The Precious Presence of God
Hi Friends,
I am writing today on Pentecost Sunday. This is the special Jewish feast that the Jews were celebrating on the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those waiting in the upper room in Jerusalem. This was the birthday of the Church, 2000 years ago.
I am writing on the topic of the Lord’s presence, because it is significant to what happened long ago, and what is vital to today’s believers. Without the presence of God, we are just going through the motions. The reason we go to church is not to pass out business cards and socialize. Our purpose is to worship and glorify the Lord and to seek his face, his presence, “For where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there with them.” Matthew 18:20
I would like to share a vision that the Lord gave me just this week. It was one of six visions, but this is the one that the Lord selected for me to share with you.
The Vision
The Sparkling “Snow”
As I was praying in the spirit, and seeking the Lord, I opened my eyes, and saw Blue and white sparkles all around my head. It was like falling snow, but it sparkled and was definitely blue and white. I know that the color of blue in the Bible denotes God, godliness, and service to God. White stands for purity, righteousness and holiness. It also represents dedication to God and to joy. (www.biblestudy.org)
I believe that God is showing us that when we seek him and give him our all, he will reveal himself to us by making his presence known. It is appropriate that the Lord wants to speak on this topic, on Pentecost. For it has always been the Lord’s desire to have fellowship with us, his children.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
I believe that anyone can have as much of God as they want. It’s sort of like ice cream. You can have one scoop or two, or you can have the whole bucket! “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” Psalm 34:8
The more we seek him and spend time with him, the more he will reveal himself to us. I remember a woman speaker that came to our church years ago. She told us that every October she spent the entire month praying 8-10 hours everyday. I was so excited about the idea, it was like a dream come true. So I decided to pray more hours every day. This is when I started to receive visions. I found that it wasn’t until the third hour that I would receive a vision from the Lord. Now that I have prayed with the Lord for years, a vision can come at any time.
A vision from God is a picture that he uses to communicate with us. But the interpretation is not always immediate. Very often it takes days of prayer before the message is made known. And there are a few visions that have perplexed me for a very long time and I still do not feel confident that I understand them fully. So - I continue to pray.
The Lord says: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3
Years ago, I went on a charismatic Episcopal retreat where I went forward to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The vows I took to renounce the devil and all his works, and the declarations of who God is: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, precipitated the manifestation of a demon. It was quite an experience with me having two different voices. My own voice and the demon with its guttural sounds. After the priest could not cast it out, he told me to tell it to go. I said, “I can’t!” Then I looked up at the ceiling from where I laid on the floor and called to Jesus. I said, “Help me Jesus!”
That was it – the demon left immediately. Jesus has all authority!
I thought to myself, if this was in me, what is in my mother? For she read all kinds of New Age books and believed in reincarnation, astrology and followed Edgar Caycee, “the sleeping prophet.” She did her best to convince me that Jesus was not God. I thank the Lord that I already had a relationship with him, and no one was going to take that from me.
The presence of God was powerful as I laid on the floor. At one point I thought I should get up, but my shoulders were pinned to the ground. I tried lifting my right shoulder, then my left. I laughed and said to the Lord, “If you want me to stay here, I guess I will!” After another while, I was able to get up. Everyone had been praying and singing the song, “Oh the Blood of Jesus, it Washes White as Snow.” I wasn’t aware of that, until they informed me later. But I just hugged and kissed everyone in the room! These were all people I had never met before this weekend, but the love of God was everywhere.
From that moment on, all I did was cry tears of gratitude, read the Bible and pray in the Spirit. Just thinking of what the Lord did to save me from that demonic spirit, and the mercy and love he showed me, would bring me to tears. There are no words that can express the love I have for him.
That very first night at home, I spent the entire night praying. The Lord showed me faces and faces of people to lift up in prayer. I spent the whole night with the Lord. He continued to reveal his love for me and for all the people whose faces I saw. I realized then that He wanted me to pray for them to be saved, delivered and baptized in the Holy Spirit just as he had done for me.
I realized that to be baptized in the Holy Spirit was truly a supernatural thing. It was precious and powerful. When the demon returned while I was driving home from the retreat, he said to me, “You have to invite me back!” The Lord gave me the response to say: “Lord, send your Holy Spirit!” Immediately I began to speak in tongues, and the demon took flight. When the Holy Spirit comes the demon has to go! So I prayed in the spirit all the way home for three and a half hours. What an awesome experience. Even though I was driving with my eyes on the road, I could see faces of people. I knew that the words that came from my mouth were lifting up the people whose faces flashed before me. The whole drive home was filled with constant praying in tongues, singing in tongues and tears of gratefulness and love for the Lord. I believe that this was true joy - the joy of my salvation.
