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COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY 6: FOLLOWING GOD’S
PRESENCE
What does it mean to journey with God’s presence? The
Israelites were led by the visible presence of God in a cloud; He spoke to
Moses ‘face to face’! How is the church and its individuals to be led? I’m
convinced that God does not change, that we still need leading and so I hope
you’re excited about learning to journey with God’s presence. Let’s pray
that God would teach you and this church to hear and follow.
THE COMPASS
A compass helps one to orientate and know which
direction we are facing. Without a compass a map is useless. If we are going to
be led by God we need His compass - His Spirit in us that orientates our hearts
towards God.
• What does Heb. 10:16 say about our heart’s desires being shaped in
salvation?
• The compass of our hearts is maintained as we spend time with God in
prayer, as we get to know Him and ask Him to lead us and the church. What does
Exodus 33:11 inspire us to pray and to imitate?
• What does Numbers 13:30-31 and 14:24 say about how a heart of faith directs
our willingness to hear God?
• Fear or selfishness will cause us to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to
God. Is there anything that you know that you are refusing to hear from God?
THE MAP
For us to journey with God we need His map - His
bible. The bible shows us God’s will and ways. Throughout Israel’s journey, God
will cause them to stop and receive additions to His law. To journey with God
in life requires our studying, understanding and obeying the bible. What
does 2 Timothy 3:16 have to say about God’s word, it’s inspiration, use and the
outcome for those who will read and obey?
ADVISORS
God has given us elders and mature Christians who can
pray and give us wise advice. If you think that you can hear God’s voice and so
don’t need council, you are heading for a fall!
• Are you greater than Moses? Does God speak to you face to face with such
clarity (the answer is no!) but what happens in Exodus 18:17-19?
• We see in Exodus 18:21-22 that, in the church, their are various leaders
from whom to seek direction - How does this protect us?
THE BODY
In the church there are various gifts that God gives
to us or others that help to direct us and his church. Prophetic gifts
(including visions and dreams) help to direct us. Teaching gifts and
moments when we feel God speaking directly as someone teaches. Remember,
whatever God is saying to your local church, He is saying to you!
•
What does 1 Corinthians
14:29 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 say about how we treat prophecy?
NOW PRAY AND WORSHIP TOGETHER
•
Spend some time thanking God
and praying together out of today’s text and discussions.
•
A key text that God has
given us as a church is Exodus 33:15-16 Then Moses said to him, “If
your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone
know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?
What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the
face of the earth?” Pray that the church would ‘go up together’ inheriting
all that God has for us together.
TESTIMONIES
OF FOLLOWING GOD’S PRESENCE
Ruth Byrne writes,
‘One of our sons had a very difficult class at
school. It had been going on for a long time so looked to move him to a
different school. We got two offers for other schools in the area. When we
prayed about it I felt God say very clearly not to move it. In human terms it
didn't make sense, but we trusted God and kept him at the same school. The
following year we moved house in completely the opposite direction from the
school we had considered. Within 6 weeks of moving we were able to move him to
a new school that he loved. Even in the small details of the new school we
could see God's hand at work. He knew the big picture, when we couldn't see it
and worked for the good of all of us in the situation as we trusted Him.’
Susie Howe wrote,
I have
learned that you will never ‘enter the Promised Land’ staying comfortable and
safe. Neither can we walk through the waters without taking God and his word.
Through my work with The Bethany Children’s Trust over the past two decades,
the assignments God has given us has meant that I have had to face some pretty
hairy situations like angry street mobs; corrupt government officials; extreme
sickness and serious accidents in countries that most people avoid. I also have
to address very difficult issues like tackling witchcraft accusations and
associated abuse against children. So many people have said, ‘it’s impossible!’
‘It’s too dangerous. Don’t go there! Don’t get into that!’ But if God has said
do it, then it’s doable and I know he has my back covered. It’s not a question
of courage but rather simple obedience and coming to know just how sovereign,
mighty, able and trustworthy God is. That’s why BCT is able to go
above and beyond what is humanly possible and beyond the sum total of our resources.
It’s because God is faithful and He is with us. So with the child witch issue
for instance, God has privileged us with leading the way in the Christian
response, and we are starting to see real change come about. But I would never
dream of taking one-step forward unless God has said to take that step. Like
Moses, I often say to God, ‘If you
don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.’ (Exodus
33:15) Trying to move without Him would be foolhardy. But if He is with us, we
can expect to see the impossible happen.’
DAILY BIBLE DEVOTIONAL
PERSONAL BIBLE STUDIES WEEK 6 – EXODUS 33–40 &
Numbers 9:15–23
MONDAY: WE CAN LOSE GOD’S PRESENCE ON THE WAY
Exodus 33:1-3 Then the Lord said
to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt,
and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying,
‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and
drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go
with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the
way.”
We cannot lose our salvation but a person or a church can stop
expecting to hear God. We can also grieve the Spirit so as to diminish His
presence amongst us; it’s not true to say that sin has no effect on the
Spirit’s power among us! (See Ephesians 4:30) Are you expecting to hear God in
His word as you read it and hear it taught? Are you making notes of prophecies
so as to pray into them? Are you grieving God through willful sin? Let’s invite
God to speak to us again and lead us by His presence - He is more than willing
if we are!
TUESDAY: ARE YOU THIRSTY FOR GOD?
Exodus 33:10-11 Whenever
the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they
all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would
speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return
to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
I love this image of Joshua not wanting to leave the tent. He was a man
who loved God’s presence and whose devotion would lead them to enter the
Promised Land. How can you make more time to spend in the ‘tent of
meeting’?
WEDNESDAY: DO WE WANT GOD TO GO WITH US?
Exodus 33:12-16 Moses
said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have
not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name
and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me
your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that
this nation is your people.” The Lord replied, “My Presence will go
with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If
your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone
know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?
What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the
face of the earth?”
This is a key text that has shaped our church vision. Pray
that the church would ‘go up together’ - that we would be united in our pursuit
of God, we would work together rather than each of us pursuing our personal
vision, that we would inherit all that God has for us together.
THURSDAY: WE CAN MEET GOD ON THE JOURNEY
Exodus 33:17-20 And the
Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am
pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show
me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass
in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me
and live.”
Exodus 34:29 When Moses came
down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he
was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
These words are picked up by Paul in the New Testament,
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is
the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all,
who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed
into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit.
Jesus makes His presence available to all Christians - He dwells in us
by the Spirit. God is with you, but we can have more intensive and
transformative encounters with God through prayer and faith - ask Him to fill
you and the church every day.
FRIDAY: WILL WE BUILD A TENT OF MEETING?
Exodus 35:20 Then the whole
Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing
and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the
work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.
God directed Moses to build The Tabernacle - a moveable temple, as a
place of God’s presence on their journeys. Those who were willing gave
generously in order to make this a reality. Is your heart moved to build the
local church? The church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Will you give prayer,
time, money, your gifts etc. to build a dwelling place for God?
SATURDAY: FOLLOWING GOD ON THE JOURNEY
Numbers 9:15-17 On the day the
tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it.
From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That
is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like
fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out;
wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.
The people of Israel were to follow the presence of God. During these
studies this week we have been considering how this is a call on us together.
So will you and I follow God? Will we respond to His word, prophetic direction,
leadership direction etc.? I know of many Christians who have squandered their
potential because they are proud, bitter and will not be led. My prayer for
myself and all of us is that we would journey together with God’s presence - it
will be tough, but it has eternal reward.
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