I am thrilled to share insights with you on our new series which has the objective of
bringing us into a special place of intimacy and a closer excited walk with the Lord.  We
are starting a series on the theme- Dwelling in His Presence.
As you well know, so many voices are claiming our attention in today’s world- the social
media, politics, our social lives, the challenges of surviving in today’s economy,
personal challenges and even religion present so much distraction that we have lost
sight of what truly matters-our relationship with God and the need to prioritize it.
In the story of creation, we see that after creating the animals and other living and non
living things, God was not content. His heart yearned for something more. Something
was missing. He needed a being with whom He could fellowship and be intimate and to
whom He could give Himself completely. In Genesis 1:26, God said “Let us make man
in our image, in our likeness……” God created man in His own image to experience
intimacy and the pleasure of His presence!
From their response to the call of God after they disobeyed God, we can deduce that
Adam and Eve used to walk and fellowship with God in the garden in the cool of the
day. Genesis 8:10 states
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking
in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the
trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked;
so I hid."
He created them to enjoy their presence and He walked with them in the cool of the day
until their eyes opened and they realized they were naked and had to hide from Him.
After Adam and Eve, God continued to dwell with His people in different ways.
According to Exodus 13:21, He dwelt with the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day to
guide them on their way; and by night, in a pillar of fire to give them light. Later He
dwelt among them in a portable tent called the tabernacle after He rescued them from
Egypt and while they were wandering in the desert. He declared in Exodus 29:45-46-“I
will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I
am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell
among them.
Still later, Solomon built a permanent tabernacle in Jerusalem and after he prayed and
dedicated the finished temple to the Lord, God answered his prayer: I have heard your
prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
The greatest promise God has made to us is to be present with us at all times. He
declares to us in Hebrews 13:5- I will never leave or forsake you. He said to Joshua in

Isaiah 41:10–do not fear for I am with you; do not be frightened for I am your God. In
Matthew 28:19-20, just before He went back to heaven said to His disciples:  
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you……and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
So God has promised us His presence and in turn invites us to dwell in His presence, to
abide in His love and to be intimate with Him.
How do we Dwell in His Presence?
To dwell literarily means: to live in a specified place, it is to abide, to sit still, to remain,
to reside, to be settled, to stay.
Actually every one lives in God’s presence, because God is omnipresent, he is
everywhere, meaning He is present at all times and in all places. The Psalmist says in
Psalm 139:7-: Where shall I go from thy spirit? or where shall I flee from thy presence?
Therefore everyone is technically in God’s presence. But dwelling in God’s presence in
the sense of being intimate with Him means to make a conscious effort to abide with
God; to stay; to sit down in His presence and to communicate with Him continuously.
We communicate with Him by consciously interacting and engaging with Him in our
hearts. We can commune with God by reading His Word; worshipping Him, having a
conversation with Him, listening to Him or praying. So while everyone is technically in
the presence of God, only those that constantly commune with Him are dwelling in His
presence. So we are in the presence of God when we are praying or having our daily
devotion. However we should not limit our time in God’s presence to our times of
devotion. For some people, once they are done with their short time of devotion in the
morning, the next time they give God a thought is when they lie down to sleep or the
next day. Our time of devotion is a starting place but dwelling in God’s presence is to
live your life with the consciousness that God is always close by you and is interested in
your affairs.
So visiting God from time to time; or making sporadic visits when we can make out time
is not dwelling in God’s presence. Spending hours and days with God only to present
Him with our needs is not dwelling in His presence. In Mathew 6:33, Jesus says: “But
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you. Unfortunately, some people are seeking “these things” first and expect
that the kingdom of God and His righteousness would be added unto them. God has
promised to meet our every need and even more! However, His greatest desire is our
companionship.
In our frantic lives and the many issues contending with our attention, sitting still is very
difficult. But in the spiritual life of a Christian, sitting quietly with God in intimate
fellowship is a treasure nothing on this earth can match. Dwelling in God’s presence is
not just a momentary spiritual exercise. It should be a lifestyle. It is a choice to place
intimacy with God, to seek His face and to rest in His peace above all other activities.

You can commune with God and dwell in His presence in your quiet times, throughout
the day as well as when you are in the midst of other people. Dwelling in the presence
of God is a state of the mind. It is living in the consciousness that God is always close
by you at all times. Dwelling in the presence of God is an activity we crave and enjoy. It
is not an activity we force ourselves to indulge in.
In Revelation 4: 11, John reveals that the reason why God created us is solely for His
pleasure! God’s reason for creating us is to worship Him, to fellowship with Him and to
be intimate with Him. We can only achieve these if we constantly dwell in His presence!
It is not possible to achieve a close relationship with someone without spending time
with them.
After creating the animals and other beings, God created man because He craves
fellowship and intimacy with us. He has promised us that He is always with us. While
under the OC as we saw in Episode 54, God put a veil between Him and the people;
keeping at a distance from them, now He is the one that initiates relationship by asking
us to draw near because He desires intimacy and fellowship with us. He says in
Revelation 3:20, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the
door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me.
Is it possible that you are so busy with life that you are consistently shutting Him out?
Do you limit your time in His presence to the 30 minutes or one hour of your time of
devotion in a day? If that is you, l join you to ask the Holy Spirit to increase your
consciousness of His presence with you and to constantly remind you that God’s reason
for creating you is to fellowship with Him and to be intimate with Him.
Brethren a close walk with God is intrinsically tied to dwelling and enjoying His
presence. If we do not dwell in His presence, we cannot grow in our knowledge of Him
or our relationship with Him.