The presence of God is manifested in three dimensions. An understanding of these
three will help our knowledge of the dynamics of God’s presence. These three
dimensions of God’s presence are; His omnipresence, His indwelling presence and
His manifest presence.
HIS
OMNIPRESENCE
God is everywhere at
all times. This establishes the supernatural nature of our God. Being
everywhere at the same time, nothing escapes His eyes. He therefore sees what
everybody does at all times. It makes it possible for Him to hear prayers
rendered to Him simultaneously from people all over the earth. He can also
fight for His people all over the earth at the same time. With Him, there are
no secrets because He sees everything even those deeply buried in the heart of
men. It is with this understanding that
King David said in Psalm 139:7-13;
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither
shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if
I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand
lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall
cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are
both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in
my mother's womb.
When
Jonah tried to run away from God’s presence, he discovered that even in the
belly of a fish, God is very much present.
What
does this mean to us believers? It means that there is nowhere we can hide our
sins that God will not see them. He sees everything everyone does. The whole
world might not know what we did in secret but God knows. It also shows that we
are never alone. That even in the mist of the despairs of life, the Omnipresent
God is very available and able to deliver us. You are safe in the hands of God,
regardless of where you are. It does not matter whether there is a physical
manifestation or not, the truth is that He is there.
The
Bible says that God’s eyes run to and fro the earth to show Himself strong on
behalf of them whose heart are perfect towards Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). That
means His eyes are ever focused on the earth and the activities of men. If your
heart is perfect (holy) towards God then you have nothing to fear because He
will always show Himself strong for you. That is the power of His omnipresence.
HIS INDWELLING PRESENCE
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without
Me you can do nothing - John
15:4-5 (NKJV, emphasis mine).
Do you not know that
you are the temple of God and that the
Spirit of God dwells in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV, emphasis
mine).
God’s indwelling in a man is a mystery especially considering the fact
that He is very mighty with the heaven as His throne and the whole of the earth
His footstool (Isaiah 66:1). God indwells a man through the Holy Spirit who lives in the man once
the man becomes born again. It is not too easy to comprehend it that a mighty
and immortal God will dwell in a frail and mortal man given to too many
imperfections. But that is our God for you. It is His choice to make us His
temple and this choice no man has a right to question. We should rather be more
interested in getting Him to always dwell in us. Our interest should be to find
out the needful conditions that when fulfilled, will attract Him to dwell in
us.
But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name: - John
1:12
For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God - Romans 8:14.
What?
know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? – 1 Corinthians 6:19
These three scriptures put together
reveals that the fundamental condition to have God’s presence dwell in us is to
become born again and continue to live holy. That is the only way you can have
God in the person of the Holy Spirit reside in you.
John 15:4-5 makes it clear that
without God dwelling in a believer, success will sure be difficult to attain.
Without Him we are nothing. We are completely dependent on Him every day. The
unbeliever might succeed in his life endeavours without God’s indwelling but
not a believer (of course the unbeliever has the backup of his master, the
devil). So the believer will sure need the backup of his own master, God
Almighty.
Through His indwelling presence, God
shapes our character and helps us to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The gifts of the
Holy Spirit also operate through us as a result of His indwelling presence. It
is the Holy Spirit in the life of a man that gives and operates these gifts. So
the day the Holy Spirit (God’s presence) departs from the man, he becomes empty
of these gifts. All that can happen is that the devil will take over the man
manifesting the demonic counterfeit of the original Holy Spirit-inspired gifts.
HIS MANIFEST PRESENCE
Severally in the Bible we see God’s
manifest presence. In this kind of manifestation, we see God manifest through
natural phenomena like the elements of weather and climate (wind, thunder,
lightning, rainbow, cloud cover), audible voice, bodily form, dreams and
visions. One of such cases is the one that has been under consideration, the
Burning Bush experience of Moses. Others include God’s appearance to Jacob at
Bethel (Genesis 28:11-22), His appearance to Abraham, Samuel and, Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. God’s manifest presence is for
special events. It does come either heralding the commissioning of a man for a
special task, to hand down a special message, or to deliver someone precious to
Him. It is often temporal in nature but leaves permanent glorious testimonies.
When it happens, we see an instant
change in the life of its recipient. Hardly has anyone experienced God’s manifest
presence and remains the same. It appeared to many who were terminally sick and
they received instant healing. The manifest presence of God can be a very
frightful sight. When the children of Israel saw it in Exodus 32:7-14, they
repented and begged that God should cease to talk to them directly but should
continue relating with them through Moses. For the enemies of the person for
who the manifest presence of God is meant for, it means destructions, pains and
sorrow. The army of Pharaoh was a good example. The manifest presence of God
spelt their doom at the Red Sea. When He manifested at Mount Carmel for Elijah
(1 Kings 18), God was glorified, Elijah was honored, but the prophets of Baal
were all destroyed.
During the dedication of the temple
we read in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 that the glory of God which appeared as cloud
heralded the manifest presence of God;
…then the house of the Lord was
filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of
the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
In Acts 9:3-9 we read of Saul’s
encounter with the manifest presence of the Lord that changed everything about
him. When Jesus prayed on the
mountain he was transfigured as the manifest presence came down (Luke 9:29).
Presently, we often witness God’s power
flowing in Christian meetings, touching lives, healing many and delivering
others from the yokes of the devil. My sincere desire and prayer is that every
believer will develop his relationship with God to the point that he will begin
to witness the manifest presence of God in his favor.
Remain blessed!
Fortune Ihunweze is a pastor, Christian teacher, author and counsellor with great passion for prayers. Email: fortune.ihunweze@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +234 9064141316
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By reading the Word of God and praying on a daily basis with full commitment to the will of God and by keeping this relationship with God we can come into the presence of God
ReplyDeleteI agree with you
DeleteWE MUST BE FULLY COMMITTED TO GOD TO COME INTO HIS PRESENCE
ReplyDeleteYou are right.
DeleteWow such an inspiring blog...I need his presence always
ReplyDeleteEvery believer does
DeleteThis is powerful and noticed that each time the manifest presence manifested God had to call on the recipient. He told Moses to meet him up the mountain, and also God called to Moses at the the Burning Bush.
ReplyDeleteYou observed rightly
DeleteHelpful!!! The manifest/glorious presence of God is the evident power of God at work
ReplyDeleteYes it is
ReplyDelete