What is the Presence of God?
Today, I will touch on many things that we will go deeper into at the Tuesday night Bible study.
So bring your questions.
Describing the presence of the Lord, the presence of the Holy Spirit, is one area we’ll always fail to do well.
It’s really an impossible task. Words will always fall short. Perhaps that’s why we have a prayer language and can worship in the Spirit.
Think about the way the church describes an encounter with God: saying, “God showed up / the power of God fell / the anointing fell on me, it was so strong / or… Come Holy Spirit /or… We need a fresh outpouring / there was a move of God / there was a glory cloud…”
We use these all the time, and yet none of these fully capture what’s happening – but God knows what we mean. You can’t blame someone for trying to put it into words. And we will still continue to try.
He’s not offended that we can’t articulate the unseen realm. And it’s not wrong to use these terms, but often the language we use in the church leads us to misunderstand what’s happening in the spirit realm around us.
God is everywhere, right? If God is everywhere, then what is God’s presence….? What is God’s voice…?
God’s “everywhereness”, his omnipresence, is pretty much accepted by everyone who believes in God.
Think about this: To say confidently that God doesn’t exist somewhere on the earth or in heavens Or doesn’t speak to someone else, you yourself have to be everywhere at once just to confirm that he’s not there, and not speaking. So, in order to be 100% atheist – you have to be…. God..??
Maybe it’s just more honest to say that you’re ignoring him. Just saying…
The natural, carnal mind is proficient and practiced at dismissing the voice of God.
This is why in Romans 12 we are told to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The renewed mind learns to listen.
You’ve heard me say it before:
The renewed mind may not understand everything that the Holy Spirit does, but it knows enough not to resist.
In John 12, Yeshua is being followed by a large crowd. We know this because it tells us in –
John 12:19
the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
John 12:27-30
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Notice – God the Father spoke audibly for a large crowd to hear.
Some said it thundered – interpreting God’s voice as a natural event.
Others said an angel was speaking to him – interpreting God’s voice as supernatural, but impersonal.
Even with God’s audible voice speaking for them to hear, most of them still misunderstood what it was.
Let’s discuss 4 levels of interacting with the Holy Spirit, or four groups of people.
There are undoubtedly more than four, but this is provided for illustrative purposes only.
Perhaps you could call these layers of intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
1. So, most people will admit that God is everywhere. Although, They have yet to meet him.
2. Then, some have a relationship with God. These have been born again.
These are filled with the Spirit of God.
3. And a certain portion of those – regularly experience overt manifestations of interacting with the Holy Spirit. (worship, raising your hands, repentance, falling or kneeling under the influence of the Holy Spirit, weeping, singing the song of the Lord, laughing, and of course many more.)
These are touched by the Spirit of God.
All of these expressions are spontaneous, voluntary responses to the nearness of the Lord.
I say voluntary because, again, because the natural mind is proficient at stifling these expressions by reasonings such as: (“What will people say, I’ll look silly, I don’t want to get too emotional, I don’t want to draw attention to myself.”)
The fear of man can sound just like humility, when it’s actually just resisting the Holy Spirit.
The renewed mind learns to listen.
4. Then, there are those who have paid the price to become fully aware of God‘s presence. They have learned how to draw near to God.
James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
These are people who have learned to touch the Spirit of God. To move the Holy Spirit.
Remember, we’ve learned that God is touched by our need, but he is moved by our faith.
Smith Wigglesworth is quoted as saying, “If the Holy Spirit is not moving, then I will move the Holy Spirit.” Either that is just arrogant, or he knew that the Holy Spirit is moved by our faith. And it appears he had the evidence to back up that statement.
Just like the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5 who knew she would be healed if she touched the hem of Yeshua’s garment.
There is a faith that comes not from striving but from surrender, that moves the heart of God.
This is the world of supernatural faith. He’s calling us into this world.
Experiencing the presence of God is simply becoming aware of his nearness.
We might call that the “manifest presence” of God.
We tend to say that the Holy Spirit “manifested himself”, But in reality you just became aware of his nearness.
The relationship with the Holy Spirit is – on one hand the most intimate relationship you’ll ever have – and on the other hand the most mysterious relationship you’ll ever have.
Like Pastor Jack said last week, (faith, hope, love) ”You can’t love God without God.” We can’t even begin to relate to the father without the Holy Spirit.
“It’s better for you that I go away…”
With that in mind, let’s listen in to something Yeshua told his disciples a few hours before he was crucified:
John 16:7
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
Notice: “…it is to your advantage that I go away…” (Gr: expedient, profitable, more efficient, to your benefit.)
He was saying to them: “It’s better for you that I go away…”
We all know what happened by looking back, but imagine that moment for the disciples who had walked with him all this time.
It would sound like heresy unless the Lord himself had not said it.
Imagine the life of the disciples up to this point: Living day-to-day with the Lord himself —
time to interact in every way with Yeshua in person – close enough to see him laugh and cry – getting to know his facial expressions – watching his intense focus and determination – able to hear him privately explain the parables and tell stories – able to share their deepest desires and fears and see him smile knowingly as he encouraged each one!
Just being around him made these ordinary Jewish men and women feel significant and purposeful.
Then he says, essentially:
“Guys, you know ALL that we shared….? All that is inferior to being filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.” “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
In John 5, Yeshua said he could do nothing without the father.
In John 14 he tells them, “…whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
In John 15, he told the disciples they could do nothing without him.
Then in John 16, he told them he was going away. That must have been a stressful mystery to work through.
I’ve learned that God will only give us revelation to the level that we trust him in his mystery.
Oddly enough, the understanding we need comes by faith.
Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith we understand…
The Holy Spirit is calling us, inviting us, into his world, a world of supernatural faith. If we’re going to interact with him it must be on his terms.
So yes, God is everywhere – that is his omnipresence. He is all powerful – that is his omnipotence.
He is unchanging -that is his immutability. He knows all things – that is his omniscience.
He is the uncreated Creator, the eternal King of the universe.
…. and yet he desires intimacy with us by his indwelling Holy Spirit. How will you describe a relationship like that?
Overwhelmed by the Holy nature of the Father.
The very moment you were born again you received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You don’t receive a ‘partial’ Holy Spirit or a “child’s portion”, you get all of him – all at once. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is your surrender fully to the Holy Spirit within. Baptism is immersion into the nature of God’s Spirit that lives within you. Immersion is choosing to be overwhelmed by the holy nature of the Father.
From that moment on…. we learn to express the holiness of God by the renewing of our mind (as mentioned in Romans 12:2), by abiding in him (as mentioned in John 15:4), by operating in his power (as mentioned in Luke 10:19), and by operating in his authority (as mentioned in Matthew 10:1).
All this is because of our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Even when we talk about spiritual growth, it’s not that your spirit is growing. Your spirit is already filled with the Holy Spirit and in complete harmony with the will of God. It’s already mature. Spiritual growth is essentially the process where the rest of our being, soul and body, catch up with what the spirit already knows to be true.
Your spirit already knows who you are, and as your mind is renewed you begin to realize who you are in Christ.
“It’s not an issue of you getting more of the Holy Spirit, it’s a matter of the Holy Spirit getting more of you.”
