When a new year rolls around, many people decide they are going to make changes in their lives; and there is nothing wrong with that. But the most important changes to make are those that will glorify God in your body and in your spirit. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (I Corinthians 6:20).

How do you glorify God in your body and spirit?—by letting people see Jesus in everything you say and do. Let your moderation be known unto all men (Philippians 4:5). And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they [those who are unsaved] do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible (I Corinthians 9:25).

God’s presence is what is most needed in your life. It is the only thing that gives true life, contentment and rest. After the Israelites had left Egypt, they faced so many obstacles; but the Lord said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest (Exodus 33:14). Moses knew the importance of God’s presence; and he replied, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence (Exodus 33:15).

Deciding to eat better and exercise more profits little as far as your soul is concerned, but God’s presence is profitable for all things. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come (I Timothy 4:8). The presence of God’s Spirit is what gives your soul true liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (II Corinthians 3:17). The presence of God brings you fullness of joy. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

When you truly cherish God’s presence, you will treasure His anointing; and it can break all yokes. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing (Isaiah 10:27). Dwelling in God’s presence is as close to Heaven as you will get while you are on Earth.

Follow the Lord’s Lead

So many Christians today do not seek to live in the presence of God, and they try to live the Christian life in their own strength; but it won’t work. When they sense a lack in their life, they go forth in their own efforts to do the work the Spirit of God is supposed to do; but those self-efforts will never bring life, peace or liberty to their souls. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).

We are living in the Grace Dispensation, and Jesus is to be the Lord of your life; so when you cherish God’s presence, you will trust the Lord and wait on Him to show you which way to go. Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day (Psalm 25:4,5).

Wherever He leads you, you must follow; but you can’t follow in the power of your own human strength. The Bible says, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts (Zechariah 4:6).

The Lord supplied the Israelites with the cloud of His presence in the wilderness; and as long as they followed that cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, He led them the way He wanted them to go. And the LORD went before them [the Israelites] by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people (Exodus 13:21,22).

When the cloud stopped moving, the Israelites stopped moving; and they didn’t move again until the cloud of God’s presence did. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up (Exodus 40:36,37).

Walk in the Spirit

Today, we don’t have a visible cloud to follow; but we do have the power of the Holy Ghost to lead us and direct us. However, if you depend on yourself to do the will of God rather than on the Spirit, you will have a miserable, frustrating life. The remedy is to cherish God’s presence, walk in the Spirit and yield to His power within. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (Galatians 5:16,17).

Your flesh is interested only in self and wants to fulfil its own desires through its own abilities and lusts, but you will always come up empty. The only way to have real life is to stop being a debtor to the flesh and live by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Paul said, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:12-14).

Paul told the Galatians, And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:24,25). You must get self out of the way and be led by the Holy Ghost.

Be Filled with the Spirit

Jesus knew how important it would be for people to have the Holy Ghost, and He told the disciples they were not to start the Church or do any of His work until they had been baptized. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Those who obeyed the Lord’s command received that wonderful baptism. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).

The Early Church disciples lived in God’s presence and were led by the Holy Ghost for over 30 years. The Bible described those disciples as these that have turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). The Church age was filled with earthquakes of divine power going forth because the glorious presence of God dwelt in the hearts of every believer who had gone on to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Children of God can have that same power in this final hour. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh (Acts 2:17). But you have to accept that outpouring and cherish it if you want to be led by the Spirit every day. You can choose to do things and walk paths that are not necessarily sinful, but that is not what the Holy Spirit would lead you to do; so He will not be able to do all for you that He wants to.

Through the Spirit, you can have divine strength, wisdom and understanding. The Bible says, Truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD (Micah 3:8). When Jesus was on Earth, He received that Holy Ghost power; and the Bible tells what that power did for Him, The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him [Jesus], the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears (Isaiah 11:2,3).

Live in God’s Will

When you cherish God’s presence and yield to it, you will have the reality of Calvary and be able to keep the sufferings of Jesus ever before you. Paul said, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death (Philippians 3:10).

