In His Presence

Have you ever really, truly, experienced God's presence? I'm not referring to just a tingly feeling you had one time at church during a worship service. I mean, have you had a time in your life where for unexplained reasons you lost your breath or couldn't move while reading scripture or in personal worship. Maybe it was hard to even remain standing. For much of my life I believed all the people I'd ever seen "fall over" were simply faking their actions. I believed this right up until the time it happened to me personally. During times of worship (usually at home and not in public), I've felt God's presence so heavily that it was impossible to move. Forget standing, I could barely sit upright! If possible, I would have stayed in that moment permanently. The presence of God is not something that words can adequately describe. However, once you have experienced it personally, you want more!

Reading in Exodus we see Moses requesting more of God's presence. As God is instructing Moses to continue in moving the Israelites along their journey, Moses makes the request to not move anywhere unless God's presence will continue with them. Here is the text where we find this conversation:

" Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’  Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”  And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.  For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”  Exodus 33:12-23


There are several things I'm learning in this text. I'm going to put them in numbered points for those of you who like "bullets."

1. We never know who God is going to send along with us on this journey. Over the last few years of really walking out my faith I've found friendships I thought were permanent have disappeared. I also see now that some of my closest friends and greatest sources of encouragement are people who I did not even know two years ago! When God shows you a vision for your life, He will send people along to travel with you! Be open to strangers and new friendships. They often look different from you. Expanding our circle of influence to people who may not look like us adds extreme value to our lives.

2. When we experience God's grace in our lives, the next step is to ask for His way in our lives. Experiencing His grace in my life has caused me to realize my way never works. As much as I try to MAKE it work, it simply doesn't. We discover His will for our lives by spending time in His presence. Walking as He would want us to happens by spending time with Him and allowing His presence to be in our lives. I feel I should add a side note here: God can NOT be in the presence of sin. I know we all sin. However there are times when we know we are sinning and we deliberately make the choice to continue in our sin. When we intentionally step outside of His will, we are limiting ourselves from His presence. God can use all things for His good, but why would we choose to make it harder than it needs to be to see His goodness in our lives?

3. When we spend time in His presence and allow for the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives, people will notice! Moses questioned how people would know of His grace if His presence did not go with them. Time spent in intentional communion and fellowship with God is never wasted. It is through this that we see the fruits of the spirit begin to manifest in our lives. We have peace no matter what our circumstances appear to the world. Supernatural peace in your life is always noticed by others.

4. When was ask God to show us His glory, He will respond, but only to the limit of what we can handle. None of us would be able to experience the full glory of God this side of heaven. However, He will pour out on us His compassion and graciousness to the extent of our ability to bear the weight. His compassion is heavy. If you don't believe me, ask Him to open your eyes to see people as He sees them. Try for even one day to really SEE the people you pass and have interaction with throughout your day. I PROMISE you it will rock your world when you get just a slight glimpse of how God sees us!
I pray today for you to seek His presence! I pray for you to go nowhere that His presence does not exist! I pray if there are areas in your life where you know God can not enter, that you would see the value of seeking Him rather than our fleshly desires. His grace really is big enough!