Matthew 28:20, “… I am WITH
YOU ALWAYS, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 18:20, “For where two
or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Luke 17:21, “… For behold the
kingdom of God is in your midst. (Lit. inside you)”
One thing is very true, that
every time Christians gather, whether in church, a prayer meeting, bible study,
or even in groups I attend like Love Machine and Iwo Jima… Christ is in the
midst. He is in and among those gathered in His name. If you cannot sense that
presence then it is your awareness of it that is at issue, not that He is not
there.
Just as Christ is in the
midst of groups that gather in His name, He also promises that He is with us
always individually. He promises that He is inside us according to Luke. And so
once again, if you have no sense of His presence and are a Christian then the
problem is your awareness.
What is keeping you from
being aware of the presence of God? Has society keep you from this awareness. Have
you a self-imposed excommunication because of sin in your life? Has someone
taught you the presence is only available in a particular church, if you follow
particular rules, pray particular prayers endlessly, engage in a particular style of worship? Have you been taught that
if you will... (fill in the blank) then God will?
I am here to tell you that if
you are in Christ He is in your midst. His presence is inside you, and if you
want to experience life changing power, peace, joy, and understanding then stop
and connect to that presence. Call out for Him to reveal Himself to you, and
then wait for His unmistakable presence. Shut down your agenda, quite your
request, quell your fears and ask to meet Him. Stop thinking, stop reasoning,
stop speaking… find that place where all you want is Him, and He will show up in
a miraculous way. Not at church, not in a group, but with you as an individual
in your car, at your job, in your prayer closet, in the yard, or shower, or closet,
or anywhere you truly ask to connect, for He is there and with you ALWAYS.
Matthew
23:25, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the
outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and
self-indulgence.”
1
Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”
Luke 17:21, “nor
will they say, ‘Look, here it is! Or, ‘There it is! For behold, the kingdom of
God is in your midst.” (Literally inside you.)
Randy Clark
whom I have had the pleasure of spending a day with, and whom I believe is a
genuine Christian and godly man, and who happens to have a globally recognized
healing ministry posted on his Facebook wall the other day the following:
He wrote, “It's the hardness of men's hearts and not the sovereignty of
God that stops revival.”
Now to me “revival” is when there is a significant presence
of God in a corporate environment, often accompanied by signs and wonders. But
where my opinion differs from Randy’s and many other charismatic, full gospel,
evangelical ministers is that I believe the famous revivals like Azusa Street,
Pensacola, Welsh revival and so many more were absolutely 100% the sovereign
move of God. I do not think the piety nor prayers of the revivalists like Booth,
Hill, Wesley, Whitefield or any other commanded the presence and move of God.
Likewise I do not believe the hardness of heart ended them.
Rather the “revival”-- that uncontrolled,
unorchestrated manifestation of the presence of God -- is simply a casting of the
net into the sea. It is a picking of the crops of the harvest and as such must
come to an end. Think of the story of Peter’s calling. It was prophetic of
Christ’ ministry on earth. They fished all night and caught nothing, then Jesus
comes along, they cast on the other side of the boat and the nets are full to
overflowing. Did they keep fishing?
Think of Pentecost, the original revival. They waited
and waited, then for one night the presence of God manifest. It did not become
some long lived service complete with music and preaching. In fact the
preaching was “this is that the prophet Isaiah spoke of.” Nothing more.
How about the feeding of the 5000? This was a revival
as the masses gathered to hear Christ, and after a couple of days He feed them
miraculously. But Jesus didn't say, ‘let’s camp here, and have service eternally, and let me feed you constantly.’ To the contrary when they followed Him He sent
them away.
So what is the purpose of this manifested sovereign
presence of God?
It is a taste of what every moment of every day can be
like. It is a taste of what Christ lived with and by while on the earth.
We taste the presence of God in the corporate worship
of our churches because there is a style of music or a flavor of teaching that
allows us to put down the rest of life and focus in on God. The presence of God
is there because Christ said, “For where two or three have gathered in My name,
I am there in their midst (the middle of them)” So the corporate enables our
awareness of Christ presence… it is there whether we are aware or not. It is
not a song, it is not a leader, it is spiritual fact. The songs, the leaders,
the preaching just enables us to be aware. But the design is so that we will
seek Him at all times. The design is that we begin to and grow in the awareness
that His presence and His kingdom is inside us.
