Entering His Presence

Wade E Taylor

We were redeemed through the shed blood of Jesus upon the Cross. Judicially, through His death and resurrection, we are complete in Him. But, experientially, we are to grow into all that He accomplished upon the cross in our behalf.

Thus, there is a continual, upward drawing of our being to the Lord Himself, into the realm of the Spirit. We are being called upon to become a separated people during this hour of perplexity that is upon the world. The Lord will guide us as we experience this "set-apart" place of knowing Him and abiding in His presence.

There is a point in our upward progression where all activity on our part ceases and we rest in His presence. It is here that we enter into that place of pure Spirit where the Lord is doing the work and we are being quickened, changed, and released into all that He intends for us.

As we move through the veil into His very presence and He becomes our all in all, we must be careful not to grieve His presence or run ahead of Him. As we rest in Him, acknowledging His presence, He will quicken us and unfold before us His ways.

The Lord's presence has been grieved so many times that He is reluctant to reveal Himself in visitation. Some have exploited His presence for their own purposes and He has withdrawn. When He is satisfied that we are sincere in our desire for His presence, the Holy Spirit will guide us in becoming responsive and available for the outworking of a cooperative relationship with Him.

Our normal state relates to the omnipresence of the Lord. As we pass through the veil where our activities cease and He becomes active, we begin to experience His manifest presence.

The omnipresence of the Lord is a fact. He fills the heavens and the earth.

"Can any hide himself in secret places that

I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not

I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD" Jer 23:24.

There is another aspect of his presence. "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear ... and open the door" Rev 3:20a. This speaks of His manifest presence in which He seeks to make Himself known to us as a person.

He who created and fills the universe seeks to come into our lives and reveal Himself to us. This is a mystery we cannot fathom, but one to which we can respond and of which we are to partake. It is right for us to thank the Lord for coming to our worship service. This may seem strange, but it is an aspect of His manifest presence and it will touch His heart.

To enter His "manifest presence" means that He is making Himself known to us through one or a combination of our five physical senses. We become "manifestly" aware of both His person and His feelings.

It is glorious to walk with the Lord as we respectfully maintain our sensitivity to His presence. It is while we are in His presence that the greatest changes come. This happens because His manifest presence includes the creative aspect of His being which changes us and brings us into an alignment with His intention for us.

In His manifest presence, every cell of our being responds and feels the warmth and glow of His presence. This produces within us a greater opening to His presence, and we are further changed and become even more sensitive to Him.

"But we all, with open face beholding as in

a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed

into the same image from glory to glory,

even as by the Spirit of the Lord" II Cor 3:18.

We must make room for that which is important. Unless we have this understanding, we will miss and grieve the Holy Spirit.

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,

he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me

shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him,

and will manifest myself to him" John 14:21.