GOD’S ABIDING PRESENCE

The results of the abiding presence of God are described by David in Psalm 36:7-9.  He begins by giving the evidence that you are experiencing His abiding presence when he says, “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God”!   Only those who are near to God can understand what the psalmist refers to here since he is speaking by experience and revelation.  The benefits David lists include the protection and comfort God brings by being under the shadow of His wings.  He says there is abundant satisfaction in our life because we are receiving the fullness of all that God has to offer.  Our soul is satisfied, content, and joyful because we are drinking from God’s river of pleasures.  And all that pertains to life is given to us by His fountain of love and grace, all that is of the realm of darkness is driven away because we are living in His light.

In my Sunday message I spoke about the three kinds of presence available to us.  The first is a false presence.  It is false because it is temporary, uncertain and cannot be duplicated or revisited.  The Holy Spirit impressed me that for the believer, the false presence primarily comes from the three M’s.  Money, man, and machines.  All of these offer a “presence” but it is a false presence.  A windfall of money can bring the presence of excitement, relief, empowerment, or value.  An important person or celebrity can bring us the presence of feeling enamored, giddy, safe, or self-important.  A machine can have a presence of feeding our ego, feeling important, feeling empowered, or prideful.  But none of these will give us a lasting presence like we can have from God. 

The second kind of presence is a fading presence.  This is a presence that comes from the One who is eternal and certain, but it is fading.  This is the presence of God that comes from experiences with God.  It is mentioned in II Corinthians 3:7 and Exodus 34:29 where we read the account of Moses whose face would glow after spending time with God.  It says, “though the brightness was already fading away”.  This presence is fading because came from an experience with God and is not the same as the indwelling, abiding, and lasting presence of God.   Many believers in the Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Full Gospel movement of God are familiar with the fading presence of God.    At a church service, a Christian seminar, a revival meeting, or a Christian concert they may experience a tremendous touch from God through the Holy Spirit.  There may be tears, shaking, falling down, and shouting but it is due to a spiritual experience with God and the feelings and manifestations of it will fade. 

The third kind of presence is the forever, abiding presence.  II Corinthians 3:16-18 tells us, "Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."  It is the indwelling, transforming, work of the Holy Spirit that gives us the abiding presence of the Lord.  This is why it is important that we embrace that which invites the Holy Spirit to be in us and near us, and we resist that which quenches, grieves, or drives the Holy Spirit from us.  I encourage you to do a spiritual homework assignment and grab a concordance, looking up the Scriptures that deal with quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit.  Make it a habit to resist them steadfastly.  I believe God is calling the Body of Christ to hunger and thirst after His abiding presence in the season we are in as a nation and as the people of God. If we seek Him, we will find Him.  If we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.  In the presence of the Lord there is freedom, liberty, pleasures, light and life.