In the Old Testament (OT), we can read many times about how the Lord appeared to people that he wanted to send, to talk to or encourage. God would just appear all of the sudden, interrupting whatever they were doing with his presence. A few examples:
“The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. (Gen. 18:1)
“And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.” (Gen. 35:9)
“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.” (Exodus 3:2)
With Moses, God appeared as a bush on fire. On many other occasions where it says that God appeared, it doesn’t say how did God appeared. It only says that God appeared. So used to this physical world, we forget the description of our God in John 4:24: “God is spirit“.
It wouldn’t be inappropriate to think that God appears in spirit form, specially now after He left his Holy Spirit to be with us. God appears in spirit, we don’t see him but He is there. We may not hear anything, but He is there and we can definitely feel him—if we live and worship in the Spirit and truth. That’s the other part of John 4:24: “his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
When was the last time that God appeared to you? Are you living and worshipping in spirit and in truth?
When was the last time that the Spirit interrupted your life, whatever you were doing, and you felt that something changed in the room. It’s a good presence that overwhelms you with love and joy that no one else could make you feel that way. Then, rivers of living water start flowing from within you and you know that Jesus is in the room, right there next to you, and is like He is caressing you.
These moments where God suddenly appears in our lives shouldn’t be ignored. I hope that you have the sensibility in the spirit to recognize God is there. I hope that you desire him more than whatever you were doing, and decide to welcome him and spend time in his presence.
If that hasn’t happened in months, my friend, it is time for you to revise what has saddened the Spirit that He is no longer appearing to you (Eph. 4:30). Perhaps, He has tried too many times to have that communion with you, but you cannot let go of other things, even if they are “his things”.
We may get so caught up even with ministry and how well we are doing his work, that we are not allowing and reserving God his own personal space in our spirits, so that he can appear to us whenever he wants. The best encounters with God are not originated by us. They are not a product of how well we did with our performance or with our service.
The best encounters with God, are those where He takes over and He takes the initiative because He knows when we need him the most. Those moments that we may think everything is fine, but don’t realize that our busy lives have threaten our personal relationship with Him.
Because He loves us first (1 Jn 4:19), He takes the initiative of those moments. Before our schedule, before our preparation and before our talents, He simply loves us. Therefore, he appears in the middle of anything to simply remind you that He loves you. You don’t want to miss that interlude. You don’t want to miss that moment.
Do we still have the ability to let God take over or have we lost it? Is He perhaps no longer appearing because we have become so controlling and manipulative over what should be his manifestation? The appearance of God on his own initiative is the best thing that can happen to us. That will only happen if we want to and if we can surrender control to Him, so that he can take over whenever He wants. We do that when we worship in both spirit and truth.
Ask God today:
“God, appear to me and let me feel your love and your presence. Forgive me, if I have saddened your spirit and start appearing yourself to me again.”
May God appear to us and may we be the Samuels that respond to God’s call and appearance in our lives. And may God continue to appear and reveal himself to us, and in our city, by his word, just as He did at Shiloh. (1 Samuel 3:21).
