All posts by Pastor Williams Ekanem

Father’s Day Seminar holds on sunday the 15th of June 2025 at the church auditorium, 745 middle country road, ST James, NY 11780

Last week, we stated that to experience the Power of God’s Presence, we must first be aware of His Presence.

This awareness should not be fleeting, it must be cultivated, which means to  (develop, acquire, devote oneself to, sought, seek friendship with).

One may ask, but Pastor, why do we need to be aware of—and cultivate God’s presence, when we often use the big word, omnipresent, to say that God is present everywhere? This is even buttressed by the Psalmist in 139:7-12 which states that God is everywhere; and, also, why do we sometimes feel God is far away?

To answer these very relevant questions, it is helpful to know and understand the difference between God’s Omnipresence and the Manifest Presence of God.

God’s omnipresence means He is always there, everywhere, as indicated by the Psalmist, even when our awareness is not there; the Holy Spirit, for instance, scriptures say always indwells believers, Rom 8:11.

God’s Manifest Presence, on the other hand, is something that occurs in our lives whenever God Almighty chooses to reveal Himself to us. It’s something that is experienced, though not frequently.

Examples: Jacob at Bethel, Gen 28:15-16—Moses at the burning bush, Ex 3:2-6—-Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, Dan 3:24-25—The Disciples, Matthew 14:22-27 when Jesus walked on water amongst may other instances.

Brethren, the take home info here is that we should work to cultivate the Manifest Presence of God, so as to have an experiential knowledge of His Power.

HOW?  

By Quieting Your Soul: We really need to create time and space to hear God clearly (reason for Shillow, Conventions, Cruise Evangelism, WIM program etc)…                     The essence is that when we are always on the go, moving to and from work, task to task, dealing with tons of emails, the TV blasting with our favorite shows, hands firmly on social media, etc, we tend to leave God in the background.

Remember, last Sunday, we pointed out that we cannot find God with putting in casual interest, scanning through His words—“Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual.” God does not want to be treated as a last resort.

Even Jesus, had to seek for a place to quiet His soul, Mark 1:35-37—-He had to remove Himself from distractions, so that He could focus on His God—once in a while, you and I need to do the same, so as to cultivate His Presence, remember, they that seek their God shall do exploits.

Norman Vncent in his book, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” advised that we should read the bible at least twice in a workday, we should look for a quiet place and prayerfully meditate on the word. Jesus did so severally, if nothing else, it purifies the soul, James 1:21 AMP.

Go outside: Gen 1, story of creation, God created everything, not just human being, nature as well, — and they help us to be more aware of God and cultivate His presence. Ps 19:1-2, His creation is always speaking to us about who He is and how glorious and powerful and creative God is, (Ants, Prov 6:6, Lion, Eagle etc)

Obedience:  Last week we considered studying the word to know Him, today, we go a step further to say, obey what you study. Obedience is a key spiritual principle to cultivate God’s Presence, because God reveals Himself to those who CHOOSE to obey His word, John 14:21. God’s friends, for example, Abraham believed God like a fool. Believe precedes obedience.

Converse with God: Turn your inner conversations, self-talk into a conversation with God (prayer).  When we turn our inner conversations into a conversation with God, we cultivate His Presence, cos it brings God into our lives like nothing else.

Know that you can literally talk to God about everything and anything that is going on with you, and as you get better at this, you begin to hear Him speak back to you—brethren God is still speaking, but you need to cultivate His Presence to hear from Him.

Rise up now and speak to Him concerning you

Brethren, we are always quick to talk about the Power of God’s Presence, however, one can only experience that power when one knows Him more.
The truth is you can’t know someone very well at a distance, you need to be close to the person, aware and cognizant of his likes/dislikes. Even more so with God, one has to be conscious of His Presence by being watchful, listening, hearing Him and obeying Him.
James 4:8 says it better, “draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you…”
When we surrender our lives to God and place our faith/trust in Jesus Christ as our redeemer; this initial act of being born again does not really guarantee a very strong awareness/knowledge of God’s presence because know God is a continuous process, as we know in part, according to 1 Corinth 13:9.
Brethren, having a strong awareness/knowledge of God’s Presence does not come automatically, it has to be cultivated, Is 28:10 states that it is precept by precept—it’s a step by step approach, and cultivating His Presence is a precondition to experience the power of His Presence.
God does not want you to make Him an after-thought—to only seeking Him when you got your fingers burnt with sinful desires—greed, immorality, theft, disobedience, driving drunk, etc
In other words, God doesn’t want to be taken as a last resort, hence Math 6:33 which says seek Him first;——- first thing in the morning, at job/school, with your plans/aspiration, check out Prov 16:3, 9.
Simply put brethren, God wants you to consciously seek Him, Jer 29:13 tells us that this verse emphasizes that God will be found when we actively and wholeheartedly seek Him.
Note that God will not be found by someone who is merely/casually interested in Him, a scanner/browser of His words. God will be found by someone who diligently, sincerely and deliberately wants to find/know Him.
This what scriptures like Philp 3:10, Duet 4:29, Heb 11:6 instills in us.
Brethren, if God is to be found and we enjoy the Power of His Presence, we must seek Him with clear determination, focus, energy, with all our heart, strength and might, persistent, etc and I pray God gives us the grace to do just that, especially at a time like now.
EXAMPLES of the Power of God’s Presence to stir/encourage us to seek Him, especially if we know Him as the Alpha and Omega.
Exodus 15:22-25—As Alpha/Omega—God is already far ahead of us whatever future date Dec, 2025, 2030, 2101 and beyond.
Long before the Israelites got to Marah, at one of their stop overs, I call it bus stop, there was a tree growing by the pool of the bitter, undrinkable water, the tree became a solution to turn the taste of the bitter water. As a God of providence, He makes the provision far ahead of us.
IMPLICATION—before anything you go through this year and beyond, God has already provided a solution—-all you need is guidance/direction from God on exactly what the solution is and how to use it, no wonder His words says in Psalm 32:8, “I will show you the way to go…”
And how can you have that if you are far away from God, or following Him at a distance or use Him as a last resort?
Look at Ps 90:2, Is 45:2, why do you think Paul wrote 1 Corinth 10:13? This is a classical example of the Power of His Presence.
As I close, God in His infinite mercies has already put in you, all that you need to overcome, to succeed this year and beyond.
How do I know this, you may ask, It is because before Goliath started terrorizing Israel, the stone that will kill him had been formed and David had been prepared for the battle, Hallelujah!
It is because before the Philistines came for Sampson, the jawbone of the ass was already there.
It is because before Christ was crucified, those that will HELP carry the cross, and tomb were there already.
Please know and note that before this year, the things/people you will need to succeed/overcome were already made available—the tree that will turn your bitter water, situation to testimonies are already in place, hence John 16:33.
BUT to have experiential knowledge of these provisions, you must seek to cultivate the knowledge/awareness of He who will make it possible, God almighty.
In Ex 15:22, Moses did not start crying, God is not moved by our tears, but by our prayers, faith/trust in Him—-Let Him see your faith—-CALL on Him NOW to know Him more, WAIT on Him to renew your strength so that you too can DO EXPLOITS In the mighty name of Jesus Christ!