THE POWER AND THE PRESENCE
What do you desire most as a Christian?
"One thing have I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple." (Psalm 27:4)
Paul said, "Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death." (Philippians 2:7-10)
Besides the salvation that I have in Christ, I value the presence of God the most. "Do you value the power of God in your life? — that special touch of God for your life? — the anointing of God?" The answer is "yes, very much so." Of course I do. I could never do the ministry without it. I would quit the ministry if I knew that the hand of God is not on my life. However, the touch of God on my life is a result of the presence of God. It is the growth of my relationship with Him that will result in a growth of the anointing on my life.
The anointing or power of God is not a tool to toy with. It is not something to be used by anyone. It is not some exciting experience that is only a matter of feelings and thus short-lived. The anointing of God is a result of a great desire for the presence of God and is life changing. Having the power of God without a great desire for God is very dangerous. Why do you want the power of God? To build your own kingdom and reputation? Only when your heart is only for God that you will have the power of God.
That is why a pre-requisite of "gaining Christ" is to "count all things as loss." Only when I am willing to give up my own ambition and my own glorification, can I find the presence and power of God. Without this pre-requisite, then the power can become dangerous.
This is also how some of God's servants fall. They started off as a nobody. They really humble themselves before God and seek Him alone. After a while, their deep relationship with God became a great power in their lives as God's anointing is pour out in great abundance on them. They find themselves becoming powerful ministers. They become famous or in great demand. After a while, their ministry went to their head and their head begin to swell up. They thought that they were doing it. Their closeness to God diminished and so with their anointing and power. However, they cannot have this, so they began to fake it.
This is an idolatry world. People loves to worship idols. Successful ministers can be idolised by people and you will think that you are great. The devil is clever. Be careful of his tricks. People are afraid of adversity. However, I believe that the test of adversity is easier than the test of prosperity. In adversity, people always tends to turn to God. However, in prosperity, people tend to turn to themselves and be conceited. So it is for the minister of God. When a person is successful, then it is a greater test than when he is not. Give glory to God.
"I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols." (Isaiah 42:8)
Only when you abandon self, totally emptying yourself, can you be filled with God's presence. Then and only then will you find the power of God. For as His presence surrounds you, His power can begin to pour out of you.
Some people want the power of God. They want God to help them to be successful. They want the hand of God rather than His face. They want to do so many things for God, but these things become their sense of success or failure. If they cannot fulfill what they want to do for God, then they feel that they failed. They do not realise that these are work of God and only God can do His work. He will do it in His time.
"With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter 3:8).
God does things in His time and in His way. When God does it, a thousand years of work can be done in a day. When you feel it should be done in a day, God may take a thousand years, because it is like a day to Him. You are not God. He is God. Let God be God. This is what becoming a child is like. This is the secret to living in rest and quietness. This is the message of Psalm 131.
"I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me." (Psalm 131:1)
When we try to do what God only can do, or when we try to control how God is going to do His work or the timing thereof, then we start to seek the success of the work before seeing for God Himself.
When you are pleading and begging for the anointing for your ministry, then you may get irritated or disappointed when you do not see the answers. These people forget to seek God Himself. They do not spend time talking with God. They do not ask Him to be a daily, minute-by-minute part of their existence.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8).
The real need is to come to God and wanting to just walk with God. Come Holy Spirit, I want You to be my friend. I want to talk with You and I want You to talk to me. I value your presence. I want to have fellowship with You. I want a moment-by-moment relationship with You. When the Holy Spirit is surrounding you with His presence, then the anointing will flow.
So many people want the power of God, but fail to understand that it will not come until they first experience His presence. The presence of God is the vehicle that brings the power.
First the presence — this will result in the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Then the anointing — that is the power.
Then you will witness — the purpose of the anointing.
When Moses saw the glory of God and came to the presence of God, he descended with his face shining like a light. When you have an encounter with the presence of God, it may show on your face. However, it will certainly show in your conduct.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory." (2 Corinthians 3:17,18).
Your face and your life will announce to those around you, "I am different. I have been in the presence of God Almighty." Whereas you once were self-conscious and manifesting yourself, you will be God-conscious and manifest the fruit of God.
When Adam lost his God-consciousness and was stripped of the presence of God, he was filled with his own self-consciousness. Then he said, "I was afraid." He began to hide from God, his Friend and Creator. Fear is the first fruit of self-consciousness and boldness is the first result of God-consciousness. We are no longer forced to trust ourselves and our own strength. We are no longer fighting our own battles with our own strength. It all depends on God.
The first sin in human kind is "independence of God." God made us to be dependent creatures. When we become independent, we sin. Yes, I can make my own decision. Yes, I can be my own sufficiency.
Lucifer and his five-fold "I will." (Isaiah 14:13-15)
Eve and her decision to make decision independent of God.
Coming to the presence of God means that we go back to God's plan for man in the first place — to live in full dependence of Him.
You do not talk to your wife when you need her. You are supposed to have a relationship with her. It is the same with the Lord. You do not pray because you have a need. You pray all the time so that your fellowship can remain. You do not worship God when you have a meeting. Your life depends on your relationship with God — prayer and fellowship and worship. Not relationship, no anointing.
Paying The Price
The anointing in our ministry, the empowering for service, comes through paying the price. What is the price?
"O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory." (Psalm 63:1-2)
My body longs for You. We need to have our body longing for God. This longing will cost us a great deal. When we start to long for God, then all sorts of things happen: all we can think of is our guilt, our failures, our great needs. We find ourselves repeating ourselves over and over again and God seems a long way away. We wonder if we are accomplishing anything. We get sleepy and want to sleep or take a break. We want to go and get a drink. We want to listen to a worship album instead. Our body will cry out. We want to go the toilet. Anything to distract us and to stop us from longing for our God.
We need to deal with our flesh and learn to crucify our flesh. The more we persist, the less the flesh will disturb us. A death will begin. When the flesh is crucified, then you breakthrough into the presence of God. You begin to enjoy the presence of you Lord. This struggle happens every time you come before the presence of God. You need to get past your flesh into you soul. At that stage, you will begin to be satisfied by the water from the Lord.
"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Psalm 42:1,2).
Only God will satisfy the thirst in your soul. This thirst is real and this satisfying of your soul is real. It is not an example. It is not a concept. Only God can give you the water that will satisfy your soul. Yes, your soul can be satisfied.
When your soul finds the water that satisfies your thirst, then praise will erupt in you. This is when praise is genuine. It will become real. Things that you cannot thank God for will become beautiful. A deep trust wells up in your heart for God. You will come to a stage when you just receive. You may stop talking. You may stop singing. You are just drinking in God's love and His living water. You are not interested in what He can do for you. You are just interested in knowing Him more and more.
"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)
Those who experience the presence of God on a regular basis are those whom God will entrust with the anointing. Those who love Him. Those who put Him first and not His hand or the ministry.
This paying the price is what every person must decide. It is not a once for all or even every now and then experience. It is a daily thing. It is praying unceasingly. It is practising the presence of God. It takes a disciplining of the body and bringing it into subjection. God give us all the opportunity, but it is up to us to decide whether we want to.
When you experience the presence of God, seek His presence everyday. It does not just come through the laying on of hands. It is between the Lord and you. You can experience the presence of God in a real way everyday. His sweet presence and the bountifulness of His love, the great peace of security in Him, can be yours day by day. This is the centre from which power of your life will flow. This is the place of worship. This is the Holy of Holies.
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