareness that came from spending time with God, getting to know Him through the Scriptures, and thinking about God and talking to and about Him.
  8. David put forth effort. He sought God.  To seek God has several shades of meaning, but a primary meaning is to seek awareness of His presence by meditating on Him.
  9. While David was hiding in the Judean Wilderness, when men were pursuing him to kill him, David acknowledged God’s presence with Him by fellowshipping and communing with Him.
  10. Ps 63:6-7—(In the night watches) I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. I think how much you have helped me; I sing for joy in the shadow of you protecting wings (NLT).
  11. Meditate means to consider carefully, for a long time. The Hebrew word used here literally means to groan, sigh, or mutter.  Figuratively, it means ponder or meditate.
  12. There is another Hebrew word for meditate. It also means to ponder and implies conversation with one’s self.
  13. David focused on the Lord with him and for him by mentally and verbally recounting who God is and His help in the past, which increased his awareness of God with Him.
  14. Let’s read a well-known passage from the New Testament about seeking God: Heb 11:6—But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (NKJV).
  15. Remember what faith is—trust or confidence in a Person who reveals Himself through His Word. In some of our circles we have reduced faith to simply standing on a verse.  However, Bible verses are meaningful and impactful only because of the Person who inspired the words.
  16. Faith is a relational term. We get facts about God through the Scriptures.  We gain awareness of Him with us through meditating on Him, thinking about Him, and recounting (mentally and out loud) who He is and what He has done for us.
  17. Faith pleases God. Please is from a word that means fully agreeable—Where there is no faith it is impossible to truly please Him (Heb 11:6, Weymouth).  God wants you to trust Him and interact with Him out of that trust.
  18. What does it mean to believe that God is? It certainly includes believing that there is a God, but there is more to it than that, because even the devils believe that God exists. James 2:19
  19. Heb 11:6 was written to Jewish believers in Jesus. They would have been familiar with an incident in the historical record of their people when God appeared to Moses and called him to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt.   God revealed Himself to Moses as I Am. Ex 3:14
  20. The Hebrew word translated I Am means to exist or to be. It literally means that God is who He is—the Absolute I, the Self-Existent One, the One who is.
  21. To fully please God, we must believe that He is, meaning, not only does He exist, He is also who He says He is. God’s Word assures us that He is perfectly present with us, loving and reigning, and upholding all things by the Word of His power. Isa 43:4; Jer 31:3; Ps 97:1; Heb 1:3; etc.
  22. This means that God can do nothing but love you, because He is love, and desires the highest good of the creatures He created. It means He is the greatest power in the universe (All-Power or Omnipotent) and nothing can come against you that is bigger than Him.
  23. Because God is Omniscient (All-Knowing) nothing happens that takes Him by surprise, or for which He does not have a plan to cause it to serve His ultimate purpose for a family. He is able to bring genuine good out of bad, and He will get you through until He gets you out.
  24. God rewards those who seek Him. To seek God has shades of meaning, one of which is to seek His presence, to become conscious of the fact that He is with you.  If you seek Him, you will find Him.   He will reward you with Himself, with an awareness of His presence and help in your troubles.

 

  1. To live with an awareness of God’s presence we must learn to practice His presence or cultivate a continuous awareness of His presence in our everyday life.
  2. To practice means to work at repeatedly to become proficient. It means to do something over and over, repeating an action to gain a skill.  We must develop the skill of focusing our mind and attention on Someone we cannot see or feel.  We must learn to meditate on God.
  3. We all focus our attention on something, and we all know how to meditate because we do it all the time. We go over and over thoughts in our head and converse with ourselves (we meditate).
  4. There is another word that is translated meditate in the Bible, besides the one used in David’s Psalm 63. It also means to ponder and implies conversation with one’s self.  This word is used in the Old Testament for complaining.  Complaining is a form of meditating.
  5. We get an unexpected bill in the mail and spontaneous thoughts of all the possible disastrous outcomes fly through our head. And we worry.
  6. Our attention is totally focused on this barrage of thoughts. We converse with ourselves about it, over and over—this is terrible; what will I do?  We are actually meditating.
  7. Then the phone rings and you answer “Hello! How are you?”.  Where does all the worry go?  Your focus changes.  The phone call forced your attention off your thoughts to something else.
  8. What if, when the thoughts stimulated by your circumstances began to fly, you were skilled at turning your attention away from them to Almighty God, who is perfectly present with you, loving and reigning, and upholding all things by the Word of His power?
  9. God’s promise to us, if we do this, is peace of mind. Isa 26:3—You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you (NLT).
  10. We don’t have to fight the anxious thoughts. We need to turn from them toward God:  In the multitude of my (anxious) thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul (Ps 94:19, Amp).
  11. Turning your attention from your raging thoughts, emotions, and challenging circumstances doesn’t happen automatically since what we see and feel in the moment has the greater reality to us. And   we all have a well-developed habit of focusing on the thoughts generated by what we see and feel.
  12. We have to develop a new habit or skill before we can be successful at turning away in the moment. We must practice turning our attention toward God and focusing on the fact that God is with us.
  13. What if you took five minutes a day to sit in silence (get quiet, be still) and intentionally focus on Him. Not to get Him to act, but to acknowledge that He is right there with you. Ps 46:10
  14. You are focusing on Him by faith: God you are with me and you are good and you are big.  I feel agitated, my mind is racing, but I am going to quiet myself in your presence.
  15. Ps 131:2—I have stilled and quieted myself, just as a small child is quiet with its mother. Yes, like a small child is my soul within me (NLT).

 

  1. Conclusion: We have more to say next week, but consider these thoughts as we close.  We’d all like to have an automatic, continual awareness of God’s presence, the fact that God is right here with us.
  2. It doesn’t work that way. You have to cultivate or practice an awareness of His presence.  We develop the habit of continually communing (talking with Him out loud or mentally) by faith.  As you develop this habit you will have more peace of mind and a greater awareness of God with you.
  3. Almighty God created us with the capacity to seek Him. And He has promised to reward those who seek His presence with Himself.  You will find Him.
  4. Heb 11:6—Where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please him (Weymouth). Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find Him (CEV).