DEFINING THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

I posted a request on my Dr.TamaraWinslow public Facebook page on January 14th asking willing brave individuals to define for me how they believe the presence of the Lord should be defined. Not surprisingly only a few jumped into the challenge. And even though no one was completely off, what they suggested, and what I have determined from numerous conversations, is that many believers define God’s presence as merely a feeling, albeit powerful. I asked this question for several reasons. You see, I’ve been in ministry for over 33 years, not including the many years I encountered His presence in prayer, while I was singing and while I was studying His word. Moreover, throughout the course of my life, I’ve observed that 30 seconds in the tangible presence of God can be more life changing than dozens of well preached, doctrinally solid biblical messages. I am also bothered that we are so busy, doing so much, teaching so many messages and trying to convince people to find Jesus, but yet we seemingly accomplish very little. What’s worse, I am noticing an increasingly hostile, debative attitude and behavior amongst zealous believers who are intent on proving and or disproving what they believe to be the Truth of God’s Word based on their personal interpretations of Scripture and unique perspective of translations. This emergent argumentative demonstration disturbs me, not because we shouldn’t seek to communicate the truth about critical matters, but because there is such a plethora of differing arguments, each claiming to be true, that I seldom see godly, enduring fruit resulting from the quarrels and contradictory opinions. I suggest that rather than battling about doctrinal differences, that almost always create conflict, we instead need a genuine, deep, life changing encounter with the presence of God. Consequently, because of the leading of God’s Spirit, I began to re-examine my understanding of God’s presence. I’m still working through this study but I believe I’ve come up with practical, working definition for His presence that surpasses feelings. This definition was derived after looking at the combination of the four basic Hebrew and five Greek words used to translate what we would read as His presence. It’s really quite remarkable because from what I can ascertain God’s presence is, yes, omnipresent, but also exhibited in several degrees of expression according to the need and persons involved.Furthermore,  I have been privileged for many years to have witnessed His tangible, and sometimes visible manifestations, of His presence in His fire, His cloud of glory and much more. So if you will, I would like to submit this definition for you now.

The Presence of the Lord is:The visible and invisible exhibition of all that God is in character, expression, purpose, will and Spirit, that surrounds and fills the believer entirely manifesting as different degrees of encounter so that humans may know and be aware of His constant sight or seeing and involvement in creation, being drawn to be before Him, and know Him, and be known by Him thoroughly. His presence includes a unique chemistry of spiritual characteristics and power such as His fire, His grace, glory, goodness and more.

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