In our last Blog we spoke about “Times of Refreshing” coming
from the Manifest Presence of God. We stated in passing during the conclusion
that we must Host & Honor His Manifest Presence.
What do we mean by hosting His presence? One of Webster’s
definitions that best suits our purpose here is: one that receives or
entertains guests socially, commercially, or officially. Have you ever to a
party in someone’s home and that they were a great host? Conversely, have you
ever been to a party and the host of the party was horrible?
What made the difference? In one case you were most likely
made to feel very welcome and comfortable and in the other case you were made
to feel like they really didn’t care if you were there or not.
That is the way it us when we come to church. How welcome do
we make God feel in our midst? Do we do the things that He likes that make Him
feel comfortable where He desires to actually hang out with us, other than just
in His omnipresence? A good host makes the guest feel welcome, how welcome do
we make Him feel?
What do we mean by honoring His presence? The American
Heritage Dictionary defines honoring as: high respect, recognition or esteem.
Honor is bestowed on things that we value and hold in high regard. Is this the
way we treat His Manifest presence? Everybody likes to be honored for what they
do, but God really deserves to be honored. How much do we esteem Him? How much
respect do we show Him?
I have seen many in the church in my 45+ years in the church
treat God very flippantly with really no honor at all. God has been reduced in
many cases to being nothing more than our “sugar daddy” in the sky. As the old
expression goes: “gimme, gimme, gimme…my name is Jimmy”.
What are the things that we can do that would make God so
comfortable that He would actually desire to grace us with His Manifest Presence?
We could start by doing the things He likes and has told us to do. Praise Him!
Worship Him! Love Him! Adore Him! And of course give gifts to Him. You really
can’t show honor without a gift.
Our goal should be that every time we come together as the
Body of Christ we create an atmosphere that is so pleasing to Him that He
desires to not only come to visit us with His Manifest Presence, but because of
how we host and honor His presence He actually wants to come and rest and abide
with us with His Manifest Presence. Let us move from the Visitation of His Manifest
Presence to the Habitation of His Manifest Presence because we have learned to
Host & Honor His Presence!
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