The Power of the Presence
God is always with us. He does not come and go in our lives. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. He is with us always. Therefore, we don’t need a visitation from God. We don’t have to invite Him into our situation. We don’t have to make a journey into His presence. If we know this truth, we don’t even have to seek the Lord because we have an awareness that He is with us always.
I used to think that His presence was conditional upon my ability to pray or worship or clean up my life. But now, because of His goodness and grace, I wake up knowing He is there the first moment I open my eyes. I don’t have to try to do something spiritual in order to enter into His presence. God wants us to be aware that He is with us continually.
It doesn’t mean our minds can’t be on other things. We can be busy working, with our mind focused on what’s in front of us, but we can have a general awareness that God is with us and we are not alone. Then, if we need help in a time of need, we have instant access. We can turn to God and find grace to help us. I’m so glad He didn’t leave us helpless. He is always our ever-present help in time of trouble.
When we believe in the amazing grace of God, it gives us faith that He is with us.
Moses totally believed in God and had seen Him do amazing things, but at one point, he told the Lord that he still needed to know that God’s presence would be with him. God said He would help Moses to know and that He would show Him all of His goodness. So when Moses saw all of the goodness of the Lord, he came away confident that God would be with him in the days ahead. He could take the Israelites into the Promised Land because He had all the help that he needed.
Jesus came to us and for us as Emmanuel, God with us. Because He is with us, and we are with Him, we are the righteous and we have confidence and assurance perpetually. What a wonderful salvation! We are not alone!
The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. (Isaiah 32:17)