PRESENCE OF GOD

Pr. James Victor Lubwama

Psalms 16:11 (NIV)

“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence”

We usually ask questions like, Pastor I have prayed, fasted, tithed, ministered, given to the poor and done every other thing a believer would do but there is no blessing in my life, is God discriminative?

Even when you go to a theological school and learn everything about the bible, its interpretation, history and other Aramaic meanings, there is only one thing that changes people’s lives, and that is the working power of the Almighty God. What causes God’s principles to work? What causes prayers to be answered? What brings transformation? What causes the anointing to flow? It’s that one thing - the presence of God.

What brings Transformation?
People have read and studied the bible more extensively; they pray a lot and fast more frequently but there is no breakthrough or blessing. So I inquired from the Lord what the problem is; do people pray badly or they don’t pray enough? And He answered me that; what makes the difference is My presence. One time Moses told God in Exodus 33:15 (NIV) that; 

“If your presence does not go with us, don’t send us up from here.” 

Moses knew that if the presence of the Lord didn’t go with them, they wouldn’t take possession of the Promised Land. God’s presence is so profound and powerful and Moses knew that it’s the only thing that can make a difference. He goes ahead to say in Exodus 33:16 (GW) that; 

“How will anyone ever know you’re pleased with your people and me unless you go with us? Then we will be different from all other people on the face of the earth.” 

It's only God's presence that can make a difference! If anyone is in the presence of God, he or she can prophesy even though he or she is not a prophet. 1 Samuel 10:10-11(NLT) says; 

“When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them. Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he too, began to prophesy. 11 When those who knew Saul heard about it, they exclaimed, “What? Is even Saul a prophet? How did the son of Kish become a prophet?” 
The presence of God transformed Saul into a prophet; whenever you dwell in the presence of God, things change - there is life in the presence of God

God’s presence is not only about singing songs; the Christian principles we do – fellowship, offering, fasting praying among others, other people have done many times and at greater heights than us but with no results, and they even think diabolically about us, but in the end, we know that what brings about the difference is the presence of God. God’s presence brings joy, peace, causes your faith to grow, leads to a purposeful life and makes people wise. 

The Psalmist says in 16:11 (NIV) that; 

“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

The Garden, Tabernacle and Cross

From the beginning, God desired to dwell among His people, and after creating man and placing him in the garden of Eden, he visited him everyday; and the day Adam sinned, He had gone there to converse with him – for God desired to be with human beings and when that plan failed after the fall of man, he invited Moses, gave him a plan and instructed him to construct a tabernacle - it was the house of God’s presence. God instructs Moses in Exodus 25:8-9 (NLT) that; 

“Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”

He didn’t stop there because that was just a shadow, so He went ahead to do something real in the New Testament by sacrificing His only son. After shedding his blood, he decided to cleanse his temple – your body. The blood washed away your sins and thereafter He descended to dwell in you; so ever since you became born-again, God decided to dwell in your heart in the form of the Holy Spirit - all in pursue of dwelling among His people. Though He gave us the Holy Spirit, he is not contented. He again said, let me go and prepare a place for them where I am. I will come back and fetch them. The church is in transit, we are here for a moment but a time will come for us to go where the Father is - heaven. God desires for His children to be with him and to dwell with him, He has enough space for all the seven billion people on earth if they believe and accept him as their Lord and Saviour.

What drives away God’s presence?

1 Samuel 2:29-30 (GW) says; 
“Why do you show no respect for my sacrifices and grain offerings that I have commanded people to make in my dwelling place? Why do you honour your sons more than me by making yourselves fat on the best of all sacrifices offered by my people Israel? 30 “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel declares: I certainly thought that your family and your father’s family would always live in my presence. “But now the LORD declares: I promise that I will honour those who honour me, and those who despise me will be considered insignificant.”

One of the things that drives away the presence of God is walking contrary to God’s ways. There was a time when God’s presence departed from the children of Israel. Eli’s children sinned (1 Samuel 2:12-36) but Eli as the chief priest continued performing his duties without rebuking or rectifying his sons. There are things we have done as ministers, they are useful and seem to work for us but in reality they are no longer impactful; Many times we substitute righteousness for ministry; we serve a lot, always busy but when our souls are decaying yet God is more interested in your soul than your service. We think that because we are always ministering it’s by default that God’s presence is still in us which is in error. When David realized that he had sinned, he cried out to the Lord in Psalms 51:11 (NLT) and said; 

“Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.”

The devil hates God’s presence; when someone becomes born-again, the first thing he or she gets is God’s presence – Holy Spirit. How do you feel it? You feel at peace, it comes not because you have no debt or sickness or problems; it’s not attached to any condition but comes because of the Holy Spirit is in you; even your mind queries it but its God breathed - the peace comes because the Prince of Peace is available. However, that peace and presence of God departs the moment you sin, it ceases at that moment. All the spiritual things you used to do become a burden - you used to pray but it becomes a struggle; you used to give knowing that you are sowing but that discernment is no more; you used to fellowship and minister but that passion is watered down and, in that state all things you do are computed – you do as your minds thinks not as you are convicted, all that happens because the Holy Spirit that used to convict and instruct you departed.

