Having been through your experience, are there times when you question the presence of God in your life?
What is the presence of God? I like how Bill Johnson explains God’s presence. The paragraphs below are taken from the article "Learning to Host the Presence", by Bill Johnson.
One of the greatest privileges in life is to learn to be a person that God will rest upon. He already lives in every born again Believer. But He doesn't rest upon all of us. One way I like to say it is, "He is in me for my sake, but He is upon me for yours." When He is upon us, it especially changes others around us. Jesus modeled this lifestyle in the story of His baptism in water.
When Jesus was baptized, He came out of the water, the Heavens opened, the Father spoke, and then the Holy Spirit came upon Him as a dove and remained. "John testified saying, 'I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of Heaven, and He remained upon Him'" (John 1:32). If, in the natural, I have a dove sitting on my shoulder and I want to go about life without it flying away, how am I going to live? Every step would be with the dove in mind.1
I have met people who have the presence of God resting upon them so strongly, that within a few metres (10') of them, I could tangibly feel God’s presence. Sometimes it has felt like an incredible peace, as if I were resting in the stillness at the bottom of an ocean yet as weightless as if I were in outer space. Other times it has literally felt like an electric field.
In Galatians 5 God lists attributes of two very different ways of living. Someone who lives a life embracing sexual perversion, witchcraft, hatred, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, murder, drunkenness (or any form of intoxication) and revelries, God says will not inherit His kingdom. I doubt that the Holy Spirit would rest upon someone living this way.
Someone who lives with love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, attracts the presence of God.
I know God’s presence is within me. I never question this. However, I aim to live my life in such a way that God’s presence rests upon me in an increasing measure throughout my life.
