Weekly Message: Celebrating God’s Presence

Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. 36 For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.(Leviticus 23:34-36)

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot begins at the sunset of 27 September and ends at nightfall on 4 October 2015. This is the most joyous feast of all the Jewish feasts because it celebrates the presence of God with His people when He tabernacles with them in an everlasting covenantal relationship.

The Lord’s presence is everything! Without God’s presence, though advances are made and maybe the appearance of change, the most critical part, an eternal outcome, does not change.

A simple and key element in all we do as Christians is the Presence of Almighty God—if God’s Presence is there, change is assured; but without His Presence even large amounts of money, effort, genius or training do not compare in terms of lasting results.

Someone who has been in the presence of God and experienced an atmosphere saturated with that Presence comes away from the experience with a different view, defined by hope and confidence.

Feeding the experience with God’s Word enhances the effect, strengthening vision and increasing faith to, step by step, do all the will of God; daily worship reproduces the experience and in prayer the experience takes over.

The Lord has set eternity in our hearts. It’s time to invite the presence of Almighty God into our lives—into every relationship, decision, event, office, place and situation.

(Adapted from Shirley Weaver’s Daily Devotional)