8 practical ways to increase the presence of God in your church.

Ephesians 2:22 (ESV) “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Often churches desire to have more of God’s presence in their meetings but don’t always know how to make that happen. Well, get ready to see more of God’s presence showing up in your church with supernatural power that gets people saved, set free and on fire for God! Here are eight simple ways to help you facilitate an increase of the presence of God in your church.

1. Raise expectation.

   Understanding why we absolutely need God’s presence in the Church will cultivate a desire and expectation in people for it. So build faith and hunger by talking about it and announcing your expectation for it. “We want every person to encounter God’s presence every week in this church!”. “We are a people of the presence of God”. “We want to be known as a church of the presence of God.” “Hey, if you want to experience the presence of God, come to this church.”
   Everyone should come to church expecting the presence of God to manifest powerfully in every service.
   Celebrate God’s presence in your meetings!

2. Preservice prayer.

   Before the gathering pray for God’s presence to manifest powerfully in the service. Pray for a hunger in people. Pray against anything that would try to hinder people from encountering God. Things like apathy, condemnation, distraction and unbelief. Announce your expectation of God’s presence so everyone is on the same page and expecting it. The early church did exactly this.

   Acts 4:29-31 (ESV) “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

3. Encounter worship.

   Choose songs that invite God’s presence to come and especially songs that engage God. Choose songs that sing directly to God rather than always singing about God. Worship leaders must know their goal. Their goal is to lead people into the presence of God so they can encounter Jesus face to face. Encourage people to surrender to Christ, to fix their eyes on Him, to welcome Him, to talk to Him and to sing to Him. So many of Davids worship songs were directly singing to God and expressed his desire for God.

   Psalms 42:1-2 (NRSV) “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?“
   

4. Exhortation.

   During worship the worship leader and elders and prophetic people should give exhortations that help focus people on Jesus and lead them into a deeper encounter with Him. Get the focus off “the hard week you’ve had” “or how much you’re struggling” and get the focus onto Jesus. God is always wanting to manifest and do something and there are always keys that will unlock deeper levels of God’s presence and ministry in every meeting. Leaders should always be looking for these keys by discerning what God is doing or wanting to do. Facilitating this will open up more of God’s presence in the meeting. It may be a prophetic word, a specific exhortation, a prophetic action, a particular song, a shout, a prayer, a scripture and so on. Don’t settle for low level presence. Find the keys and lead people into God’s presence.
   Also getting up and just inviting God’s presence to come or releasing His presence in the meeting is a very powerful thing.

   1 Corinthians 14:24-25 (NLT) “But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

5. Preaching.

   Rely on God’s presence when you preach. Don’t over prepare your sermon but leave room for the Holy Spirit to lead. Soak in God’s presence before you preach. A preacher that is full of God’s presence will release it. Preachers should be carrying an anointed and heaven soaked word! “Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, stood up and proclaimed……and three thousand were saved and added to the church.”

   1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

   Also preaching about the grace of God will help people to feel confident to draw near to God. “There is no condemnation, draw near with boldness, the way is open, seated with Christ, no separation”. The grace of God opens up the atmosphere for Heaven to come!

   Hebrews 4:14-16 (NRSV) “Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

6. Ministry.

   As often as you can, give opportunity to the Holy Spirit to do miracles in people’s lives through times of ministry. Invite the Holy Spirit to confirm the word with signs following and to lead people into a personal encounter with God. Use your words, “Holy Spirit we invite you to come. Would you take us deeper into God’s presence. Jesus we want to see you face to face. We want to hear your voice. Come and have your way. Meet each person where they are at right now.” Step out in the gifts of the Spirit, invite people forward for prayer, try to discern different anointings and what the Holy Spirit is doing or wants to do.

   1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NKJV) “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
   

7. After service prayer ministry.

   Train up a ministry team that knows how to impart the presence of God through the laying on of hands. Less counselling more impartation.

   Mark 16:17-18 (NKJV) “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; … they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
   Acts 8:17 (ESV) “Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”
   

8. Testimonies.

   Regularly get people to testify about how God touched them. This continually lets people know it’s very normal to encounter God and you don’t need to be afraid of it, that good things come from encountering God’s presence and that everyone can experience this. Often you can pray immediately after testimonies for others to experience a similar thing.

   So it’s really not complicated to have more of God’s presence in your church. Simply: Talk about it. Pray for it. Lead people in during worship. Teach on it. Give opportunity for it and continue to testify about it. Soon you will have a culture of the presence of God in your church and many lives will be touched and transformed through it!

   Let me know what you think in the comments below or if you have any questions contact me through info@newnatureministries.org

   Grace and peace, Ryan Rufus.