by Pastor Daniel
 
Introduction
Sidlow Baxter, a writer and a preacher talks about the presence of God in three ways.  There is the Conscious Presence of God (His omnipresence) that we know that He is present everywhere.  Then there is the sub-conscious presence of God when we sometimes feel a nudging or the prompting of God.  Then there is the manifest presence of God in which God becomes so real that you would feel in your heart that God is present with you.
 
How important is the presence of God in our lives today?  In short, as I was reading and meditating on the presence of God, I began to realize how God has always required right from creation itself to intervene humankind with his presence.
 
His Presence in Creation
When God made man (Adam and Eve), it was for a relationship.  Yes, the transcendent God who is above all and over all, wants to be imminent as well.  This is one of those mysteries that we could not unravel, that the infinite God would stoop love to relate to and redeem a broken people. 
 
We all can understand that God is transcendent - meaning He is distinct and separate from his creation.  He is above all.  He is holy.  He is all powerful.  Then we see another paradoxical truth that God is also imminent in that he is described as one who freely draws near to us and is involved in our lives.  How do we maintain that balance.
 
This is the greatness of God.  To say that He is above all means He is all sufficient, self-satisfied and complete in Himself and He has chosen to freely relate to man.
 
The Psalmist in Psalm 113:4-9 says, “Who is like the LORD our God who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?  He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap..”  The reason for our security in this relationship with God is based on the sufficiency of God.  Because the Lord does not need anything, he therefore can give everything.  This is where we differ as man.  We have always the lack of something - love, attention, needs, etc.  As such our relationship with others can cause a friction because many times those needs and attention are not met.  We get frustrated and soon break that relationship.  But with God, there is none of those.
 
Thus when God made man, He would draw near to them right from the start in the Garden of Eden where God would make himself present and known to Adam in the evening.  This all goes well until Adam sinned.
 
His Presence in Redemption
The story above does not end there.  God did not withdraw his presence.  It is Adam who hid himself from God.  But on that day was already proclaimed the redemption of God in Jesus through that first prophecy of how the “seed of the woman” would crush the head of the “seed of the serpent”. 
 
Unfolded then is the constant “manifest” presence of God to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to Moses and down right into the New Testament in Jesus as the Immanuel.  After that it continues when Jesus said that “he is with us until the end of the age.”.  His presence was real to these immediate disciples.  His presence was also real to the Apostle Paul and down to the centuries today.           
 
His presence is still real today when He said, “I am with you always!”
 
All this while, his presence was redemptive in that God still wants to build for himself a people belonging to God and who would dwell in the place that God has prepared.
 
His Presence in Glory
That place that God has prepared is the New heavens and the new earth - the great holy city of God, where the streets are pure and there is always life.
 
In Revelations 21:3, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of Go is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
 
In the plan of God, all these will come to its consummation of his full presence.  It is conscious, it is manifest, it is real and it is full.
 
Conclusion
Can we live without God’s presence in our lives?  The answer is obvious.  We certainly cannot.  In fact life is impossible without God.
 
Even Moses knew that when God appeared to him in the burning bush commissioning him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.  His one request was this - “Lord, who are you?  What is your name?  Who am I to say when I am asked, who sent you?”  In essence Moses is saying, I can only do this if you are present with me and I know it well.
 
Thus God said, “I am that I am, I was that I was, I will be that I will be.”, and I am with you.
 
When Moses was to hand over his duty to Joshua, again the Lord assured him, “Just as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you.” and that was sufficient for Joshua.
 
Likewise, you and I need, not only just to know the presence of God but also to experience his presence daily in order to live.  That is our redemption.
 
May God be with you always!