God is omni-‘many things’. He is omniscient, a fancy word for all-knowing. God knows everything about your life and everyone’s life on planet earth. God is also, omnipotent meaning there is no power greater than what God possesses. Lastly, God is omnipresent meaning He is everywhere present at the same time. Have you wondered how God does that? How can He be everywhere all of the time? Whether we understand it or not, it is still true which brings up yet another question. How do you come to a God who is already there?
Psalm 139:7–10 (KJV)
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me.
- If God is everywhere present at the same time, why then do you have to come to Him?
- If your uncle comes to visit you and he is sitting right next to you, what sense would it make for you to say, “I am going to go to visit him in Cleveland?” He is sitting right in your midst.
- God’s word says, no matter where you go, God is there. God is in heaven. He is in hell. He is in the depths of the sea.
- Since the Bible is right, coming to God cannot mean taking a trip to see Him.
- It cannot mean that God is way out there somewhere and I am going to go where He is.
- Coming to Him means something else.
- We must know what it means because He wants us to come to Him as a child.
- What does it mean then?
Coming to Him Means ‘Be Aware of His Presence”
- It is possible to be unaware of Him even though God is everywhere.
- It would be possible in the ‘uncle’ illustration above, to be in the same room together yet be so involved with other people that you are not aware of each other. In fact, in that state your uncle could step out of the room and you wouldn’t even notice he is gone.
Matthew 11:28–29 (KJV)
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- Even though God is everywhere present, you have to come to Him in order to receive His rest.
- But, if He is already there what does ‘Come to me’ mean?
- Coming to Him means “Be Aware of Me. Be Aware of My Presence.”
- We can say it another way, “Center up on My Presence.”
- Coming to God means hooking into His Presence.
- How do you do that? It’s easy. Just stop what you are doing. Close your eyes, shut off the ramblings of your head, and direct your heart and your gaze to Him.
- Stop and concentrate on Him.
- See Him in heaven or sitting on the right hand of God.
- Use the sense of His Presence as a focal point for connecting with Him.
ILLUSTRATION: God in the House
One day my wife, Sharon sent me a text. She was playing some Christian music in the house. She said, ‘God is here. He is all in this house!’ She was excited. She was worshipping the Lord.
What was she saying to me?
- She wasn’t saying God just entered the house. Because of His omnipresence, He was already there.
- What was she saying? She was saying, “I am really conscious of Him right now. I am strongly sensing His Presence, right now.”
[Tweet “Even though God is everywhere present, you have to come to Him in order to receive His rest.”]
Stress and Coming Into His Presence
- Coming into His presence will aid you in many areas.
- If you are stressed out, Jesus said to come to Him.
Matthew 11:28–29 (KJV)
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Definition: ‘labor’ – to tire — to exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress.
- If you are stressed out, come to Him. Stop and take a moment to be aware of Him, be aware of His Presence.
- There is something about connecting to His Presence that melts stress away.
Definition: ‘heavy laden’ – to load or burden
- If you are heavy laden or overloaded, stop for a moment and come to Him. Stop and be still and center your heart on Jesus and be aware of His Presence. The internal build up you have from the overload will melt away and recede.
- I am convinced that ‘coming to Him’ is the answer to OCD and ADHD behaviors. There is something about the Presence of Jesus that will melt that stuff away.
- Do you see how the dynamic of ‘coming to Him’ helps you in these areas?
- Here you are, you are sold out to God, and He knows you are.
- You love Him more than anyone on the planet and He knows it.
- You are willing to carry your cross and obey God’s will in any matter and He knows it.
- You have counted the cost and that reality resonates in the courts of heaven.
- Are you telling me now that you ‘come to Him’ in that state and He won’t help you, He won’t give you rest? No way!
- Now, this ‘connecting to Him’, this waiting and taking moments during the day to come to Him, gets us over into other areas.
John 7:37–39 (KJV)
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
- If you want God, if you are thirsty for Him, Jesus said come to me and be aware of My Presence. When you become aware, when you sense My Presence, DRINK.
- How do you drink?
- Notice Jesus words; “Whoever believes in me…”
- If you are willing to wait on Him until you sense Him, you will understand faith is very easy in this place. It is very easy to believe Him. It is simple to trust Him when you sense Him. Faith is no problem at all in His Presence.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
- In waiting upon Him, in waiting until you are aware and conscious of His Presence, you have already exercised faith.
- You came to Him because you believed that He is.
- Now John states that something is going to happen to you when you come to Him believing and drinking.
- He said out of your belly will flow rivers of living water.
- Doesn’t this sound like inspired utterance flowing out of your spirit?
- And what does flowing out of your heart do? Doesn’t it build you up?
Jude 20 (KJV)
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
- What does this building up do?
- Doesn’t it help you to be aware of spiritual realities?
- Doesn’t it help you be aware of your spirit?
- And who is in your spirit? Isn’t the Holy Spirit in your spirit?
- And what is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit?
- Is not to help you to be aware of Jesus?
John 15:26 (NKJV)
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
- So everything comes full circle. The Holy Spirit helps you to be aware of Him.
- He will help you come to Him.
Christianity Is about Being Aware of God
- You are not going to be a successful disciple unless you learn to come to the teacher and learn from Him.
- You can understand what distractions are all about, now.
- Is it not the plan of the enemy to put so much stuff in the room you are in that you are unaware of Him?
- When we get distracted, we do not do a good job of coming to Him.
- Distractions are a red flag.
- When we are distracted we are not aware.
- When we are rushed we are not aware.
- When we over-schedule our day – we are not aware.
- When we give into strife, we are not aware.
- So, that which helps you to be aware or come to Him is a good God thing.
- And, that which distracts and hinders your awareness of Him is not a good God thing.
- The goal is to be aware of Him and to be full of Him.
Call to Action:
Practice God’s Presence in your everyday life. Take moments of time to center on Jesus. Raise your hands to Him often and tell Him how much you love Him. Tell Him how you appreciate Him. Communicate with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to help you to tune in to God’s Presence.
Question: What particular actions do you take to make the sense of His Presence stronger in your life.