Do you know how to hide in God? Do you know how to enter His presence in a way that is real and is an immunity from what is going on in the world? At the time of His coming and His return, many will flee from His presence. But we must be those who enter into the secret place of the Most High God and hide in Him. In this age when troubles abound, it is important that we learn how to dwell in the presence of the Lord. Let us cry out for His presence to be in the Church today.

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Show Notes:

From a theological standpoint we can say that God is omnipresent. His presence is everywhere. And that is true, but we also must recognize that His presence is something we must be seeking. We cannot assign the presence of the Lord to a theological concept or talk lightly about His presence. His presence is necessary in our lives as believers. God’s presence is something we must seek after. And once we receive it, it must be retained.

One of the greatest examples in the Scriptures of what it means to have God’s presence is the dedication of the Temple by Solomon. The presence of the Lord filled the Temple like a thick cloud, and the priest could not stand and minister because the glory of the Lord was so overwhelming. And we have seen amazing revivals and outpourings of His Spirit when the glory of the Lord was as real as it was in Solomon’s Temple. Yet the presence of the Lord left the Temple, and the Church has lost the glory it experienced after every revival that I am aware of.

We must understand that the presence of the Lord is something that can be lost. And in this day, I think we have lost His presence in a real way. We have become conditioned to doing things without His presence that is available to us. It is important that we learn to come into His presence. It is important that we see His presence restored to the earth, especially in the time of troubles and persecution we face today. We need to know how to hide in the thick cloud of His presence, in the secret place of the Most High, covered under His wings (Psalm 91). Let us strive to enter His presence.

Key Verses:

• 1 Kings 8:10-13. “For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.”
• Psalm 27:4-6. “In the secret place of His tent He will hide me.”
• Luke 4:29-30. “But passing through their midst, He went His way.”
• Matthew 7:7. “Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
• Psalm 32:6-7. “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble.”
• John 14:23. “My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
• John 14:17. “The Spirit of truth … abides with you and will be in you.”
• Jude 24-25. “… to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless.”
• Psalm 16:11. “In Your presence is fullness of joy.”
• Exodus 34:29-33. “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.”
• 2 Corinthians 3:13. “[We do] not look intently at the end of what was fading away.”
• Genesis 3:22-24. “He stationed the cherubim … to guard the way to the tree of life.”
• Genesis 4:26. “Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.”
• Ezekiel 10:18-19. “Then the glory of the LORD departed.”
• Ezekiel 11:23. “The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city.”
• Exodus 33:1-3. “I will not go up in your midst.”
• Psalm 78:58-60. “He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh.”
• Jeremiah 7:11-14. “I will do to the house … in which you trust … as I did to Shiloh.”
• Ezekiel 43:1-5. “And the glory of the LORD came into the house.”
• Ezekiel 37:24-28. “My dwelling place also will be with them.”
• Isaiah 55:6-7. “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-19. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”
• Matthew 6:5-6. “Close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret.”
• John 14:2-6. “I will … receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
• John 17:24-26. “Father, I desire that they also … be with Me where I am.”
• Psalm 91:1-10. “Under His wings you may seek refuge.”
• Matthew 23:37. “I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”
• Isaiah 26:20. “Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you.”
• Revelation 6:15-17. “Hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne.”
• 1 John 2 28. “Abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may … not shrink away from Him in shame.”
• 2 Corinthians 3:18. “We … are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”
• Luke 13:24. “Strive to enter through the narrow door.”

Quotes:

• “In this day and age, it’s not enough just to have a church. It needs to be filled with His presence. He needs to be there.”
• “There is a secret place of His presence that again we must seek to enter into, to find in this generation. And I am concerned as to whether there is enough of a drive and a hunger that we have to enter into the presence of the Lord.”
• “We must practice being in His presence, because as we are in His presence, we will know the truth about ourselves. We will know fully as we are known. By practicing step-by-step to enter in and dwell in His presence and be transformed into His image, His appearing will not be something that makes us shrink away in shame. We do not want to be those who shrink away. We want to abide in Him. I encourage you learn to abide in His presence.”

Takeaways:

1. Yes, God is omnipresent. He is everywhere and He is in all things, but that does not mean you are really in the presence of the Lord. There is a presence of God that we must be seeking in our lives, and to miss or lose that presence of God is a very deep concern.
2. We must strive to enter the presence of the Lord. As Yeshua said, we strive to enter through the narrow gate (Luke 13:24). He is able to make us stand in His presence blameless, and this is what we should strive for as believers.
3. The further we go into the days ahead of us, the more important it becomes to be in His presence. Our very survival may depend on our ability to dwell in His presence, in the thick cloud of His glory. We must know how to enter His presence and dwell there.