BLESSINGS OF GOD'S PRESENCE -II (October 14, 2012)

We have been seeing about the gifts and blessings received from the Presence of God for the past few weeks since God has promised His presence to go with us this month.  Even today we are going to see the blessings we will receive when we remain in the Presence of God.

Genesis 3:8 – And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

God created Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve in order to have communication, conversation, and connection with them.  He never desired to be alone but wanted to have a close relationship with them.  Even today He desires to be with His children.  The ‘cool of the day’ in this verse refers to the time of the day when cool breeze comes.  God came regularly at this time and desired to walk with Adam and Eve.  So Adam and Eve were found in the Presence of God always.  When we see about the positive side of this aspect not considering the fall of Adam and Eve, they both enjoyed the Presence of God and they received many important blessings.

If we are found continuously in the Presence of God, He will promise His blessings to flow in our lives too.  To do so, we need to face God early in the morning and read and meditate His word daily.  Not just praying but we need to allow Him to speak with us too.  If we do so God will give His enormous Grace to start a day with His Presence.

1.    ASSOCIATION

Genesis 3:8 – And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
The first blessing we receive when we remain in the Presence of God is the Association with Him.  This is the God-expecting association which was seen in Adam and Eve.  Association with God will make us to start and end each day with much satisfaction.  We need to pray to God for His presence to be with us the entire day.  God expects from us this fellowship with Him.

Once we have good fellowship with God we will then have good fellowship with men too.  I have seen some people saying they are very holy talking with God alone and not with men.  These people cannot do all things right since God desires to love others just as we love ourselves.  If there is a mistake in the fellowship with men then we have a greater mistake in the fellowship with God too.

We need to check with God whether we have a right relationship with men and whether we seem trustworthy of others.  God wants you to correct your relationship with Him and by doing so He will also correct your relationship with others too.  He wants to converse with us, intercede for us, and eventually go before us.  When He goes before us, He will direct each step of us and lead us to victory.

God is aware of all the events of your life either good or bad.  Satan cannot hinder your lives or your paths.  Even if he does so, he should do it only after crossing the Presence of God that goes before you.  Perhaps you might be going through a tough situation but you need to keep in mind that God is well aware of that situation.  You can only see the present situation but God is able to look into your past, present and future.  He can clearly see the distant things of your life and so you need not have to worry.  You will realize that everything happened for good in the long run.  All things works for good to those who believe in Him and you need to have in mind that He is leading you with a purpose.  You need to understand God and cooperate with Him.  God will do all things perfectly when you are seen in His presence.  So the presence of God gives us good association and right fellowship with Him.
Prayer:  Lord, I now decide to leave all unwanted associations and I want to see You alone.  I understood that your Presence brings good association along with it.  Kindly let Your presence move before me.  Thank you.

2.    ALERTNESS

Genesis 3:8 –And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Adam and Eve did what was not pleasing in God’s sight.  So when God called them they could not meet him face to face but hid themselves from His presence.  They understood clearly that they have made a mistake and so they feared when they heard the voice of God and hid from His presence.  When God’s presence comes down, He will chide us and reprove us of our mistakes and reminds us of our sins.  It will alert us and convict us of our sins.

Today’s Christian world is so engaged in worshipping and praising God with dancing and rejoicing that they almost forgot the correcting nature of the Holy Spirit.  When Holy Spirit was sent to the world as a comforter, one of the things He was supposed to do was to convict us of our sins before He comforts us and it is written clearly in the Bible.

God’s presence in a particular place will bring conviction of sin.  Perhaps we would not have committed great sins but sometimes the smallest sins in our lives might even hinder the presence of God.  For instance, when you are in the presence of God, the Holy Spirit will lead you in such a way that you need to answer Him if you even hit your pet dog badly or when you lie.  Even for petty things your heart will pound just like David whose heart pounded when he tried to cut the corner of the mantle of Saul since Saul was anointed by God.  God’s presence will never allow us to sleep if you do a mistake.  It will make you reconcile with the particular person you disagreed and you need to feel sorry for what you did.  Thus God will alert you before you sin and warns you not to do that and thereby leading you to a greater blessing.
Prayer:  Lord, please convict me of my sins and make me to live holy in this world.  I want to be seen in your second coming and enjoy Heaven with you everlasting.  Please let your presence alert me of my sins and deeds.  Thank you.

3.    ADVANTAGE

Genesis 3:9,10 – Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
When God’s presence was seen, God questioned Adam and he answered back.  God knew what had happened but he still questioned Adam to see what answer he would give.  Here we see Adam heard the Voice of God and he had the privilege of answering back to Him.  These two things happen in God’s presence for us too.  If God’s presence comes down, God Himself will come down and stand next to us as a friend.  We can speak with Him as we speak with our friends in an audible voice.  Though we might receive many advantages and privileges from God’s presence, the first and foremost privilege is that we can converse with Him.

Our landline or mobile phones provide us two-way conversation but with walky-talky we can only have one-way communication.  Many people are just like the walky-talky having just one way traffic.  They just pray to God for all their problems pouring their hearts unto Him and then go away.  They never know that they need to be like a mobile phone or a landline waiting in His presence for God to speak in order to have a two-way communication and an answer for their problems.

We need to sit silent with patience in God’s presence for Him to give solution for our problems.  When we do this we will get clear revelation of God about the problem we prayed for.  So when we have good fellowship with God, His presence will descend down and we will have the advantage of conversing with Him, which is again a blessing of God.
Prayer:  Lord, please give me the privilege and advantage of conversing with You.  I need that experience.  Let your strength descend down so that I may do so and let me hear your voice.  Thank You.

4.    ACTION

Genesis 3:12-14 – Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the serpent:
Here God makes an inquiry after Adam and Eve ate the fruit regarding whose fault it was.  When He got the answer from Adam He did not question him further.  Instead He just turned to Eve for an answer.  He did not questioned neither Adam nor Eve as to what made them eat the fruit, why they disobeyed him, what made them to eat it since they were provided with such a privilege of ruling the entire garden, and so on.  God was just like a child inquiring, as I could perceive.  But when the accusation was made on satan, He did not question himanyway but cursed him directly.  He did not allow satan to speak unlike some ministers of God today who allow him to tell of its whole story.  We should never allow satan to speak in the public, he just deserve the curse in the name of Jesus.

Coming back, God acted straightly when the inquiry was over.  In other words, God immediately acted to that particular situation not pondering over the matter very deep.  Even so when we are seen in God’s presence we will see the immediate action of God.  He will give necessary answer for our prayers and bless us accordingly. God will never try to convince us but will take immediate action.  Just believe these words and God will take immediate action of all your problems.
Prayer:  Dear Lord, You will take immediate action of all my problems when I am seen in Your presence.  Kindly help me come out of all my problems.  I want to be seen in Your presence always.  Please help me to do so.  Thank You.