Sometimes people have ask me the question, “Is God truly moving, or are we just working ourselves up?” I understand the question. We’ve all attended services that generated a lot of noise but yielded few results. However, I want to communicate this as clearly as I can. I believe what is happening internationally now, during this season of outpouring, is not a manufactured phenomenon. It is not a marketing ploy behind a book title. God’s Spirit is being poured out globally right now in a way that is authentic and unmistakable. His presence is not a distant concept that we hope to experience someday. He is accessible to all today.
That is the primary reason I wrote the book, "Presence Driven", and it is the reason this blog consistently returns to the same core idea from numerous perspectives. Every post I write, whether it pertains to a marriage, a Sunday sermon, or a difficult conversation at your kitchen table, essentially addresses the same underlying question. What does it mean to genuinely live in the presence of God, not merely discuss it and can the presence of God change my life?
Joel foretold it long before it occurred. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28). On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood in Jerusalem and addressed the crowd, declaring, “This is that” (Acts 2:16). This was not merely a symbolic representation; it was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. I firmly believe that we are currently witnessing the final outpouring of God’s Spirit, this is a time when the church is being called to recognize, embrace, and walk it not just read about it.
Revival is not primarily characterized by a larger crowd or a more polished service. Experience has taught me that the size of the congregation does not necessarily indicate the depth of anointing that resides within an individual’s life. True revival is about people who are bound by sin and spiritual captivity finding freedom. It is about the presence of God, not merely performance.
One of the quickest ways to lose the anointing is to turn it into a spectacle. Jesus directly warned about this in Matthew 6, advising His followers to be cautious not to practice their righteousness in front of others, “to be seen of them.” He wasn’t against giving, praying, or fasting; rather, he was addressing the underlying motives. A fast announced with a hashtag and a fast kept quietly in a car during a lunch break are not the same. Only one of them truly aligns with the secret place Jesus described.
Your Faith Was Never Meant to Need an Audience. The need for an audience is one of the most evident places where people confuse being seen with being present. The secret place isn’t a magical location; it’s simply wherever you give God your undivided attention, without anyone watching or expecting you to perform. Presence with God was never meant to require anyone’s applause, and neither is His presence with you.
There’s another trap that’s almost the exact opposite of the first one, but it originates from the same root. Some of us don’t perform our faith for others; we simply assume that showing up is the same as walking in the Spirit. However, it’s not. Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount with a warning about precisely this. Hearing His words isn’t the same as doing them, and only the house built on the rock withstands the storm (Matthew 7:24 to 27).
I covered this in more depth in Just Sitting in Church Won't Save You. Attending a service, listening to a captivating sermon, or even reading a devotional every morning are not the ultimate goals. They are merely the starting points. Presence is a lifestyle that you cultivate, not a checkbox item you tick off on a Sunday. A wide gate is filled with people because it demands nothing from them. In contrast, the narrow gate leads to genuine life precisely because it requires surrender to our heavenly Father, not just attendance in church.
Here is where this stops being theoretical and starts costing you something. If the presence of Jesus never reaches your dinner table, it has not actually reached your life. I have been married to Donna for thirty six years, and I have raised three kids who are now raising their own, and I can tell you the fastest place presence disappears is not out in the world. It is in your own kitchen, on a Tuesday night, while your child is talking to you and your mind is three tabs deep in something that happened six hours earlier.
I wrote about this specifically in Being There Isn't the Same as Being Present, Being present in a room doesn’t automatically mean being in the room. God doesn’t wait for us to have everything figured out before He shows up. He meets us amidst our chaos and assures us, “I am right here with you.” Our families deserve the same posture from us. It’s one of the most evident and ordinary ways revival manifests in a life—not in a stadium, but at a dinner table.
If this season truly lives up to Joel and Peter’s expectations, then the response isn’t to wait for a more profound experience. Instead, we should actively engage with what is already presently happening.
None of that demands a dramatic moment. It demands a decision today, followed by another decision tomorrow. That’s what it means to be presence-driven. It’s not about chasing a feeling, but rather walking, day by day, in the presence of someone who is already here.
If any part of this is unfamiliar to you, or if you’re simply interested in delving deeper into the daily experience of living in God’s presence, rather than just on Sundays, I’d be delighted to share more. Sign up for my FREE ebook by clicking the following link: send you a free copy of my ebook, Presence Driven.
Remember, The Word Will Work if You Work the Word.
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