Look at the three passages above. Jesus criticizes the
religious leaders for using an external system of church as spiritual
justification without cleaning up their own heart, without acknowledging the
evil that is in them.
In the second passage Paul is asking, ‘don’t you know
the presence of God is inside you?’ It was not the condemnation of outwardly
acts, but an astonishment that they didn’t get it, and their outwardly acts
showed they did not understand or experience that presence.
Finally the third passage is Christ saying to not go
from place to place, service to service, conference to conference looking for
the presence of God. His kingdom is inside you and anything you can “do” or any
place you can “go” is not going to compare to becoming aware of this fact, and
living in it daily. Nor will it compare to what follows this awareness, which
is growing in it daily.
None of which is saying stop going to church. But it
is to say that when you connect with this presence through awareness, then life
will become suddenly clearer. The peace that passes all understanding will
manifest. Joy in unfortunately circumstance will appear. And so very much more.
Listen to what Jesus said as pointed out to me by T
Austin-Sparks, “Christ is the new dispensation. ‘I am here,’ He said. You go
through that Gospel of John. He is centering everything in Himself. ‘I am the
Way (not church); I am the Truth (not doctrine); I am the Life (not money,
fame, power, or position); I am the Shepherd (not spouse, pastor, counselor, or
parent); I am the Vine (your source); I am the Resurrection (the truth that
follows surrender).’ It is a Person. It is that which lies behind everything.
(and in everything). Christianity is Christ. Christ is Christianity. That is
where it all begins and it never departs from HIM.”
I will add that He is in you if you are in Him. There
is a place in this awareness of His presence that you have beheld enough of His
magnificence that you give up trying to understand because He is
incomprehensible. You stop trying to explain, because He is unexplained You
have no advice for others because you see you own insignificance next to Him.
And yet in it all you feel His love, and His love begins to flow out of you because
it is the only thing that is right and good. Life becomes about surrender and
obedience, not because you fear hell, but because you have tasted heaven. No
one can take you to a place in the Presence of God because you can live there
anytime you choose to be aware.
I have to wonder what would happen to church if all of
Christianity became aware of and started to grow in this presence of God. I
dare say those built on a human model of business would fail rapidly, and those
built on Christ would see some truly glorious revival.
If you do not truly understand what I am talking about
then I encourage you to taste and see that the Lord is good. Stop, close your
eyes, quite your mind. When you can stare into the back of your eyelids and see
only the dark, when you can contemplate only that it is dark, then in that
place cry out to God. Ask Him, where are You? Ask Him to reveal His presence?
With time you awareness will be as simple as closing
your eyes. With more time you won’t need to close your eyes at all, just stop. With
more time you will abide in the awareness of His presence. (at least that is
what I believe and hope though not there yet).
There is no longing for Christ to come, He is here. There is not waiting for the next service, or next anointed song... His presence has never left.
Acts 7:48, “However,
the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands…”
About 17
years ago I encountered what I call the manifested, overwhelming presence of
God. I might even be able to say the reoccurring manifested overwhelming presence
of God. This encounter, if you will, occurred during worship at the church I
attended. I won’t go into details about the experience, but I will say that the
reoccurring part happened at every service for a few years. Pentecostals might
call this “revival.” And in fact the Assemblies of God did call it revival
because this “movement” seemed to have been birthed at a little church in
Pensacola Florida called Brownsville Assembly of God.
It was an
incredible time. For me I associated this awareness of the presence of God with
the service. I assumed that it was a fulfillment of when two or more are gather
in His name that He is in their midst. (Matt 18:20) Some claimed the experience
which was universally shared by thousands simultaneous was because of
intercession. Other’s claimed it was an anointing or special call on a
minister. Whatever the case, I chased that “presence” literally all over the world.
Tommy Tinney
wrote a book called “The God Chasers” and I was very much one of these people.
