How to Cultivate Awareness of the Manifest Presence of God

This week I’ll look at how we can cultivate awareness of the manifest presence of God.  A.W. Tozer explains the awareness of the manifest presence of the H.S. far better than me so I’ll let him explain: “Men do not know that God is here.  What a difference it would make if they knew.  The Presence and the manifestation of the presence are not the same.  There can be one without the other.  God is here when we are wholly unaware of it.  He is manifest only when and as we are aware of his presence.” (The Pursuit of God pg 60)

So even if someone believes that God is everywhere, realizing that he is right here, right now occurs only when a person is aware of his presence.  God wants to reveal himself to us that we might know him.  God can certainly hide his presence if he chooses to do so, but I would propose that in most cases it is our human nature and spiritual warfare that holds us back from a passionate pursuit of God, and not God hiding himself from us.  We have to be open and receptive to the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit and as we develop that awareness a whole new spiritual experience is opened up to us.  We can experience the Holy Spirit on the drive to work.  Doing the dishes can become a worshipful moment. We can be praying constantly throughout the day.  We can be listening to the Holy Spirit as he whispers to our souls.

To continue to quote Tozer: “On our part, there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work is to show us the Father and the Son.  If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.” (The Pursuit of God Pg 60)

It’s so easy to just go about our days and accomplish the items on our to do list without really stopping to be aware of God’s presence with us.  You don’t have to be in church, at a camp, or even with other believers to experience the manifest presence of God.  It is something that you can learn to cultivate and like other learned skills, you develop it as you practice it.  Be warned here though; God cannot be controlled by humans. Experiencing God’s manifest presence is not a toy for our enjoyment, it requires surrender to God and submission to his will.  His will is good, pleasing and perfect so you need not worry, but his will may just be different than your will.  It’s a great adventure but it may not be the one you charted.  Next week we’ll look at cultivating receptivity to the presence of the Holy Spirit.