In...the church where I pastor, there are many different rooms with doors that can be locked. Each room has its own key to unlock only its door. There is, however, a master key that will unlock any door in the complex. I think about this master key when I meditate on the presence of God.

You see, in the Word of God there are various "keys" to cover various situations. There is one key to unlock healing, another key to deliverance, another to abundance, another to relationships. But there is also a master key which will unlock all of these and provide anything else that belongs to the believer. This master key is the presence of God.

When you are living and walking in the presence of Almighty God, sickness has to go. No disease can withstand His presence.

When you live in His presence, poverty and insufficiency must flee. There can be no lack in the presence of the God Who made heaven and earth.

Every promise found in the Word of God is wrapped up and available in His sweet presence. It truly is the master key.

The Moving Presence
One of the first things you must recognize about the presence of God is that it isn't just a place you come to visit. It moves with you wherever you go.

Listen to God's words to Moses: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest" (Ex. 33:14).

Did you catch that? God said to him, My presence shall go with thee. The presence of God, with all the power and peace it brings, can go with you wherever you go. You can carry it to work or to the grocery store.

The presence of God ought to be such a tangible part of who you are that people will notice something different about you. They will say to themselves, I don't know what it is, but there's something powerful about that person. That's the presence of the God of the universe with you and in you.

The Benefit of Rest
There are many benefits associated with the presence of God. The last Scripture verse we read names one of these benefits: rest.

The presence of God is where your struggling and striving ends. When you live in His presence, you no longer have to sweat and strain in your own ability. God is your Covenant Partner and you are operating in the power of His anointing.

Remember when Adam fell and brought the Curse upon himself? Part of the Curse involved hard, difficult work and sweat. The Scripture says: "... cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground..." (Gen 3:17-19).

In Jesus we have been redeemed from the curse of the Law. In the presence of God we have rest. Praise God!

When you live in the presence of God, you don't have to be racked with worry about how you are going to pay your bills. You don't have to be tormented by depression, guilt or fear. Jesus said: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. 11:28,29).

When you get into the presence of the Lord, you will find rest and will discover that the struggle is over.

When you are walking in that kind of rest, you will get other people's attention. Some will think you have a problem; others may think you're crazy. People will be saying: "Don't you realize what you're up against? Don't you understand the kind of challenge you're facing? You should be worried!"

But you will respond to them: "No, I've got the master key. When I got up this morning, I entered into the presence of God, and His presence has gone with me all through this day. There's rest in the presence of God. I can rest because I know that in His presence all my needs are met."

Yes, there is rest in the presence of the living God. But that isn't all you will find. There's more, much more.

The Benefit of Glory and Honor

Take a look at a portion of First Chronicles 16:27: "Glory and honour are in his presence..."

Many Christians have no idea what the "glory" of God really is. They think of it only as a mysterious cloud that appeared from time to time in the Old Testament.

Actually, the God-kind of glory appears any time something promised in the Word is manifested in the physical realm. For instance, when healing as promised in the Word comes into someone's life, that's glory. When supernatural provision is manifested, that's glory.

Where can you go to see the glory of God manifested in your life? According to the verse we just read, that glory comes when you enter into the presence of God. It also says glory has a partner: honor. What kind of honor? The honor of God.

Honor and glory go hand in hand. We see them linked in Psalm 8:5: Yet You have made him [man] but little lower than God...and You have crowned him with glory and honor (AMP).

Don't make the mistake of thinking that you ever have any honor or glory of your own. It's when you dwell in the presence of God that His honor and His glory are imparted to you. You can't be around God without His nature rubbing off on you.

We see honor linked to the presence of God in Psalm 91. This psalm is all about the benefits that come from dwelling in the shadow of the Almighty (v. 1); in other words, from living in the presence of God.

The last two verses of this psalm actually tell us that God wants to honor us! "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. (Ps. 91:15,16).

According to verse 15, in the presence of the Lord comes honor and with honor comes deliverance from trouble. That's what I call a benefit!

A Source of Strength
A few paragraphs back, we looked at a portion of First Chronicles 16:27. There we saw that glory and honor are to be found in the presence of God. Let's look at this entire verse: "Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place."

Think about that. Strength and gladness are in the place where God is. I don't know about you, but there have been quite a few days in my life when a little strength and gladness would have come in mighty handy!

When you need to be strengthened, you will find it in the presence of the Lord. When feelings of sadness, discouragement or oppression try to move in on your mind, you will find gladness in His presence, too.

That's why it is so vital that we invest our time in reading God's Word, meditating on it and fellowshipping with the Lord in prayer. These four vital resources for successful living are found there in God's presence: glory, honor, strength and gladness.

The Benefit of Joy
Maybe you know the verse in Nehemiah 8:10 which states, "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength." This Scripture has been quoted many times. But most people don't know how to receive the joy of the Lord when they need it.

It doesn't do you any good to know that the joy of the Lord is your strength if you don't also know how to access some of that joy when times are tough. You can't just work up this joy in your own flesh.

The key to tapping into the source of joy is found in the 16th Psalm: "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16:11).

As you may have guessed, in the presence of God you will find the kind of joy that will give you supernatural strength. How much joy can you find in the presence of the Lord? All you can hold. As this Scripture verse says, you will find fulness of joy.

If you need strength to get your bills paid or to come out of depression or to overcome an attack on your health, you will find this strength abundantly in God's presence.

You see, we have been looking for answers in all the wrong places.

Everything you need, everything you desire, everything God wants to give you - all this can be found in His presence.

Source: Answers Awaiting in the Presence of God by Creflo A. Dollar Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers