The pursuit of the presence of God is surely the driving force behind the lives of all who have truly had a new birth. For some, it comes from a longing to experience another moment where the nearness and reality of God Himself was felt through a tangible experience.
For others, perhaps those longer in the faith, it is realising that the union of God and man in Christ is not limited to Jesus only, but just as true of all who have his Holy Spirit.
One thing I love about walking with Jesus is that little religious particulars begin to lose weight and relevance in the light of our union with Him. Unfortunately, humans have a tendency to exchange experience for argumentation about experience.
Some argue that it is faith that precedes the presence of God, others that experiencing the presence of God gives birth to faith. Some are afraid that wanting to experience the presence of God might stir up too many emotions, and others, that stirring their emotions will let them experience the presence of God.
We will always have those that preach that if God moves man must get out of the way, so that ‘no flesh may glory in his presence’. Then there are others who seem to think that God cannot make an appearance without them.
Though comparing notes and debating can be interesting to observe, it doesn’t satisfy our actual longing for experiential union with God. Being right doesn’t give you the rights to true revival, and heading down the road of nit-picking will more likely make you like some of the rabbi’s quoted in the Babylonian Talmud, who give detailed and exact instructions on how many times to dunk your lettuce under water whilst preparing it for consumption.
We would do well to think about this when using history to prove our denomination is the correct one. Always remember that the people whose forefathers saw the Blazing Glory of God descend upon the quacking mountain, would one day emphasise the religious importance of correctly washing a lettuce.
What is true is that, once we have experienced the presence of God, we want to experience it again and again. The presence of God is addictive. Once you taste and see that the Lord is good, you don’t want to live without Him. However, often this leads us to try and re-create the environment in which we experienced God, as, being human, we tend to think that something we did caused Him to meet us, rather than it be simply something we are that attracted Him.
What can happen when we try to re-live a former experience is that rather than encounter God Himself once more, we settle instead for the atmosphere we engineer in order to feel him.
What we end up with is, ‘atmospheric Christianity’.
Atmospheric Christianity
The presence of God becomes equated with the ‘feel’ in the atmosphere, and if our surroundings or services are not engineered correctly, we feel unfulfilled and unaware of God’s presence.
I would say, especially coming from a Pentecostal / Charismatic background, that ‘atmospheric Christianity’ has become a world -wide phenomenon.
It’s kind of like dating God. Feeling the pressure every weekend of finding the best environment to impress God and hoping He doesn’t feel too awkward to talk to you. When you are on a date you tend to hide certain aspects of your humanity so as not to spoil the atmosphere. When you’re married, you hide nothing, so that you may know your partner fully, and experience their abiding presence.
When Christ comes to us, he doesn’t do so in hopes of scoring another date in a nicely arranged atmosphere. He wants a marriage union. The Holy Spirit was sent with the promise of being in us and with us forever, not just hanging about in the air around us.
God is not ashamed of our humanity. The Holy Spirit is not as offended by our quirks as we have believed. He is not going to disappear with our offbeat clapping, terrible singing or be hindered by sound equipment failure. Little things like that might change the atmosphere and ruin a date, but it will never change God’s vow, nor cause Him to lose attraction for us.
His flesh and bone
When Christ calls us His body, and even His bride, that means we are His flesh and bone. And that means we are His presence. Together, with the Holy Spirit, we are the presence of God. Think about that.
Think about it next time you spend all week obsessing over how someone ruined the atmosphere in church and grieved you and God. Think about it next time you tell someone how hungry you are for the presence of God and how the church is hindering the ‘atmosphere’ of His presence.
Think about what it would be like to be isolated from all human contact for even a few days, and then tell me you want God alone, without man's interference.
When God gave us a reference for His presence, He didn’t give us an atmosphere or a certain feeling, He gave us bread. Yes, the bread may be common in effect, but that doesn’t mean it cannot dwell in His presence, or even be called His presence.
The same wonderful Holy Spirit, who we know as God’s presence, is not ashamed to call you His presence also. Christ is not just spirit in the atmosphere. He is flesh and bone. Touch and see.
Joshua Robbie is currently serving the Lord under Pastors Ronnie and Shirley Naidoo of KZN Celebration Centre in Tongaat South Africa. He and His wife Rene’ moved from Australia to South Africa in April 2016. Their desire is to help in whatever way they can so that the church can become all that God has purposed her to be. Josh also enjoys sports such as surfing, basketball and boxing.
Josh Robbie previous articles may be viewed