We know this is true, because it was told by someone who saw it happen. Now you can have faith too. (John 19:35, CEV)
This life is not a passive experience. Our ability to discern the straight and narrow path amidst a chorus of detouring paths is critical. The Lord did not intend for us to have to guess. One tool he provided was the promise that those who are on the right path will experience miracles: both in the lives of those who preach his word and to those who accept the preaching:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16)
God never revoked this promise. It is still in effect. God still confirms the word with signs following. They include all the gifts enumerated in the scriptures.
If you do not abide in God’s presence, it is because one or more conditions are true: either you are not keeping all of God’s commandments that he has revealed to you, or you are not yet in possession of the commandments you need to enter into and remain in his presence.
If you are not yet obeying the commandments God has given you, you must repent. The manifestation of God’s power in your life can only happen to the degree that you are free from sin. The commonly accepted lie that it is impossible to be free from sin ensures that most will never experience God to any great degree.
If you have not yet obtained sufficient commandments despite keeping everything God has commanded you to do, you have not yet received all the commandments necessary to prepare you to have a habitation with God, if you have not yet received all the commandments necessary, it is because you are not yet capable of obeying them. There is only one way of becoming so: you must become more submissive to God.
To become more submissive to God, ask, is there anything God could ask me to do that I would not immediately do? If so, you must work to overcome it. How? There are two ways God helps you trust him more. The first is by suffering. Moses approached the Israelites to redeem them early in his life. They rejected him, and God allowed them to suffer for 40 more years in order to help them trust in him. Although it may seem brutal, suffering is a very effective motivator, and, like all things God does, is motivated by his overwhelming love for us.
The second way God helps you trust him more is by providing miracles in your life and in the lives of others. The Israelites did not trust God when Moses was called to lead them out of Egypt. Moses went to the Israelites before he went to Pharaoh. They rejected him. God provided many rounds of experience between Moses and Pharaoh to give increasingly dramatic examples of his power to the Israelites. At the apex, the children of Israel were asked to demonstrate their newly increased faith in God by sacrificing a lamb and painting their doors. This was a substantial increase in faith from where they were when Moses first approached them.
If you are already at the point of full submission, where there is nothing you would not do if God asked you, then you simply must wait on God. There are many instances in the scriptures where holy men were required to wait before they could enter God’s presence. Hezekiah, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and others all had to endure a waiting period before they could enter his presence. It was not necessarily a period in which they were actively repenting. They were quietly waiting, actively seeking God day by day and moving closer to him in small ways.
Every day you should be tangibly closer to God than the day before. I invite you to lay aside the ignorance and false tradition that keeps the majority of this world—including the Christian world—from sharing in the experiences common to all believers as illustrated in scripture from the beginning of time until today. God lives, and he has not changed. Those who worship him with full intent of heart according to the instructions he has given will find themselves with the same experiences as the ancients—they will experience prophecy, healings, revelation, dreams, visions, tongues, and heavenly visitations.
The words in this book are sufficient to bring a man to know how to be redeemed from the fall and obtain a habitation with God. If, by God’s grace, you have found this book, I commend you to seek this Jesus, of whom the prophets and apostles have written. I testify to you that he will literally appear to all those who obey him and seek him. He will come and make his abode with you. There is nothing in this world that is worth more than a habitation with God. Yield your heart to him. Seek him with full intent, holding nothing back. Obey his every word to you, and he will come to you.