Don’t We All Save the Best Till Last?
Welcome back to this last and final part of how to reveal His presence. It’s a slightly longer read, but the best is always saved till last!
Humility is Key to a Greater Revelation of the Father
Have you ever heard Jesus referred to as the Lamb of God? That title may bring to mind a little, curly-headed, Easter lamb. However, that is not why the Old Testament prophets called Jesus the Lamb of God. He is the Lamb of God because He was, and still is, fully yielded to His Father, even to His death on the Cross. We can be like Jesus today when we, through humility, live in response to what our Heavenly Father wants. This then enables us to reveal His heart and presence in a far greater way. We do this not because we want to look good but because we want to demonstrate to the world around us who He truly is.
Old for New
By living this way, we find that our identity begins to change. Over time, we outgrow our old identities and we freely receive His new creation identity (2 Cor. 5:17), which is when we get to demonstrate His true character and nature. In other words, we reflect His identity to others when they see less of us and more of Him. As John the Baptist said about Jesus in (John 3:30): He must increase, but I must decrease.
A Consuming Fire with No Damage?
The presence of God is foreshadowed in the Old Testament. For example, when we look at Moses’ experience with God in Exodus chapter 3, we see that He revealed His presence to Moses in an amazing way. During this encounter, God got Moses’ attention when he noticed a fire in a bush. It caught his attention because the bush was burning, but it was not consumed by the fire. Have you ever seen something on fire that wasn’t destroyed?
We can see this wonder as a type and shadow of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit can become so present in our lives that He consumes us as an all-consuming fire, but we are never harmed. Instead, His presence increases our faith, and we are eternally changed from the inside out (Hebrews 12:29).
A Sign Always Points Us in the Right Direction
Let’s not just focus on the sign of the burning bush, for the sign only points us to a greater revelation of who He is. Instead, let’s focus on what God spoke to Moses during his encounter with God. In (Exodus 3:7-10), we can clearly see that God doesn’t just communicate who He, but also who He created Moses to be. He wants Moses to go and release His people who were oppressed by the Pharaoh in Egypt. Moses was chosen to carry His heart and compassion and to reveal who He was to Israel. However, Moses replied “Who am I?” in (verse 11).
God’s Identity & Power Through Us
The funny, yet great thing, in this, is God’s response to him. God was not dealing with Moses’ own poor self-image and identity, but He revealed His own identity through Moses as His yielded vessel: In (Exodus 3: 12), God’s responds this to Moses:
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.
God was not bothered about Moses’ poor sense of identity, but instead, He confirmed that He would be with Moses. What a statement! It’s as if God is for us and with us, who can be against us!
And then the dialogue between them went on to say this in verses (13 and 14):
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.”
God Liked to Hang Out with Moses
The main thing we should gain from this is that God did not just love Moses, He liked him and wanted to hang out with him. He sought him out to reveal Himself through Moses to a people who was hurting from the world’s oppression. He was saying to Moses, “You are the guy that I like to be with!” He wanted MHis presence to be with Moses! It was as if God was saying, “I’m going to be seen with you Moses and together we will do great exploits. You will see signs, miracles, and wonders that I want to do through you. All that I need you to do is to just trust Me. Be My yielded vessel and stay humble before Me, and do what I AM asking you to do no matter what it looks like or how crazy it may seem.”
The Father Likes to Hang Out with Us Too
The question is this: Do you want to live like this? Do you want His presence, not for the signs and miracles, but just to be the one He loves and likes to be with? Remember, the signs and miracles just point us and others to a greater revelation of who He is. He wants to show Himself strong in us and through us. There is no greater ambition than to have our Father say to us that He likes to hang out with us, always!
It’s Not About Our Giftings or Callings
Our desire to host God’s presence should never be about our “giftings or callings.” It should always be about giving place to the Person of Jesus! We should be passionate and focused on finding out Who He is, His love for us, and His character and nature. In turn, we can know who we are and reveal Him in greater ways. The purpose of this discovery is so that “He can rest upon us, in us and through us”! Then we can show others Who He is for them.
Our Ambition is Relationship
We have to ensure at all costs that ambition never consumes our ministry, our jobs and, even our lives. Our only ambition should be to just fall more in love with Jesus and allow Him to consume and possess everything we are! It’s not what we do that makes us who we are, it’s who we are that makes us what we do!
His Presence Affects Our Presence
Always remember, it’s the “Person” of Jesus who is the treasure; it’s never about what we do, or what we are able to do. It’s all about being fully yielded to the One who is all in all and who is everything! This is how we truly reveal His presence.