If You Only Knew - His Presence

I am like most Americans, my life gets pretty busy. I commute into Boston and work an 8+ hour a day. I have a wife, kids, pets, bills and all the regular stuff. My wife handles a lot of  things for me - a lot! I manage to fit in date nights, music, writing, social networking, teaching a class - oh and church. Life zooms along at near light-speed and doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon. I also take time to pray for a couple of sick friends and my family every day.

I used to be baffled by the presence of God. I would go to a great service and feel spiritually recharged. On the way home, or soon after, something would come up and it would be as if I had never been there. Maybe you understand what I am saying. God just didn't seem to fit into my day-to-day. While I was working, I didn't have time to give him a thought.

I began to ponder the presence of God. I discovered that the presence of God comes in two forms. The manifold presence of God (John 15:5) in which we abide in Him and He in us; and the second, the manifest presence of God where the Spirit is present at different times for different reasons.

Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

The indwelling Spirit is the seal of our salvation, and it is ever present once we receive Christ by faith.


Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.


As grateful as I am for the indwelling Spirit, I find Christianity pretty boring without the manifest presence of God. Having a sports car in the garage doesn't excite me as much as driving one on the open road. Although I had experienced God on and off over the years, I wanted to truly walk in the spirit. I want to be with my God all the time. I wanted more than the assurance that He was there, I want to feel his presence. I wanted to know what Paul and Silas knew in jail. I wanted to know the secret of healing that Peter and John knew in Acts 3, and I wanted the angel of the Lord to appear to me as he did to Paul.

I wanted God; all of Him! What I didn't seem to realize is that God wanted all of me as well.

And so began the journey of pressing in, study, prayer, and trying to act in faith. And one day, the presence of God came very powerfully; and years later, it has never left! I have survived the desert, walked in the valley, and climbed to the mountain top, God was in all those places.

How about you, have you experienced the presence of God?