Reflections on Releasing the Presence and Power of Jesus

God wants us to pay attention to the reality of what it means to his kingdom to “Release the Presence and Power of Jesus.” He is making it very clear to me since Sunday in a variety of ways.

But, before I tell what those are: I want to explore the idea of “Releasing the Power and Presence of Jesus.” The reality is that since Pentecost all disciples of Jesus have Holy Spirit sealed within them. The Scriptures tell us that “Holy Spirit sealed within us is a gift guaranteeing our future our future life in heaven” (Ephesians 1 and 2nd Cor 1).

But, Holy Spirit being sealed in us today is an even bigger gift because when God looks at us, he is literally looking back at himself. 2nd Cor 3:18 tells us “And, we are mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And, as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”

Because Holy Spirit lives in us and we reflect God’s glory through his presence, the truth is that we take the Lord’s presence wherever we go. We take his presence to work with us. We take his presence to school, to our neighbor’s parties, to our extended family gatherings, to Starbucks for our morning coffee, to our conversations with our spouses or friends. The idea is “Holy Spirit will travel!”

One important thing that Jesus did is that wherever he was, healing happened. This applies to us too: when we go into situations and bring his presence, we also bring his power to save, heal and deliver with us. It’s as if when we understand this principal, we are in the shower getting wet because the water is turned on.

So, Sunday night when Missio Lux commissioned 14 Healing Prayer Ministers, I spoke on “Releasing the Presence and Power of Jesus.” Well, it was the first time that I have seen people literally drawn into our gatherings by the sheer presence of Jesus released.

I met one man during our ministry time and asked him if he was a family member of one of the Prayer Ministers. He told me “No, I came because I saw that people were meeting.” He was drawn in by the Presence of Jesus released.

As we were finishing dinner, one family was leaving and they ran into three men who told them, “We are here to see Jesus.” They are Hindu, but they told us that they were “compelled” to drive into the parking lot to see Jesus.

If that wasn’t clear enough, yesterday I went to get a massage. I have a massage therapist that I use on a regular basis; he is in his 20’s and is Catholic. When he found out that I was a pastor, he began to talk about his life in the Catholic Church. After many conversations, I asked him if he has ever read the Bible and he told me no. I encouraged him to do so.

I hadn’t been back for several weeks because of my travel schedule and when I saw him yesterday, this is what he said, “When you weren’t here, I missed the Presence.” He didn’t say he missed me, he was telling me he missed the Presence of Jesus I bring.

He also proceeded to tell me that he started reading the New Testament and that he is into Acts now and that he felt the Lord telling him that “Now is the time that I want to reveal myself to you.”

The Lord is giving us these true life experiences to help us hear and understand that one of his strategies for showing people his love for them is to teach his disciples that “releasing his presence and power” is a simple way to impact the world.

Bill Johnson says this, “Our greatest privilege in life is to learn to be a person that God will rest upon. He is in all of us by covenant, and will never leave. But he is not upon all of us. The challenge we face is to learn to be people who host the presence of the Lord as our greatest calling in life. While he is in me for my sake, He is upon me for yours. When the Lord rests upon a person, there is actually an atmospheric change that takes place wherever that person goes.”

So, practically how do we do it?

It’s simple.

First, recognize that you carry the presence of Jesus in you because Holy Spirit is sealed within you for eternity.

Make a decision to pray a simple prayer under your breath in every situation throughout your day: “Jesus, thank you that you are in me. What do you want to release to this situation today?”
Listen for his answer. As you hear words such as love, peace, faith, healing, then you know that he wants the people in that environment to experience his presence in those ways.

Pray to release it.

Then thank him that he is present and ask him if there is anything else he wants to do: it may include introducing you to someone that he wants you to share his love with more tangibly through a verbal witness or a prayer for healing, or it may include making a connection to someone.

Releasing the presence and power is both an invitation and challenge. Our invitation is to recognize that Jesus himself considers us his partners in his work, and our challenge is to live a life of awareness of our identity as hosting his presence and then to listen to what he is saying and to respond as he shows us to do.

So, go ahead. Take the plunge and find out how much fun it is to swim in the water with Jesus. You may find that you are walking on it before you know it.