“Lo! I am with you always…” (Matthew 28:20).
The presence of God can only be experienced in the present; not the past or the future, but the present. The presence can’t be experienced in the future until the future arrives and then it becomes the present. His presence is not in the past; there is evidence in the Word and testimony of His presence in the past, and prophecies concerning His presence in the future. But the only place we can experience the presence of God is in the here and now; the present moment, the present hour, the present time, the present day.
“I am with you” Jesus said; this is a present indicative active verb, signifying that the action spoken of, being with us, is in the present. Many Christians live in the past and in the future and, in doing so, miss out on experiencing the presence of God in their lives today; but unless we are in His presence now, how can we be in His presence in the future, which, after all, is only the present that is coming? We must abide in His presence, so that we are always in His presence and never out of it.
It is only in His presence that we can be what we are meant to be, for it is in His presence only, that we can partake of those qualities that He possesses in abundance and which, in our fleshly state, we have not. Holiness, faithfulness, righteousness; these cannot exist in us apart from His presence, for away from His presence we are but flesh; moreover, like the manna, we cannot store up His presence, or pick it up and put it down as we wish; it is either there or it is not.
It is absolute surrender to His Spirit that brings us within the orbit of His holy presence, there to be sustained and “partake of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of worldly desires” (2 Peter 1:4).
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