                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                            The Presence of God

                         The Danger of Losing It --
                     How It Is Lost - How To Regain It!

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By David Wilkerson
February 29, 1988
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          David committed adultery with Bathsheba, "...and the
          thing that David had done displeased the Lord" (2
          Samuel 11:27). Bathsheba became queen, and David went
          about his kingly duties. One day, perhaps while in a
          high government session with foreign ambassadors,
          someone approached the king and whispered, "Sir, the
          prophet Nathan is here. He's impatient and insists on
          seeing you right now. He says it's a matter of life and
          death!"

          I can see David turning ashen white, the blood draining
          quickly from his face, unable to move, paralyzed with
          fear. His thoughts raced, "Oh, no! He knows! He must
          know! He's a prophet! God must have told him about my
          secret affair with Bathsheba! He knows Uriah didn't die
          accidentally; he knows I had him killed! It's all over!
          I'm done! Finished! He'll expose me!" David dismissed
          everyone quickly. Taking slow, deep breaths, he
          instructed his servant, "Bring Nathan into my private
          chamber." And suddenly, there is the prophet with those
          deep, piercing eyes, that holy man of God, Nathan.
          David slumps in his chair, ghostly white. "God bless
          you, Nathan. What can I do for you? Just name it!"

          Nathan turns away and begins to tell David about the
          horrible sin of a rich man who's stole somebody's
          little lamb. David is relieved! "He doesn't know! He's
          not here to expose me! He's upset about someone else's
          sin!" David is all ears now. He replies to Nathan's
          story, "Nathan, do you mean this horrible, selfish rich
          man had many flocks and herds, but when company came
          and he needed meat he stole the only lamb from a poor
          neighbor? And the lamb was the household pet, living in
          the house, playing with the children, sleeping with
          them? And this selfish, greedy rich man stole that
          lamb? So help me, Nathan, as surely as the Lord lives,
          I'll kill him. How terrible! I'll make him restore the
          lamb fourfold. Don't worry, Nathan. I'll tell my
          captain to bring this man in right away. What's his
          name, Nathan? Tell me. Who is he?"

          Nathan swings around abruptly, looks David in the eye,
          points a finger, and says, "You, David! You are the
          man! You stole Bathsheba! You are the selfish killer!"
          David is speechless. Terror grips his heart as Nathan
          cries out, "Wherefore have you despised the commandment
          of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?" (2 Samuel 12:9).
          Then came these awful words, "I will raise up evil
          against thee out of thine own house, and I will take
          thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto them
          unto thy neighbor..." (2 Samuel 12:11). David cries
          out, "I've sinned against the Lord..." (2 Samuel
          12:13).

          David is terrified, not because of Nathan's prophecy
          that he will lose his wives. No, David is remembering
          what happened to Saul because of sin and rebellion.
          David had seen this great man of God fall apart; he had
          seen him fall into madness when the presence of God
          departed. He had wept at the sight of a once powerful
          man of God cursing, living in fear, without hope. David
          knew what the end was like for a man who loses the
          presence of God. He had seen the evil spirit that
          possessed Saul. So David cried out, "Oh, God, I
          acknowledge my sin, it is ever before me! Create in me
          a clean heart; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast
          me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy
          Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:3, 10, 11).

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                       What Happens to a Child of God
                        When His Presence Departs?

                    ------------------------------------

          If Christians would take Saul's experience to heart,
          they would cry out like David to the Lord, "Give me a
          clean heart! Don't take Your presence from me!" Saul is
          a tragic picture of the Christian who has lost God's
          holy presence.

          There are three terrible evidences. The first evidence
          is a melancholy, depressed spirit. God's Spirit left
          Saul because he refused to obey the Lord's command.
          Saul was commanded to do nothing until Samuel came to
          Gilgal to seek God and make sacrifices, but Saul got
          impatient and took matters into his own hands. So God
          left him "...because thou hast not obeyed that which
          the Lord commanded thee" (1 Samuel 13:14). He was not
          serious about God's Word.