I made multiple trips to the “revival” in Pensacola. I went to multiple
churches in Louisiana chasing this “presence.” Also included was an incredible
trip to Argentina and a powerful meeting in California. The experience was also
enjoyed in Mexico and El Salvador. But in the end, the “universal”
manifestation of the presence of God seemed to dwindle. For me as an individual
there remained the lessor connection in worship, but the “out pouring” seemed
to be gone.
For years I
wondered why the “revival” ended so to speak. I looked for whom to blame. I wondered
to myself and aloud whether a minister’s sin had killed it. But what I know now
is that “revival” in the universal, overwhelming, uncontrolled since is not
meant to last. It really is meant to be a taste of what is possible. It is I
believe in so many ways a gift of a glimpse into the Kingdom of Heaven, but for
the presence to be lasting in the individual, the individual must discover God
and His kingdom outside the corporate environment. We must experience the failure
of the institution and edifice of church in order to be drawn to the overwhelming
manifested presence of God outside of it. And it really in the end is not even
an overwhelming manifested presence. In the end, as the Christian begins to “walk”
in the kingdom of God, it is nothing more than the awareness of what is already
there, namely Christ in you.
I don’t
think that I have many “regular” or “daily” followers of this blog that actually
view it on the web in its original content. If I do, no one seemed to ask why
the song selection for the last several posts has not changed? The reason is
what I write now.
In that time
of “revival” years ago the worship was about “come Lord.” It was asking God to
manifest, it was asking God to join. The preaching was about “getting God to
move.” Today those same songs almost bring a sadness to me because there is
such a deeper, ever present expression of God’s love and presence available all
day every day in any environment. He is there waiting for you and I to simply
be “aware” He is there. My prayer is not that God show up, my prayer is that He
would fill me up with this awareness. The Spirit is there. The “fire” is there. The "river" is there. My need is the awareness. My need is to be so filled up that my spiritual eyes
see nothing more than Him.
This is not
to say forsake the gathering of the saints, or in any way say church,
preaching, or corporate worship is unnecessary. After all, when Jesus’ parents
lost Him as a child where was He found? In Church Luke 2 tells us.
This
post has been on my heart some 9 days now, so why, and what' the point? I guess the point is that inside the
kingdom of God, or better said, in the awareness of the kingdom of God inside
of you there is a personal revival that not only rivals, but surpasses any
expression of the presence God in a corporate way. When you experience it, it
will be hard if not impossible to articulate. When you experience it, you will
mysterious encounter others who are experiencing it as well, and though neither
of you can communicate specifics you know that you share an experience. If you
are outside this experience then I think it begins with “Fill Me up.”
For those of
you are subscribed by e-mail I challenge you to go to the web version of this
post and listen to the worship attached as I know it doesn’t come through on
the e-mails. Or here is the link if you
are unable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JobolRMC_Bg
Matthew 28:20, "... and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
This exercise of practicing the presence of God is awesome. As a practical way of describing it; I would say that when something comes up that causes me concern, (about 8000 times a day) I pray a simple prayer. That prayer is:
Jesus, I don't want our relationship to be about You solving my issues. I just want to look You in the eyes and enjoy Your company. Help me to live in this moment of Your presence without worry for tomorrow or guilt from yesterday.
And low and behold the peace comes, the issue fades, and an awareness of His presence is sensed.
Likewise when I screw up, (about 5000 times a day) I do essentially the same thing. I pray something like this:
Jesus, I'm never going to get it right. I am sorry that I have_____ again. But I am so thankful for Your grace. I am thankful that You are with me always. Help to lift my head, look in Your eyes, and once again enjoy Your company.
Sounds crazy, but without fail the awareness of His presence has been instantaneous throughout. The past few days have been like a state of constant worship, with a goose bumps raising presence of God.
I still struggle with maintaining this awareness in my interactions with people. In fact, it is a best hit or miss, particularly when someone is pressing my buttons. But I am working on that. But for us all, I hope you begin to practice His presence if you never have. You will discover He is there 24/7, waiting for you to look Him in the eyes and just enjoy His company.
Matthew 28:20, “… I am WITH
YOU ALWAYS, even to the end of the age.”
