Exodus 33:14-17 NKJV 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
Jeremiah 23:24 God declares, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
The last words Jesus spoke to His disciples in the Book of Matthew speak of His continual presence with His believers.
Matthew 28:19-20 KJV Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
But is the degree of that presence always at the same level or intensity?
Somehow many find it easy to see our Father God from a casual view point even though there is practically no scriptural references that support that. You might hear, “I call Him Papa,” or “The big man upstairs.”
Common sense and life shows that the more time you spend with even a supervisor, the more comfortable you feel with them so you begin to loosen up and become more at ease around them. Conversations will often become casual too over time.
An example of this is adult children and parents that spend a lot of time together finding it easier to trade off casual criticisms against one another. Where as, the adult child and parent that are together less frequently will be more restrained before saying something that could be seen in an offensive or disrespectful way.
Compare that thought to the description of the angels that appear around the throne of Father God and have been in His presence since eternity. Consider they have NEVER sinned and yet they feel unworthy to look upon Him. With two wings they cover their face, with two wings they cover their feet, with the other two wings they fly and constantly say Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Everyone else around God’s throne is usually on their face, prostrate in humility before Holy God too!
John, the beloved disciple that spent a few years with Jesus, and others, when they saw Jesus after His resurrection, even they fell in awe at His feet to worship Him.
Scriptures say God is omnipresent, He is everywhere in the world. There is NO Place that He is not there may be considered the “Essential Presence” of God.
Psalm 139:7-10 says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
So if God is “everywhere” even beside me as I write this, why am I not on my face in reverential fear and awe. Like it says of the presence of God in the tabernacle, at times being so great that Moses or the priests could not enter in.
In times of revival, the manifest presence of God will have “Arresting Power” to cause people to repent of sins and plead for His Mercy. Great fear of an eternity in hell grips them and they usually have no strength to stand as many revival accounts describe. The Holy Holy Holy manifest presence of God causes men and demons to tremble in fear.
Growing up Catholic, we had a reverence when we entered the House of God. You whispered if you talked at all in church. Today in most pentecostal churches it’s like any other common gathering before the service begins. People act like they’re at the ball park waiting for the game to begin. Conversations I’ve heard before the church service started shouldn’t have been spoken even in private. Recently a man felt comfortable to tell me and my wife, “I told my daughter, don’t think of using your private parts to manipulate your soon to be husband,” just before service started. TOO MUCH INFO!!!
Surely the manifest presence of God wasn’t present then to bring conviction of unfruitful speech like that and produce a reverential fear that God was there in the midst. Then when the worship and praise starts it’s like flipping on a light switch. Ok God, we’re ready now, come in your manifest presence, in a mighty way and minister to the needs and desires of “your people.” In God’s Mercy and Grace He pities us a shows up at times. I wonder, how greatly would Father God manifest His Glorious presence if the entire congregation had given the “reverential respect” due Him for being in the presence of a Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty once entering the “House of God.”
Most people will act very respectful and disciplined in a court of law as soon as the judge enters the courtroom and he is only a man. Think About It.
Coram Deo – In Christ we become friends of God (John 15:12–15; James 2:23), but this is no casual friendship like we have with other human beings. The Lord is to be treated reverently by His friends, and if we do not regard His dignity and majesty, then we are not truly His friends. God is our friend, but He is not our pal, and we must take care in how we approach Him. He is worthy of all honor and glory, so may we never forget that.
Then there’s the difference of what goes on in our country and our world in these modern times. There was a time people feared God and didn’t do things in public and around Godly people so that their sinful ways would be known. People did those things in the cover of darkness, behind closed doors. Shame and guilt was in effect where obviously shameful acts and sin occured. Today adultery, gay pride parades, pro abortion parades and a lot of other things never done in the open are openly done, laughed about and no one fears the judgment of God over it.
Is it that God doesn’t care and turns His head in shame or has He withdrawn from us, from our nation and many parts of the world. The symbol of the Holy Spirit has always been a dove. From Noah’s ark, to Jesus being baptised a dove represented God’s Holy Spirit. A dove is a very skittish bird, easily spooked and scared away. There are scriptures that warn us not to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit. But I think many people don’t worry about that too much because of these Bible verses.
Deuteronomy 31:6 KJV Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5 KJV Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
While the verse from Deuteronomy is similar to the one in Hebrews, there is a caveat. Deuteronomy chapter 28 lays out about 12 blessings in verses 1-14, of God upon Israel if they “hearken” to His ways. Then it lays out about 50 grievous curses in verses 15-68 that will befall them if they rebel against God’s ways and do it their ways.
King David, in his wisdom and experience of dealing with Father God told his son this before he passed away,
I Chronicles 28:9 NKJV “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
Solomon, the wisest man in the world, was only one of many kings of Judah and Israel that didn’t harken to the Words of God. God did exactly as David warned many times in Israel’s history. During its long history, Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice. Then didn’t even exist as a nation for almost 2,000 years.
America was once a very great and very wealthy nation. It had high ideals and principles, much of it founded on the Word of God and it’s principles. Today our national debt has reached 22 trillion dollars. Many countries are taking jabs at our greatness as a nation and questioning our economic worth calling for the removal of the U.S. dollar as the World Currency Standard.
Trillion, billion, and million just roll off our tongue without a clue of how enormous an amount of money we are talking about. Spending $1 million an hour, non-stop for 24 hours a day, you wouldn’t run out of $1 trillion for 411 years. Times 22 = 9,042 years. If you believe the Genesis account of creation, that’s a third longer than man has existed on earth.
Fox Business February 13, 2019 (5 min.)
Maybe our twisting the arms of impoverished nations to accept and promote the LGBT agenda in exchange of receiving economic aid is lifting God’s hand of blessing and protection from our great nation.
Cultural Imperialism of W.H.O. (32 min.)
Maybe you say that was past administrations. Nope!
Trump Administration Pushes Worldwide Decriminalization of Homosexuality (2 min.)
On the church and personal levels we should and must seek to have an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father through Yeshua, Jesus Christ His Son. This would be considered the “Cultivated Presence” of God. On a national level America has NOT Hearken to the voice of God and it appears the restraining power of sin by the conviction of the Holy Spirit is NOT Evident as it once was.
One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord , And to inquire in His temple.
Psalms 27:4 NKJV
The similarities of the rise and fall of nations throughout history has been studied by historians and economists and a definite pattern is evident. The first video is a generalized view from a historical viewpoint. The second is a comparative view from some respected economists of our time. In our lifetime Zimbabwe’s peak month of inflation was estimated at 79.6 billion percent in mid-November 2008. Forbes said Venezuela’s annual inflation rate at the end of 2018 was 80,000%. In 1926 Germany had a hyperinflation rate of 4.2 trillion percent. Money was worth less than dirt.
Seven signs of an Empire in Decline (6 min.)
Fall Of Empires: Rome vs USA (Hidden Secrets Of Money Ep 9) (28 min.)
If you think America is going down the same road as Israel or Rome in it’s relationship to God or it’s lack of fiscal accountability it should be of concern to you. Ultimately that is not a reason to “Cultivate a Relationship” with Father God through His Only Begotten Son, Yeshua, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul said it this way,
Philippians 4:11-13 NKJV 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7 NKJV
As the majority of those running our government and all the other institutions of our nation, including the church lose a “Reverential Fear of God,” it seems Wisdom has evaded us.
In The Word 