In our journey of growing as a worshiper and lover of God, some of us experience a shift in our hearts from the desire to experience God’s presence to the desire to host God’s presence. Those I call “presence pioneers” are those who have begun to have this growing longing for an abiding presence of God in their lives, cities and nations. This shift from experiencing God’s presence to hosting God’s presence became clear to me recently as I was reading through Psalm 132 again. The following verses jumped out to me.
“‘Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool.’ Arise O Lord, and go to your resting place…”
Psalm 132:7-8
Questions began to come to mind. In these verses, is the worshiper going to God or is God going to the worshiper? Who is the one that is “going” here? In verse 7 the worshiper is going to the dwelling place. In verse 8 God is going to His resting place. Something shifts between these two verses. Verse 7 describes how the worshiper heard of the Ark of the Covenant, and his heart longed to experience the place where God’s presence and glory dwelled. But in verse 8 he is no longer wanting to just go to where God is, but he is asking God to come to the place that he has prepared for the Lord on Mt. Zion. He is ready to host the presence of God.
Our hunger for God may begin with us going to places of His presence, but moments will never fully satisfy. A half hour in the secret place is vital. Spending time in the prayer room is great. Powerful conferences, church services, worship nights, burns and tent revivals are all incredible, but God has more for us than just good meetings. The true worshiper does not desire a visitation but a habitation. Davidic hearts want a place where He can rest — a place for His presence. We want God’s kingdom on the earth as in heaven. We might begin our worship journey by saying “let us go” but eventually we should also say “arise O Lord, and go”.
By “hosting God’s presence” I don’t primarily mean leading or pastoring a worshiping community — although that could be part of it. I mean abiding with God in your everyday life, orienting your life around Him and longing for the fullness of His kingdom. It’s not just enjoying occasional encounters with God, but it’s yearning for the fullness of His leadership on the earth. We host God by submitting our lives fully to Him and giving Him complete dominion over anything that is under our influence. Everything becomes worship and therefore everything becomes filled with His presence. His kingdom comes more and more, and we become resting places for God.
But this is not individualistic. You and I are not the resting places. We are the temple of God. “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22) We are built together. The presence pioneer wants more than personal experience, he wants corporate breakthrough. He wants more than a personal prayer life; He wants to be part of a house of prayer. He doesn’t just want to visit the Ark, he wants the Ark in His city. He wants more than a good church; he wants to live in a nation that looks like heaven — because that is what happens when God rests among a people in a place. Everything changes. And ultimately this longing will only be fully satisfied when Jesus returns to the earth again and establishes the fullness of His kingdom here.
Until that day, this is the cry of those that host God’s presence: “Arise O Lord, and go to your resting place! Come to my heart! Rule in my life! Dwell in my home! Lead my family! Let your kingdom come here! Don’t leave! Abide with us! Let my city and region and nation be filled with your glory! Maranatha!”