Carrying the presence of God is something that everyone who loves God will eventually desire in their life if they continually seek Him. The Bible reveals that Moses was a man who had such a desire.
“Then he (Moses) said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” (Exodus 33:15-16).
In this passage, Moses made a great point. He basically said, “God, if Your presence doesn’t go with us what will make us different from everyone else in this world?” And the answer is…nothing!
If God does not go with us then what we will be doing will produce little to no fruit and we won’t look any different than the man or woman who doesn’t believe in God.
We want His presence to be with us! So in this article, we will be covering how we can carry the presence of God everywhere we go so that God can be glorified as the world see Him in us.
What does it mean to carry God’s Presence?
To carry God’s presence means that wherever you go He goes as well. It means that the individual is in constant communion with Him throughout their day, and as a result, God’s manifest presence is going with them so that the world can encounter God through the individual’s life.
Carrying God’s presence is nothing more than God being present in a person’s life everywhere that they go.
And as Christians, we have this promise from the mouth of Jesus Himself that He will always be with us wherever we go.
“…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” (Matthew 28:20)
“For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
In addition to this, the Bible also mentions that the Holy Spirit literally dwells on the inside of us and that we are His temple. In other words, we are the dwelling place of the Spirit of God! [Related article: Is the Presence of God the Holy Spirit? (Biblical Answer)].
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
So, what is the difference between having this as a promise from the Bible and having this as a reality in our lives? Another way to ask this question is, why do some people seem to have a greater manifestation of God’s presence on their lives than others?
The answer is simple: we are growing.
The Bible says that we are to “grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:15), and that we “also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).
The Bible tells us what we are to do if we want to grow in this area of our lives in James 4:8. That verse says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
So the more that we draw near to God, the more that He will draw near to us. The more that we engage with Him in prayer and worship the closer He will be to us.
The promise of Him always being with us is still the same, but now it becomes more real to us in our lives.
It is similar to being married. You may be with your spouse all day, yet never say one word to one another. You’re with each other, sure, but you are not close to one another.
It isn’t until you start talking to one another and being sweet to each other that you find closeness. It is no different with God.
Talk with Him. Thank Him. Ask Him sincere questions. Worship Him. If you do this consistently throughout the day you will be drawing near to Him.
A good example of this is the apostle Paul and Peter. They had God’s presence on their lives more so than we have ever seen in our lifetime.
Paul had God’s presence and power dwell on Him to such an extent that pieces of his robe were cut off and given to the sick, and when the cloth touched the sick, the sick would recover.
“Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11-12)
Paul wasn’t the exception. A similar thing happened to Peter as well. The Bible says that Peter’s shadow would heal people. Think about that for a moment…his shadow.
“And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also, a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed“ (Acts 5:14-16).
Amazing right?!
Do you know what these men did differently? They devoted their lives; their time, their thoughts, and their breath to the Lord. They lived and breathed communion with Jesus. [Related article: How to Stay/Abide/Dwell in the Presence of God (4 Steps)].
You and I can do the same.
How do we carry God’s presence?
We carry God’s presence by being aware of Him and communing with Him throughout our day. The individual who carries God’s presence is an individual who has devoted themselves to being one with God through intimacy with Him.
There are four core pillars in our relationship with God that is essential to walk with Him and to carry His presence:
The Word
We should be in the Word of God every day of our lives. The Bible commands us to have the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16), and that we should meditate on the scriptures day and night (Psalm 1:2).
Jesus said that if we want to have Him and the Father make their home in us then we need to obey His Word.
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23)
Hopefully, you can see from these few scriptures that reading the Word of God every day and obeying it is essential to have God dwell in us.
Prayer & Worship
If we want God to come upon our lives in a powerful way then we need to devote ourselves to prayer and worship. Every day, multiple times a day, should be times when we talk to our Father and worship Him. [Related article: How to Enter God’s presence (Step-by-Step Guide)]
The Bible constantly exhorts us to devote ourselves to prayer and thanksgiving (Romans 12:12, Ephesians 6:18, Phillipians 4:6, Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
The Bible also reveals that every man that God used was a man who was devoted to prayer and worship. Paul (Acts 16:25), Peter (Acts 10:9), Elijah (James 5:17-18), Daniel (Daniel 6:10), etc.
If we want what they got, then we must do what they did.
Fasting
This one isn’t talked about very much in the church today but it was commanded and practiced throughout scripture.
Jesus fasted (Matthew 4:2), Paul fasted (2 Corinthians 11:27), Daniel fasted (Daniel 9:3), and David fasted (Pslam 69:10).
Jesus commanded fasting in multiple places (Matthew 6:16, 17:21).
Fasting brings us closer to God through our dependence on Him. And it is a tool to suppress the flesh for a short time so that we can train our flesh to submit to the Spirit.
Holiness
The more we do the above disciplines, the more holy and loving we will become because we will be doing what the Bible calls walking in the Spirit, which produces the fruit of holiness (Galatians 5:22-23).
But more importantly, if we do the above disciplines with a pure heart we will begin to know God and have intimacy with Him, which the Bible says that if we know Him then we will also walk in love.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8)
In another passage, the Bible also says that love is what makes us blameless and holy.
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4)
So, in short, let’s begin to know God through His Word, prayer, worship, and fasting. And let’s allow that to produce love in us so that we impact the world through the power and heart of God.
The benefits of carrying God’s Presence
If you are carrying God’s presence, then that means you are also obeying the scripture that tells us to dwell in the secret place, which is found in Psalm 91. Throughout that chapter, we see the benefits that God promises us if we dwell in Him through communion. An article I wrote Dwelling in the Secret Place: What it is and How to do it lists each one of these promises.
I hope you enjoyed the article and that it assisted you in your walk with God! God bless you all.