Living with God’s Presence Throughout the Day
Psalm 15:1
O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
Gina and I have 2 adult children and 6 grandchildren under the age of 6. We love being parents and grandparents. One of the blessings of grandparenthood is watching each of our grandchildren develop uniquely into the person for which God has made them. They each have individual bents and characteristics that make them special and unique. We have noticed a characteristic in a couple of our grandchildren - they simply want to be with someone. It may be us if they happen to be at our house, or it may be their parents if they are at home. Regardless of where it is, they simply want to be in our presence. It is a beautiful picture of what is happening in Psalm 15.
David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, asks two questions: “Who may abide in Your tent? and “Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” The tent was the place of worship, the place where the people went to meet God. The holy hill is Jerusalem, the city of God. These two phrases represent the presence of God, and David is asking this question: Who can dwell in the presence of God?
Do you look forward to meeting with God everyday? Do you long for the presence of God? And do you live, dwell and abide in the presence of God each day? What an amazing thought! God invites us and enables us to dwell with Him each day. We can walk with God daily, talk with God instantly and dwell in His presence fully. So how does this happen?
It happens because Jesus made it possible. In Matthew 27:51 the Bible tells us that “the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.” Behind the veil was the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence. God tore the veil and provided a way for us to dwell in His presence forever. Dwelling in the presence of God is a gift that comes from God Himself.
But there is another truth for us to know. We can dwell in the presence of God daily through His life of holiness. And that brings us to Psalm 15 and the two questions that David asked, “Who may abide in Your tent and who may dwell on Your holy hill?” Psalm 15 is broken down into 3 parts: the questions, the answers and the declaration of truth.
Since we already know the questions, let’s consider the answers. In vs. 2 - 5, we find the necessary things to dwell in the presence of God. At the very moment we are saved, one of the blessings is that God’s Holy Spirit, the third member of the trinity, comes to indwell us. Simply put, He comes to reside in us. And He does so forever! He doesn’t come and go. His presence is forever and not conditional upon us. We dwell in the presence of God everyday because the Holy Spirit resides in us.
However, there is a sweet fellowship with God in which we must remain. And that brings us to the answers we find in Psalm 15. To dwell in close fellowship with God there are three areas of our lives of which we are to pay close attention.
Our Walk
According to vs. 2, our daily walk must be blameless. We are to walk in integrity before God and before others. How can we walk in integrity with God? The answer is to live righteously. Our daily life should reflect the righteousness that God provided to us when we were saved. We are to daily live the righteous life of Christ. When we were saved, God took our sin and placed it on Jesus. Then He took the righteousness of Jesus and put it on us. This is exactly what II Corinthians 5:21 tells us. So to dwell in God’s presence daily, we must walk in His righteousness daily. That is the righteous ways of Jesus must be demonstrated in our life.
Our Words
Another way we can dwell daily in the presence of God is to be sure that the words of our mouth are holy. Psalm 15:3 - 4 helps us to know how to keep the words of our mouths clean before God. For example, we are not to slander, speak evil of others, or gossip. To dwell with God closely in a rich fellowship with others, our words must be found blameless.
Our Ways
Finally, our ways, our lifestyle, is to be holy. Perhaps there is no better way to check our lifestyle than to see how we handle money, as v. 5 describes. To dwell in close fellowship with God daily, our finances will be used for good and not for evil.
That brings us to the final declaration of this Psalm. According to vs. 5, “He who does these things will never be shaken.” We can stand firm when all around is shaken and moved. Why? Because we have remained in the presence of God.
Are you dwelling daily in God's presence? Are you enjoying a sweet intimacy with God? If not - you can. Don’t live another day distant from the One who loves you and desires fellowship with you. Can I encourage you to draw near to God, and discover peace and fulfillment by dwelling daily in His presence!
If I can ever encourage you in your walk with Christ, feel free to reach out to me at david@davidsmithministry.com. I would count it an honor to pray for you and encourage you in your walk with Christ.
Reclaiming Your Personal Health - A View into My Journey
Many years of ministry stress and neglect of my health took a toll on me that was much greater than I realized. Reclaiming my physical health provided a fresh focus and renewed energy for God’s calling on my life.
Many years of ministry stress and neglect of my health took a toll on me that was much greater than I realized. Reclaiming my physical health provided a fresh focus and renewed energy for God’s calling.
I will be sharing my testimony of reclaiming my health in a virtual conference breakout session that will be live-streamed on August 25th. It’s FREE, but you must register at The Spark Conference website to receive the link. Choose the “attend online” option and follow the prompts to register.
Once you register, you’ll receive information by email about how to view the conference. My testimony will be shown at one of the breakout sessions (I’m not sure if it will be offered at both times, or just one of them on Aug. 25.)
Can’t watch on August 25th? Once you register, you’ll have access to view all the sessions for two weeks after the live-stream at your convenience.
On Monday, August 22, be watching for “bonus blog content” about my health journey, along with some before and after pictures. These are very humbling for me to share, but I am sharing them to encourage any of you who want recapture your physical health. If I can do it - YOU can do it!
Feel free to reach out to me at david@davidsmithministry.com if you have any questions about the conference, registration, or my health journey. I’d love to talk with you!