Returning to the Presence of the Lord

e were originally designed to function and to fulfil our life's purpose in the presence of the Lord, as Adam did in the very beginning."Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every creature that was the name thereof" (Genesis 2 v 19).

The partnership between God and man in the beginning indicates God's fulfilment of reciprocity and man's display of wisdom and excellence in the presence of the Lord. Sin's purpose is to keep man outside of the presence of the Lord because in His presence man is invincible. The tragic interference of sin which separated man from the presence of the Lord produced endless maladies, destruction and malfunction of all mankind. The tragedy of the separation from the presence of the Lord needed an immediate solution that only God could produce.

Disaster outside of the presence of the Lord

The murder of Abel by his brother Cain, the rape of Tamar by her brother Amnon, the reprisal of Tamar's brothers who murdered Amnon, the seduction and deceit of Lot's daughters, the loss of vision and anointing of Sampson, the disobedience of Saul, the treason of Absalom the son of King David, the plot of Sanballat and Tobiah against Nehemiah are all scriptural evidence of man's malfunction outside of the presence of the Lord. Our best effort outside of His presence

will produce failings and falling, but God has determined for us to rise again.

Restoration to the presence of the Lord

"They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord" (Genesis 3v8).

John declared that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He went on further to say that the word became flesh and dwelt among men. The voice of the Lord heard by Adam and Eve walking in the garden was, as interpreted by John, the first manifestation of Jesus Christ and God's first signal of intent of His incarnation. God determined not to remain as a voice but to take on flesh, to salvage Adam's race, to bring him back to the presence of the Lord, thereby restoring fellowship and communion and man's optimal function.

Jesus came to reconcile us to His presence

In the fullness of time Christ came and died an atoning death. As St John explained it and the Apostle Paul reiterated in the book of Romans, Jesus in His death, through the shedding of His blood on Calvary's cross, destroyed sin, which is the great barrier between man and the presence of the Lord. When our sins are forgiven, according to 2 Corinthians 5, we become new creatures. Jesus Christ through His death reconciled us to Himself and brought us back to the place where, like Adam, we can enjoy His presence.

It was of utmost importance that Jesus defeated sin as a perfect man because sin defeated man, Adam, when he was perfect. Jesus' perfection was and is the only solution to our imperfection. He rescued man from the penalties, destruction and the barriers of sin.

Mankindm again because of Jesus, have unlimited access to the presence of the Lord where we were designed to function. We access the presence of the Lord by acknowledging our sinful state and crying out to God for forgiveness, asking Jesus into our hearts. We then must seek the Lord by waiting upon him in prayer, undisturbed in isolation. When we wait upon the Lord, we wait until the Holy Spirit comes and quickens our spirit, and takes us into the presence of the Lord Jesus the eternal Son of God, our redeemer, saviour and friend. He then speaks to us directly what He sees fit for us to hear. Such experiences should be the desire of every human being. We should all endeavour to live our lives only in the presence of the Lord.