His presence our habitat by Basson Nel
We are camping around the theme of the presence of God.
We do believe that this is absolutely crucial for our journey ahead – to be found in the presence of God and to move with Him – only with Him! (Num.9:15-23)
I believe that this is key to fulfilling our purpose and calling in God, firstly being positioned in Him, having our identity in Him and therefore finding our call and purpose in Him, in order to live fruitful and significant lives.
As He is Life itself ( Joh 1:4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.) and the giver of Life; no life can be found outside of Him – no sustained life, no purpose, nor eternal significance!
Since Jesus said that He is Life; one of life’s great questions: “What is the purpose of life?” can be translated as follows, “What is the purpose of Jesus?”
And since the original question is always asked or pondered for a personal answer – “What is my purpose in life?”, the actual question is: “What purpose does Jesus have for my life?”
Now that the question is less mystical and less philosophical, we can find the answer so much easier.
The answer is only to be found in the presence of God – the Life, the giver and sustainer of life!
In the presence of God, we find Him, and we find out who we are in Him (identity/position) and what we are called to by Him (calling/purpose), and how to go about it changed, empowered and led by His grace (obedient action) and develop the character to enjoy sustained fruitfulness while giving the glory to Him (fruit/prosperity)!
I want to expound on this statement this morning.
However, our discussion comes with a warning: It is possible to view this discussion as a road map to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – fruitfulness/prosperity!
It is not!
I hope to illustrate that there is more to the presence of God, than a warm feeling of acceptance, or closeness, or prayer, or meditation.
In the presence of God we are changed and transformed into the nature and the character of God.
This in itself is glorious and marvelous, but wait, there is more!
As we are changed into the nature of God, we are commissioned to release change, to affect change around us – from the days of Abram, this was always God’s intention: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The presence of God reveals God’s plans and purposes and these are always bigger than us – it always goes beyond us and it always has as its foundation the blessing of the nations – God’s message is that:
“In my presence you will discover that I am good, always good, and that I want to make my goodness known to everyone, everywhere, so that they can also come into my presence and experience My goodness and worship Me!”
*We are invited into His presence to be transformed by His presence and to live abundantly fruitful and significant lives from within His presence!
But again, the presence of God is not first base, and then we find something of our identity in Him and so we “mature” and graduate to a second and a third base, where we move out of, and away from His presence towards our actual call and fruitfulness.
That is “tent” mentality – “let’s pop into the tent of meeting before we move on, before we get going with the next phase or chapter”.
Just like, when you have finished grade one, you do not wipe the slate clean, thinking that “now that these ‘basics’ are behind me, I can move on to the real end-goal, I can forget about ABC and never mind how to count, that is behind me now, box ticked!”
So although I am elaborating on my initial statement, I am not attempting to present a “How to move on to fruitfulness, prosperity and significance in 5 simple steps”.
In the presence of God, we find Him in all His splendour.
And although that is something that we never move away from, it is here that He starts to reveal to us who we truly are.
The world and satan has been feeding us all kinds of lies as to who we are, or what we should become like, to be accepted by this world (from the basis that acceptance in and by this world is the ultimate goal – all that matters).
Most advertisements are designed to strip you of your identity and dignity, and then to sell it back to you at the price of their product: “Are you still using the old spaghetti mop? You have not lived until you try the all new…”
But in the presence of God we are awed by who He is – nobody comes into the presence of God, holds up a hand to silence the angels and the multitudes in worship of His majesty, and then starts to read off his/her own CV!
Nobody comes into the throne room of heaven and rips off his T-shirt to show off his biceps and ab’s!
No, in His presence He is the center of attention, He is the focal point of heaven and He is the recipient of all worship, glory and honour. (Revelation 5)
*Yet; He reveals to us who we are, by revealing to us who He is, who we are in Him and who He is in us! (repeat)
He reveals our true identity by repositioning us – into Himself, into His constant presence!
Genesis tells us that we were created in His image.
The fall has sent us on a meander, trying to find ourselves, our identity, our value, our acceptance, our purpose somewhere out there, in this world.
It is only when we come back into His presence by salvation (“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jn.14:6) that our true identity is restored.
Our identity is found in our new position in His presence – sons and daughters of God the Father!
Gal. 3:26-29 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Gal. 4:4-7 “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, <”Abba>, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
He is in us:
Col.1:25-27 Paul writes: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ in you – He is in us!
We are in Him:
Phil.3:8-9 “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
Col 2:6 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him”
Eph. 2:1-10 (read)
We are: saved by Him, positioned securely in Him and released by Him to reveal His goodness and glory through good works prepared by Him to show of His goodness and to bring others to Him, while destroying the work of the enemy!
It is clear that when we come into His presence, we are not simply mesmerized and stunned by His glory, but we are transformed into our true, actual, initial and eternal identity as sons and daughters of almighty God!
When we behold Him, and when we become aware of who we are in the light of Him – discovering that “if my father is the king, then I am a prince/princess” – then that brings purpose with it!
True identity always brings purpose/calling with it – Mt16:13-19:
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Peter identifies who Jesus actually is, and immediately Jesus answers him: “Well done, you got it right! Now in the light of who I am, let Me tell you who you are, and what you are called to do!”
*Our true identity is only found in the light of how we answer this question: “Who do you say that Jesus is?”
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” correct and “I tell you that you are Peter”
And only once that true identity is established will we know our calling and our purpose! “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
In the presence of God, purpose and calling follows identity.
Isa.6:1-8 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
In the presence of God my hand goes up – “here I am, pick me, send me”.
There is such a huge difference between, for example, a believer that “eventually decides to help out at the children’s church” and one who has been commissioned by God, from within His presence – “I am not helping out, filling a gap, or doing any favours – I am fulfilling my God-given call!”
*Calling is always followed by sending!
Abram: Gen 12 “The call of Abram”; Gen 12:1 “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Moses: Ex.3:3-4 “So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.” When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
vs 10 “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
The disciples: Mt. 9 “the calling of Matthew” Mt.10 “Jesus sends out the twelve”
All of us: Mt 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Mr 16:15 “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
Purpose and calling is followed by sending and obedience!
There is a glorious difference between obedience and works; between grace and favour to do what we are called to; and striving and performing for acceptance!
Eph.2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”
And it is in the obedience that we find fruitfulness – and in fruitfulness that we find significance and fulfillment, where we find destiny!
Again I want to warn us that we are not looking at step one, step two, etc.
We are not preaching “from presence to fruitfulness”, as if these are two things that are removed from one another, by a couple of steps in between!
Jesus said: “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” (Jn.15:4)
There is no fruit outside of the presence of God – the secret is to remain in Him!
Moses asked for the continued presence of God: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked” (Ex 33:15-17a)
Now that’s great for Moses – what about us?
Jesus said: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (Jn.14:16-17a &20)
*Jesus died so that the same Spirit who was in Him, giving Him constant access to the presence of the Father, could be sent to live in us!
Each of us has constant access to the manifest presence of God, by the Holy Spirit!
And in that presence we find Him, we find identity, purpose, calling, fruitfulness, significance – we find LIFE – for only in Him is there real and eternal life!
