His Presence

One of the attributes of God is His omnipresence. He is present everywhere at the same time. David spoke about this attribute of God in Psalm 139:7-8, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” Although He is present everywhere, we do not always feel Him or see Him, but He sometimes manifests His presence to us. Those moments are so special and unique. In those moments, we feel Him, and hear Him. To experience moments like those, there are certain things we must do. In 1 Kings 19: 8-18, God allowed Prophet Elijah to experience His beautiful presence. I will share three lessons from the remarkable story on meeting God and experiencing His presence.

1. How to get to His presence: 1 Kings 19: 8-11. At this point in the story, Elijah had reached the mountain of the Lord, but he spent the night in the cave. The Word of God a came to Elijah and asked Elijah to go and stand on the mountain because God was about to pass by. The cave that Elijah spent the night in can be seen as Elijah’s comfort zone. For him to meet with God, God instructed Him to leave his comfort zone and stand on the mountain. If you have ever climbed a mountain or a hill before, you know that it is not an easy one. In climbing the mountain, Elijah was denying his flesh and his desire to just be in his comfort zone. That is the same for us, to get to that point where we can experience God, we need to deny our flesh and its desires.

1. What to do in His presence: 1 Kings 11-13, 15-17. Elijah believed that God was going to speak to Him. If you do not believe that God speaks, you will miss it when He speaks to you. You will assume ‘something spoke to you’ or it is your own thoughts. When Elijah got to the presence of God, three huge things happened. First, a strong wind tore that mountain apart and shattered the rocks. Then, there was an earthquake. Finally, there came a fire. In all these three things, God was not in it. Elijah was patient enough to wait until God spoke before he left. Having patience in the presence of God is particularly important if we desire to experience Him. The Bible particularly tells us not to be in a hurry to leave His presence (Ecclesiastes 8: 3a). In verse 15, God spoke to Elijah again. God instructed Elijah to go back the same way he came. Mind you, Elijah was running away from Jezebel, and for God to tell him to go back on the same way could have made Elijah worried and afraid, but Elijah was patient again and allowed God to complete what He was saying. What we can learn from this is that we need to allow God to finish speaking to us. Do not interrupt God. Be patient. Let God finish His word. After God finished talking to Elijah, Elijah realized that God was not sending him back to Jezebel, but God gave him a greater assignment.

1. What you do after: 1 Kings 19: 13-14. After Elijah heard God’s whisper, he went back to the mouth of the cave (his comfort zone) and just stood there. Most people do this. They hear a message from God and then do nothing with the word. They go back and stay in their comfort zone. What message from God are you keeping with you in your comfort zone? Break that habit. Start today. Start doing what God has instructed you to do. Each time God speaks to you, He gives you power to do what you need to do. Do not just sit around and say that once God has spoken, then it will happen. You need to put the word into action to see the Word manifest.