God is everywhere at all times.  The fancy theological word for it is called Omnipresence.  We believe that God truly is everywhere and nothing can contain Him.  Jer. 23:24 tells us that God declares: “Do I not fill Heaven and Earth?”  God is big!  He is HUGE, and there is none that can compare to Him.  “Solomon confessed upon finishing the temple, ‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth?  Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!'”(Book: Vertical Church).

The Bible is full of references of how big our God is.  What I want to discuss today is this question taken from the Vertical Church book.  “But does His omnipresence mean that God is present in our services and meetings?”  The answer is yes and no… God is omnipresent, so He is everywhere– BUT His manifest presence might not be!  If God wanted to, He could fully reveal Himself anywhere at any time—even in hell.

So what does God's manifest presence mean?  “To put it simply, manifest presence means God at work right here!”-(Vertical Church).  Let me say this another way…when God shows up you know it!  There will be no doubt.  And when God reveals Himself, He is doing something.

So on the one hand, God is everywhere at all times.  And then there are times when He reveals Himself differently to us for a purpose.  God will reveal His presence and show His work whenever it is His will to do so.  We need to believe and understand that God is everywhere at all times. And next, we need to INVITE, and WELCOME God.  “God's manifest presence should be the consuming passion of every weekly service planning session and His absence the dread of every weekly service review.”(Vertical Church)

After reading this chapter in the Vertical Church book, I have been very intentional about starting every meeting with acknowledging and inviting God's presence into our midst.  Will you join me?

Be Blessed,

P. Ray