What Does It Mean to Experience God’s Presence?

As a pastor I know that I must be careful about using Christianese. Christianese is the cliches and buzzwords that are used in Christian circles, and honestly, often we don’t even know what the words mean. For example, “experiencing the presence of God.” This phrase is frequently used, but chances are good that many of us are not sure if it is Biblical or what it means.

After looking at God’s word, and some other Christian writers (Jonathan Edwards for example), here is the definition I have come up with: Experiencing God’s presence is when the reality and beauty of God become personally vivid to the soul, awakening holy affections that move us to delight in Him, trust Him, worship Him, and obey Him.

So, after reading the above explanation of what it means to experience the presence of God we must ask a critically important question…

Does your quiet time lead you to know and enjoy God, or has it become a duty you perform?

The Bible Calls Us to Enjoy God

Psalm 16:11: “In your presence there is fullness of joy.”

Psalm 27:4: David’s greatest desire was “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD.”

Psalm 63:1: “My soul thirsts for you.”

Psalm 84:10: “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”

James 4:8: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

These passages show that knowing God is more than knowing facts about Him. God Himself is the treasure we seek. The Christian life involves knowing truth about God. In fact, Jesus said that he is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Experiencing God’s presence is knowing the truth of God which in turn leads to our hearts being filled with love and devotion towards Him.

What Does Experiencing God Look Like?

• You read the Bible and you are aware that it is God’s way of speaking to you.
• Your quiet time changes from a box to check to actual time spent with someone.
• You have a new power when it comes to resisting temptations, not merely because it is wrong but because     you have found Christ to be the greatest pleasure in your life. It is the power of a “greater affection.”
• You sing with your church family on Sunday morning, and instead of merely saying some true words,     you feel your heart being filled with love and adoration towards God.
• You become more attentive to God throughout your everyday, ordinary life. You know that he is with you     no matter where you go.
• You begin to look forward to your daily time with God.
• You sense your love and passion for Jesus increasing.
• You look more like Jesus, and others can see the change.

What If I Don’t Feel God’s Presence?

The Psalms are filled with people who are being honest and reveal that God feels distant to them and that they are desperate to experience Him (Psalm 13:1, Psalm 42:5, Psalm 63:1). So, we do not need to feel that we are the only ones that have experienced these dry seasons. We all go through it.

I think it is important to remember that faith means continuing to trust God, and believing that he loves us, even when we do feel distant from Him.

At the same time, we should not settle for a Christianity that is merely intellectual. Scripture calls us to know God, love God, delight in God, seek God, and draw near to Him.

How Do We Cultivate Awareness of God?

Scripture: Read, meditate, and respond to what God has revealed.

Prayer: Turn truth into conversation with God through adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and requests.

Fasting: Fasting is designed, in part, to make us more aware of our need for God. It is not simply skipping a meal or two. Giving up something that we want so much like food can be a powerful way to remind us that God, is in fact, all that we really need.

Silence and solitude: Reduce distractions and make room to pay attention to God. Our phones and screens can fill our minds with noise and make it difficult to slow down and recognize that God is near. Silence and solitude help us step away from the noise and intentionally turn our attention toward God.

Obedience: Respond to what God has already revealed.

Remembering the gospel: Throughout the day, rehearse who God is, what Christ has done, and what  God has promised.

Mission: The more we are seeking to live out the Great Commission the more we will be dependent on God and his power working in and through us.

The key is to make sure these disciplines, these practices, are not an end in themselves. We need to remember that these practices are given to us so that we know and enjoy God.

Experiencing God One Last Time

Experiencing God’s presence is when the reality and beauty of God become personally vivid to the soul, awakening holy affections that move us to delight in Him, trust Him, worship Him, and obey Him.

Teaching This To Others

As a church we are starting a new sermon series entitled “Disciple: The Way of Jesus”. The series will last six weeks. As usual, this series will involve expository preaching and explaining how our communion with God on a daily basis is central to everything else that we do in life.

What makes this sermon series different is that we are also being given weekly practices so that we are not merely hearers of the Word, but we are doers. Please don’t see these disciplines as peripheral. They are critical. So, I want to strongly encourage you to embrace these practices in your daily life with the goal that your heart is set on fire with a love for Jesus Christ.