Being Aware of God's Presence In Your Life

 “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” John 20:29 (NLT)

by Alexandra Copeland
Do you have an awareness of God’s presence in your life? Some people would answer this question with an emphatic ‘yes’, but there are others that would undoubtedly answer this question with a ‘no’. They’ve probably heard a lot about God and have seen people preach and teach about Him on television, but for them God is a distant reality. Some of these individuals haven’t learned anything about faith and don’t know much about Christ at all. They have to see something before they will believe it. Jesus Christ said in John 20:29 (NLT), “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

1John 4:12 tells us that no person has ever seen God, the Father, and since we can’t see Him, some might find it difficult to believe in His overwhelming goodness and love. This is a sad reality indeed, because although we can’t see God with our physical eyes, we can certainly see His extraordinary work. We can see it in others, ourselves, nature, and all of creation. For some this isn’t enough. 

Imagine how it would be to live your entire existence never having believed in anyone that is capable of loving on a level that is far beyond your own. I will venture to say that these are individuals for whom life will never be fully expressed. Apart from the Creator, how can it be? How can we, as His masterpieces, fully embrace life and love when we don’t believe in the Creator of life and love?

Ephesians 1:11 (NIV) says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”  God knew us even before we arrived on the scene. We were handpicked and predestined according to the Father’s Will and purposes. This doesn’t mean that you and I walk about like robots. We have free-will choice and God will never overstep it. He will not force us to love, worship, and obey Him if we do not wish to do so. God’s Will is so incredibly intelligent and infallible that it is not hindered by our disobedience, altered by our apathy, or rushed by our desires. However, when we fall in alignment with God’s Perfect Will, the level of wonder that we’ll experience is nothing short of bliss.

1 Peter 1:3(NLT) says, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation.” God has a purpose for our lives. No one can do the things that you do the way that you do them. There’s nothing quite like the uniqueness that you bring to the body of Christ, but when you don’t know God’s purpose for your life or you haven’t gone in search of it, there’s bound to be a vacancy. Sometimes you can look into a person’s eyes at the grocery store or at the mall, and you can see this vacancy within them. You sense in your spirit that the light isn’t on. It’s because they haven’t yet discovered what it means to live with great expectancy in Christ.

When we believe in the sacrifice that our powerful and precious Lord made on the cross for us, we come alive in the most miraculous way. The entire span of our existence, from the moment we are born on this earth until that extraordinary day that we give our lives to God and make Christ the head of them, we’re just waiting to come alive through him. If you’ve been filled with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, you know this. No one has to tell you, you just know. 1 John 5:6 (NLT) says, “And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.” Those of us who walk by the spirit know the truth by the testimony of the spirit within. This is beyond phenomenal!

If you’ve not experienced the depth of this spiritual reality, you need to know that it is available for you to have it. God wants you to know His love in the most intimate way, so much so that you grow to count on Him, and to depend on the spirit that indwells you. You can depend on him more than your very best friend, because he will never let you down. The spirit that indwells us is our closest friend, and boy is he a powerful one. When the disciples heard that Jesus Christ would be leaving them, they were incredibly sad as one might well imagine. They had walked and talked with him, saw the miracles he performed and heard his teachings. Christ was dynamic and perfect in every way, and he was chock full of compassion and gentleness. And yet, he told the disciples that it was better for them that he goes, because if he didn’t go, Christ couldn’t send the Holy Spirit to indwell us.

This tells us a little bit about how extremely important and wonderful it is to have the spirit of God dwelling inside of us. The Holy Spirit abides within each of us that has made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. Ephesians 1:13 (NKJV) tells us, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” God sealed us, put His immovable, impenetrable mark in us, and made us His own.

Jesus Christ sent the spirit to us because he knew that we’d need an inside gift to help us grow closer to God and to navigate successfully through life. God is living on the inside of us and it is His desire that we live with an awareness of His awesome presence.

Things can’t help but change when you live in such a way that you know beyond knowing that God is with you at all times. If you know this in your heart, you’ll begin to talk differently, listen differently, think differently, and act differently. You’ll increase in this thing that we call faith, and it is no longer a difficult spiritual reality for you to grasp. Why is that? Because once you gain confidence in the presence of God, you’re empowered. You begin to live out Philippians 4:13(NKJV), “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  You start to measure the quality of your life by a different standard, because after surrendering your life to Christ, you can see clearly that you’re not the person you used to be.

The Holy Spirit didn’t come into your body and start kicking the bad stuff out and putting the good stuff in. No. God lovingly guided you and helped you when you decided that you wanted to be guided and helped. He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks until we let Him in. He helps us as we release those things that are not helpful to our spiritual development and He also helps us to mature in the things that are.

It is truly the most magnificent treasure to get to know God as you walk in the Spirit of Christ that indwells you—as you recognize that you are connected to Heavenly Father in a way that is undeniable. He enjoys life with you AND through you. He delights in you just as you ought to delight in Him. He loves to see you win and succeed in life, and He’s provided you with all the necessary accoutrements to do just that. You never have to force God to aid you. So many of us have grown so used to being pressured and experiencing stress in life, that we try to bring these elements into our relationship with God. We should release this type of thinking and surrender to the reality that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He wants us to be free and at peace, and all we have to do is allow ourselves to be aware of His presence, because He is with us every hour of every day.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.