To know Jesus in His sufferings, you must be willing to suffer for His name’s sake like Paul did. He said, If we suffer [because of doing God’s will], we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us (II Timothy 2:12). If God denies you, you will end up in hell for eternity.

Jesus prayed, Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt (Matthew 26:39). Only when you can truly pray that way with all your heart will you be able to live and act just like Jesus all the time.

Jesus taught the disciples to pray, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). “Thy will” means God’s perfect will, and nothing less will do. God’s perfect will won’t be done in all the Earth until the Perfect Age, but you can do God’s will in your life if you really want to when you live in His presence every day. That will take you in so close to the Lord that even though He is not here in a bodily form, you can see Him all the time through the Spirit. Then His hands will be untied to always hear your cries. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry (Psalm 34:15).

Hide Away with the Lord

You must seek for and find the secret place of God’s presence. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear [love and honor] thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues (Psalm 31:19,20).

The world does not understand the secret place of God’s presence because it is a place for those who fear and honor Him and who want His will and guidance above their own. It is a place where you can be so separated unto God and His Spirit that the world and all that is in it will fade from view.

Others will not know all the time you spend hidden away in the Lord’s presence, but they will see the results. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly (Matthew 6:6). When you see people who have fruitful lives, it is because they have cherished being with the Lord.

God desires each of us to come into the place of sweet communion with Him so He can teach us, feed us and strengthen us. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1). Those who reject the truth will never know the benefits of being in God’s presence. Even the Spirit of truth [the Holy Spirit]; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17).

Yield Everything to God

If you are diligently seeking the Lord and His will, you must spend much time in His presence. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). To diligently seek the Lord means you are seeking Him with all your heart, and the things you do for God are the fruits of your love for Him. God sees and rewards every selfless act of love.

In God’s presence is where you will receive His truth, His reasoning, His greatness, His power and His love. Jesus already paid the price for them to be yours, so all you have to do is reach for them. Then you must use them in such a way that the Lord will get glory out of everything you say and do. The Bible says, And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men (Colossians 3:23). Giving your all to God should not be hard; it should be an act of love.

Are you cherishing God’s presence today? Are you alive in His Spirit, His power, His grace, His goodness and His faith? Are you conscious of all His greatness for you and of all the greatness He seeks to pour out upon the Earth? He will not pour it out upon the ground and have it run off like water; He wants to pour it out upon souls who are thirsty for more of Him.

Move into God’s Presence

If you have failed the Lord in the past, don’t condemn yourself; just reach out for His deliverance today. God’s presence and eternal life are available to you if you will just look to Him and accept Him. Lift your hands and say this prayer: Oh, God, I am so sorry that I have sinned against you, but I have come home; and I want to live in the power of your presence every day. I want the love, the grace and the forgiveness of your presence. I confess my sins before you, and I believe the blood of your Son, Jesus, washes them all away. Come into my heart, Jesus! Come on in!

If you meant that prayer, you can now say, Hallelujah! Jesus is mine! It is a great privilege to be able to live in and cherish God’s presence, so let Him fill you to the brim. Then go forth to win souls for the Kingdom.

You Can Be Healed Now

Now, you can have the miracle or healing you need. Many have received miracles when God’s presence found a resting place in their hearts, and so can you. The old-time power is falling even greater now than it did in the beginning of the Church, so only believe.

Lord, I bring the cancer victims and the heart patients to you. I bring those who are paralyzed, crippled or have AIDS. I bring the afflicted children and those who were born deformed or with just part of a brain. Perform your wonderful, mighty works upon all of them, and let them behold your glorious deliverance. As a servant of the living God and in the holy name of Jesus, I come with your supernatural gifts. Heal! Heal! I curse all the diseases and afflictions in the name of Jesus.

The healing virtue is flowing, and the power of the Lord is going into you. Feel His presence in you as He makes you whole. Then write, email or visit us on Facebook to share what God has done for you.