Day #2 - What is the Presence?
The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder
“But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”
Psalms 73:28 NIV
Have you ever heard someone refer to the Presence as an “it?”
“There we were worshipping and the presence, it just came right in the room…”
There seems to be a trend where Christians speak about the presence of God as an impersonal force that creates a special physical sensation of goosebumps, being hugged by a friend or enveloped in a warm blanket. Now there is a mystical reality to experiences with God that become tangible but we need to understand what happens in a God encounter.
As the Psalmist said above, “It is good to be near God.” The nearness of God’s presence is always the nearness of His person. To have an encounter with the presence of God is to have an encounter with Him. “The presence” is Him. “The presence” is Him being close to us.
When we have made God our refuge or dwelling place we draw near to Him. Being near Him is experiencing His presence.
If I were to say I was in the presence of a famous athelete and I only watched him from across a crowded arena, I would be somewhat distorting the facts. But if I were to share a meal at a table with that athelete, I could honestly say I was in his presence.
The Bible teaches that God is omnipresent or everywhere present. But in Psalm 73 we learn about God’s nearness or His manifest presence. While God is everywhere, He manifests Himself to those who want to be near.
Do you want Him? To be close to Him? Then you want “The Presence,” His manifest presence.
Father God, it is good to be near you. I declare that you are my refuge. I want to grow in my awareness of your presence. I want to be a person of The Presence. Manifest yourself to me that I might be near you. I want more of you. In Jesus name, Amen.