HIS PRESENCE!
- If the Lord be with you, there will be evidence!
- When you do His will, You will see Him in action
- When you are a Psalmist also...
Introduction
Discipleship is difficult without a Master because a disciple should have a Master to guard and instruct him. Jesus Christ called fishermen and others who were not known and discipled them, after which He empowered them to preach the gospel, and as they preached from one place to another, they should heal the sick and cast demons.
The disciples of the past were friends of Jesus, who walked with Him everywhere He went for the period of His earthly ministry. They abandoned their own business to follow the Lord and remained with Him till the end. Friends of God, are people who do not go back on their decision of word. They are people determined to follow Him in word and action, serving Him with all their spirit, soul and body.
As the disciples of the old had Jesus with them, so do His friends of today have Him around us. You will feel the presence of the Lord around you by His Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The disciples were the first friends of Jesus because He chosed them and they were loyal to the end, obeying His commands, and observing all things He told them. The disciples preached the gospel and took the gospel to the four corners of the world, being led by the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what we should also do today to enjoy His presence and direction.
So, though Christ had ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples and to us, to guide and comfort us in the fulfiling His assignment. We are in a priviledged situations today, because, unlike the past, when the Spirit of God would fall upon somebody, today, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. The Holy Spirit living inside of us is, both to help us and a sign that we are sons and daughters of God, for the bible as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Friends with Assignment
The disciples of Christ were given a specific assignment in Mark 16: 15-18. The Lord asked them to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature... The assignment is the same with those of living today. They were also told what other things to do in Mathew 28:18-20. They were told how to baptize those that believed in the gospel, and finally, they were told to teach people to observe all things He had commanded them (These are His teachings in the gospel).
Then, the Lord gave them His assurance of His presence with them, even to the ends of the world. Friends, if you want to be a friend of Jesus, the instructions here are for you. If you can pick them up and run with them, you can be sure of the Lord's presence and power is with you.
There is no asking for evidence of His presence around His friends because the lifestyle of those people announces they were with Christ, the wisdom with which they handled things would reveal who their teacher is - The Holy Ghost. The corruption of this time is so heavy that people are asking for evidence that the Lord is with His people. This is the work of the devil.
The reason is that Christians of today are following the news trending in society and in the midst of the news trending spiritually polluting news, nakedness and murders. Everything to make a person loose focus on the assignment, and focus on the world. Believers must stay off trending news in the social media, because a lot of them are not spiritually edifying.
We should also keep children away from social media and its trending news. This is because pollution is a serious matter to fight. Once a child is wrongly exposed to evil news of violence, lies and immorality, it will take a long time before the picture will be cleaned from their memory.
Doing His Work
The disciples of the past were friends of Jesus, who walked with Him everywhere He went for the period of His earthly ministry. They abandoned their own business to follow the Lord and remained with Him till the end. Friends of God, are people who do not go back on their decision of word. They are people determined to follow Him in word and action, serving Him with all their spirit, soul and body.
As the disciples of the old had Jesus with them, so do His friends of today have Him around us. You will feel the presence of the Lord around you by His Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The disciples were the first friends of Jesus because He chosed them and they were loyal to the end, obeying His commands, and observing all things He told them. The disciples preached the gospel and took the gospel to the four corners of the world, being led by the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what we should also do today to enjoy His presence and direction.
So, though Christ had ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples and to us, to guide and comfort us in the fulfiling His assignment. We are in a priviledged situations today, because, unlike the past, when the Spirit of God would fall upon somebody, today, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. The Holy Spirit living inside of us is, both to help us and a sign that we are sons and daughters of God, for the bible as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Friends with Assignment
The disciples of Christ were given a specific assignment in Mark 16: 15-18. The Lord asked them to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature... The assignment is the same with those of living today. They were also told what other things to do in Mathew 28:18-20. They were told how to baptize those that believed in the gospel, and finally, they were told to teach people to observe all things He had commanded them (These are His teachings in the gospel).
Then, the Lord gave them His assurance of His presence with them, even to the ends of the world. Friends, if you want to be a friend of Jesus, the instructions here are for you. If you can pick them up and run with them, you can be sure of the Lord's presence and power is with you.
There is no asking for evidence of His presence around His friends because the lifestyle of those people announces they were with Christ, the wisdom with which they handled things would reveal who their teacher is - The Holy Ghost. The corruption of this time is so heavy that people are asking for evidence that the Lord is with His people. This is the work of the devil.
The reason is that Christians of today are following the news trending in society and in the midst of the news trending spiritually polluting news, nakedness and murders. Everything to make a person loose focus on the assignment, and focus on the world. Believers must stay off trending news in the social media, because a lot of them are not spiritually edifying.
We should also keep children away from social media and its trending news. This is because pollution is a serious matter to fight. Once a child is wrongly exposed to evil news of violence, lies and immorality, it will take a long time before the picture will be cleaned from their memory.
Doing His Work
Doing the work of God is one sure way to have His presence go with us today, obeying His Word and instructions is another way to secure His presence and protection. Doing His will should be a lifestyle for all believers. For some people, those called to full time ministry, they should dream, think, talk about soul winning and training, teaching the doctrines of Christ and mission to the unreached, while those who are not called to fulltime ministry should use their office, business office, leisure and entertainment times as platform to win souls. They should have scheduled evangelism outreach for soul winning.
These people should live an exemplary life that will motivate people who know them to serve the Lord. In their office and home, the presence of the Lord is always around them, to support and strengthen them. If you are serving the Lord as a disciple everywhere you find yourself, you will always feel His presence around you.
