Here’s an interesting question to consider!  If the presence of God was to come upon you, how would you know and what do you think it would feel like?
 
Exodus 19 presents us with quite a terrifying picture of the presence of God!  A thick cloud descended on the mountain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, to the extent that the people who experienced it trembled.  They were forbidden from touching the mountain because if they did, it would cost them their lives.

Yet the Bible also gives us a completely different description of the presence of God that we focus on particularly at this time of year – a baby lying in a manger, the fullness of God in human form.  Far from trembling in his presence or possibly even being killed by it, this fragile embodiment of God’s presence could so easily be beaten, mocked and even crucified.

​​In Matthew 1.23, we are told: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).  In encounterprayer, we encourage people to take this promise of ‘God with us’ seriously, and to actively recognise and seek the reality of his presence with each of us.  Your sense of God’s presence may be somewhat vague or not as defined as you might like – and certainly may not be accompanied by dense smoke, thunder and lightning - yet this does not make it any less real.  I wonder how many people passed by Jesus in the street, or as he was being carried in his mother’s arms, without giving a second thought to the fullness of God that filled him?

Where is Jesus for you right now?

However you perceive him, take his presence seriously because he has assured us that he is with us always, which means that he is with you right now!
 
With every blessing for this special season,
 
John Ryeland

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