Seeds of His Presence
(week 30/02)
Olubi Johnson
In this 3rd. day the Scriptures reveal that God is going to raise up the church in righteousness and we will live in His presence.
Hosea 6:2-3 (NIV) After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
The Word ‘live’ here is very instructive. It means we are to abide daily in the manifest presence of God.
In some of our previous articles we dealt with ‘the manifest presence of God’ and ‘cultivating the presence of God‘. This week I want to share some
scriptures with us that I call ‘seeds of His presence’.
Recall that the presence of God emanates from His person, much like light energy emanates from the person of ,say, the president of the United States and goes through TV cameras and is transmitted via satellite to the entire earth at the same time. So though the person of the President is, say, in the Oval office in the white house, his presence via the TV waves is present everywhere on the earth. However it is only those who have a satellite dish, TV receiver and electrical power and have the knowledge of how to tune and power these equipment that will see and hear what the President is saying.
As it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual (Rom. 1: 20, 1 Cor. 15: 46).
God’s presence is everywhere but it is only those who have these things listed below that will enjoy God’s presence:
1. The right attitude or willingness to do God’s will (John 7:17): this comes by daily self-judgement and repentance from anything that displeases God. —Orientation of your antenna or satellite dish to receive accurately.
2. A renewed mind that has the knowledge of God’s Word (Rom. 12: 2): this comes by daily Bible reading and meditation. — A functioning TV set.
3. The power of the Holy Spirit released by the life of God through prayer in the Spirit for at least one hour daily (Matt. 26:41, Eph. 6:18). — A generator that supplies electricity with the right voltage.
So many Christians try to get God’s presence by trying to be willing to do God’s will and getting the knowledge of scripture but still do not experience it because there is either insufficient, or no power of the Holy Ghost because they do not pray fervently and effectually in the Spirit daily. This is like having a satellite dish and an excellent TV set but no electricity to power the TV and the satellite dish: of course you will get no response on your TV set.
The power of the Holy Spirit is indispensable if you desire to enjoy the presence of God daily.
Planting and watering the seeds of His Presence
In addition to the above you cultivate God’s presence by, as it were, planting and watering seeds of His presence.
What are these seeds?
They are scriptures that describe the person of each person of the Godhead.
So many Christians only have a picture of the Lord Jesus in their minds because Jesus was a man and we have so many artists’ impressions of what He looked like. However when we think of God the Father or the God the Holy Spirit we usually have a very vague picture. In fact the picture of the Holy Spirit most people have in their minds is that of a dove. The dove is only symbolic of the gentle manner His presence alighted on the Lord Jesus at the baptism by John in the river Jordan (Matt. 3: 16). It is just as silly to think of the Holy Spirit as a dove as to think of the Lord Jesus either as lamb or a lion. These animals only symbolize aspects of God’s nature or character. What then does God look like in reality?
God is a person and man was made in His image and likeness (Gen. 1: 26). So God looks like us or rather we look like God. God is the original; you and I are just a copy. So each person of the Godhead has a shape like ours with a head, torso, hands and legs.
John 5:37 (KJV) And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
I will now share with us 3 scriptures that describe the person of each person of the Godhead. You plant them by believing them and then you water them by meditating on them daily as seeds of His presence that you have planted. With the right attitude, a renewed mind programmed by the written Word of God and daily prayer in the spirit, these seeds of His presence will grow and become so real to you that indeed you will live in His presence daily.
These scriptures are:
For the person of the Father:
Revelation 4:2-3 (KJV) And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
For the person of the Son:
Revelation 1:13-17 (KJV) And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
For the person of the Holy Spirit:
Ezekiel 8:2-3 (KJV) Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
