God's Miraculous Presence and Power - Guaranteed

I've often wondered at the amazing reality of God's presence during our church's annual revival conferences. Equally confounding reason is the short-lived nature of this phenomena.

Some would attribute this to the Hawthorne Effect, where a noticeable improvement occurs temporarily because expectations are higher. However, this only accounts for the subjective mood of the audience and not the real (if not equally tangible) change of God's presence and power.

Now imagine I could guarantee that God's presence would be unmistakable at your next church service. No, I don't mean your next revival service -- just your average meeting.

How is this possible? Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Reflect on the meaning of the words "search for [Him] with all your heart." What if the usher were searching for God with all his heart? It would show in how he greeted you as you passed through the door. Think of a choir whose collective heart sought for God and sang with all their might -- sang right to the ears of God. If the pastor put all his heart into preaching the message aware of God's working through him and if the hearers put all their heart into listening and then obeying those words, there would be an awesome manifestation of the presence and power of God.

In contrast, many times we expect so little from a typical service and thus we put in little of our heart. Now let's apply this mindset -- that of whole-heartedness -- to each endeavor in each area of life such as our religious service, our family and work. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." ~Ecclesiastes 9:10a