JULY 27, 2024
Topic: BEARING GOD’S PRESENCE”
Text: 2 Chr. 35:3
Memory Verse: 2 Chr. 35:3 – “He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel”.
The Levites carried the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the Presence of the Lord, on their shoulders as the children of Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness. They carried it that way until King Josiah told them to place the Ark in Solomon’s Temple. The move into the temple was symbolic of the Presence of the Lord being placed in the New Covenant temple, the believer’s heart. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16)) We have this treasure, the Presence of the Lord, in our earthly bodies, but that is only the beginning of our story.
At Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, John the Baptist testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him” (Jn. 1:32) The Holy Spirit is the manifest Presence of God. He does not only dwell in us, but also desires to rest upon us. The Holy Spirit rested upon Jesus and enabled Him to know what the Father was doing and saying. That same gift of the Spirit has been given to us. Jesus called it “being clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49).
Personal times of praise are vital in releasing God’s peace, wisdom, and power into our daily lives and circumstances. In the Old Testament, wherever the Levites took the Ark, blessings, provision, healing and all the good promises that God has given soon followed. Carrying the Ark was done by more than one Levite. Likewise, when we gather as a church family and share in bearing His Presence in singing songs of thanksgiving, praise, and worship, the supernatural is released, people encounter God, and His name is magnified and glorified on earth as it is in heaven.
PRAYER: Father, as I bear your presence, may I be a terror to the kingdom of darkness. May your ever-abiding presence never depart from me and my household and may your presence take charge of all the nook and cranny of Nigeria, Amen.