          A spirit of envy and jealousy then fell upon him, and
          he became insecure. The crowds were singing, "Saul has
          slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands....
          And Saul envied David from that day forward. And it
          came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from
          God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of
          the house...." (1 Samuel 18:7-10). The original Hebrew
          reads, "The melancholy spirit sent by God came upon
          Saul, and he feigned to prophesy within the house...."
          The word is actually "Rave!" Saul stormed about the
          house breaking things in a violent fit of madness. He
          raved like a madman! Saul cast his javelin at David,
          trying to kill him. "And Saul was afraid of David,
          because the Lord was with him, and was departed from
          Saul" (Samuel 18:12)

          Nothing worse can be said of a child of God but that
          "the presence of the Lord departed." In His place comes
          a spirit of hopelessness and emptiness, and it causes
          sudden irritation, temper tantrums, jealousies, envy
          and fear. This melancholy spirit on Saul made him
          believe that others were out to get him, that everyone
          was conspiring against him, that no one loved him and
          that no one pitied him. "All of you have conspired
          against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my
          son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there
          is none of you that is sorry for me...." (1 Samuel
          22:8). He now distrusted his own son. And on one black
          day of infamy, Saul ordered the execution of 85
          priests. He then had the city of Nob, a priest's city,
          completely wiped out, including women, mothers and
          children. Saul became a schemer, a manipulator of
          people. His home was divided and in turmoil. He was
          unable to sleep at night, always restless.

          There is a depression caused by a lack of certain
          substances in the brain, and it is a strictly medical
          problem. But much of the depression among God's people
          is due to the departure of the Spirit of God because of
          their disobedience. Like Saul, they refuse to take God
          seriously. And like Saul, they become irritable,
          jealous, envious, manipulative and hateful.

          A second evidence of the loss of God's presence is
          frequent confessions and occasional powerful movings of
          the Spirit with no accompanying change of heart. Saul
          was always confessing, always saying, "I have sinned!
          I'm sorry!" He said it at Gilgal when he disobeyed God,
          spared the best cattle and saved the wicked king
          Achish. He said it to David, after David refused to
          kill him in the cave, "You have done me good and I have
          rewarded you with evil" (1 Samuel 24:17). Saul repented
          again in the hill of Hachilah after David crept into
          the camp while Saul's bodyguard slept and stole Saul's
          spear and water bottle. Saul then called out, "I have
          sinned: return, my son David; for I will no more do
          thee harm...." (1 Samuel 26:21). But through all this
          his heart never really changed; it actually grew harder
          with every confession.

          When David escaped to Ramah to be with Samuel and the
          prophets, Saul came up to kill David. But instead the
          Spirit came upon Saul, "... And the Spirit of God was
          upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he
          came to Naioth in Ramah. And he stripped off his
          clothes also (the upper garment) and prophesied before
          Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day
          and all that night..." (1 Samuel 19:23-24). When he got
          near the fire of God, among holy people, God's Spirit
          hit him like lightning. It was awesome! All day, all
          night, ecstatic utterances, praising God, prophesying.
          But when he got up he went right back to his stubborn
          ways.

          How many Christians are like this! God occasionally
          moves on them; then they weep and promise God that
          things will change. God gives them seasons of
          refreshing to draw them to Himself, to reverse sin. But
          they're never changed. They do not come out to a life
          of devotion. They do not study their Bibles. They do
          not pray. The presence of God does not stay with them.
          Only on occasion do they experience the real moving of
          God's Spirit upon them.

          The third evidence of the lack of God's presence is a
          life of confusion, containing no guidance, no personal
          word from God. One of the saddest portions of Scripture
          recounts how Saul sought counsel from the witch of
          Endor because God refused to answer him (see 1 Samuel
          28:5-20). Hear Saul's somber words, "... God is
          departed from me, and answereth me no more ... " (verse
          15). This is the sad sign of a Christian who has lost
          God's presence. He walks in confusion and distress,
          going about begging for a Word from God, even seeing
          out horoscopes and astrologers, anything or anyone
          claiming to be prophetic.

