To Dwell in the Presence of God.

LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 

He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

                                   Psalm 15:1-5 KJV 

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand  in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

                                   Psalm 24:3-6 KJV 

Obedience in the presence of almighty God go hand in hand. This can be seen in the example of Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, who offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, as priests. Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them. God has an eternal standard for all who would approach Him. God will be sanctified or shown as Holy in all who would draw near to Him. He must be glorified before men (see Leviticus 10:1-3).

Again, when Moses struck the rock in anger, he, along with his brother Aaron, were denied entry into the land of promise. Why? Because they did not treat the LORD as holy in front of the congregation of Israel. God was sanctified in the midst of Israel now, through Judgement. That was a steep price to pay for a moment of anger (see Numbers 20:1-13).

This is not an Old Testament thing, where God is an angry God, but now under the New Testament he is living and forgiving. Just ask Ananias and Sapphira, who were struck dead when confronted by Peter for their hypocrisy. This had a cleansing,  purifying effect upon the early Church, as "great fear came upon the Church" (Acts 5:1-11).

Jesus tells us that it is the pure in heart who will see God (Matt 5:8). We fool ourselves if we think that we can enjoy intimate fellowship with the Holy God, while indulging our sinful desires.

Yet many professing believers, who were once passionately pursuing Jesus, have grown cold. They are unaware that the presence of God is absent from their lives. It's like the proverbial frog in the kettle of water. The water heated up slowly, the frog unaware, until it was boiling. A backsliding Christian grows colder and colder, until like Sampson, one day wakes up to the realization that God has left them ( see Judges 16:1-20).

There is a remedy however. When one has come to the realization of their backslidden condition, the only thing one can, and must do is to repent and return to God. 

Evan Roberts, the man mightily used by God during the Welsh revival of 1904-05, consistently emphasized these four points. 

1. Confess all known sin.

     Your past sins that remain           unconfessed must be dealt with.       Confess them to God, and forsake them. Confess them to those you have wronged, and do what is in your power to make it right.

2. Prompt obedience to the leading of the Spirit.

     Obedience must be prompt. To hold back our obedience to the promoting of the Holy Spirit is to grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), and to quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19). In Acts 5:32 we read that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him.

3. Get rid of all doubtful habits.

     Are there things in your life that you are uncertain of? Are you doing things that you are not sure if they are right or wrong? Remove them from your life. There are actions that are not specifically addressed in scripture. Our conscience then becomes our guide. Romans 14 explains this. We must not allow our liberty to become an occasion to cause a brother to stumble (Romans 14:13-15). We also must be convinced in our own mind, and abide by our conviction, because to act contrary to this is to sin, because our actions do not flow out of faith (Romans 14:20-24).

4. Confess Christ openly.

     If we desire the presence of Christ in our lives we must openly confess Him before men. If we are ashamed of Him in this sinful world; if we deny Him, He will deny us before the angels of God. The Holy Spirit comes to empower us to be witnesses. As above, we quench the Spirit when we do not obey Him. How can one expect the presence of God while being ashamed of Him?

During this time period Wales was transformed. A sleeping Church was wakened, and while there is no exact count, they agree that well  over 100,000 souls were saved in this move of God. Bars were shut down, Judges had no cases to try in court. The mules used in the coal mines had to be retrained. They were used to being cursed at. They didn't know what to do now that the miners' language had been cleaned up. This is what happens when God draws near, and it begins with one individual who seeks after Him.

As we read above in Psalm 24:4-6, it is the one who has clean hands and a pure heart who receives the blessing from the LORD. This is the generation, or people who seek after Him. In a allusion to the story of Jacob, who wrestled with the LORD until the break of day, we also must tenaciously go after God with the same attitude, "I will not let you go until you bless me!"

The term "selah" at the end of this verse literally means "stop and think about that "

The story of Jacob does not start well. He deceives his Father and steals the birthright and blessing from his brother Esau. Forced to flee, he ends up working for his uncle Laban, who takes advantage of him, just like Jacob once took advantage of others.

God was with Jacob however, and when Jacob finally leaves Laban to return to back to Isaac, his father, he was a different man. Fearing Esau, he prays for God to deliver him. This is the point where he wrestles with a man, who turns out to be the LORD, and prevails (see Genesis 32:1-30).

Are we like that? Is our hunger for the presence of the LORD such that we can also say, "I will not let you go until you bless me." And is it temporal blessing that we seek, no matter how important that may be, or is it God Himself who we desperately desire?

.