David Diga Hernandez - The Abiding Presence of God

I want you to know that you’re never alone; the presence of God is an abiding reality. There may be times in your life when you face circumstances or feelings that cause you to believe otherwise. There may be instances that lead you to question your faith, your connection with God, His love for you, and many other things related to His abiding presence. But I want you to be sure of this: God has never left you; God has never forsaken you. God welcomes you with open arms, no matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve run. The presence of God abides with the believer; you are never alone. That’s what I’m talking about in this edition of Spirit Church here on Encounter TV: the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Steven Mzuma is here with me as usual; he’s going to lead you in worship, and then we’re going to come back and delve into this lesson. I want to encourage you today to recognize, and I want to stir your faith to be convinced of the fact that you are never alone.

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This lesson is going to be a simple one. I want to simply encourage you. I want to convince you of the reality that God’s presence abides with you. God is not looking to rent or check into a hotel; He is looking to purchase a residence. He seeks to make a place—an abiding place that is permanent. God’s Holy Spirit abides with you. The scripture says that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28, verse 20, «Teach these new disciples to obey all of the commands I have given you, and be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.»

I receive a lot of emails and letters from all over the world, and one of the most common problems presented to me in the correspondence I receive is this sense that God has distanced Himself from the writer. People have this concern in their hearts. Believers are constantly questioning the presence of God in their lives. The things that cause them to doubt the presence of God—the abiding presence, the reality of His presence, the nearness of His presence—are common. They are the way we feel; they are the circumstances that come at us from all different directions. Tragedy may strike and cause us to ask questions, and those questions lead to doubt, which leads to losing the sense of His nearness.

Believers will tell me things like, «Well, six months ago, or two years ago, or when I was first saved, I sensed the presence of the Lord so close to me. He was so real; He seemed to be just within my grasp. And now, the Lord seems to be a million miles away. I don’t sense Him; I don’t feel Him. My circumstances in life seem to paint a picture, at least in my view, that God is out of the frame.»

I understand this. I too have struggled in my faith in this area. There have been times in my life when I questioned not God’s faithfulness to me, but my ability to connect with Him. The good and encouraging thing that I want you to know is that the abiding presence of God does not depend upon your faithfulness or your consistency. Sure, the sense of that presence, the manifestation of that presence, the power that comes with that presence—that’s on you. But the reality of that presence—the fact of that presence being with us, upon us, around us, in us, and through us—depends on the faithfulness of God. God is faithful even when you are not. God is faithful even when you don’t feel Him. God is working on your behalf even when everything around you seems as though it’s falling apart.

I want to go to our main text for this lesson. The main text is a very familiar story that you would know. It is found in 2 Kings chapter 6, verse 8. When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, «We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.» But immediately, Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, «Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.» So the king of Israel would send word to that place indicated by the man of God. Time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he would be on the alert. The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, «Which of you is the traitor who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?»

«It’s not us, my Lord the king,» one of the officers replied. «Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom.» «Go and find out where he is,» the king commanded. «So I can send troops to seize him.» The report came back that Elisha was at Dothan. So one night, the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.

Elisha the prophet, by prophetic anointing, was seeing and hearing the plans of the king of Aram. He was taking the plans spoken in the privacy of the war room and conveying this information to the king of Israel. When the king of Aram found out that the prophet Elisha was causing all this trouble for him, can you imagine that kind of anointing? The prophet could hear the voice of God so clearly that he was able to see the plans of war from another army. That’s incredible prophetic insight; that is a strong prophetic gift. He was able to get this information, and he conveyed it, enabling Israel to make moves accordingly.

When the king of Aram discovered this, he was obviously enraged. The information delivered by the prophet Elisha was so accurate that the king of Aram thought there was a traitor among his men. He believed someone in his group was taking that information and communicating it to the enemy. That wasn’t the case; it was the prophetic anointing of Elisha. He was able to hear God so clearly that it upset the war plans. Now, we see that Aram sends these chariots and horses to surround the city. In verse 15, the scripture says that when the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. «Oh, sir, what will we do now?» the young servant asked.