The manifest presence of God

Over the past month, I've been pondering about the manifest presence of God. I can sense His presence, and sometimes even split second changes in the spiritual atmosphere when He arrives. Words cannot describe what His manifest presence feels like ... I guess for me it feels like an encounter with liquid love. I feel His pleasure, and it is usually manifested as a warm feeling on the crown of the head. It's a very precious feeling, something I long for, and so I've been grateful for Murray Dueck's book "Keepers of the Presence" because he puts into words what I've felt. He says that some of us have been created to be "sensers/ feelers", and that when we are in His presence, it is as if we are "in the very atmosphere we are created for". I believe that to be so.

While I've felt God's presence in church, of late, I've been sensing it out in the world too, in my everyday life.

I felt it in a Japanese restaurant in my neighbourhood, as a friend started to share about how God was working in her life. As she started recounting her story, the spiritual atmosphere in our restaurant suddenly changed. I felt it visiting a friend in her house. We were yakking away for three hours, talking about this and that, and as we were about to leave, we felt it was only right to pray for her. And as we bowed our heads (just three of us), and said "Dear Father...", His presence came flooding in. Another split second change in spiritual atmosphere. I felt it having a conversation with a colleague just outside our office tower in downtown Singapore. It's been the first time I felt His manifest presence so strongly in such a secular place. Here she was, my colleague, being open and honest and authentic about her struggles to know the Father Heart of God; and as I conversed with her, God showed up!

It has been leading me to ponder why God showed up in these moments. I know for sure they are God-moments, but what was it about these situations in particular, that He was there?

Murray Dueck writes, "As spiritually sensitive people, we need to recognise that God created us to be sensors/ feelers of His presence that would mature into keepers of the presence of God. To fulfill this calling, we must learn to stand in, be aware of, and grow in our addiction to worship, intimacy, and the presence of the Lord. We need to realise that by focusing upon the Lord, His glory comes upon us, reflects from us, and transforms us into the image of Jesus. Over time, we begin to recognise, become accustomed to, and enjoy His glory and presence. This ability to recognise His presence is essential for us. As our spiritual sensitivity increases, we will start to get a feel for what the Lord is resting upon or involved in and what He is not. As our sensor tunes in, we become ready for the next step - learning to discern what the presence of God is resting on, then guarding and keeping His sweet presence."

I've just started to get a glimpse of what God's presence rests on - and it's always on people. In Italy, I was often awestruck by these iconic cathedrals that took 300 years to build, amazing structures that were the epitome of architecture at their best. But the two occasions I felt His presence were in very "ordinary" places, with people. His presence is on people hungry and longing for Him, people who are hurt and brokenhearted, people whom He has a special touch for. Oh, to know and abide in His presence, and to guard and keep it!

ps. After I wrote this, was just thinking still about how to put God's manifest presence into words, when I was reminded of Psalm 103. I believe this is a revelation by the Holy Spirit :) Thank you Holy Spirit.

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord crowns us with love and compassion. No wonder I so often feel His presence as a warm feeling on the crown of my head :)