Worship Articles by John A. White Contributing Writer January 07, 2008

Immanence of God’s Presence

God’s Spirit is always with and in us but always for the end result of strengthening and enlarging His Kingdom. In this sense, we are the agents of God to bring His presence into the world. In theological terms, this is known as God’s immanence; God is functionally present in the world by His presence indwelt in His believers. Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (NIV, John 14:16-18). Since God is always with or in us, we are always carrying His presence; we can’t be periodic Ark bearers. Even if we get weak, God will help us like he helped the Old Testament Ark bearers (1CH 15:26 Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD…)

Since God indwells us, we also have a responsibility to carry the presence of God into every situation, wherein we also bring the Kingdom of God with us. When His indwelling is perfected in us, which is our goal of being carriers of God’s presence, we will simulate Jesus’ ministry. This is what Jesus said and it should haunt us: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).

You might be asking, “Why should that haunt me?” Let me ask this question: What are some of Jesus’ greatest works? I immediately think of salvation and miracles. So the question is, “Are you doing greater works?” Some theologians say that the term “greater” refers to numbers. In other words that the acts of salvation and miracles should be more as a result of more people being involved in the ministry. However, this would be a contrived reading because Jesus is talking about the works, not His ministry, that accomplishes the works. Other theologians spiritualize the saying to mean that we will produce greater works in the spiritual world. But this is hard to believe because it was Jesus who took the keys of hell and death away from Satan, who led the captive free and empowered His church to survive against the odds for 2000 years. I don’t think it is theologically sound to spiritualize the works that Jesus is referring to. Finally, we are left with the understanding that indeed the works are the works.

So what is to be said if we don’t see these works? Either we make Jesus a liar by inferring that he really didn’t mean what He said in John 14:12, or we make God impotent because He seems unable to adequately empower His saints. I don’t think that any of us want to resign ourselves to these conclusions. The last possibility is that we do not do “greater works” for reasons that depend not on God but rather rest on us.

You might be asking why this is so important. It is important because we bring glory to the Father by doing “greater works” than Jesus (ref. John 14:13-14). We’ve been talking about bearing the presence of God. The supernatural presence of God in our lives should produce supernatural results. Settling for less means that you no longer carry God’s presence as you were intended; you’ve become a priest who would rather put the Ark on a new cart than carry it on your shoulders the way God instructed. When we mishandle the presence of God, it confuses and corrupts our authoritative witness, just like when Israel carried the Ark into battle thinking it was a good luck charm to beat the Philistines.

God’s presence is manifested in many ways; through our transformed lives, the witness of our testimony, through evangelism, through our ministry, through our study of scripture, through our fellowship, through our prayers, though our deeds… Specifically, God desires to manifest the glory of His presence through everything we put our mind, hearts and strength to. When we do, we live worship.

Are you allowing God’s presence to burn bright within you?

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Everyday with the presence Worshiping God is the sweetest thing in life. There is nothing as sweet as TRUE WORSHIP. As Christians and Worshipers of the Most High God, we should always reflect God’s Glory throughout our entire lives. This should be our greatest priority in life...more Submitted by: Jacob Nsaali Location: Kampala, Uganda
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