ENTERING GOD’S PRESENCE

  1. Introduction: We’ve begun a series on learning to live with the awareness that God is with you.  This series arose out of a statement that Israel’s great King David made.  Even though he faced many life-threatening situations, David was able to say:  I will fear no evil for you are with me. Ps 23:4
    1. Almighty God is Omnipresent or present everywhere at once (Ps 139:7-12; Jer 23:23-24; Eph 1:23). There’s no place God is not.  He is there whether believe it, whether you see or feel Him.
      1. God is beyond the perception of our physical senses. This means that we are incapable of having a sensory perception of God unless He sovereignly chooses to grant it to us.
      2. But we can relate to Him by faith. Faith perceives as real fact what is not yet revealed to the senses (Heb 11:1, Amp).   Faith is belief or trust in Someone you cannot see.
        1. One day (at death) we will be in His presence directly. Until then we experience His presence by faith.  Faith makes real to us what is real, but not yet revealed to the senses.
        2. We believe what is a fact and recognize an unseen reality. He is here with me.  I don’t have to do anything to get Him to come to or be with me.  I talk to Him like He is here.
        3. Becoming aware of God’s presence doesn’t mean having a supernatural manifestation or experience can see or feel.  It means developing an awareness or consciousness of His presence with us that affects how we think and act.  Faith is confidence in a Person.
      3. When we acknowledge God’s presence—talk about and purposefully think about the fact that He is with us—it increases our awareness of His presence. We have more to say tonight.
    2. God is a Being. He is relational.  He created us for relationship—to know Him and to interact with Him in a loving relationship as our Lord and Master and as our Father and Friend.
      1. He created us in His image and likeness (as much like Himself as a creature can be like his Creator) so that relationship is possible. You’ll never not be God’s creation, a being made in His image.  Gen 1:27
        1. The number one way we get to know God, who is Invisible, is through the Scriptures, His written Word, the Bible. But there is more involved in knowing God than knowing facts about Him.  The Bible is written to reveal a Person who is with us and loves us.
        2. Jesus, in a confrontation with Israel’s religious leaders, who were experts in the Scriptures, told them: You’ve missed the point of the Scriptures.  They’re about me.
          1. John 5:39—You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you external life. But the Scriptures point to me (NLT).
          2. Jesus later said in a prayer to God the Father: John 17:3—Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent (CEV).
        3. John, one Jesus’ twelve apostles, said he wrote his gospel so that those who read it would come to know a Person, know Him (John 20:30-31). There is a difference between knowing about God as opposed to knowing Him experientially, knowing God as opposed to know about God.
          1. John also wrote in a letter: We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us.  And our fellowship is with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (I John 1:3, NLT).
          2. The word fellowship is relational—friendly relationships existing among persons (Webster’s Dictionary). Fellowship involves talk, interaction, participation that is enjoyable.
            1. John wrote so that his readers could join him and the other apostles in the relationship that have with the Lord Jesus: I John 1:4—We are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full—and your joy may be complete (Amp).
            2. Fellowship is a consciousness of God’s presence that brings joy.  The Scriptures are meant to bring us into a personal experience, or firsthand knowledge of Him.
              1. There is more than knowing facts about God. There is more to a relationship with God than quoting Bible verses.  It’s connecting with a Person relationally.
              2. David had personal experience of the joy that comes from being in God’s presence. He wrote:  Ps 16:11—In Your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand (a place of honor) there are pleasures for evermore (Amp), and Ps 21:6—You make (me) exceedingly glad with the joy of your presence (Amp).
            3. When David was hiding in the Judean wilderness because he was being pursued by men intent on killing him, he acknowledged God’s presence, God with Him.
              1. 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 your protecting wings (NLT).
              2. He said I think about you and your help, not Bible verses. Bible verses are meaningful and impactful because of the Person who inspired the words and reveals Himself through them.
              3. David took time to think about and talk to himself about God, who He is and how He had already helped him, and then praise and thank God for it: I rejoice in the shadow of your wings.  You can’t be in the shadow of wings unless you are in the presence of wings.
            4. Note what David wrote in another of his psalms. It gives us insight into David’s understanding of God’s presence with him which can help us become more aware of God’s presence.
              1. Ps 27:1-4—The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid…One thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple (NLT).
              2. To appreciate what David means, we need a quick history lesson. After God supernaturally delivered David’s ancestors (the Israelites, Jews) from slavery in Egypt, the Lord appeared to them visibly at Mount Sinai and gave them instructions for building a tent or Tabernacle “a sacred residence (house) where I can live among (my people)” (Ex 25:8, NLT).

a,  The Tabernacle served several purposes, one of which was building into human consciousness the fact that I am always with you and want to be with you.  When it was finally completed:  The cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled it (Ex 40:34, NLT).

