You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)
God is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere, but that doesn’t mean that we automatically experience His presence in our everyday lives. In fact, sometimes we avoid God’s presence.
Often believers think that God is unhappy with them. They think that if they talk to Him, He’s just going to bring all of their faults and shortcomings to mind. But the truth is, God’s presence doesn’t bring condemnation. If you feel condemned when you spend time with God, that’s either your own heart condemning you or it’s the enemy trying to get in the way of your relationship with your loving Father God. According to 1 John 1:9, if you feel like something you’ve said or done is affecting your ability to be comfortable in God’s presence, you can always talk to Him about it, asking Him to forgive you, and He will.
According to God’s Word, God’s presence brings rest (Exodus 33:14), comfort and reassurance (Psalm 31:19-20, Psalm 23:4), and joy (Psalm 16:11). No matter what, you can turn to Him. He says, “I live…with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, and what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again” (Isaiah 57:15, MSG).
A few things you can do to help you sense God’s presence include reading the Bible, worshipping, speaking to Him from your heart, confiding in Him, and getting quiet. Sometimes we struggle to sense God’s presence because there’s too much going on around us. Stop, take a deep breath, and tune in to His presence, just as Psalm 46:10 says: “Be still and know that I am God.”