Everything changed from this moment on. I prayed in the spirit all the time. I didn’t really pray in English - why would I need to? I was able to pray the perfect will of the Father. I was able to pray with the Holy Spirit. My spirit and the Holy Spirit were in union. I could pray with my mind and see in the spirit. God had opened my eyes to appreciate him in a new supernatural way. Hallelujah!
Even today, I always pray in tongues, praying in agreement with the prayers offered by others. There is no doubt that when we pray in tongues, we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit. There is much freedom when we no longer worry about what others say or feel about us. When we know that the Holy Spirit is with us, and that we please the Lord through our worship and prayers, we have an inner peace.
Someday we will stand before the Lord, and not one friend, pastor, or teacher will stand there with us. Every word that we have spoken, every thought that we have considered, and every action that we have taken will be made known. So we should not get tripped up or stymied by what someone else may think of us. Our job on this earth is to bring glory to God, to magnify him. We are to be faithful believers, disciples, followers of the Lord. We are to be obedient to his word and to trust in him no matter what trial or difficulty we may face. We are to be overcomers, those that overcome their own flesh and the desires of the world, so that the Lord will welcome us into his heavenly kingdom.
Let us to hold tight to the commands of God and to his teachings In the Word. Let us love what he loves and hate what he hates. Let us acknowledge him as Lord over all, and not consider ourselves, our own.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Going back to the vision of blue and white sparkles, I can’t say that I understand much about them, other than I believe they came as a manifestation of the presence of God. What blue and white represent from a biblical perspective may be those very things that come as a result of abiding in his presence. These things can also represent what is needed to experience more of his presence. Here is the meaning presented once again:
Blue - God, godliness, and service to God.
By spending time in his presence, we are serving God, through our worship and devotion to him. And by spending time with him, he creates godliness in us. After all isn’t it said that, “We become like the company we keep”? And when we spend time with God in his presence, he gives us more of himself.
White - purity, righteousness, holiness, dedication to God and joy
When we dedicate ourselves and our lives to God, he works to develop his character in us. We have no purity or righteousness of our own. It is his Holy Spirit living in us who helps us to become holy. “Be holy for I am holy.” Hebrew 13:4-6
When God’s word begins to take root in us, it causes our hearts to change and to desire to please him. We begin to make “right” choices that honor him. We become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit directing us to conform to his will. We have a desire to be pure in thought, word and deed. When we dedicate ourselves to God, we know that all is well between us and him. Our spirits soar, and we experience true peace and joy in the Spirit.
In the Bible I have heroes and heroines. People that abided in the presence of God.
Moses spoke with God, face to face. Joshua never wanted to leave the tent where he could feel the presence of the Lord.
“Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun would not leave the tent.” Exodus 33:11
Simeon waited upon the Lord for he knew that he would not die until he saw with his own eyes the Messiah. Anna was someone who I wanted to be like. She stayed in the temple, and prayed night and day. Hallelujah! This is the story of Jesus being brought to the temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus Presented in the Temple
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.’
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. He will cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.” Luke 2:22-40
This was my heart’s cry to the Lord, “Lord, make me like Anna. I never want to leave your presence.”
My love and devotion to the Lord began as a small child…
For Christmas, at the age of six, I got my own sewing machine and a manger scene with all the shepherds, angels, and wise men, camels, donkeys and sheep. The baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the pieces were in white. The stable was lit with a common Christmas tree light, so I could change the setting from red to blue, or from green to yellow. I played with it like a doll house, placing the baby Jesus in the manger and moving the characters around. I became familiar with the Christmas story and I loved to set it up and re-enact the events.
I was always interested in the Lord and church was an important part of life. My Aunt Rose who was a devoted believer, worked for the Dean of the Episcopal Diocese in Chicago. She gave me a Bible, a Missle, and the Book of Common Prayer. We also had a Hymnal from which we would play the piano and sing hymns at our father’s request.
My sister and I each had a Barbie doll with all the family of dolls: Ken, Midge, Alan and Skipper. With the Book of Common Prayer we could bless all of our dolls with the sacraments. We took vows and recited prayers for them. We baptized tiny baby dolls that were our Barbie’s children, taking the baptizmal vows and baptizing them in the sink in my bedroom.