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                        How Is God's Presence Lost?

                    ------------------------------------

          Christian's today lose God's presence in the same way
          that Israel did. After Israel was saved out of the Red
          Sea and all her enemies were conquered, lying dead in
          the Sea, "... the people feared the Lord, and believed
          the Lord, and his servant Moses" (Exodus 14:31). After
          they got saved, they promised to provide God a
          habitation, a place in their hearts to contain His
          presence. The whole nation promised, "... He is become
          my salvation. He is my God and I will prepare Him an
          habitation... " (Exodus 15:2).

          God's presence is lost because no place is provided to
          maintain it! Israel promised God they would never
          forget their hour of deliverance, that their hearts
          would be His tent, His place to abide, that they would
          forever remember. This is daily communion. Isn't that
          what you promised God when He saved you? You would give
          Him all your heart? Your body would be His temple? His
          Word would be your delight! You would always be
          thankful and prayerful!

          But Israel ignored God's presence and forgot His Word.
          And so it is today. God's people have so little regard
          for his presence that they make no time or place for
          His Spirit. They seldom visit the secret closet of
          prayer, which is His habitation, His tent. Many quote
          the verse, "For He hath said, I will never leave thee,
          nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5); but read on -- verse
          7 carries with it a command to heed God's Word.

          Secondly, God's presence is lost when the golden calf
          is erected. God called the Israelites gathered around
          the golden calf a "stiffnecked people." These
          Israelites represent a people who are not shut in with
          God, who provide no time or place for sweet communion
          with Him. A people from whom the Spirit and presence of
          God departs is a people who will soon become consumed
          by idolatry. The Israelites dancing around the golden
          calf are not to be ridiculed. The Christian is not to
          ask condescendingly, "How could they stoop so low?" -
          for the golden calf is still with us.

          What is the golden calf? It is a symbol. It represents
          a deep inner heart problem. It symbolizes a casual
          indifference to God's commandments. By their actions
          the Israelites said, "God can't mean what He says!"
          They simply did not take His warnings seriously. Why
          did Israel become so nonchalant, so casual, so
          light-hearted and unafraid of God's Word? Because the
          prophetic voice was gone. The thundering prophet was
          nowhere in sight. There was no holy man of God there at
          the moment to reprove them. Only Aaron, the soft-on-sin
          priest. Moses was up on the mountain with God.

          So it is today. For the last 30 years there has come a
          permissive gospel. Prophets have just recently come
          forth. This lack of godly reproof has produced a casual
          indifference which allows the Christian to drink in
          filth without being convicted, to be indifferent to the
          study of God's Word, to be nonchalant about prayer.
          Yes, the golden calf is a spirit in the child of God, a
          spirit of indifference.

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                How Do You Recover and Keep God's Presence?

              -----------------------------------------------

          Since so many Christians ignore prayer, the real
          question is, "Do you really want God's presence to go
          with you?" Because, believe it or not, Israel could
          have gone on to possess all that God promised - without
          His presence! Israel could have done it, and many
          Christians do so today.

          God told Moses to take His people and lead them into
          the Promised Land; He also said that an angel would
          lead them, not He Himself "... for I will not go up in
          the midst of thee; for thou are a stiffnecked people:
          lest I consume thee in the way" (Exodus 33:3). Think of
          it! All God's blessings; all His promised rights and
          full inheritance, but without His presence! The
          presence of angels, a land flowing with milk and honey,
          but no presence of God!

