LESSON 15
Approaching God
There is nothing the
devil is more afraid of, than you moving into the place where you know how to
invoke the presence of God.
The devil doesn't mind
you going to church, or even dancing and raising your hands, if he can keep you
from doing it the right way, with a right motive and a right heart.
When you grab a hold of
an understanding of the power of His presence, there will be nothing in your
life that you will be more interested in, than the presence of God.
Gen. 4:1-7 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and
bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the
LORD. And she again bare
his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the
ground. And in process of time it came
to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the
LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and
to his offering: But unto Cain and to
his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance
fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why
art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance
fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if
thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto
thee [shall be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over
him.
Abel already
understood, even before the law, that the firstborn belonged to God.
God didn't judge Cain
for his offering, but corrected him.
Cain must have understood what God required.
Cain and Abel both
understood there is a right and a wrong way to
approach God.
When we do it our own
way, it is not accepted, and we wonder why.
There is a right way to worship God.
There is a wrong way to worship God.
The Bible does not teach us to worship the Lord our own way. The Bible teaches us to worship Him His
way. When we do not do it His way, we do
not invoke the favor of God,
the blessings of God, and the presence of God. We need the presence of God.
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Psa. 51:7-11 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow. Make me to
hear joy and gladness; [that] the bones [which] thou hast broken may
rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy holy spirit from me.
The thing David was most
concerned about losing, was the presence of God.
The thing God has called
us all to, is the presence of God. God
has called us to His presence more than He has called us to minister to people.
Let’s look at a
scriptural example.
Ezek. 44:10 - 16 And the Levites that are gone away far
from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their
idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.
Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, [having] charge at the
gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt
offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to
minister unto them. Because they
ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of
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There are those who did not
walk holy and pure before Him, who wandered and did not focus on what God put a preeminence on.
They have lost the right to come and minister before His presence, but
they can minister to the people.
We put the preeminence
of importance on the ministry from the pulpit. God puts preeminence on ministry
to Him. We get so busy ministering to
the people that we forget which is more important to God. It is an honor to
come before the presence of God and to minister unto Him.
There is power in the
presence of God. The presence of God
will destroy strongholds and bondages in the lives of people.
Psa. 97:5 The hills melted
like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Psa. 114:7 Tremble, thou
earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.
Jer.
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Judgment and destruction
come at the presence of the Lord.
Acts
Times
of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. We must learn
to engage the presence of the Lord and receive times of refreshing.
2 Thes.
1:8-9 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of his power.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Eternal
punishment is being shut out from the presence of the Lord forever.
You must understand, God
puts a preeminence on His presence. We need to learn to worship God His way.
There was Cain and there
was Abel. Cain tried to gain favor with
God, to gain acceptance, and to enter the presence of God his own way. He didn’t get it. Abel came before God God’s way and gained
favor.
God told Cain that if he
had come before Him God’s way, he would be accepted. But Cain was so full of pride that even when
God Himself corrected Him and gave him an opportunity for restoration, Cain
became jealous of Abel.
It a problem
in the church today. There are people and churches out there,
trying to do it their way. Then when
they see someone doing things God’s way and getting blessed, they get mad at
them.
When we get around
someone on fire for God and hungry for His presence, it does one of two
things. It either draws us in or chases
us away. Cain was chased away. His pride caused him to worship God his way
instead of God's way.
We don't really believe
the presence of God is important. We
think God should just understand us and accept OUR way of worship. Then, when we struggle, we blame God. Our offering of praise might not be accepted
if we are doing it OUR way and not GOD’S way.
God wants obedience over
sacrifice.
We must humble
ourselves, break off the pride of Cain, and stop worshipping God our way and
start worshipping Him His way.
In Review:
1. Give
three examples of men or women in the Bible who worshipped God their own
way?
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2. What
was the outcome?
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3. Give
three examples of men or women in the Bible who worshipped God His way?
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4. What
was the outcome?
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5. What
does God put a preeminence on?
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6. What
do you put a preeminence on? (Hint: What do you think about or spend your
time doing?) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. List
some benefits of being in the presence of God?
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