Gtcotr/ss110225
God’s presence makes the difference.
Key Scripture: Luke 5:17 ¶ Now it happened on a certain day, as Jesus was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
David’s greatest concern after his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, was that God would take His presence from him.
Psalms 51:11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Moses interceded for the Children of Israel when they sinned against God.
Exodus 33:15 Then Moses said to God, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.”
When Cain murdered his brother Abel, he was punished with the most severe punishment he could have received.
Genesis 4:16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
In fact, hell is the eternal abode of all who reside forever outside of the presence of the Lord.
The presence of God is important both in the here and now and throughout eternity.
- · There is life in His presence
- · There is joy in His presence
- · There is hope in His presence
- · There is peace in His presence
- · There is happiness in His presence
- · There is fulfillment in His presence
- · There is comfort in His presence
There is power in His presence!
How do we find the presence of the Lord when we need Him?
This morning I want to share two primary ways you can find the presence of God when you need Him.
#1 – Prayer
- · Over and over the Bible tells us:
- · Seek Me and you shall find Me …
- o Deuteronomy 4:29 – with all your heart
- o Proverbs 8:17 – seek Me early
- o Matthew 7:7 – seek and you will find
- o Acts 17:27 – He is not far from every one of us
Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
In 1985 I was in my office when I received a phone call from Brenda. She was crying and told me my son Ashley had been injured and I needed to come home. After a two-minute drive I arrived at our house to find the city was resurfacing our street with hot asphalt. My barefooted young son was riding his bicycle in the neighborhood, and his tires sank into the freshly melted, extremely hot asphalt causing his bicycle to stop in its tracks.
When he put his feet down, they sank into the hot asphalt. At the same time the huge machine which rolled the pavement into a flat surface began backing towards him. Praise God a worker saw him and stopped the machine in time. The worker then pulled Ashley out and carried him home. His feet were completely covered in dried tar as though he had on rubber shoes.
We rushed him to the hospital where they ended up having to get commercial tar remover from the maintenance department and sprayed it on his feet to dissolve the asphalt. His feet were badly burned, leaving him with large open wounds. The prognosis was not good. The doctor wrapped them, gave him something to help with pain and said it would make him sleepy. Then he told us to make an appointment with our family doctor who would refer us to another doctor the following week.
We were told the recovery period would be six weeks to six months, and we should expect some long and painful procedures. That night Brenda and I laid Ashely in our bed and knelt at the foot where we could touch him, and we spent the whole night in prayer. When I say prayer … I mean prayer with our whole heart and soul. We cried out to God in our midnight hour. We cried out and we thanked God all night long and we continued to feel waves of His presence undergirding us.
God gave me a word from the Bible that night. I’ll paraphrase the passage as it came to me: “I have heard the cry of My people and I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them.” (Exodus 3:7&8) Right then and there that word came alive to me. God often speaks in scriptures to give us a reference for our faith.
The next morning when Ashley woke up he said his feet didn’t hurt anymore. I unwrapped one and it was completely healed … no wounds, no sores, no pain, no evidence anything adverse had ever happened. I unwrapped the other foot and there was one small spot that looked like a blister about the size of a dime. He said he felt good so we put socks on both feet and a shoe on one foot, and he went with me. He carried my golf clubs for 18 holes and by the time we got home the other foot was clear. The next week our family doctor couldn’t imagine his injuries were ever as bad as the report he received. He blew it off, but we knew it was a miracle.
There is power in His presence and those who seek Him will find Him.
#2 - Praise
When Paul and Silas were in the Philippian jail in their midnight hour, they needed help … help which only God could give them. How did their find God in their darkest hour?
Acts 16 NKJV
23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 ¶ But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Suddenly! … Don’t lose heart … the Lord will suddenly appear; suddenly deliver; suddenly turn your mourning into dancing.
Did you read that the prisoners were listening? Prisoners who don’t know the Lord are listening to you to see what you say and do in your midnight hour. Notice … when God answered the prayers and responded to the praises of Paul and Silas, everyone’s chains were loosed.
There is power in His praising the Lord because:
Psalm 22:3 But You are holy, Inhabiting the praises of Israel.
God inhabits the praises of His children. Seek God’s presence in your midnight hours of life. Seek Him in prayer and seek Him with praise.
Allow me to ask you a question: What do you think Paul and Silas were praying for? I don’t see them praying for themselves as much as praying for the reason they were in Philippi. They were there for the lost. I imagine they prayed for the prisoners and perhaps even the jailer and his family. Maybe they were praising God for the answered prayers before they saw it.
What will you do in your midnight hour? What will the prisoners hear you saying? Will anyone else be set free?
