Living A Presence-Based Life

Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory"

Exodus 33:12-18

Being Called Into God's Presence

Moses was called by God to be a deliverer. He was prepared for this assignment by being raised as one of Pharaoh's sons, only to discover his mistaken identity later as an adult. He realized he was a Hebrew like many of the oppressed people he was ruling over in Egypt. This confrontation with reality led to an understanding about his purpose and destiny in life. However, he did not have the full picture. He realized he was called to be a deliverer for a people that was enslaved. However, he tried to be a deliverer through his own means that resulted in murder and banishment to another country. It is a picture of trying to accomplish God’s will in the carnal flesh.

He spent forty years in the desert as a lowly shepherd when God came to him and gave him his assignment. Moses began to walk with God and began to lead a people. He quickly learned the people he was leading was a “stiff-necked” people. Imagine, leading hundreds of thousands of people through the desert who constantly complained and questioned your leadership. Like many of us there was a crucial point in his journey that he had to stop and evaluate where he was and what would be required for him to be successful. He was at the end of his rope because the people he was leading had fallen into sin by worshipping a golden calf… this crucial point for Moses (See Exodus 33).

Unless we have the presence of God in all of our activities, we are doomed for failure. However, many people don’t really understand what it means to be in God’s presence or know how to attract His presence. There are certain character qualities that attract the presence of God in our lives. First, the Bible says that Moses was the most humble man on earth. If you want to attract God’s presence humility must be a central quality in your life. You must be willing to seek God with your whole heart and be available to the Holy Spirit’s direction in your life.

Being in God’s presence does not mean we have to be in a trance-like state in our lives. Brother Lawrence, a monk that lived in the 1600s worked everyday as a dishwasher and made a profound discovery: “For me the time of activity does not differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are calling together for as many different things, I possess God in as great a tranquility as when upon my knees at the blessed Sacrament. He found no urgency or retreats, because in the common task he met the same God to love and worship as he did in the stillness of the desert.” [1] We can be in God’s presence 24/7.

Evidences of God’s Presence

What are the evidences of a person who is experiencing God’s presence? Here is a quick list of things we should be experiencing that insures we are living in His presence.

Your life is being led by the Holy Spirit – Romans 8:14
You experience peace in your life –Philippians 4:7
You will live a life of humility – Psalm 25:9
You live a life of trust versus sweat and toil – Psalm 127:1,2
You live a life of power – 1 Corinthians 2:4,5
You live a life of integrity – Psalm 51: 6, 10,11; Psalm 15
You can hear and discern God’s voice – John 10:27
You live an obedience-based life instead of an outcome-based life – Psalm 111:10

The Lord desires that we experience his presences 24/7 throughout our day. Ps 89:15 says “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.” God has created you to live in His presence. He longs to know you personally.

In Jeremiah 9:23 we find God’s desire for us: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

The Bible also tells us that there is literally no place we can go where God’s presence does not reside: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast”(Psalm 139:7-10).

Can a Business Attract God’s Presence?

In the book, The 9 to 5 Window, there is a story about a company that decided God wanted them to be in His presence at a greater level. If we are going to have the reality of intimacy with God, we must do it in our daily work lives as well. Look at how God led one company to develop intimacy within the context of a working environment.

“Julian Watts and Warren Sinclair, who operate an international company called Markets Unlocked in Guildford, England, have learned how important intimacy and the presence of God is to fulfilling His purposes for their business. Even the existence of their company is a testimony of the Lord’s loving pursuit, faithful guidance, grace-filled preparations and His plans, which surpass anything Julian and Warren could have thought or imagined.

Julian used to be a partner in the strategy consultancy practice of a global consultancy firm that worked with chief executives of multinational corporations. He gave money to his local church and managed a quiet time with the Lord every couple of weeks when he could fit it into his schedule. In contrast to the high-profile nature of his job, he always kept a low profile on Sundays, usually sitting at the back of the church.

In 1999, the Lord asked Julian if he would be willing to resign his partnership, leave the company and walk out into the unknown. Having spent 15 years single-mindedly achieving his goal to become a strategy consulting partner, Julian was now hearing the Lord’s voice saying, “What is more important to you—your career or Me?” He discussed this with his wife, and her brief response was simply, “We’ve just got to follow the Lord.” Julian resigned.

He was now without a job, and he had no idea what to do next. He spent the next few months attempting to discover what the Lord wanted him to do. Eventually, he founded an internet company that specialized in connecting businesses that wanted to buy and sell to each other. He set about building the new company, focusing on all the commercial fundamentals and occasionally praying for God’s help to get the task done.

Julian also established a charitable trust in which 10 percent of the company’s revenue would be deposited for distribution to Kingdom projects. He felt that God wanted him to pay salaries to other people in the company, but that he and his wife should not draw a salary until the company had started making contributions to the charitable trust. God was calling them to live by faith and to depend totally on Him, an experience that would profoundly change their Christian experience and relationship with the Lord.

The business grew very quickly, riding on the crest of the Internet wave. But the dotcom crash that swiftly followed in the year 2000 was brutal, and the company was all but wiped out. As things were getting worse, the non-Christians in the company left, and the remaining Christian directors started praying together—monthly at first, then, as things continued to worsen, weekly, and finally, as desperation set in, daily!

In the beginning, the directors’ prayers just had one focus—the list of things required to save the business. However, the more time they spent with the Lord, the more things began to change. Gradually, the list of urgent prayer requests gave way to simply worshiping God—seeking His face rather than His hand of provision. Now that they had a considerably smaller staff, they set aside a room in their office space for company prayer. Since their corporate communications director, Liz Jones, no longer had much to communicate about, she started spending more and more of her time in the prayer room, worshiping the Lord and praying for the company. The more the directors simply worshiped the Lord, the more they saw Him intervene. Throughout the rest of 2000 and into 2001, time after time, the Lord would provide just what was needed at the eleventh hour.

The directors’ daily routines soon began to change. At first, Julian started having his own personal time with the Lord from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. each day. Then, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., all the company directors would meet to worship and pray. From 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. every weekday, Liz would worship and intercede for the company; and every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., everyone in the company would meet, along with local pastors and intercessors, to worship and intercede.

Liz was now the trailblazer for the rest of the company. During the hours she spent in the Lord’s presence, God started speaking to her about her personal identity as part of the Bride of Christ. The Lord then began to increasingly speak this message of intimacy with Him to other people in the company. They began to dare to believe that He viewed them as part of His beloved Bride, that He was passionately in love with them as believers, and that He had died so that they could commune with Him.

By late 2001, the company had passed through the wilderness of the dotcom crash. In the process, all the commercial aspects of the company had been completely transformed—including its business strategy, organization structure, people, operational processes, location and everything else. Being in God’s presence is now the heart and driving force of the company. Each workday, the directors’ personal and corporate prayer times are characterized by simply worshiping the Lord. After worshiping, the directors ask if anyone is hearing from the Lord. Based on that feedback, they intercede for whatever God has indicated.

Today, the directors see that the Lord is increasingly establishing their company’s corporate identity and defining characteristic as their corporate intimacy with Him. Markets Unlocked is now expanding rapidly around the world, with customers in over 80 countries.” [1] If you would like to learn more about Markets Unlocked. http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/pages.asp?pageid=27751

Do we long to have God’s presence in our daily life, 24/7? We need to ask God to reveal Himself to us, and know that He desires this more than we desire it. Then, like Moses, we will be successful in the purpose for which God made us.


1 Brother Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of God
2 Os Hillman, The 9 to 5 Window, Regal Books, p. 97 Ventura, CA 2005