CAPTURE THE FAVOR OF HIS PRESENCE II
ANS ONLINE: CELEBRATION SUNDAY MESSAGE
21 JUNE 2020
by Dr. Jonathan David
Isaiah 6:1
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Sometimes we don’t appreciate His Presence and blind of His Presence. Sometimes we can’t see the Lord because of Uzziahs in our lives. Some relationships can steal away the Presence of God.
How do we capture the favor of God?
Let’s find out how it happens. If we don’t know the way, we won’t be able to touch the dimension of power. We must be resolute in our heart to go all the way in God. Don’t have a little bit of this and that. Most people don’t know what they want.
God is seeking those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Make up our mind to go all the way so that we can prove the word. If we cheat on the word, we will not see the Truth setting us free. Isaiah prepared to go all the way and saw the Lord.
Isaiah 6:2
2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
We must go all the way
It is always glorious when we see the Lord and His Throne. But God doesn’t want us to leave but go in all the way. God give us God encounters and experiences like this so that we can go in all the way. The secured part has been given to us by the Great High Priest.
3 And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
We will learn things in the Spirit
God has never abdicated His place and He is always in control. We have to hear what the angels are saying and see what is happening around the Throne.
5 Then I said,
“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Instead of negative experiences, we can have positive experiences. God is not going to share the earth with the devil but the meek will inherit the earth. As we get closer, we find God. We can know the favour of His Presence.
One of the dangers of pastors is that they become like the people. Instead of going up higher, they go lower for all the non-Christians to understand and for everybody to fit in. We cannot wait for people to fit in because sinners cannot fit inside the place of God’s Presence. When we capture His Presence, we can carry His Presence everywhere.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
God wants us in His Presence, live in, live by and live through His Presence and His Presence must fill our lives. The power to change the world is not just in our worlds but by the power of the Spirit of God.
If we have sin, sickness and death, we must enter in all the way.
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:
When God the Holy Spirit comes to us, He will lead us into all Truth even the truth that God wants us in His Presence. If God is going to give us a second assignment, ministry, and service for the Kingdom, the processes are clear right before our eyes. We cannot be seeing God before His Throne and we be displaced. Our place will not be taken when we keep our eyes on the Lord. Fix our faith on Him. Fix our eyes on Jesus. We must finish our commission here on earth.
After we are cleansed, we can go to our conquest. When God touch our lives, everything will change. God will restore back to our commission. The Spirit dimension will be opened up for our lives.
God wants to send people who are touched by the Spirit. When we become the agent of change, we will model change in our lives. When we are dwelling with people who can block our vision, the devil will surround us with a company of people who will stop the vision. Be free this morning.
If we haven’t seen the Lord, our eyes have not been opened, not sure in the spirit, then there will be no assignment for us. Don’t serve God if we don’t know Him. When we know Him more and more, we will serve Him more and more.
John 13:1
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
5 Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded
This is our example. Jesus is our pattern. When we are changed like Isaiah, we can understand how He works and labors with us and in travail so that we can move the church from Church Unusual to Zion.
- Knowing His hour has come
Jesus knew time. We have to take time entering into His Presence and pay the price.
- Knowing those who are our own and loving them till the end
We must know who is ours; pastor, father, and the people we are relating with, etc. When we know, the place is clear.
- Knowing He came from the Father and was going back to the Father
We must know when we start and when we finish. This knowing is in the Spirit. That’s why we must capture the Presence of God in our lives and things will change. They won’t change us, we change them. When we go back to the community, we must touch them afresh.
- Knowing the Father has given Him all things
Everything is in His hands. He has finished the work and heaven is liberated, hell is condemned. God wants us to be like Him.
- Knowing that the devil can only take Judas
We got to know the devil has only taken the heart of Judas. Even though Peter denied Christ, he came back. When he came back, he was strong and was able to strengthen the brethren. We must know the power to serve unashamedly.
- Knowing the power to serve
Sometimes we cannot serve because we don’t know who we are. If we are part of the Church, we must be serving. This is the example of Jesus. If we want to be greater, then serve.
We are going to get closer to His Presence.
Practical points to capture God’s Presence
- Hunger and thirst for His Presence and pursue passionately all things spiritual
How badly do we want His Presence? We must hunger and thirst. Many people don’t understand hunger and thirst. We can satisfy it now but we would have to start all over again. This is an exercise we do all through our lives. So don’t start something if we don’t plan to do it long term.
We must have passion till the finish. Love His Presence so much that He would want to stay with us.
Genesis 18: 3 – 4
3 and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. 4 Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;
When the Presence of God stay with us closer and closer, the more we will discover His plans. People say they don’t understand why God is saying this and that but if we follow and obey something sovereign will happen.
We must really seek His Presence. The more we know of Him, the more we want to worship Him.
- We must set a side quality time to draw near to him to fully concentrate so that God can speak to us further.
God promised to bring His Presence back not just to visit us but also to make us His habitation. Set aside good quality time and press in to His Presence. Ask the Lord to give us an answer because the Spirit of Revelation is here. He will walk with us and talk with us. Never let the Presence of God leave us even though we go through difficult times in life. When He changes us, He changes us completely.
God will set us free from fear. In the power of darkness, we must learn to pray and learn to pray together.
- Mediate on His word day and night
Saturate our mind with His words, with His principles and values. When we first read the word, we may not understand but as we read it more and more, understanding will be given. If we want to capture God’s Presence, we must be audible and verbalize the words. God wants to set us free.
- Verbalize what is happening in our spirit
When we pray in tongues sometimes we are aggressive. Sometimes it can be mellow and we start to sing. Hope that our spirit is strong so that we can preach and speak in season and out of season. When we open our mouth to speak, it will be spirit and life.
Use our words to communicate in the spirit and create atmosphere. Our whole life can change the atmosphere around us. How we talk to Him, the way and why will depend on the experience with Him.
- Be God conscious, keep our mind focused
When we pray, we don’t get involved in any other thing; day dreaming. Speak and talk to Him as if He is in the room. Then we will feel His Presence. If we have no words to pray, borrow from the Bible, i.e. Psalms.
- Worship in Spirit and in Truth and know Him as our Father
The more we read the Bible, the more we can take what we are reading and turn it into prayer. All the contents that we’ve learned can be used to pray. When we do this, we will launch a massive attack with God’s spoken word.
- We must be ready to receive instructions to follow, commandments to be obeyed
We must follow every command. We must be ready for assignment. God does not want to just hear Him but also hear His heart. God knows the ones that He has chosen. We must be ready for work. No use being cleansed and nothing. Isaiah was cleansed but he said to God, “Here am I send me.” We must be ready for conquest. We don’t just think and think but we must do.