Experience the Presence of God

How does a person experience the presence of God? It all depends on how close you are to Him. Let’s compare the journeys of the Israelites and believers to see how God always leads people to His presence.

The Journey of the Israelites

The story of the Israelite people when they left Egypt I believe holds one of the keys to understanding God’s presence in the life of the believer. In Exodus 13, it tells how God directs the path of the Israelites by way of a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire to escape from Pharaoh and Egypt; the cloud to help direct during the day and the fire to direct through the night. The pillar was the visible sign of the Lord’s presence.

Imagine you’re in this throng of people leaving into the wilderness following a cloud during the day. No matter where you were in the throng of people, you could see the the cloud. You moved along excited to be free from the captivity of the Egyptian Pharoah, but as the day turned to night, the cloud gave way to a pillar of fire. How cool is this! The God of Moses is leading me toward the promised land. No matter where I am in this crowd of people I can see the cloud or the fire.

Now we’ve arrived at the Red Sea and are worried because Pharoah and his army are closing on our heels. Are we going to die here in the wilderness? What’s going to happen? But the cloud moves from the front to behind the people to keep the army at bay. Then miraculously, we are told to move forward through the dry sea bed. The waters of the sea are like walls on the right and the left. The Egyptians pursued but the walls of water came crashing down upon them. We are saved!

Despite all of Israel’s failures on the journey to the promised land, their murmuring, their unbelief, their rebellion, God never took away the pillar. It is in this that we can know the presence of God. How does that happen? Even if when we fail, or murmur, or have doubts, or live in total rebellion, God never leaves.

Your ability to experience the presence of God is only going to be as deep as your knowledge of Him.

Archie Mason, Senior Pastor, Central Baptist Church

The Journey of the Believer

While the Israelites had the physical manifestation of God in the pillar, we as believers today have the spiritual manifestation of God in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and lives within the heart of the believer when we accept Jesus Christ as Savior. The Holy Spirit draws us to the saving knowledge of Jesus and we are put on the path to our Promised Land, eternity with God.

But when we walk out of step with the Holy Spirit, when we choose to follow our path instead of following the Spirit’s leading, when we experience times of unbelief, when we seek our gratification instead of seeking God’s kingdom first, we are the prodigal son. We are still a child of God but we are not experiencing the presence of God. The only way to get back to where we were is to repent, turn around, and head back home where the Father is waiting for us. The ability to experience the presence of God is only going to be as deep your knowledge of Him. In order to do that, walk towards God instead of away from Him.

How is that done?

• Read the Word of God; The word of God is living and active… Hebrews 4:12.
• Pray; have conversations with God.
• Worship with other believers; Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst. Matthew 18:20

Just as sin is the deliberate walking away from God, repentance is the deliberate walk toward God. This is the journey of the life of every believer.