Focus: The Power Of His Presence!

Text: Jh.11:21

"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

What Martha said in John 11:21, Mary also repeated in verse 32, but she did more than say something; she worshipped the Lord. John writes, "Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Further in verse 37, the sympathizers said, "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" (Jh.11:37). As they say, 'Prevention is better than cure.' 

What Martha, Mary, and the others are saying is that the presence of Jesus Christ could have prevented Lazarus from dying. They believed in the power of His presence. They believed His presence has power to prevent and protect. They believed that the presence of Jesus Christ would have kept Lazarus from dying.

Then, when He finally arrived at the gravesite of Lazarus, death lost its grip on him, and Lazarus immediately came back to life. The presence of Jesus Christ makes divine life a reality, and resurrection a possibility. 

The power of His presence reverses the process of decay. Where He is absent death occurs, and where He is present death loses its power.

That is the power of divine presence! God's presence is the believer's security. I am talking about the manifest presence of God, not about the omnipresence of God. 

The omnipresence of God relates to God's capability to be present everywhere. There is no place in the universe where His presence is missing. No space in the universe is devoid of His presence. He is everywhere. But the manifest presence of God is felt and reflected in a personal way. A person or a group is made aware of God's presence in a unique way. The presence of God becomes a unique reality - something of an encounter. 

When one experiences the presence of God in a personal way, that is the manifest presence of God.

The psalmist recasts history, taking our minds through memory lane: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and FLED: Jordan was DRIVEN BACK. The mountains SKIPPED like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? TREMBLE, thou earth, at the PRESENCE of the Lord, at the PRESENCE of the God of Jacob; Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters" (Ps.114:1-8). Israel marched out of Egypt and was on their way to the promise land, and God went with them. Judah was God's sanctuary, and what marks out a sanctuary is the presence of God in it. Israel was God's dominion, meaning that God had His throne among the people. He was Israel's King. So Israel marched on to the land of promise with the royal presence of God.

The Red Sea and the Jordan River could not withstand the power of God's presence. In reality, they cleared the way for the people of God to pass through, walking on dry ground. The psalmist describes the Red Sea as having fled, and River Jordan as having withdrawn itself, paving way for God's people to cross to the other side. The presence of God enabled them to overcome marine obstacles and travel safely to their destination.

Moses was desperate and determined to have the presence of God in their midst as they journeyed through the desert into the promise land. Their enemies were terrified by the presence of God.

I tell you, the presence of God wards off danger and dangerous people. The presence of God is the believer's defense. The presence of God prevents and protects. The presence of God is intimidating to the forces of evil. The presence of God redeems and resurrects. The presence saves and secures.

The presence of God leads and covers the led. The presence of God forms a canopy over our lives. The presence of God empowers and emboldens us to fulfill our God-assigned destinies.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter