Hosting God’s Presence

By Liam Thatcher, speaker at Thrive 2024 and leader of School of the Spirit

On the morning of Wednesday 8 February 2023, students at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky attended their regular chapel service. By all accounts, it was a fairly normal service. The preacher felt he’d done a pretty average job (which as a fellow preacher, I find strangely encouraging). But afterwards, a few students chose to linger in the chapel, continuing to worship and pray. And what started as a handful of worshippers grew into what’s come to be known as the Asbury Revival.

Over the next 16 days, the chapel housed non-stop worship and prayer. There was confession and repentance; people were healed and set free; some who had no faith came to faith, and others whose faith had grown cold were set on fire again by the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t planned, forced, or manufactured. But word spread, and soon people started coming from far and wide.

It’s estimated that 70,000 people visited this small town, which only had a population of 6,000. The revival was reported in the Washington Post and on the front page of the New York Times. And not only did people flock to be there. Something of what was happening in Asbury spread to other colleges and churches across the world.

This was not a revival primarily marked by preaching (although there was regular reading of God’s word) nor by evangelism (although people were getting saved), but it was marked by the manifestation of God’s presence. People experienced His nearness, and the only response was to worship. When you read or hear accounts from those who attended, a phrase that comes up time and again is this: “God was there!”

The Presence of God

I wonder if you’ve ever experienced that? A captivating, overwhelming sense of God’s closeness that makes you long to stay? Where something changes in the atmosphere and you know God’s there. I mean, you probably knew it before, but now you really KNOW it – with every fibre of your being. It’s a precious thing to experience God’s presence.

But talking about ‘the presence of God’ can be confusing. It sounds like an abstract idea. I’m sure many of us have had the experience of hearing a preacher ask, “can you feel God’s presence?” and while some nod enthusiastically, you’re left thinking “honestly… I’m not even sure what I’m meant to be feeling.”

Maybe some of you hear the language of God’s presence and wonder, “but isn’t He always present? If so, what does it even mean for us to seek His presence?”

Well, sometimes our language about God’s presence may be imprecise or unhelpful. But it may also be the case that God’s presence is so mysterious that language fails us when we try to put it into words.

But still… I’d like to try.

The Bible speaks about God’s presence in various ways, which fall into two broad categories: His omnipresence and manifest presence.

God’s omnipresence means that He’s present in every place at every time. Psalm 139 expresses this nicely: ‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?’ It’s a rhetorical question, and the intended answer is ‘nowhere!’ The Psalmist talks about searching the heavens and the depths – the absolute extremities of creation. But God is always there. He’s present in all places, and all times. Whether we feel it or not.

But the Bible also describes times when He is specifically present, in ways we can experience. This is what theologians call God’s manifest presence. The God who is EVERYWHERE makes His presence known SOMEWHERE.

When we talk about God’s manifest presence, I think it’s less about Him actually becoming present, and more about us humans becoming aware of his presence.

A.W. Tozer writes, ‘The presence and the manifestation of the presence are not the same. There can be one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His presence.’

We see this right through the Bible. The whole story of Scripture is about God’s desire to be present with His people. Not in the general sense of His omnipresence, but in a way that we can know and experience, and which changes everything.

Consider Genesis 3. God enters a particular place (the Garden of Eden), at a particular time (the cool of the day), to be with particular people (Adam and Eve). The God who is everywhere decides to be somewhere. The God who is omni-present becomes tangibly-present.

This pattern continues throughout the Bible, as time and again, God chooses to dwell with His people. Often people experience His presence in the context of worship, for instance in the Tabernacle, or the Temple, where the omnipresent God becomes specifically present. And both the Tabernacle and Temple point to a larger reality, which is that God will ultimately fill all creation with the knowledge of His presence and glory (Habakkuk 2.14). One day His presence will be known by all people, and will banish darkness forever. When Jesus returns, God will dwell with us eternally, and in His presence all will be made right (Revelation 21.4).

I long for that day. And in our times of worship we can get a foretaste of it now.

Pursuing God’s Manifest Presence

Pastor and author Fred Hartley writes, ‘The reason the church is in crisis today is because we have settled for the omnipresence rather than for the manifest presence of God.’

I think he’s right. We need to be those who actively pursue more of God’s manifest presence, in our church services, our private devotions, our workplaces and communities, and in every area of our lives.

I want our churches to be dwelling places for God. Places where we experience and know His manifest presence as a foretaste of eternity. Of course, God is present whether or not we feel it, but I believe there are greater depths of intimacy and power available. And to be clear, I’m not just after great times of singing, and emotional experiences. I’m not interested in hype! I’m after encounter with God and transformed lives. Because in God’s presence we are saved, healed, delivered, set free, and empowered for mission.

We are on a journey of learning to do this more. Earlier this year I preached on this topic at Oxford Community Church. You may want to check out the talk here. But it’s also been the focus of our gathered events like Thrive, or our recent Encounter Evenings. And it’s right at the heart of what we’re seeking to learn on School of the Spirit.

School of the Spirit is a six-month programme, where we seek to grow in following Jesus and responding to his Spirit. It’s been a delight this year to experience God’s presence in surprising and beautiful ways. We’ve seen people healed, set free, emboldened in their faith, and empowered to share the gospel. And I for one have learnt so much about pursuing more of God’s presence.

Our next round of School of the Spirit is starting again in October. Details are being finalised at the moment, but you can get a taste by following us on Instagram, and you can register your interest at schoolofthespirit.co.uk. We’d love you to join us on the journey!