Is God present in some worship services and not in others?

After attending church one Sunday morning, a little boy knelt at his bedside that night and prayed, “Dear God, we had a good time at church today — but I wish you had been there!”

Is God present in some church worship services while absent in others?

You might think so if you listen to how some pastors and worship leaders question if God will “show up” at a service, or stating that God, indeed, did “show up big time!”

Why are these not good statements to make?

It’s true that God does not live in a building, including our church buildings. But whenever a single Christian drives up to a church building with the intent to participate in a church worship service, and walks into the building, God is there.

That is because God not only is omnipresent (everywhere), He certainly is present anywhere His children are. That is, if you believe what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit living in every Christian, and that every Christian is “in Christ” and “Christ in us” …

“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you,” Romans 8:9-11.

“And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago,” Ephesians 1:13.

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2:20.

It is impossible for a Christian to sneak away anywhere that God is not there, and that includes hiding away in the midst of a crowd in a worship service …

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night — but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you,” Psalm 139:1-12.

Even though pastors and worship leaders try to publicly encourage congregations by telling them “God is ALWAYS with you” and “You are NEVER alone,” they still ask, “Will God show up?” or boast that “God really showed up!”

That’s bad theology being spoken. God is everywhere, all the time. Dan Wilt helps us get to the point pastors and worship leaders usually mean, which is a desire for God’s “manifest presence”:

“God’s omnipresence suggests He is already there (Ps. 139:8). God’s indwelling presence tells us He is in us (Col. 1:27). Gods manifest presence, where He’s moving in a special way and we are perceiving Him increasingly, is what I believe can change from gathering to gathering (Acts 2, 2 Chron. 5:13-14, Acts 11:15).”

While as church and worship leaders we may desire the manifest presence of God in our corporate gatherings, even that is experienced individually. At the conclusion of the same worship service, you may have several people comment about the palpable “presence of God” in the service, while for others it may have been a dry, unemotional time. The difference between experiences depends on the engagement, or lack thereof, by each individual Christian. If, when we gather, we desire and purposely seek a greater awareness of God’s presence and welcome that, we’ll be positioned to sense God drawing near to us as we draw near to Him. But if we did nothing to prepare our hearts for worship, fail to sing from our hearts sincere praise to God, are watching the clocks during the sermon, and are itching to get to the restaurant before everyone else, we’ll miss experiencing the manifest presence of God even when many others rejoiced in it.

The question isn’t whether God will show up, but will we! Not just physically, but with hearts and minds engaged and longing to draw even nearer to the One who is in us and is everywhere.

We talk a LOT in the church about how words matter, because they do! When church and worship leaders use phrases that seemingly contradict scripture, it can be very confusing for church members. It’s important to be clear AND correct about what we mean. You can take (and it would be beneficial for you to do so) the time to teach about God’s omnipresence, so we can know that He is everywhere; about His indwelling presence, and also about the manifest presence of God and how since before service ever starts we have the omnipresence and indwelling of God already, we seek the manifest presence of God as we worship together. Otherwise, we can lead some to question if God is present in some worship services and absent in others.

Scotty