“When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not even enter the temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying ‘he is so good! His faithful Love endures forever.” (2 chronicles 7:1-3)
If there is anything every Christian (the church) needs today, it is to stay permanently in the presence of God. Though, this is actually the plan of God when He made us to know that He wants to dwell in us, but what are we seeing today? We see Christians and churches that have good names, great rhetoric, nice traditions, good theology, but lack His presence. They have the form of godliness but lack His presence that will bring down the power and results. And what do we see? Powerless churches and worldly Christians. No manifestation of His glory and power. No godly living. No holiness.
Whatever we do in the name of God without the manifestation of his supernatural presence in our lives and in our fellowships will always be mechanical, and without the desired divine results. But when we constantly dwell in His presence, our lives and operations will be lubricated and dynamic, and we will achieve maximum results. God’s presence makes the difference. And He does not just want to be manifesting intermittently, but to dwell in and among us permanently. He also wants to constantly manifest to the world through us. Now, we must strive to create the conducive atmosphere for Him.
From the text we read, we saw how King Solomon systematically attracted the supernatural presence of God to his life, to the temple and also forced Him to make a lasting covenant with the children of Israel. When he (Solomon) finished building the temple, he wisely thought of bringing back the Ark of the LORD. Though the temple he just completed was magnificent, but he knew that it would be just big-for-nothing without the dwelling presence of God; which the Ark represented. Solomon was indeed a wise man. He wanted the full supernatural manifestation of the glory (presence) of God, and was prepared to pay the prize for it. One after the other, he obediently took steps that would ensure that. When we desire the presence of God, we must also be ready to walk in obedience with him. You cannot be a rebel; you don’t obey the word of God and still expect His presence to abide with you. Solomon carefully followed the instructions of his father – David concerning the building of the temple and also the Levitical laws of worshiping God in his day. Obedience is the primary key to our experiencing the presence of God in our lives and fellowships. We must totally obey God and follow all his directives.
The bible said that Levitical Priests, who were the only authorized, brought in the Ark with the special tent and the sacred utensils, and placed them in the inner sanctuary, (the most holy place), under the wings of the cherubim. You can go back a bit to read from chapter five.
Purity
These priests performing, had purified themselves (verse eleven). Part of the problem we are having today in the church is that today’s Christians and ministers do not want to live a life of holiness. They want God to do miracles, signs and wonders. They want God to bless them materially. They want God to come down and dwell in their midst, but they have blatantly refused to live a holy life. The presence of God can never dwell in a filthy place. God has repeatedly told us to be holy if we want any form of relationship with Him. And this place is not just talking about the ordinary Israelites by the priests. They purified themselves. I know some will remind me that we are all New Testament priests today (yes, that is correct), but I want to first comment on the ministers as the priests of God. I think one of the biggest ‘headache’ that God has in today’s church is the ministers. So many people have refused to give their lives to Christ because of the ignoble things they heard or saw in today’s ministers of the gospel.
Do we start talking about the fakes in the ministry or about the backslid ones? There are so many ministers (priests) today, who were never called by God to be ministers. Some came into the ministry just because they couldn’t get any other work to do. Some came because of lust for money, authority and influence. Some came because some people told them that the vocation will fit them. Some are also direct satanic agents sent to cause harm to the body and also discredit the church. Now, there are also some priests who were hitherto genuine, but who have backslid because of trials, lust of material things, lust of the flesh, etc. They are truly called by God, but along the way, they decided to go the way of the world. They decided to preach what others are preaching. They decided to do it anyhow; just to get what others are getting. They forgot their original encounter and assignment, and are constantly pursing vanities of this life. They are today compromising everything.
Now, why do we still wonder why the presence of God has refused to come; not to talk of dwelling with us? How do you expect God to dwell in the midst of His people when the priests that are supposed to show examples (that stand as gateways) are living in immorality, strive, greed, etc? How can He dwell among us when we have turned the gospel to be ‘cash and carry’; where we minister to the highest bidder? Where we serve mammon? Where we serve other gods only to come to Sunday services and deceive the congregation? How can He dwell with us when we plan and actually do terrible things to bring down other people, ministries, families, etc? Do you also hear some of the things some priests (and Christians) say about their supposed brothers and sisters?
God’s presence will never manifest nor abide with us as things continue this way. We must purify ourselves like these Levitical Priests if we must experience Him in supernatural dimensions. Till next time, continue to pray that God would forgive and purify you, so that His presence would begin to manifest and ultimately dwell permanently in you. God bless.
. Agbo is the author of the book, Power of Midnight Prayer. Tel: 08037113283.
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