IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD
OUR MEETING 3-3-17
2 Chronicles
7:14 14 If
my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
God is saying, stop seeking His benefits and seek Him. We are not to seek
His hands, but seek his face.
If you’re not where you need to be this is a good time to get right with
God. He only cares about your answer to one question, “do you want Me?”
God is coming back to repossess the church and there is only one thing
that stops Him… he is not going to pour out his spirit where he doesn’t find
hunger for His presence.
Not being hungry for Him has forced people to live without Him in His
fullness. He will only come when you are ready to turn it all over to him. But
you have to be hungry.
Matthew 3:1-2 In those days came John the
Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repentance
prepares the way and makes the road of our hearts straight. Repentance builds
up every low place and takes down every high place in our lives, church, and
families.
Repentance also
prepares us for his presence. In fact, you cannot live in His presence without
repentance. Repentance permits pursuit of His presence.
It builds
the road for you to get to God, (or for God to get to you). How long has it
been since you laid aside everything that ever occupied you and ran down the
road of repentance to pursue God.
When you
pursue God with all your heart, soul and body, he will turn to meet you and you
will come out of it ruined for the world.
If you are
hungry for God, I have a promise from the Lord for you. He said, blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6
Our problem
is that we have never really been hungry, so I am not asking what do you know
about Him, I am asking you do you know Him.
When people
get just a little touch of God mixed with a lot of something that’s not God, it
turns them against the real thing. People don’t sense Gods presence in our
gatherings because its just not there.
People have
come to the churches time and again only to find too much man and too little of
God there.
Over and
over we talk about the glory of God covering the earth. But how is it going to
flow through the streets of our cities if it can’t even flow down the aisles of
our churches?
If Gods
glory can’t flow through the aisles of the church because of seducing spirits
and manipulating men, God will turn and go somewhere else.
Matthew 5:6 6 Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
No matter what you need or feel you lack in your life, what you really
need is the presence of God and the way to get it is to get hungry for it.
If we can get hungry, then He can make us holy. There has to be more than
what we are seeing. One reason I know there is more is because of those who
have encountered more.
Once you experience God in His glory, you can’t turn away from him or
forget his touch. There will be a driving passion in your heart that will
whisper to your spirit like nothing you have ever dreamed of.
You will say I know there is more, the reason I know there’s more is
because of those who have encountered “the more”
And we are never the same after our experience with the Lord.
Once you have had a “God encounter” you will never rebel against God. That
is why Paul said, “I know whom I have believed”.
10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel:
11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a
teacher of the Gentiles.
12 For the which cause I also suffer
these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day.
It seems
that believers have more of a “man encounter” with our programs and bi-laws,
than a “God encounter” with the unforgettable Majesty and power of the Almighty
God.
What believers
need is a Damascus road experience like “Saul or Paul” encountered with Jesus himself.
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And
the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks.
Churches and
most believers want to see the manifest presence of God in their life, however
for divine reasons, God chooses to reveal himself more strongly in one place
than another.
One reason
is; are the people seeking His face, because His presence and his favor flows
wherever His face is directed.
God told all
his people for generations that if they would seek his face and turn from their
wicked ways, “then” he would hear from them and heal their land.
The only
thing that is going to turn the favor of God toward us is our hunger for Him.
Psalms 32:8 8 I will instruct thee
and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
God is present with you and other believers in a worship service, but how
long has it been since your hunger caused you to crawl up in Gods lap.
To reach up and take the face of God to turn it toward you, that’s what
God desires, His face is what we should be our highest focus.
When the anointing of God rests on human flesh it makes everything flow
better. The purpose of the anointing is not to make man like you but to make
the “King like you”.
The anointing, whether it falls on us individually or on a congregation during
a service, is not the end.
The purpose of the anointing is to help us make the transition from flesh
to glory. When the glory of God comes, our flesh will be so weakened by His
presence that it is un-necessary for man to do anything other than behold Him in
His glory.
We want God to change the world, but he cannot change the world until he
can change us. In our present state, we are in no position to affect anything.
But something is happening in the body of Christ. More and more of us are
unwilling to play the old religious games.
Something like a warrior spirit is rising up within us.
Time and time again we ask, why can’t I win my friends to the Lord, why doesn’t
my family members seem interested in God?
The answer may shock you, but the reason people who know you aren’t
interested in your God may be because you don’t have enough of the presence of
God in your life.
No matter what you do, without His presence, you will be just another somebody
to those around you.
Our churches are filled with people who want Gods things, but not more of
God. They want revival but not the reviver. They want the hand of God but not
the Face of God.
Christians are not hungry for God. They want all His blessings, they want
all His gifts, they want the best portion, they want, they want, they want. But
they won’t turn from their own way of thinking.
God wants us to seek His presence and seek His face and to get serious
about Him. At the end of the day we most likely manufacture memorized words,
lay back in His presence just long enough to say our memorized string of words
and deliver our wish list.
Then we Jump up and run off to continue our frustrated rat race lives. Often,
we never seem to find that place of perfect peace.
All God wants us to do is seek Him and trust Him. He is waiting to
receive our most intimate worship and praise.
He has set before you an open door, but you will have to face Him. You cannot
back your way into the door of eternity, you have to walk through the door.
I am not saying this because you don’t know Gods word, on the contrary, I
am saying this because the Lord wants to develop a new level of intimacy with
His people.
He wants us to know Him, not just about Him. When will we hear Gods still
small voice saying, will you just love me?
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