THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

A few days ago I received an e-mail from an old friend advertising a series of revival meetings he and his wife were conducting. One line really caught my attention: “Come join us and let’s enjoy the presence of the Lord together.” That sentence just jumped out at me!

Sadly, for many believers, a church service or a special meeting is the only time they are aware of the presence of the Lord. No, I’m not talking about the fact that God is everywhere. I am talking about those times when the presence of the Lord is so strong that virtually anyone who is born again is aware of the Lord’s Spirit in the church, room or wherever the group is meeting.

When I was seven or eight years old, my parents took me to one of Oral Roberts’ meetings in Vancouver, B.C. I don’t remember much about the service and cannot remember what Oral Roberts preached about, but nearly six decades later I still have a very clear memory of the presence of the Lord under that huge tent. I remember that when you walked into the tent, the atmosphere inside was different from what it was just outside the tent—it was rather like walking into a waterfall of God’s presence.

As I said above, it’s a tragedy that for many of us, the only times of awareness we have of the “presence of the Lord” are tied to a church service of some kind. It is not supposed to be like this. Let me explain.

In the Old Testament God’s presence on earth was contained in the tabernacle or, ultimately, in the temple in Jerusalem. With the tabernacle/temple, the Holy of Holies was the earthly dwelling place of God’s presence. It was separated from the rest of the building by a five-inch-thick curtain. Once a year the high priest went into the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice and make atonement for the sins of the people. No one else ever went into the place where the presence of God dwelt.

Yes, God was everywhere; in theological terms that is called omnipresence. But in Old Testament times the average person never experienced the intimacy of a personal relationship with Jehovah like we are privileged to in the New Testament era.

All this changed at the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The moment Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom (Matthew 27:50-51). The significance of the torn veil is that God was accepting the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf and the presence of the Lord would now be with His people.

So now where does God dwell? His Spirit dwells in us and Psalm 22:3 says, “God inhabits the praises of [His people].” This is why I talk frequently about the importance of praise and worship.

Let me try and paint this picture a little differently. I see praise and worship as being like a family reunion. All the family—brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces— everybody gathers together at reunion time and as a family we have a joyous and celebrative time. That’s like worship at church; it is special and I love it. But then there are those times when a child gets to sit with his/her father and it’s just the two of them; it is personal and intimate. Those times are very, very special! God has times like that reserved for each of us; we come to Him in praise and worship and in so doing we enthrone Him as our King and He makes Himself known to us.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8 NKJV). At the time of our salvation we draw near to God by confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness. It’s the same principle as we mature in our Christian experience. We must come to Him with a pure heart, and if it’s not, then we confess and He will forgive. When we worship, when we exalt Him, He is ready to manifest His kingdom’s power in a way that is appropriate to our situation. We are to come to Him, into His presence, with the confidence that we are welcome there. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV).

In the first paragraph I mentioned that I had received an advertising e-mail from a friend that used the sentence that so struck me. Betty and Joey Hamby are longtime friends of our family. I have worked with them in church services, revival meetings and crusades since the early 1980’s. They are very gifted at leading worship and encouraging people to step into praise and worship. Betty and Joey Hamby…..faithful warriors! Join them whenever you can.