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Steve Simms
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Is God Present? Really?
4 stars|10 comments|September 05, 2008|353 reads
 
18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.


There is something special about a gathering of Christian believers.  Jesus said that He would be present in our midst when we gather in His name.  That is a beautiful thought.  However, I think we believers have left that thought behind in our rush to hold meetings and do ministry.  Somehow we need to take the time to get beyond the thought of the Presence of Christ in our midst to the living reality of His Presence in our midst.  That requires three things:

1) Recognize His Presence!  Have you ever been in a house and thought you were alone, but someone else was in the house with you?  Maybe you started singing loudly, because you falsely believed you were alone.  Then as you walked around a corner, you suddenly saw the other person.  How embarrassing!  (Unless you are a great singer.)

When we are conscious of someone's presence, we we behave differently than if we believe we are alone.  We Christians need to become vitally conscious of God's Presence.  We don't need the definition of omnipresent.  We don't need the theory or doctrine of His Presence.  We need the intimate awareness of His Holy Presence, like Isaiah discovered in the sixth chapter of his book.  Until we personally recognize and experience Jesus in our midst, our church meetings will be dull -- dry bones scorching in the sun.

2) Appreciate His Presence!  When you get goose bumps and feel a sense of awe in worship, that is not just a psychological or religious experience.  You are experiencing the living God.  Don't write Him off.  Don't reject the supernatural actions of a supernatural God.  Don't explain your Holy experiences away.  Don't walk away from an encounter with the living God and say, "That was nice."  Appreciate God's company and revelation in your life.  Remember it.  Treasure it.  Cultivate it.  Passionately seek more encounters with Him.  Don't be satisfied with God's past Presence.  Cry out for His continual, manifest, Holy-goose-bump-producing Presence.

3)  Surrender to His Presence!  Don't quench the Spirit.  Don't resist.  Don't run away.  Don't keep a tight control on yourself and/or on the meeting you are in.  Surrender.  Let the Living Presence of Christ move you to tears.  Tear up the program.  Throw out the sermon.  Follow Mary's advice to the servants at the wedding in Cana:  "Whatever He says to you, do it."

If Christ is real and Christ is Present, He, Himself, can direct our meetings.  He, Himself, can instruct and direct our lives.  Why won't we allow Him to be the practical, day-to-day Head of His church, rather than a mere figurehead? 

 
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Cheryl Whit
 Cheryl Whit
September 05, 2008
Excellent brother!
Steve Simms
 Steve Simms
September 05, 2008
Thank you very much, Cheryl.
MarJay HizWay
 MarJay HizWay
September 05, 2008
I enjoyed this Steve...You know many people shy away from the Presence of God...In many of my poems I talk about come ..... and go with me into the Presence of God....Even the Bible says in the book of Psalms in His Presence is Fulness of Joy..and at His Right Hand are pleasures forever more...It's something about being in the Presence of God.....I used to lead Praise and Worship for years...and in doing so...I always loved to sing songs of Worship to usher in Gods Presence...Oh we know that this is a Faith Walk and serving God is not about feelings...but every now and then....I like to feel His Presence and as you said...we are to recognize His Presence and let HIM have His way....Forget the program....Forget the protocol....THE KING IS IN THE ROOM ;o)
Steve Simms
 Steve Simms
September 05, 2008
Amen, Mar Jay.  If we as believer's really do have access to the Presence of God, as the Bible teaches, what a sad thing it is that we don't continually worship and walk in His Presence.
Janet Delantes Hill
 Janet Delantes Hill
September 06, 2008
Hi Steve! I loved your blog and think you have a real depth of God - Im so blessed by you. I really do think God exists and like you say, he exists especially when believers gather together. I know it's a stupid question and im a bit ashamed to ask it in light of your amazing blog but I wanted to know - how did you leave spaces between your paragraphs? It made it so much easier to read and you wrote beautifully. I like to write (ALOT) but when I post my blog, it comes out in one HUGE paragraph and just looks awful. Any advice you have would be much appreciated. God bless you, Janet xx
Steve Simms
 Steve Simms
September 06, 2008
Thank you Janet.  I left a message at your home page.
Brandy
 Brandy
September 07, 2008

Thanks for sharing this. It reminds me of an excercise type thing we did at a retreat. Everyone had to  first draw a picture of what the door to their heart look like, they could embelish it however they thought it would look like (yes this was a woman's retreat) After doing that, we then sat back and closed our eyes and imagined that we opened the door and walked in and then what all of the rooms in our heart looked like, kinda like if your heart were your home. Was it bright and well lit and happy, was it dark and  sad. Mind was very open with lots of rooms, which all had doors, and everything looked okay. We sat there imagining what the inside of our heart looked like  for a few minutes. It was really kinda neat when you let yourself go with it and really start to imagine it. Then the person who was leading us through this said now you are standing in the main room of your heart and Jesus is standing there  with you. Well as soon as she said that many, many, doors in the rooms of my heart slammed shut. I was shocked. When she said Jesus was there, it was like someone was seeing my dirty laudry or cought me when my house was dirty. Why would I slam the doors when He was present, I was shocked at myself.

God showed me that I still had parts of my heart that I was keeping from Him and that it was time to bring Him in to all the parts of my heart, even the ones I was ashamed of.

This is a much longer reponse than I normally give, but it was a great reminder to keep Jesus in all parts of my life, no matter how small or how dirty I view them to be. 

thanks and I will try to keep it short in the future.

B

Steve Simms
 Steve Simms
September 07, 2008
Brandy:  Your experience illustrates the point that we all could have more of God's Presence if we would but clean up our life and our heart and surrender fully to Him.  Thanks for sharing.
lois_cowan
 lois_cowan
September 14, 2008
I trully like reading your blogs, they're one of the first things i go 2  Thanx :)
Steve Simms
 Steve Simms
September 14, 2008
Wow.  Thank you so much, lois_cowan.