PSALMS 23:1-4
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
The presence of God may not really mean the church, it actually means God's coverage, cloud or protection over us.
In today’s passage, the Psalmist said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for thou art with me”.
Shadows far from being the real thing are imperfect imitations of reality. Shadows can either make an object look smaller or far bigger and darker than it is actually. In the same way, the devil tries to belittle the greatness and kindness of God towards us and over-magnify our fears and doubts.
He tries to make us see darkness in the midst of light.
The presence of God reassures us of God’s love for us and reveals the shadows of death as just what they are – mere shadows. Let God’s presence be evident in your heart. His presence takes away fear.
When we are in God’s presence even when our enemies surrounds us, is presence makes us secured and we overflow even in the midst of hardship.
When God is present through Christ in a person’s heart, the things pertaining to his former life passes away. He becomes a distinct person. If your life is not distinct from the rest of the people, check it. Christ may not be present in you; for if He is, the difference will be clear. God’s presence always make a difference.
It is God’s presence and not man strength that secures victory. No man prevails by his strength, its God’s.
It is better to take a step with God than to walk a mile without Him. If you are not sure of God’s presence, kindly retrace your steps back to Him.
GENESIS 34:1-3
We would be seeing book of Genesis 34 the story of Jacob's daughter as an example to illustrate what the presence of God can do and when we leave His presence what happens to us.
Look at Dinah, the daughter of Jacob in Gen: 34: 1
And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Vs 1
Dinah left her father’s house to visit the women of the land and the unexpected happen. Dinah left God's presence (her father's house) into the presence of the enemies (Shechem) and
And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. Vs 2
she was stripped of her dignity. And that is why, she was not remembered in the scripture as the daughter of Jacob, history never heard of her again. If she had remained in her father’s house (God's presence), Shechem (enemy) would not have seen her and defiled stripping her of her dignity.That is what happens to most of us when we leave the presence of God,
- We get stripped of our dignity.
- Like Samson we get Humiliated and Disgraced.
- We get deprived of our power in Christ
- Our name get erased from the book of life
- We become filthy in God's presence
- We get enticed and destroyed or robbed of our destiny and future
But when we are always in the presence of God, there is:
- No fear
- Differences in us
- Direction
- Divine protection
- Fullness of joy
- Self-realization
- Assurance of victory
He wouldn’t have been able to entice her to his room. But she actually walked out of her father’s (GOD) presence into the trap of the evil one and he wasted no time in destroying her.
Many today seek for joy in the wrong places but the right place is the presence of God. When we are into God’s presence, we will find that the pleasures we've been seeking are right there, just at His right hand. The pleasures we are looking for is not in the world but is in Christ Jesus.
The scripture says in
Psalm 16:11
“Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, let your presence always overshadow me
REFLECTION: Fear is not real in the cloud of God’s presence. Stay in the cloud.
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