  1. The Tabernacle was taken down, carried, and reassembled by the Israelites until they reached Canaan. Then it was moved from place to place, wherever they encamped, as they conquered the land.  The Tabernacle was finally placed in Shiloh in central Canaan.
  2. David’s son, Solomon, followed his father as Israel’s next king, and he built a Temple (a stone building) in the city of Jerusalem which replaced the Tabernacle.
  3. For David (and all of Israel) the Tabernacle and the Temple was the place where they met with God because, for hundreds of years, He visibly manifested His presence there.
  4. In Ps 27 David said that his greatest desire was to dwell in God’s house forever.  No doubt he was referring to the joy of going to the actual Tabernacle to offer praise and sacrifices to the Lord, but there is more to it.  David couldn’t spend his life living in the Tabernacle.
  5. Both David and his son Solomon knew that God is present everywhere at once. David wrote that there is no he could go where God was not (Ps 139:7-8).   When the Temple was dedicated, Solomon prayed:  Will God really live on earth among his people?  Why even the highest heaven cannot contain you.  How much less this Temple I have built (II Chron 6:18, NLT).
  6. David wanted to dwell in the Lord’s presence continually—experience Him and live in unending fellowship and communion with the Lord no matter where he was.
  7. David said he wanted to delight in the Lord’s perfections and meditate in His Temple (dwelling place). Delight in the Lord’s perfections means to behold or mentally perceive God’s splendor and grace.  It can have the idea of experience or contemplate.
  8. In other words: David desired to experience the Lord and meditate on (purposefully think about) the Lord and live in unending communion with Him wherever he was.
  9. To live with an awareness of God’s presence we must learn to practice His presence or cultivate a continuous awareness of God’s presence in everyday life. How do we do we that?
  10. To practice means to work at repeatedly so as to become proficient. It means to be trained by repeated exercise.  To practice means to do something habitually—repeating an action to gain a skill.
  11. To practice God’s presence means to repeatedly do whatever is necessary to become aware of what is already there—Almighty God, perfectly present with us, loving and reigning, and upholding all things by the Word of His power.
  12. Remember Martha and Mary, two sisters who were followers of Jesus? He visited their home and gave a teaching.  Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to what He taught.  Martha was busy preparing dinner for everyone.  Luke 10:38-42
  13. Martha came to Jesus, upset that Mary wasn’t helping her. But Jesus said:  Martha, you are so upset over all these details!  There is really only one thing worth being concerned about.  Mary has discovered it and I won’t take it away from her (Luke 10:41-42, NLT).
  14. Jesus was the visible presence of God on earth when He was here.   Martha believed in Jesus.  She knew He was in the house (present) and served Him.
  15. But none of that kept her from being worried, frazzled, and upset. Martha knew He was there, but was not focused on Him as she worked.
  16. Mary practiced the presence of Jesus. She chose to focus on Him.  She did what she need to do to be aware of Jesus.  Mary sat down, got still, listened, paid attention.
  17. You don’t have to quit your job and forsake society (become a monk) to practice the Lord’s presence. But you can and need to take time to focus on Him by continually communing, talking with the Lord by faith, out loud or mentally.
  18. We said last week, what if you took five minutes a day to get quiet before God and intentionally focused on Him, by making yourself think about and say what is so: God you are with me, and you are good, and you are big.    When you do this you are acknowledging His presence with you by focusing on Him by faith.
  19. Remember, God is relational. How do you develop a relationship with someone?  You get to know them.  You spend time with them.  As you get to know them relationally, you develop a consciousness or an awareness of them, their place in your life, and their effect on your life.
  20. Conclusion: David lived with an awareness that God was with Him.   It wasn’t a supernatural experience or a manifestation that He could see or feel.  It was an awareness that came from spending time with God, getting to know Him, thinking about Him, talking to and about Him.
  21. David wrote in Ps 27:8—You have said, “Seek my face”. My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, I do seek (ESV).  The word face is used in the Old Testament for a literal face.
  22. But is also used for the person. Face in this context refers to presence.  To seek God’s face means to seek His presence—or direct communion with him.
  23. David meditated on God. He purposefully and intentionally thought about and talked to himself about God so that he could become more aware of God’s continual presence.  David practiced the presence of the Lord.
  24. David knew that God’s presence, God with him was salvation or the help that he needed no matter what he faced, and he lived with that awareness—Ps 42:5—Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence (NASB),
  25. Let’s close the lesson with these words from Ps 100:3-4—Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!  Give thanks to him; bless his name (ESV).
  26. You can’t enter God’s presence because you’re already in it. But you can become more aware or conscious of His presence.  It is an exercise of faith.  We recognize who is there—even if we don’t see or feel Him.   We believe that He is there, because He is there.  He is with me.
  27. Through talking to Him and about Him to ourselves continually (as we go about our day) we’re elevating our consciousness to an awareness of His presence. He is with me right here, in time and space.
  28. By thanking and praising Him continually, we are entering into or developing a greater awareness of His presence. Much more next week!