The Manifest Presence

Adam and Eve blew their chance for pure fellowship because they believed the lie that they could become more like God through disobedience—they refused to trust God and chose to believe the enemy.  When they lost fellowship they lost the manifest presence of God—the God who made them in His image, the God who allowed them to name the livestock and the birds, the God who gave them a Garden with every good thing, and the God who gave them the gift of life and fellowship.  They lost it, but God would restore that fellowship with the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve through the promise He gave their parents and in the blood of Jesus Christ and once again He would offer His presence.  

The manifest presence of God is ours to experience, but like Adam and Eve we often hide from Him.  We believe the lie of the same enemy—somehow thinking that we can find fulfillment in things rather than in Him.  The void in Adam’s life had to have been a constant reminder of what could have been and of what was lost, but I would suggest the restlessness in our own lives is a constant reminder of what could be if we would just learn to walk with God and fellowship with Him.  

Are you thirsty for God?  Do you long for His fellowship?  Do you find yourself panting for something and no matter what cistern you may dig—it just doesn’t satisfy?  WE were made for more than a simple mundane existence…we were made to walk in the Heavenly places as we fellowship with the Heavenly Father.  WE were made to gaze upon the beauty of Jesus and yet we keep our focus earthward.  What’s missing in our life?

God has given us means of grace by which we experience Him and one of the most neglected means is that which should be as natural to us as breathing.  Prayer is a means of grace, and it is “both conversation and encounter with God.” (Keller, Prayer) It is the entryway into genuine encounter with our Creator and yet it is often the most neglected discipline in the Christian life.