Church Revitalization #5...

As a church are we more sensitive to God’s presence?

When was the last time you thought, “GOD IS HERE!”?

Maybe at a conference? A passionate time of prayer? Leisure walk perhaps? Or maybe a split-second, adrenaline-rushed deliverance from a car accident that seem unavoidable! But just how often are you aware of the presence of God? If we take the teaching of the Bible seriously, perception of the presence of God should not be an occasional experience. I do not mean that we should frequently feel a supernatural presence, for that can be extremely unreliable. Nevertheless, it should not be unusual for us, wherever we are, to recognize that “God is here.” As we grow closer to Him, generally speaking, we should discern His nearness more readily and more often.

After having an encounter with God in a dream what does Jacob testify to in ? _______________

In how often is Jesus with us? _________

How do we translate the word Immanuel? () ______________________

What happens to churches that grow dull to God’s company?

Perhaps they will think less often of God, His Word, His will? This is much different than an unbeliever who rarely thinks of God. Insensitivity to the nearness of God certainly means less awareness that what ()? ________________________________________

That leads to thinking less of restraining sin on the one hand, or of doing good on the other. For after all, who will know?

In effect, a church living apart from a conscious sense that the Lord is present is to live as though God really is not there. More pleasure is sought in programs, the past, or a minister’s personality (good or bad) than in God. People’s relationship with God is reduced to mere religion. Public worship becomes an obligation, not a privilege. Obviously, this is not the profile of a growing and maturing church.

Read the following verses and answer this: How do we get access to God (; )?

So when it comes to discerning the presence of God, a church must first be “Immanuelized.” That is to say, we can’t reliably recognize the presence of “God with us” until we’ve experienced “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (). To know this indwelling presence of Christ, we must first, in Jesus’ words, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” ().

God’s universal presence surrounds us as the air surrounds the soaring eagle or the Pacific engulfs the dolphin as it dives, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (). Even so, we could never discern the presence of God rightly and in truth if He did not first reveal Himself to us. He has revealed Himself generally to us through creation (), but much more specifically through the Word. His self-revealing Word has come to us in two living ways: the incarnate Word (Jesus) and the written Word (the Bible). And it is through His Word that our experience with God, including our perception of His presence, is mediated.

GROWING THROUGH GOD’S DESERTIONS

I do not want to imply that to be growing spiritually means you must consistently increase your awareness of the presence of God. You can be growing when you least sense intimacy with the Lord.

In the first place, I doubt that any Christian grows more aware of God’s presence every day and steadily for the rest of his life. That denies the realities of living as a saved sinner in a fallen world. Second, it is common for believers to have many seasons where, for their own spiritual good, God actually withdraws a conscious sense of His presence. The Puritans referred to such occasions as “God’s desertions,” times when we feel as though God has forgotten and forsaken us. But even though God’s presence is not perceived, He is no less near.

Perhaps while in our study tonight you have thought, “I haven’t been sensing God’s presence much lately,” take note that it’s one thing to long for a sense of God’s presence while not experiencing it, and another to live routinely with no awareness of His absence. There is a world of difference between Jesus crying out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (), and Samson saying just before his capture, “ ‘I will go out as before, at other times,’ … but he did not know that the LORD had departed from him” (). One is known by its agony, the other by its apathy. Though we may be progressing in Christlikeness and persevering in the will of God, yet all along unaware that God is with us. We need to take care that we do not become Samsonlike, content with or conditioned to life apart from a sense of His blessing.

OPENING YOUR SPIRITUAL EYES TO HIS PRESENCE

What practical steps can we take to grow in our awareness of the continuous presence of God?

Go often to the place where God has revealed Himself most clearly—the Bible. As obvious as this may seem at first, many who would nod their heads at these words would turn around and unwittingly put priority on seeking the presence of God in experiences where Scripture plays no role. Shouldn’t we expect to experience God’s presence primarily by means of that which He gave explicitly for the purpose of making Himself known to us: His Word?

But don’t simply read from the Bible, close it, then walk away. Absorb the water of the Word of God through meditation. Otherwise, what you have read may be like rain that evaporates on a sidewalk. Linger over something from it so that it percolates into the soil of your soul. Listen long enough until you hear it for what it is—the voice of God.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 65). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Acknowledge His presence with you by talking with Him. Many wives complain that their husbands can sit in the same room with them for extended periods of time and never acknowledge their presence by speaking. Does this develop intimacy? Obviously not. When a person’s prayer life is decaying by silence, is it any wonder that he or she feels unaware of the nearness of God? God is a real Person who is very present. Ignore Him and He will seem distant. Talk with Him and you will almost always feel Him closer.

Seek Him in the manifestations of His presence given only in congregational worship. The Bible says that the body of each Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit (). But specific references to being a temple of the Holy Spirit are made far more often about the congregation of believers than about individual believers (for example, see , ). So there is a sense in which going to worship with the people of God is going to the Lord’s temple where His presence abides. In a true church, His Word is preached, His Son is presented in the Lord’s Supper, His Spirit ministers through many and diverse gifts, and so forth. The solitary worshiper does not have access to the presence of the Lord in exactly these ways. While there are experiences with God that are given only in private worship, it is equally true that the Lord manifests His presence in ways unique to public worship.

Continually reaffirm the truth that He is omnipresent. The truth is, God is everywhere at all times. Immanuel Himself specifically promised His people, “I am with you always” (). The Lord is with us even when we don’t sense His presence. We must, however, reaffirm what we know to be true, even when we don’t feel it to be true. This will help us to live more by faith than by feelings.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 65). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 66). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 65). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (pp. 63–64). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 63). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 59). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (pp. 57–58). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Whitney, D. S. (2001). Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (p. 56). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.