How do you interpret GODISNOWHERE? God is nowhere? or God is now here?
Your answer defines your life on this earth and beyond. Your perspective determines the clarity of your spiritual vision.
How Is your spiritual acuity?
Maybe you believe God is nowhere because he doesn’t exist. In effect, you are blind to him and his call on your life.
Or perhaps you believe intimacy with God is a future event that begins when he welcomes you into his heavenly kingdom after your final breath. Anticipating a time when we’ll be in the presence of our Heavenly Father forevermore is right and reassuring. When difficulties in this world are overwhelming, a longing deep within us reminds us that this is not our permanent home.
But keeping God distant in time and space hinders a close relationship with the One who knows you best. And still loves you. This is spiritual farsightedness. To be spiritually farsighted is to be blind to God in the here and now. Your intimacy with God is limited by the degree of your farsightedness. Perhaps it’s time for a vision correction.
Seeing god in the here and now
God’s presence is within, beside, and among us. His kingdom is at work in the world and in our lives. Through the natural and the supernatural, God leaves signs of his presence. He leaves his signature on this world and on the lives of his children.
We can witness his light penetrating the darkness of our messes, frustrations, confusion, and fears. We just need to open our physical and spiritual eyes to find him.
When my parents passed away, I became legal guardian of my adult special needs brother who requires care and monitoring around the clock. Life changed dramatically. No longer could I leave the house without coordinating care for Dennis. For over a year, I sought support from a myriad of home care agencies. In the aftermath of the pandemic, all were short-staffed.
After two years of agency letdowns, my daughter suggested I apply to an online marketplace that matches providers and seekers of home-based care. Alarms went off in my head. An internet search? It’s too unpredictable, impersonal, and risky. But I also wondered, Am I allowing my fears to limit God’s hand?
So I prayed. My daughter prayed. She reached out to her friends on social media. Simultaneously, I submitted a request to the online portal.
I received a response from an interested caregiver the same week my daughter called with a referral she obtained. Within a broad sea of two million people who populate our area, we had independently landed on the same person! A coincidence? I think not. God—the divine orchestrator—turned our ordinary actions into extraordinary results. A heaven-sent helper entered our lives whom Dennis and our family adore.
God ministers through His holy spirit
In Jesus’ last words to his disciples, he comforted them with the news that they would never be alone. Once he ascended into heaven, he would send his Holy Spirit to renew, anoint, inform, equip, and empower them. “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).
As children of God, we are recipients of the same divine gift—the Holy Spirit:
- Who is always with us and for us.
- Who speaks gently, but with honesty.
- Who reveals the two truths we have the most difficulty accepting: the extent of our sin and the depth of Jesus’ love for us.
- Who mediates our prayers in both forming them (Romans 8:26) and discerning God’s response (John 14:26).
- Who brings life and interpretation to the Bible so the Scriptures become a lamp for our feet and a light on our path (Psalm 119:105).
Through the Holy Spirit, we experience internal breakthroughs—a revelation, deeper understanding, greater discernment, clear direction, supernatural forgiveness, and unconditional love. God does mighty works in us that we may recognize only in hindsight.
The Holy Spirit also works externally—affecting people and situations—to bring about God’s will. A timely conversation. An unexpected opportunity. A shift in circumstances. Are these coincidences or miracles? William Temple, former Archbishop of Canterbury, noted “When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.” In his providence, God can use the ordinary in extraordinary ways.
GOD ACTS THROUGH HIS HEAVENLY HOSTS
But God also governs the extraordinary. At his disposal are a host of heavenly agents ready to further his purposes. Not the chubby cherubs or large-winged, harp-playing angels of storybook illustrations, but a realm of innumerable spiritual beings tasked by God to minister among us as messengers, protectors, and warriors. Fulfilling God’s purpose is their sole focus, not in revealing themselves. Most of us live a lifetime unaware of the extent of angels’ impacts. Beyond an intangible veil, God’s Kingdom is at work.
GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS CREATIVE BEAUTY
The splendor of God’s creation testifies to his presence and his signature on this world. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). God calls us to himself through the magnificence of his handiwork—the turquoise hue of a pristine glacial lake, the prismatic artwork of a sunset sky, the grandeur of a rugged mountain peak.
For from the beginning of the world “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made …” (Romans 1:20).
God’s wondrous handiwork is a prescription for pain, an antidote to adversity, and medicine for a mess. Through his creation, our spirit connects with God and our soul enjoys a long exhale.
GODISNOWHERE?
I hope “God is now here” leaps from the page.
God can be found in the mess, mundane, and magnificent. His mission always has and continues to be redemption—through the sacrifice of Jesus breaking our bondage to sin and death and the work of the Holy Spirit enabling us to be overcomers.
May you view life with spiritual lenses that recognize and cherish God’s presence in the here and now in all of life’s ups and downs.
MY SCRIPTURAL PRAYER FOR YOU
I pray that out of God’s glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)
YOUR TURN
How has God revealed himself in your life? (Consider circumstances, relationships, answered prayers, spiritual growth.)
How can you improve your spiritual acuity—your awareness of God’s presence and intervention?
I’d love to hear from you at Cheryl@GodintheMess.com.
RESOURCES
How God-Aware Are You? A quiz to measure your spiritual perception in three categories and generate personalized results within a 9-page study guide.
