I AM OVERWHELMED

Sunday is drawing to a close and I am sitting in my home office looking into dead space and thinking about how gracious God has been to us.  You see, CityWest Church is going through an awakening, a refreshing of God’s Spirit unlike anything we have ever seen in our short 8 year history.  To come to Church is to literally walk into God’s overwhelming presence and many of us continually stand amazed.  It wasn’t always like this, but I am breathless at how God has decided that our time is now.  I am worshipping Jesus for this because what we are experiencing is an answer to years of prayer.  I have been begging God to show up in His manifest presence for a long time now.  Could it be that this is the start of Him stepping down to dwell with us in revival fire?

Ian Malins in his book “Preparing the Way for Revival” describes in more detail what we are craving.  He wisely makes us understand that there are three dimensions to God’s presence.  Here is how Ian Malins explains it:

GOD’S GENERAL PRESENCE: This is seen in the fact that God is everywhere and no matter where we are, God is there also.  Psalm 139:7-12 (ESV) describes it, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” Our very life and existence depend upon His constant presence and sustaining power (see Hebrews 1:3).  An external presence of God surrounds all people (like air), whether we realize it or not.  Without this general presence we could not exist (see Acts 17:28).

GOD’S INDWELLING PRESENCE: This is a deeper dimension of God’s presence that we experience at the time of spiritual birth (see John 3:5).  Before we believed and received Christ, we were spiritually dead.  There was no spiritual life within us.  But when we believed, we were brought into covenant relationship with God, through Jesus and His Spirit is now not only with us but dwells within us (see John 14:17).  Some Christians go only this far in their understanding of God’s presence.  But there is more to His personal presence than that (as wonderful as that is!)

GOD’S MANIFEST PRESENCE: Jesus speaks about this in John 14:21 (ESV) when He says, “…And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” The manifest presence of Jesus is not just the presence of Jesus living within us; it is the presence of Jesus revealed among us.  It is God visiting His temple – both individually and corporately.  It is God’s Spirit moving in us, among us and upon us in holiness and power.  It is a presence we can feel.  At such times people know without a doubt that God is in their midst, moving and touching their lives.  This is the level of God’s presence we experience in times of revival.  And many have never known this kind of presence before.

For those of you unsure about what revival is, this will bring greater clarity.  We are pursuing and praying earnestly for God’s manifest presence – and let me tell you, we are seeing it more and more.  When God shows up in this way we are totally and utterly overwhelmed.  You cannot walk away from this encounter with the Living God and not be changed.  Since God has been gracious enough to reveal Himself this way, I have become a new person.  I am not the same Mark as I was even four months ago!  I never realized how much I needed God’s manifest presence until I actually experienced it.  There is no place I’d rather be and I crave it constantly.

In God’s manifest presence are many, many joys.  Jesus is honoured to a greater extent.  Jesus is elevated as above all.  Jesus is adored and worshipped in a way that is deserving of His Majesty.  The Holy Spirit is given room to move and to be poured out on His thirsty people.  The embrace of the Father goes beyond theory and is felt.  The Smile of Almighty God shines over you and you cannot help but reach out higher than you ever have.  Prayers take on new meaning as it becomes an intense and intimate communication.  And this list goes on about how the manifest presence of God transforms us.

But what I find most remarkable about this is that we are uncovered and laid bare before our Holy God.  Repentance doesn’t offend you anymore and you actually long for it.  Humility becomes your goal and you are quick to agree with God about your fallen, sinful state.  Deep and authentic brokenness becomes normal and you can’t get enough of God’s cleansing power.  There is a stripping away of the flesh and a consuming sense of God’s Spirit being poured out upon you, as in a baptism.  What can I say but God is an overwhelming God!

So, if your eyes have been opened to seeking God on a more intimate level, then go ahead and ask Him.  Let me remind you that God wants this more than you do because His love for His kids goes so deep and He hates anything that separates Him.  God’s manifest presence is for you, but do you want Him that close?  It will take people who pray hard for Him to come and earnestly live out 2 Chronicles 7:14 – please read it AND LIVE IT!