Manifest Presence

At a prayer meeting tonight, the preacher told everyone to ask for God's "manifest presence". He defined this as charismatic outpourings, basically, and cited David, Daniel, and Acts for evidence. He then told us to pray for it to happen then and there.

Now, I have no real problem with his theology. I tend to have a more quiet approach, but can sit quietly in my own intimate space with God while others are yelling, speaking in tongues, or falling down around me. Occasionally I'll join in, but even then, with more reservation than most.

However, at the end of the night, my friend said she has often prayed to experience God in real, physical ways, but that he mostly speaks to her through others. She seemed saddened, like she was missing out on some grand Christian experience. Now, there are those that would agree with her, but I'm not one.

The fact is, real faith runs deeper than crying when you pray. Really experiencing God has more to do with obedience, action, and daily choices than it does with emotions or supernatural manifestations. I'm not saying there's no place for these things, just that when we speak too highly or too frequently of them, we lose our perspective. My concerns are twofold:

First, people (often pastors) telling people to ask for it, to seek it, to desire it, and to intercede for it. It's not that that's wrong; in some cases that's exactly what's needed. What concerns me is how often I hear people like my friend, talking about wanting to "experience" God, feeling left out of the "in crowd". Which leads me to my second point.

Second, it's too rare that we teach these things. We tell people to want them, to look for them, but not what they need to do. Of course, it all comes from God (when it's real). But I suspect one reason people don't hear an audible voice is because they don't know what it sounds like. They ask to hear a voice, but when there's no earth-shaking deep voice speaking a word of profound wisdom, they give up.

Sure, God can and will do anything. I've seen it. I've experienced it. But mostly, those manifestations of God's presence have nothing to do with daily life or with someone's spiritual condition. In fact, I rather suspect that having those experiences too often are a sign of immaturity. God tends to pour out those manifestations as evidence of power, tests of trust, etc.

By all means, pray for them. If you really feel the need, search out someone who can teach you more deeply about them. But remember, all these things will pass away.