Prayer and God's Presence.

God said to Moses: "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." (Ex. 33:14); and Moses told the Lord: "And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." (v.15).

I have already said that the Bible is our final authority. Yes, but, whence comes that authority? It comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit has inspired it. It is God's Word, God has already spoken to us through the Bible.

But it is NOT the case that God is not able or willing to talk to us nowadays. The fact is that, although He has already spoken to us in the Bible (and it is a great blessing for us), sometimes we need to know what is God's perfect will for a particular situation. Or maybe you need help to make a wise decision. The fact is that, according to the Bible: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom 8:14). So, if a Christian is a son of God, then he or she is able to be led by the Spirit. I am not going to talk right now about God's guidance (maybe in a later post I will do it), or how to discern when it really comes from Him. But, may it suffice by now to say that we can be lead by the Holy Spirit; but it will always conform to the Bible, never against it.

What I am talking about now is about God's presence. I have already shown that without it Moses didn't want go anywhere! What is God's presence? Anyway, God is omnipresent, that means He is everywhere! Yes, BUT we are talking about the "manifested" presence of God. His presence gives us peace, guidance, love, understanding. That is what God gives us when we are in a good relationship with Him. It is not just a "feeling", but it is great when we can feel it. The Bible says: "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." (Psal 16:11) (I underlined it for emphasis).

How do we "enter" God's presence? Through PRAYER. Praying with the good attitude. A prayer which means you depend on God, you submit to Him.

Prayer:
Characteristics:

1. According to God's will (as it is written in the Bible, and according to what we know He wants from us)
2. He is the Lord. We trust and obey Him.

But, what may hindrance the prayer to be effective? I mean, that we may not receive an answer, or God's presence.

See, we all need answers from time to time to our prayers. And we all need God's presence, so that we may be comforted, guided and more. But SIN can hindrance that, or a lack of understanding.

I will continue with this subject latter.