We come to our services not to be entertained but to hear the word of the Lord. We want to have a meeting with God in every service; and when we hear from the Lord, we want our faith to grasp that word and move into it.
These words in the Scripture have been coming to my mind again and again: Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Psalm 79:10. It is not to be that way. He is going to be so evident. We use the phrase, “practice the presence of the Lord,” and have developed an awareness of it, but we must go further and carry the presence of the Lord into a building, into a situation, into our work, into school.
The Old Testament taught us that lesson. The ark of the covenant was put on the shoulders of the priests. This represented the presence and the glory of God, and they carried it into battle. They literally took the Lord’s presence into battle because God has said, “The battle is not yours; it’s Mine” (II Chronicles 20:15). So they believed Him and went with the presence of the Lord. Moses prayed: “If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not hence” (Exodus 33:15). To be abandoned in the wilderness was not his idea of a very good pastime on the part of God. “If You’re not going to see us through, if You won’t be manifest and present with us, then don’t start at all if You’re not going to finish it, Lord.”
That is exactly what we’re saying here. God has spoken. He intends to bring us through; He intends to help us; He will not abandon us, we know that; but we are the ones who are responsible to bring His presence into situations.
That’s why we bless; that’s why we minister. Because we believe that God is with us, we invoke or bring His presence into every blessing, into every prayer for individuals.
The one thing we want above everything else is to worship not as though we were projecting to some heaven of heavens a million miles away, but worship now in the presence of the Lord with the faith that brings Him into manifestation right now. A deeper sense of this must be added to our worship.
We worship to bring the Lord’s presence here; and strangers who come hungry for God will find the Lord meeting their hearts. The purpose of prophecy is that the secrets of their hearts will be made manifest, and they’ll fall down and worship God and declare that He indeed is among us because of the manifestation of God in our midst. (I Corinthians 14:25). I Corinthians 12:7 reads, “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”
We prophesy, we work miracles, we minister healing as though these were the manifestation of the Spirit. But those are the channels through which the Spirit is manifest; they are the gifts by which the Spirit is given access to bring His presence into it.
When prophecy comes, rather than saying, “My, what a wonderful prophecy,” we should say: “The Lord is here! The Lord spoke!” The prophecy should channel God into our very midst until there is an awareness of the Lord.
Much of our worship is singing in the spirit, it has sprung forth spontaneously and has become a way of worship. Those who have not received the Holy Spirit as a definite experience in God find it more difficult to worship this way, but those who have received the Holy Spirit will find it easier to sing in the spirit.
You may even begin to sing forth in other tongues or something of this nature, if the Holy Spirit is prompting that kind of worship, and in the spirit you give thanks well (I Corinthians 14:7). It’s a deep way of worship.
Why should we always insist that our intelligence be predominant in our worship? Actually, in evaluating most of our actions, I would say that the greater part of our being is not our intelligence, yet we try to make our reasons and our understanding the basis of worship.
But when we worship in the Spirit, the flow of conscious thought recedes to a greater awareness of the Lord that comes to our spirits. It is a much better way of worship. The prayers, praise and worship manifesting His presence please the Lord. We need to be freer to worship Him out of our spirits.
Let this day be a day of praise unto the Lord; a day of thanksgiving unto the Lord for all that He hath wrought in thy heart.
Be not forgetful of the mercies of the Lord that have been like the rain of heaven upon thy path. Rejoice in the things that God hath done for thee. Let thy heart dwell upon the promises the Lord hath made unto thy heart, that ye should not see them as distant stars to guide you only. But you should see them as luminaries that light your present path.
Yea, remember the word of the Lord to Timothy, “Thou shalt remember the prophecies that went before over thee that by them thou mayest war a good warfare,” that the present warfare shall be accomplished through faith in what God hath spoken to your heart. Ye shall believe for the present because of what God hath spoken; stand and prevail by the word that God hath given thee. Prophesy the word of the Lord and exhort one another. Let there be a lifting up in thy spirit and a rebirth of thy zeal before the Lord.
“The word of the Lord shall not be stored for the future any more than thy breath is stored for the future. For thou shalt live and breathe continually that which the Lord speaketh unto thee in this hour.
It shall be that the word which cometh forth unto thee happens instantaneously in thy life, even as it is mixed with faith within thee.
For that word that cometh unto thee cometh not now, but it was foreordained before the foundations of the earth. It cometh in this hour unto thee, and thou shalt mix it with faith in thy heart and it will happen instantly in this hour.
The word that cometh now unto thee, take in thine heart; walk in it, breathe in it. Let it be a continual thing in thine heart, not a thing that thou shalt constantly put off until tomorrow, or even until the next moment; but take it and assimilate it in this day.”