          Saul lost God's presence, yet God let him defeat the
          Amalakites. Saul won over the Philistines. He was still
          king. But how terrible the consequences of being left
          out of the Lord's presence! In this situation sin
          thrives, idols move in and flesh takes the throne.
          David had seen that, so he cried out, "Cast me not away
          from Thy presence, take not Thy Holy Spirit from me."
          Moses knew these consequences, so he refused to go on
          without God's presence. He said to God, "If Thy
          presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For
          wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people
          have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou
          goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy
          people, from all the people that are upon the face of
          the earth" (Exodus 33:15-16).

          Three things happened before the cloudy pillar of God's
          presence returned: "When the people heard these evil
          tidings [that God would not go with them], they
          mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. And
          Moses took the tent, and pitched it without the camp,
          afar off from the camp. And it came to pass, that every
          one which sought the Lord went out unto the tent, which
          was without the camp. And as Moses entered into the
          tent, the cloudy pillar descended ..." (Exodus 33:4, 7,
          9).

          First, they mourned, wept, sorrowed and repented at the
          sad news of God's departure. They learned that God will
          not dwell with a stubborn people who lightly esteem His
          Word. They discovered that God means what He says.
          Although they were chosen, God said He would leave
          them. Listen to His Word: "Turn ye even to Me with all
          your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and
          with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your
          garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is
          gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great
          kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth If
          He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind
          Him... " (Joel 2:12-14). That blessing is the presence
          of the Lord. Where are those Christians who will get
          serious about His Word, who will weep, fast, seek Him,
          until there is a promise of His presence?

          Secondly, they put aside all their ornaments. The Lord
          said, "Now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may
          know what to do unto thee" (Exodus 33:5). This means
          they took practical steps to put away every worldly
          distraction. Their ornaments were gold and silver
          replicas of the evil Egyptian gods - mice, goats, and
          calves dangling on chains. Their excuse was, "I don't
          worship this thing on my neck. It's just a piece of
          gold. It's meaningless; it's just a sentimental
          reminder from Egypt!" But God knew it was more than
          that. The Prophet Zephaniah warned that God would judge
          those Israelites: "I will cut off... them that worship
          and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham"
          (Zephaniah 1:4-5). God's people had made little
          ornaments, images of the Moabite and Amonite god
          Malcham (Molech), the god of human sacrifice. Up to
          this time God had patiently endured this flirtation,
          but now the issue was life and death. Their little
          charms had caused them to build a golden calf. So God
          said, "Enough! The least you can do is put away
          whatever charms you! Whatever you sacrifice your time
          to!"

          Christians say they want God's presence, but they won't
          even put away those things that obviously distract them
          from Him. Joshua commanded the people, "Now therefore
          fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth:
          and put away your gods ..." (Joshua 24:14). "Put away"
          in Hebrew means "Turn off your gods." God is not joking
          when He commands, "Thou shalt bring no abomination into
          your house" (Deuteronomy 7:26); "Touch not the unclean
          thing;" "Set no wicked thing before your eyes;" "Walk
          before Me blameless." Therefore, they stripped
          themselves of everything that offended God.

          Thirdly, Moses erected a tent outside the camp. The
          tabernacle had not yet been built. This was a special
          tent, a habitation for God's presence, located outside
          every distraction, far from the camp. Only those who
          truly sought the Lord went out to the tent. Moses went
          out daily, and Joshua never left. That tent represents
          the Christian's secret closet of prayer. The child of
          God must leave his family and his busy schedule behind.
          He must go outside of it all to meet the Lord, to seek
          His face, for God laments that "...there is none to
          stretch forth My tent any more, and to set up My
          curtains" (Jeremiah 10:20).

          Only then was the issue settled, "When Moses entered
          into the tent, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood
          at the door of the tent, and the Lord talked with Moses
          ...And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I
          will give thee rest" (Exodus 33:8,14). If you really
          want God's presence, where is your tent? Why don't you
          seek Him? Why don't you pray? Why don't you study His
          Word? Why is church your only contact with Him? Do you
          not know, or even care, about His presence in you?

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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