This need to discern God’s leading will be essential until the time of our Lord’s return. Those who listen and watch closely will have the privilege of being part of the transformation that even now is taking place.
The Book of Revelation discloses some of what this advancing Kingdom of God entails. The last two chapters, in particular, speak of the new Jerusalem that will come “down out of heaven from God…” (Rev. 21:2b). In this city, God will fulfill His purpose of the ages and will make everything new, returning to His original pur-pose when He created man:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).
This city will be filled with the nature of God, and the river of the water of life, pure as crystal, will flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Beside the river will be planted the tree of life,
…bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads (Revelation 22:2-4).
Oh, what glory! In this new Jerusalem, God’s servants get what Moses asked for: God’s presence is continually with them and they see Him face to face!
This is what Jesus meant when He said He was going to pre-pare a place for us.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am (John 14:3).
Notice the tense of the last verb in this verse. Jesus is making a place so that we can be where He is. God wants us to enjoy Him now and to be empowered by His presence. He intends that we live with Him today, next week, and forever. This dwelling of God with man is the sole purpose of all His work throughout history.
He is getting us back to the environment of His presence so we can be the men and women He designed us to be.
This transformation is to start with the Church. We are to be the place where God’s presence resides all the time so people can come to us and find God. In truth, it is our obligation to make a place from which the fragrance of God spills over into the com-munity around us. Therefore, the day is coming, and perhaps already is here, when the Church will leave the confines of our beautiful, comfortable sanctuaries and will go to the cities of our nations, there to sing and worship the Lord. There will be no preaching or conversation, just praise and worship as hundreds of people stand on street corners bringing the presence of God into our cities and neighborhoods. Arguments and words of persuasion will have no place, because we won’t be talking to anyone except our wonderful, all-powerful God. Our attention will be focused on Him instead of the people and problems that surround us.
In that hour, the power of God will take over our countries.
He’ll just move in, confuse the enemy, and declare victory. Peo-ple will lay down their weapons, give up their dope, get along with their neighbors, and be reconciled to their families without The Power of Praise & Worship !
understanding what is happening to them. There’ll be no evangel-ists, no invitations, and no prayer lines to draw them in. They’ll just fall to their knees right where they are and cry out to God, whose presence has the power to woo them without the interven-tion of man.
Truly, God’s presence is the answer to all the needs of every person in our world, and His presence comes to us through praise.
The needs of our families will be met if we start praising God in our homes. The problems of our cities will be solved if we fill our streets with praise and worship. The dilemmas that face our nations will be resolved if we infiltrate every branch of government—every session of our legislatures, every case before our courts, and every meeting with our presidents, prime ministers, and other national leaders—with committed Christians who take praise seriously.
God wants the people He created to live in His presence, and in the end He’s going to get what He wants. We know this because He has promised it and He cannot lie. He’s going to have His presence here on earth among His people.
The question is whether we will do our part to bring His pur-poses to pass. For you see, the coming of His presence here, today, in our world, is dependent on our praising Him. This is what attracts God’s presence, and God’s presence is the source that sup-plies every need in our world.
Indeed, God will fill our homes, our churches, our factories, our schools, and our government buildings…every place we can imagine…when we fill that same place with praise. Then we will receive all the answers to life’s questions because the answers are in God’s presence. This is His purpose and He’s going to bring it to pass. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
! ! PRINCIPLES ! !
1. Every place the enemy has taken up residence must be vacated when God enters that place.
2. God’s presence brings…
• joy, peace, and rest;
• His blessings, and people to help us fulfill the vision He has given us;
• security and deliverance from everything that causes us to be ineffective in life;
• changed circumstances and victory over satan;
• wisdom and the vision to see what He is doing.
3. God’s presence is the answer to all the needs of our world.
4. God’s final goal is to live continually with His peo-ple, where they can see Him face to face.
The Power of Praise & Worship !
Bibliography
Buttrick, George Arthur, ed. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. 5 Volumes. New York: Abingdon Press, 1962.
Butler, Trent C. Holman Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. CD-ROM. Quickverse Library. Parsons Technology, 1996.
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Tenth Ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1994.
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
World Bible Publishers, 1980, 1986. All rights reserved. CD-ROM.
Quickverse 4.0. Parsons Technology, 1996.
Vine, William Edwy; Unger, Merrill Frederick; and White, William. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testa-ment Words. One-Volume Edition. New York: Thomas Nelson Pub-lishers, 1985.