Sessions Include:

1. Do You Thirst for God?
2. Are You Increasingly Governed by God’s Word?
3. Are You Becoming More Loving?
4. Are You More Sensitive to God’s Presence?
5. Do You Have a Growing Concern for Others
6. Do You Delight in the Bride of Christ?
7. Are Spiritual Disciplines Increasingly Important?
8. Do You Still Grieve Over Sin?
9. Are You Quicker to Forgive?
10. Do You Yearn for Heaven?

If the soul of the believer is in a healthy condition, he will take occasion to frequently come into God’s presence on purpose to have communion with Him. — A. W. PINK

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME, sensing His presence profoundly, you thought, God is here? Perhaps it was during a time of unusually Spirit-anointed preaching of Holy Scripture. I recall a conference where the Lord seemed to be speaking so powerfully through the preacher of His Word that tears were coursing down my cheeks. I had been similarly moved before, but this time I did not want to distract myself for even a couple of seconds to wipe the tears away lest I miss something from this experience with God.

Maybe you felt God’s presence in an extraordinary way during a time of passionate prayer with God’s people. The Lord may have seemed so close that you were almost convinced that if you opened your eyes you would see Him.

Your Father may have been especially near in some experience in nature, as when reveling in the majestic grandeur of a Rocky Mountain vista, or awestruck while contemplating the sparkling immensity of the galaxy on a clear winter’s night.

You may have perceived the nearness of the Holy One, as I have, while walking in solitude across a field or down a wooded path, hands in pockets, on a leisurely Lord’s Day afternoon in leaf-turning season. Maybe you remember feeling enveloped in the presence of God in some placid place, a still moment at home without a single electric hum anywhere, nor any grinding roar from yardwork in the neighborhood. Perhaps you sensed Him in the soundless serenity of a lakeside sunset when the coolness of the autumn evening carried you in reverie to the awareness of the presence of the Prince of Peace.

By contrast, you may have been thrust suddenly into a knowledge of God’s closeness during an emotionally charged moment, as in a split-second, adrenalin-rushed deliverance from a car accident that appeared unavoidable. Or His presence may have been deeply felt in soft lamplight during tender gazes at the fingers and face of your sleeping newborn.

And surely you have known those moments in magnificent congregational worship when the Lord of glory seemed to be towering over the forest of exultant voices, moments when God’s presence is almost atmospheric.

But how often are you aware of the presence of God? If we take the teaching of the Bible seriously, perception of the presence of God should not be an occasional experience. I do not mean that we should frequently feel a supernatural presence, for that can be extremely unreliable. Nevertheless, it should not be unusual for us, wherever we are, to recognize that “God is here.” As we grow closer to Him, generally speaking, we should discern His immanence more readily and more often.

“Surely the LORD Is in This Place, and I Did Not Know It”

Apparently, however, many professing Christians identify more with the words of Jacob when he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it” (Genesis 28:16) than with the promise of Jesus when He said, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). For in one survey, “Two out of every three adults (68%) who describe themselves as Protestant, Catholic or Christian say that at some time in their lives they felt as if they were in God’s presence.” At some time? That means virtually nothing, for the same survey reveals that “more than half of all non-Christians … (58%) also indicated that they have felt they have been in His presence.” Furthermore, “among those who describe their church as being Protestant, Catholic or Christian … one out of every eight (13%) has felt God’s presence one or two times in their lives and 32% have never sensed His presence in their lives.” From those in the survey who openly described themselves as “born again Christians,” the results were stunning: “one-third (32%) have either never felt God’s presence or have sensed it only once or twice in their lives!”

What will result from a true Christian’s dullness to God’s company? For one thing, it necessarily means you will think less often of God, His Word, and His will. This is little different than an unbeliever who rarely thinks of God.

Donald S. Whitney, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (NavPress; Tyndale House Publishers, 2021), vi–3.

Check out our Bible Study on Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health . A bible study on the book of Lamentations as well as some Psalms of Lament.

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