In the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were innocent and walking in His Will, they enjoyed His presence. The Almighty God will come down to fellowship with them in the cool of the day and all was well with them. But the situation changed when they fell from grace. It is sin and disobedience that separates people from the Lord. Because of sin, Adam and Eve were separated from God as they died spiritually and surrendered their dominion to Satan, who became lord over them. With sin comes fear, and the presence of God leaves a person.
These people should live an exemplary life that will motivate people who know them to serve the Lord. In their office and home, the presence of the Lord is always around them, to support and strengthen them. If you are serving the Lord as a disciple everywhere you find yourself, you will always feel His presence around you.
In the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were innocent and walking in His Will, they enjoyed His presence. The Almighty God will come down to fellowship with them in the cool of the day and all was well with them. But the situation changed when they fell from grace. It is sin and disobedience that separates people from the Lord. Because of sin, Adam and Eve were separated from God as they died spiritually and surrendered their dominion to Satan, who became lord over them. With sin comes fear, and the presence of God leaves a person.
But, if you will obey God and keep His commands, you can be sure of His presence. If you will fear the Lord and be just, If you will walk in faith and obedient as Enoch did, you will experience His presence.
Evidence of His Presence
The bible told us the secret of Moses, which made the red sea to divide. Moses was a carrier of His presence and when he stretched his rod, ordinary stick, the Red Sea divided, and the people of Israel passed on bare land. But in Psalm 78, the miracle was better explained that the Red Sea saw the Lord and fled. The Sea saw the Lord and not the stick and fled! That is glorious.
It teaches us that the rod in the hand of Moses was the point of contact the Lord used to divide the Red Sea. The Sea saw the Almighty God and fled, it was not the rod of Moses stretched out that divided the Red Sea, though the Lord told him to stretch his rod towards the sea and divide it - Exodus 14: 13-31. It was the presence of God with Moses that divided the Sea.
Everyone who honours the Lord and obeys His Word and instructions is His beloved. This is why the bible says in Acts 10:34-35, that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. If you fear Him and do His work, His presence will be with you.
Let's look briefly at Joseph, a man who saw his own future when he was young and excitedly told his brethren, without knowing what the devil could do with his destiny information. The devil soon entered his brethren and filled them with envy for his numerous dreams.
When he told them the second dream, they said, does that means you will surely rule over us, and they were offended. They eventually conspired against him and sold him to the Egyptians in the field, where he went to see how they were doing.
God had chosen Joseph to redeem Israel from starvation and hunger in the years to come. The only way to save a generation of people was to go ahead of them into a fertile ground, where there will be abundance when famine hits the land of Canaan.
Joseph's brother sold him away and he willingly followed the Egyptians, those ones also sold him to Potiphar and he did not complain. Meanwhile, the suffering he was going through was in his destiny journey to the Palace in Egypt. This is where believers who cannot trust God and bear sufferings miss out.
His presence and prosperity
The bible described Joseph as a prosperous man, yet he was a slave in a foreign land. He had no business of his own, no wife and no house of his own. This should make a lot of people reconsider their understanding of prosperity. Prosperity does not only consist of goods, houses, cars, children and fat bank account, there are more to prosperity.
Joseph was a prosperous man because God was with him. He enjoyed God's presence. He was prosperous because he was in the divine agenda of God and he remained faithful to God and man (his master, Potiphar). Not only that, the bible says the Word tried Joseph in his days in prison, meaning that he was tested in doctrine and faith while in prison and came out blameless.
They would have tested him in many ways the bible commanded man not to do, and he overcame all. Joseph was tried by the Word and he came clean means he was a man of faith and hope in God. Joseph did not bother much with the sufferings of the moment since he knew where he was headed to. He was a man of the Word as we saw during his days in the house of Potiphar when he told the wife he cannot sin against his God and against his master.
Brethren, when God's presence is with a person, there will be evidence to show, maybe not at the beginning, but towards the end. When the brothers of Joseph put him in a pit, and before they sold him off, there were no signs that God was with him. When he was sold off to the Egyptians, there was still no evidence that God was with him, and the Egyptians also sold him off too and yet, no evidence that God was with him.
Meanwhile, he was on heaven orchestrated journey that will birth him into the Prime Minister position in a foreign land. So, it looked as though heaven was silent on him, but he remains faithful to the only God he knew. Then in Potiphar's house, the man suddenly noticed that God has blessed him abundantly within the time Joseph came into his house.
His presence and Success
The first sign of evidence was noticed by his master and he placed everything in the house under his care. His trials came in that house through Potiphar's wife and he found himself in the Prison, yet God was with him there, because the prison was in his destiny journey to the Palace.
God continued with him until he entered the palace. Please notice that the Palace and being the prime minister did not reduce his love for God, so God made him a wonder to all the Egyptians and used him to redeem His people Israel in the years of Famine.
His presence and Prophesy
The presence of the Lord made the difference for Joseph. It was not evident in the beginning, but it became clear later in his life in Egypt. Joseph was one man that loved the Lord and followed Him fully. He was never distracted by anything he saw in Pharaoh's house in Egypt. His actions showed he remembered that he was a foreigner and a pilgrim and when he was about to die, he told his people not to bury his body in Egypt.
Joseph loved the Lord and His people so much that he had respect for the recompense, just as Moses did. He prophesied to them that the Lord will surely visit them one day to deliver them and that they should carry his bone out of Egypt and bury him where the patriarchs were buried.
FIRE...
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