Wanting to feel God's presence

Listen along here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/da015d63/wanting-to-fee...

Eureka! When you find it, you know. Why, this is like the Jerusalem church! Anxious to talk more about that great gathering, I must first speak of one verse.

You will remember that when Peter and John went back to their people, they reported what had happened to them, jail and a stern warning not to speak of Jesus, Acts 4. Upon hearing this, the people spontaneously burst forth in prayer!

And. God. smiled. Yes, apparently, Heaven was watching and listening--our Heavenly Father so moved by their fervent prayer and their hearts' passion for him. Luke at how Luke describes his reaction:

 "When they had prayed,

the place where they were assembled was shaken,

and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and began to speak the word of God boldly." Acts 4.31

'The place was shaken' - God made his presence known.

This harkens back to the morning weeks before when the Holy Spirit descended with 'a sound like that of a violent rushing wind'1 and 'tongues like flames of fire'2 rested on the heads of each in the room. On that day, God made his presence known audibly and visibly.

God is present in our lives; he assures us of that throughout Scripture. A favorite promise I carry in my heart:

I will never leave you or forsake you.3

Besides counting on this promise of his presence, I know God is with me because he gives wisdom and guidance when I ask him. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."4 I think often of Isaiah's words, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'this is the way, walk in it.'"5

Our loving God supplies the wisdom, direction and discernment - ask him.

God has made his presence known when he has given me his peace when it was illogical, nigh impossible to be at peace in the storm--that is, without him.

Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives give I to you.

Let not your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.6

[yes, I have all four of those verses memorized, ready truths that I can call to mind]

But as for a physical sign of the Holy Spirit's presence, anything close to what Luke writes as the experience of those at Pentecost - wind and something that looked like tongues of fire or a building being shaken . . . hmmmm.... Have I seen or even heard of such a thing today? Yes. in fact I have.

It was November, 2019, and I was in Israel with a wonderful group of people. Early in the morning I was praying for our folks and what lay ahead that day, and felt

prompted by God that the group should pray for Nina, a young woman who had gotten a cancer diagnosis just before the trip. I was to tell her that God still does the miraculous, he still heals--I knew, he had miraculously healed my boy! I could speak from experience and a wee bit of authority. And then, we were to pray for her.

And so when we got to Mt. Carmel, the site marking where Elijah saw God do the miraculous, I knew that was the place to pray. On this visit to the site, the chapel door was opened... of all my trips to that mountain top, it is the one and only time my group was able to go in that chapel! hmmm....

It was the perfect place to pray for Nina, except there was a sign that said 'no speaking to groups permitted inside' . . . what to do. I looked at my friend/our guide, Ezer, who said, 'Christeeen, you talk, I will watch the door.' Your attention please--I told the story from the Fall of 2000, when my 2-year-old, Danny, had kidney failure, and the medical field was powerless to diagnose the cause or determine a cure, as he continued to bleed daily... until, God stepped in. And then, I quietly asked our group - new Presbyterian friends from Oklahoma, some not-yet-convinced-of-God folks from Colorado, Southern California and then some of my own girls from Bible study - to join me in praying for Nina. 'Hey, if you are sitting near her, reach out and put your hand on her, will you?'

And then, as I have done for many people before that day and since, I cried out to God - yes, I did not meekly ask or pray - I fervently asked God to come and do what only he could do--heal Nina.

This is where it gets interesting--when I pray, I close my eyes and keep them closed as I pray (not required, just what I do, my habit), but while I was praying, a bright beam of light shot into the little chapel,

right where we were sitting. Eyes closed, I did not see it. But, as soon as we exited the chapel, first one and then another of our group said, 'Did you see that? What was that? Where did it come from?'

Yesterday I contacted several people who were there that day - even on the phone, across thousands of miles, there was no mistaking the awe. God had made his presence known that day with an unmistakable beam of light.

Note: what do these scenarios have in common?

Acts 2 coming of the Holy Spirit,

Acts 4 shaking of the building where they were gathered,

November, 2019 shaft of light on Mt. Carmel in Israel?

God's people were gathered and praying.

I want more. I want to see and experience more of God. And yeah, I want to see and feel him too! How about you?

listen! http://www.youtube.com/watchv=KoTNHiFq0p0&list=RDKoTNHiFq0p0&am...

Christine - Pastor woman.net

Acts, no.16

1 - Acts 2.2

2 - Acts 2.3

3 - Hebrews 13.5

4 - James 1.5

5 - Isaiah 30.21