During the early 1970’s my family was drawn into what we now call the Charismatic Revival. It was a wonderful time of resurgence of the presence and power of God in ordinary lives. At the time we thought we were on the final run to the return of Christ and that what we were experiencing would only get better. History proves, however, that the season of revival passed and the sense of God’s presence among us waned.
I accept that faith stands strongest when it has no props, including evidence of God’s power around us. When we rely on good feelings or amazing answers to prayer to confirm God’s reality to us then there is something deficient in our trust in Him.
However, looking back, the frequent experiences of God’s touch or God’s presence boosted faith and prompted people to step out boldly where they might have shrunk away.
If there is one thing I am sad about for my children and grandchildren it is that they know next to nothing of the wonder of God’s continuing presence in their lives. Most have never had a ‘Wow’ moment in their walk with God and for that I am disappointed.
So of late my prayer has been that God would grant to me and my family an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so that we regularly find ourselves in God’s presence and regularly find God present in our world.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are a key part of that, with revelation insight into our circumstances or quickening of a Bible truth for us to stand on, or divine coincidences happening so often that we simply expect them to happen over and over again, especially in response to prayer.
Living life with an active supernatural dimension is about the highest way to live. And to see God touching lives around us, sometimes through what we do or say, is also very touching. It awakens a confidence that God’s Kingdom is alive and well and powerfully in force in our lives and our world. That perception is a wonderful boost to faith.
So allow me to encourage you to seek God’s presence, not just as a nice feeling from time to time, but as an invasive and persistent reality that transforms your day to day life, causing you to live with awareness of God’s awesome reality and God’s amazing power and grace release to and through you.
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