the manifest presence of God: pursuing the Holy of Holies in our hearts

August 2, 2007

“So as I’m standing in front of the church, leading them in songs, Scripture reading, and prayer, my goal is not to ‘lead them into God’s presence,’ but to help them remember and celebrate what Christ has accomplished for them through his righteous life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection. As they place their faith and trust in the perfect high priest, they will most likely experience a fresh awareness of God’s nearness. Their position in Christ hasn’t changed. Their appreciation of it has.”

-Bob Kaulflin, from his 7.6.07 blog entry, “Q & A Fridays: Entering the Presence of God“

One of the big aims of corporate worship is the paradox of God’s transcending nearness, but how often do we as worshippers miss it? All of the time. I think this is one of the huge barriers most people have to experiencing true worship.

Bob Sorge talks about this in one of my favorite books by him on corporate worship, Following the River: A Vision for Corporate Worship. He said there is a difference between God’s omnipresence and his manifest presence in worship.

Where does this idea of manifest presence come from?

In the Old Testament, the Israelites went to the tabernacle or temple to be near God’s presence. Whenever the phrase “come into the presence of the Lord” is used, it points back to the Old Testament model because there was a specific place for the presence of God to dwell.

However, when Jesus was crucified, He made a way for us to have access to the very presence of God. We no longer have to go to a specific place - tabernacle, temple, or church building - to have access to it. The manifest presence of God is no longer kept behind a veil in the temple but has been released to all believers to dwell in our hearts.

Although we don’t have to go in a specific place to experience His manifest presence, we do have to focus our hearts on the Lord, draw near to Him and let our praises rise to Him from a sincere heart. As we draw near to God, He will draw near to us and we will become aware of His presence - in other words, His presence will be “manifested” to us. The Bible actually says that God will inhabit our praises or be enthroned on our praises [Psalm 22:3].

It is this manifest presence that ministers the Gospel to our hearts that truly changes us from the inside out. It is in the Holy of Holies of our own hearts that this happens.

So let’s be honest, this concept is difficult for most of us. We either think its too charismatic or spooky or maybe too low church or we’ve seen it abused.

I understand your concern. I grew up in a very traditional, conservative Southern Baptist church. Praise God for that. The theology that was formed in my childhood and teenage years, much of that still remains. But my past left out a major part of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit- when it came to my personal relationship with God. And yes, worship should be intelligible and under control. But I’m afraid we’ve swung too far to the other side of an extreme.

Not until the last few years of my Christian life have I come to really understand and pursue the manifest presence of God in my personal and corporate worship times.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible that echoes this idea comes from comes from 2 Corinthians 3:8:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Unveiled faces. I think this is the key to God’s manifest presence in worship. We have to open ourselves up to his revelation in times of worship. We can’t go on auto-pilot.

I believe sincere, heart-felt connection and nearness of God is what we all long for, we just don’t know how to get there. And for us who are conservative, we tend to put our theology about the Holy Spirit in a nice little box as to fit us rather than letting the Bible inform us.

I’m not advocating anything crazy here. In fact, I’m advocating a return to a purer form of worship. One in which there is a transcendent God meeting with his people in a powerful and transformative way. Don’t we all want that?

The truth is, most of our worship is emaciated. It is a going-through-the-motions, performance-oriented, sit-and-soak model. If that is what we have relegated worship to in the church, we should just call it what it is: a song service.

So how do we do we pursue God’s manifest presence in worship? How do we learn with this even means?

Study people who do it well. Look at people like those at IHOP and Mike Bickle. Read these articles by Bickle. Don’t be alarmed. Bickle will challenge you, but he is balanced in his approach.

Make a choice of the heart when you enter a time of worship to care more about the lyrics and heart behind the song than the style of the song.

As you sing a song, do something I call sing-pray. As you sing, engage your heart be praying for the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you. Convict you. Encourage you. Teach you. Don’t just sing. If you need to, don’t sing. Just let the truth of the words wash over you.

If you don’t feel like you can worship, worship anyways. Be honest with God. The Psalms are 75% lament. Sometimes we need to lament in our hearts privately as we worship publicly. I’ve heard Rob Bell say that sometimes we just need to have good words on our lips. And through that persistence - as our faces are unveiled - God meets with us.

[By the way, this type of worship is truly worship evangelism. When an unbeliever sees the power of even one worshipper intimately connecting with God in a time of worship, it can be the greatest testimony of a transformed heart to that person.]

There is a song that has ministered to me with this idea over the last few years. I close with it:

Seeing You
Matt Redman

This is a time for seeing and singing
This is a time for breathing You in
And breathing out Your praise
Our hearts respond to Your revelation
All You are showing all we have seen
Commands a life of praise

No one can sing of things
They have not seen
God open our eyes
Towards a greater glimpse
The glory of You the glory of You
God open our eyes
Towards a greater glimpse

Worship starts with seeing You
Worship starts with seeing You
Our hearts respond to Your revelation
Worship starts with seeing You
Worship starts with seeing You
Our hearts respond to Your revelation

Worship starts with seeing You God. May we with unveiled faces see You for who You really are and then may we respond in obedience to your revelation!

Posted in Gospel, books, church, examining, missiology, quotes of note, reflections, theology, vision, worship