The sweet, satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning. Psalm 25:14

Last time we saw some common circumstances when God draws us near and His presence becomes overwhelming. Today we’ll look at some common results of this type of experiencing God?

1) The first result of the presence of God is that He increases and we decrease. When you and I come into contact with God our focus is on Him not on ourselves. The more clearly we see Him the more we are so overcome with the glory of Christ we don’t think we’re big, we know we’re small. When someone testifies to an experience with God, listen for who is getting the glory. That’s how you can know how real this experience is. When you and I experience God for real, we don’t walk away with a bloated idea of our own importance. We are seriously humbled.

2) The second result of the presence of God is that you and I become overwhelmed with our own unrighteousness. His righteousness is so high and pure that we are like Isaiah who immediately cried out, “I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips” (Is 6:5). Now Isaiah was probably what we would consider an upright man. But in the presence of God, he saw his own uncleanness. [It’s interesting to note that God “took care of the problem” — he cleansed Isaiah for the meeting.]

3) The third result of the presence of God is that our fear of God is increased. Look at the people who God (or the glorified Christ) appeared to in the Bible. Take John for example. No one was as close to Jesus as was His disciple John while Jesus was on earth. In the Upper Room, John even reclined against Jesus. But when John saw Jesus in His glory on the Isle of Patmos, he fell at Jesus’ feet as dead (Rev 1:17). He was overcome with the holiness of Jesus.

Every time God reveals his glory in Scripture, those who experience Him immediately fall on the ground, on their faces. When God shows even a fraction of His glory it produces fear. Godly fear is the attitude of heart that seeks a right relationship with the God. Fear says, “I can’t stand to be in a wrong place with God.” That’s the fear of God.

4) The fourth result of the presence of God is that you and I are consumed with God’s glory and the result is a fresh zeal to worship God falls upon us. “Our LORD, you are the friend of your worshipers” (Ps 25:14). The fear or God can’t come upon any of us without the desire to worship increasing remarkably.