ABIDING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Saint’s, we are a habitation of God, a walking... talking... breathing temple of the God who chooses to indwell the hearts of His children. The Holy Spirit of God Himself, a comforter identical to Jesus, lives within our bodies of flesh, manifesting the Christ-Life within. Christ is within us and we are within Him, baptized into His body, and Christ is in the Father and the Father is in Him... He and God are one. We are within Christ in the Father… we are in the Father! The Father is within Christ in us… the Father is in us! Picture a glass filled with sea water then submerged into the ocean. We – I, you, and every saint of God -- are the glass, and the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- are the ocean... we are filled by God and submerged in God. God occupies and envelopes His temple… our physical bodies. We don’t need a visitation from God... He is here. We don’t need the Holy Spirit to come... He is here. We don’t need to seek God’s presence... He is ever present. “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” We exist saturated by and surrounded with the presence of God.

In Psalm 139 David ponders the impossibility of separation from God’s omnipresence... wonders at His omniscience... marvels at His omnipotence. Our God is everywhere, knows everything, and has infinite power. Remember the old Invisible Man movies, where the Invisible Man puts clothes on to be seen. It’s just that way with God. He is always present with us and sometimes clothes Himself with our feelings so we can “see” – perceive -- Him. Feelings are a product of our emotions... but God’s abiding presence is an indisputable fact for the born-again Spirit-filled saint of God. Seeking God’s presence is Old Covenant, but in the New and Better Covenant we acknowledge God’s abiding presence: Whether we feel anything or not... He is with and in us! We should be comforted we are filled and surrounded by such a God. We should be star-struck with awe and wonder that our God chooses to dwell in us. We should rejoice that we are never ever alone... never ever forsaken. The enemy wants to rob us of the peace and joy of dwelling in the presence of God, But God’s presence is our inheritance... our birthright, and we must claim it to walk in it. We should proclaim, by faith, that we walk in the abiding presence of God... for we do. God is with us... always with us!

SATURATED BY AND SURROUNDED WITH GOD

(1 Cor. 7:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:16; Acts 17:28; Jn. 14:10-11, 20, 23; Jn. 15:4-5; Jn. 17:21, 23; 1 Jn. 4:13, 15; Ps. 139; Eph. 1:13; 4:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3-4)