Knowing God’s Presence
- Sep 26, 2025
- 5 min read
The last couple of weeks we have reminded ourselves that not only is it possible to ‘know God’, but we must make it our aim, our desire, the utmost priority to ‘know Him better!’
In order to know Him you need to meet Him. Not only is this possible, but again it is essential to our everyday life as a Christian; to not only become aware of God, but aware of being in His presence.
The thing is, we can never escape God’s presence, and interestingly, we can never invite Him to be present. He is present before we are, because He is present everywhere, always!
Mike Wilkerson says, “God’s presence is fundamental to God’s story. It is a profound reality. While we have access to this reality in part through our experience of it, the reality is even more than what we experience—it is deep theology grounded in what God has said in his Word about himself.”
God is not limited by space, He is omnipresent, i.e. everywhere.
“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jer 23:24).
Coming to God doesn’t just mean to visit a temple or holy place. God is approachable anywhere. Understanding ‘Omnipresence’ is foundational to encountering God. It means right now that God is with you in your home, workplace, down the street; upholding and sustaining all things.
In Psalm 139:7-10, David writes, “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I fly on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the western horizon, even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me.”
Where do you need to be comforted and reassured by the omnipresence of God? If we truly believe God is present everywhere, we don’t have to control everything and be everywhere ourselves. Why rely on my own, limited self, when I can call upon a God who sees and knows all things?
In an interview, Billy Graham was asked what he had valued most in his many years of ministry. You might think he would have cited his times with and influence on presidents and Heads of State over five decades, or perhaps his preaching the gospel to millions around the world. But he said this, “Beyond a doubt it has been my fellowship with the Lord. To be able to talk with Him, to hear from Him, and to have His guidance and presence in my life has been my greatest joy.”
We should be saying the same thing!
Just a gentle reminder, we don't have to generate God's presence; we simply become aware again of what is already true.
An old puritan once said that ‘God's centre is everywhere and His circumference is nowhere.’ Yet how many of us, day by day, are actively conscious of the real presence of God our Father? How often do we have a conscious sense of the living presence of God?
Brother Lawrence was a Carmelite monk in the 17th century, and he wrote a classic book entitled 'The Practice of the Presence of God'. This was his experience - he said: “I make it my business to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to GOD, which I may call an actual presence of GOD; or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with GOD, which often causes in me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes also outwardly, so great that I am forced to use means to moderate them, and prevent their appearance to others.”
Amazingly he lived habitually in the sense of God's presence.
Now I realise this takes a bit of effort. Do you know why? Because today we are present and conscious of so many other things bombarding our lives other than God, our focus is on these other things rather than on our Father, the Creator of the universe. But when we choose, by faith, to recognise His presence, it’s then we will encounter Him!
We have and need to be aware of our omnipresent Father God.
But also, we need to have the wonder of knowing God’s ‘indwelling presence.’
The indwelling presence of God in our lives, that is, in our very beings, is the will of God for us. The indwelling presence of God is the Spirit of God at work in us.
In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes like a violent wind to fill the house where the disciples are sitting, and then, to fill their very beings. From this point forward, every believer in Jesus is filled with His Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, Paul writes, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
This is true for all Christians. Just think, right now wherever you are, it’s ‘Christ in me, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27). Amazing!
Through His indwelling presence, He wants to enable all of us to trust in Him and live His supernatural life. Indeed, there’s a power that comes from the indwelling presence of God through the Holy Spirit.
"He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world" (1John 4:4).The 'He' in this text is God Himself, living within us, providing us with strength, wisdom, and guidance.
Henry T. Blackaby states, “Anyone who enters into an intimate relationship with God can see God do exceptional things through his or her life. The outcome does not depend upon a person being unusually gifted, educated, or wealthy. The key is the indwelling presence of God doing unusual things.”
Where do you need the indwelling presence of Jesus to strengthen you?
Knowing God’s ‘manifest presence’.
This refers to His presence revealed to us in a tangible way. It’s an experiential presence. If His omnipresence means He is everywhere, His ‘manifest presence’ must mean He is here right now and we experience His nearness, His holiness, and glory! It’s the felt presence of God. It’s God showing up in a specific situation for a specific purpose.
I guess for me, one of the first times I really became aware of the fact that God is near was when I was sixteen years old. I’d been invited to a Church Camp. Whilst I knew about God, I came to realise I didn’t know Him.
It was a Friday morning on a tent floor. During the camp, I’d become aware of the amazing love that God had for me. When I knelt down I sensed God ask me, ‘Harry do you love me?’ Father God wanted to know whether I loved Him. I simply confessed I did love Him and needed Him in my life. This was the moment I truly experienced the presence of God personally and deeply.
Since then, I’ve come to understand that whilst there’s never a time when God is absent, there are times when it’s harder for us to really feel His closeness.
God had intentionally showed up that morning for a specific purpose, like he had done for Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David and so on!
Tim Keller said, "God is a always present, always available, and always longing to be close to us.”
The Psalmist knew, see Psalm 73:23: “Nevertheless I am continually with You. You have taken hold of my right hand.”
I do hope, as we continue in our series of ‘Knowing God’, that whilst it’s a biblical truth that God is in heaven (we state this in the Lord’s Prayer, Matt 6:9), it's only part of the glorious truth. God is not only generally present, He is present right now, right where you are!
The glorious thought today is, since you’re living for the audience of one, and experiencing His felt presence, you’re never without help, never without hope, and you’ll never be without HIM!
Max Lucado said, “You are stronger than you think because God is nearer than you know.”
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