A cardboard shoe box was an altar embellished with a white, embroidered handkerchief. I had birthday candles on the altar and we even had a plastic chalice and plate. My Ken was a bishop and my sister’s Ken was a priest.
Because I started sewing at five, by the time I was ten I could sew on my mother’s sewing machine and make my Barbie’s full length wedding gown overlaid in lace with lace set-in sleeves. The dress had snaps as closures on the back. So Barbie and Ken tied the knot, and we went through the entire ceremony again with the Book of Common Prayer. Later, after making a Confirmation dress for Skipper, she and my sister’s Skipper were confirmed.
I remember joining the choir in third grade. I was the only child, everyone else was an adult. But I remember one Sunday, looking at my hands while wearing the black choir robes. And I thought to myself, “My hands look like those of a nun.” (We have nuns in the Episcopal church, although I had never met one until I was a teenager.)
After taking vows at my Confirmation in the fourth grade, I was totally committed to God. I talked to the Lord everyday on my way home from school. I would sing hymns to him, and talk with him. It was the best time of the whole day.
I even fasted during Lent. I would give up sugar, (desserts, candy etc.) and television, and I would read the Bible before bed. But on Sundays, we did not fast, because we were never to fast on the Lord’s day. So the 40 days of Lent never included Sundays.
I think that I was the only one in the family that did this, but I could be wrong. As the years have gone by, I have since learned that the Lord was working in my older brother’s heart as well as in my youngest sister’s heart at an early age. My father said of my brother, “He never lies to me.” And I have for years described my sister, as one who would “give the shirt off her back for someone else.” We are still very much in love with the Lord today. We have another sister that is born again, and whose heart is for the Lord. For my other brother and sister, and my mother, we continue to pray for their salvation, and deliverance. God is good, I know that he will answer these prayers!
Our job is to remain faithful and to pray without ceasing.
No matter when you come to the Lord, as a child or as one in the last hours of his life. That day will be remembered forever. It is a new day, a new beginning.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
I would like to offer you the opportunity to become born again, and to be Baptized in the Holy Spirit. If you are willing to give up sin and sinful practices in your life and to commit to God as your Lord (boss) and Savior (saving us from hell), then please renounce Satan and all his works, and ask the Lord to forgive your sins. Here is a prayer, that you can pray that will lead you into a lifetime, and eternal commitment to him.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for the sins that I have commited. I come to you today with a repentant heart. I choose to turn away from my heart’s sinful desires, and to renounce all sin in my life. I want to be reconciled to you.
You are God and there is no other. You are one God and are at the same time three in one, a Trinity with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus you died on the cross, taking the punishment that I deserved and paid the price for my sins. I confess my sin to you today and ask for your forgiveness. I promise this day that should I ever fall into sin, I will immediately repent and turn back to you.
I renounce all sin and wickedness in my life. I renounce any loyalties to Satan and his demons and to wicked people and their influence on me. I turn away from these entities and things that have kept me in bondage to sin. I ask you, Lord, to close the doors that I have opened to the devil. Deliver me from my attachments to sin, I no longer desire these things, for you alone are my God.
I believe that you died, and were raised to life on the third day. And that I too, will be raised to life with you. I believe that you will welcome me into your heavenly kingdom and that I will be able to spend all eternity with you.
I thank you Lord, that you are making me a new creation. The past is gone, and all things have become new. I ask that you write my name in the Book of Life. I also ask that you baptize me in the Holy Spirit and with fire, which is the power of God that will give me the power to overcome. I pray that I will receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
Thank you for forgiving me and removing my sin as far as the east is from the west. I thank you that you will remember my sins no more. Thank you Jesus that I am born again, born of the Spirit of God. Help me to live with you and fellowship with you every day and for always. I love you Jesus. I am now yours and you are now mine! Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!
I want to encourage you to allow the Spirit of God to speak through you. Just ask the Holy Spirit to come, to fill you with his Spirit and to use you. Give him breath - do not allow fear to rob you of the presence of God. Open your mouth and start with a simple sound. The Holy Spirit will begin to speak through you.
God bless you all. There is nothing in this world that can compare to the Lord’s holy presence. I know that the more you give of yourself to him, the more you will receive of him. Hallelujah!
Please share this with your loved ones and friends. Let’s see and experience the whole earth filled with the glory of God! Amen!!!