The devil came with one purpose in the Garden of Eden. What? To drive man away from the presence of God. He was jealous because he had been cast away from God’s presence, so he purposed to throw discord among men. The devil is always scheming for something to drive away God’s presence from your life. God’s presence has left most people and the things we do are mind driven not convicted by the Spirit of God.

What stops things from working? It’s the presence of God, because when He departs, you begin to struggle - the Almighty unlimited God who used to be in control is gone and all that is left is regulated limited you. When you are in God’s presence, you must watch and guard yourself so that the devil doesn’t manipulate you. Not being in the presence of God is correlated to being outside the watch of the Pastor because when the devil attacks, he does so happily knowing no one will chase him because the pastor who has a rod and staff is nowhere. The rod guides the sheep – you, and the staff hits and chases the wolves and lions that attack sheep.

So in plotting his attack in the Garden of Eden, the devil knew that two are better than one (in case of trouble, one warns or protects the other) so he never tried to attack Adam and Eve when they were together; however he attacked Eve when she was alone. Pride engulfed her and she made a decision without Adam’s knowledge. The woman represents the church - bridal congregation and the man represents the five-fold ministries. So be informed that the devil is going to try to cast you away from God’s presence and you are going to overcome him by seeking counsel from your spiritual father. Before doing anything, know whether it’s in the will of God or not and by doing so you shall be skipping all the plots of the enemy, because had Eve consulted Adam before eating of the forbidden fruit, what happened wouldn’t have happened

When Adam and Eve were still in the Garden of Eden – God’s presence, there was no sickness, suffering, death or poverty; all the suffering started after the departure of God’s presence. The devil wants you to lose things God has given you, he wants you to depart from the abundant purposeful life that is why his priority mission is to steal, kill and destroy.

Another sin the devil uses to take away God’s presence is fornication and adultery. All other sin is done outside the body except for those two and, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit where God dwells. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NKJV) teaches; 

“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

There is nothing that has chased God’s presence like adultery and fornication. When a born-again person fornicates, it brings chases away God’s presence. As a believer, keep walking in the narrow road which leads you to eternal life but the wide road leads to destruction. Flee from situations that cause you to sin so that God’s presence remains in you. Don’t compromise lest you will be compromised. James 4:7 (MSG) teaches; 

“So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the devil and watch him scamper.”

One thing I liked about David is his humbled broken heart. After realizing that he had sinned, he confessed, repented and pleaded with God not to take away His presence from him, and that is why Psalms 51 is titled – a prayer for forgiveness or a prayer of repentance.

Now and Before

In God’s presence many outstanding things happen; Apostles sang and prison gates opened (Acts 16:25) Joseph was sold into slavery, imprisoned but turned out victorious and purposeful. Why? Because in both cases God’s presence was with them

When I was growing up in the late 80’s, the church and its set up was not modern as it is now. The structures were made of papyrus and the musical instruments were basically local drums, but the church was on fire. There were many prophesies, great revelations, revival and the testimonies were boundless. But what has taken away God’s presence and saving hand? Is God the same yesterday, today and forever? Yes. Where did that power go? Is it no more? God’s mighty power still exists because He changes not, however, His power and gifts operate only in His presence; miracles and breakthrough can only happen where His presence dwells, because where the presence of God is, the anointing overflows.

God doesn’t want to depart from us but it always starts with us. Why do people who have been influential wind up weak after sometime? Why is it that the things we did initially used to descend God but when done now there is no impact? One of the causes is disobedience.

Why are cults on the rise? There is no longer power in some born-again churches; and why has the power ceased? Because the presence of God is not there! So what keeps the believers in church? Promises, good music, nice buildings and a sense of belonging

Let’s look at our gospel musicians today. They compose songs and within a range of one or two years they have faded yet the hymns composed in the 18^th and 19^th century are still relevant? The latter wrote the songs in God’s presence and the songs came with anointing; that is why they have relevantly lasted. For them it wasn’t about putting out another album to make money but they composed songs to glorify and magnify the Lord. Our grandparents and parents sang songs like Amazing Grace (1779), It is well with my soul (1876), O Holy Night (1847), How Great Thou Art (1885), and even up to now we still sing such songs of worship and I know that our great grandchildren will sing them.

Godly principles do not work minus his presence; His word doesn’t work minus his presence. After Jesus commissioned the eleven disciples in Mark 16, He didn’t leave them but He went out with them confirming the word - He went out with them not physically but spiritually. Mark 16:20 (TLB) affirms; 

“And the disciples went everywhere preaching, and the Lord was with them and confirmed what they said by miracles that followed their messages.”

You need the presence of God in your life