“. . .Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

There are many ways to experience the Divine Presence of Christ Jesus. Divine Presence may be experienced at any time in any place. There is a reason for this; and that reason is Divine Presence is constant and continuous in the life of the believer. Divine Presence is an abiding Presence. Jesus said it plainly in our familiar text. It is so familiar we overlook what was said, “I am with you always. . .”

We have a misperception about Divine Presence and our most holy faith. We believe we will bring the Divine Presence into our midst when we produce it by our acts of faith. We invite the Divine Presence to come into the Sanctuary, into our Assembly, into our prayer meeting, our Bible Study, our altar. The fact is Divine Presence is in the believer continually. Jesus said, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23). Divine Presence abides, lives, takes up residence in us who believe.

So, the reality is the Divine Presence is an abiding Presence and is waiting for us. Patiently waiting for us to express our most holy faith in Him. Then we will experience the manifestation of Divine Presence abiding within, as He moves in our Sanctuaries, our Assemblies, our prayer meetings, Bible Studies and at our altars. This is clearly evident in the Scriptures:

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 11 we have the incident of the resurrection of Lazarus, brother to Martha and Mary of Bethany. Jesus was there ready to raise His friend, Lazarus, from the dead. Before He did so, He had to see faith. He tried to encourage this faith when He said to Martha, “Thy brother shall rise again” (John 11:23). Martha agreed and said, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet, shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? Martha said unto Him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, Who has come into the world” (John 11:23-27). The Divine Presence of Christ was there to do a miraculous thing, but waited for the faith of Martha to do it. As Jesus moved forward telling the people to remove the stone from the tomb, Martha revolted over her concern that the dead body of her brother would stink. “Jesus said to her, ‘Said I not unto you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God'”? (John 11:40). The ever patient Jesus waited until the right moment when all was in order and faith was in place for the miracle to happen when He spoke those powerful words, “Lazarus, come forth”! (John 11:43b)

Can we hinder Divine Presence from doing miraculous things? Yes, as we see from Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus returned to His home area and taught the people in the synagogues; but as Matthew writes: “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58).

Brothers and Sister in Christ, let us have faith. Let us continually believe for the Lord has given us His solemn promise, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Divine Presence is always with us, abiding in us; let us believe to see the glory of God revealed in our day.

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