Yahweh Shammah

I have been talking about the various names, or titles—or maybe it would be better to call it his characteristics. Anyway, I have been talking about these various names of our Lord and today I want to toss out one I haven’t covered before. The name is: Yahweh Shammah—The Lord Is There. That immediately reminds me of Ezekiel 48:35.

This verse describes the name ascribed to Jerusalem and the Temple there. The Lord was describing His temple and said, “Here are the dimensions of this city and the Temple, and I WILL BE THERE. For me, that was the key part of the verse. This is referring to the once-departed glory of the Lord (which we can read about in chapters 8-11 of Ezekiel) and promising the people that it would return. He was trying to encourage and comfort the people. (In the first four verses of chapter 44, you see the prophesied fulfillment of that promise—also read Revelations 15:8)

Anyway, I bring this up because when you are a member of God’s true church, you (yes, I said you), that you must be known by that name of Yahweh Shammah. Before you go ballistic on me, let me explain what I mean. It is my personal belief (and yes, this is what I see in the Scripture) that when people meet us, they must be able to say, “The Lord is obviously with this person. Every time I see him, I sense the presence of Jesus. His life truly reflects the glory of God.” Does that sound too far-fetched? Well, maybe for some of us, but this our Father’s expectation of us. He is our Lord and King, we should be able to spend time in his presence, and His Spirit will radiate from us.

I have told many of you about the times when people from work have approached me and began to asking me questions about my faith. Now understand, these are people I had never met and had only seen me in the lunchroom. I have even approached people in the grocery store(and people have approached me) because I “sensed” an anointing on their life and because I was simply “drawn” to them—as they have of me.

Now, on the negative side, I have told some of you about the time after I ministered in church, we went to a mall and as we were going down the escalator, a woman turned around and yelled at me, “Shut up. I don’t want to hear it.” Whoa! My wife and I weren’t even talking to each other at the time, but evidently my spirit (or the Holy Spirit) was talking to her spirit and she did not like what she heard. In hindsight, I wish we would have had the opportunity to minister to her, but she ran off down the concourse before we could say a word. These kinds of thing shouldbe happening to us.

My point is, as we spend time with the Lord, we become identified with Him; we reflect His Glory and accept His calling and His name. However, if we are honest, we have to admit we don’t sense the Lord’s sweet presence in each other very often. Why? Because Christians spend their time involved in good religious activities—prayer groups, Bible studies, outreach ministries—and that’s all very commendable, but too many of these same Christians spend very little (if any) time ministering to the Lord, in the secret closet of prayer.

The Lord’s presence simply cannot be faked. This is true whether you are referring to an individual’s life or to churches body. When I talk about God’s presence, I’m not talking about some kind of spiritual aura that mystically surrounds a person, where we go, “ooh, wee. F-e-e-e-l that glory . . .” or that comes down in a church service. No, no. I am talking about the result of a simple but powerful walk of faith. Whether that is manifested in a Christian’s life or in an entire congregation, it causes people to take note. They tell themselves, “This person has been with Jesus,” or “This congregation truly believes what they preach.”

Do you want that in your church? Well, it takes much more than a righteous pastor to produce a Yahweh Shammah church. It takes righteous, shut-in people of God. If a stranger comes out of a church service and says, “I felt the presence of Jesus there,” I absolutely guarantee it wasn’t just because of the preaching or worship. No. It was because a righteous congregation had entered God’s house, and the Lord’s glory was present in their midst. There was true worship and praise taking place—not just during that service (though that is necessary) but through the preceding week.

Now, more to the point: Do you want this in your life? (I am sure you do, or you wouldn’t be receiving these Morning Messages). Then become a person of prayer and worship. Spend your time and energy ministering to the Lord and see the Power of His Life in your own life. Amen!

Nickolas