November 12th, 2026
Have you ever walked into a place and immediately recognized that something was different? Nobody had to tell you. You could just tell by the atmosphere. Maybe it was a home where everybody was constantly arguing, and you could feel the tension before anybody said a word. Or maybe it was a place where there was such peace that you immediately felt comfortable being there. The presence of God should make a difference in our lives that people can recognize.
Now, I’m not talking about having some kind of emotional experience every time you walk into a room. I’m talking about something much greater than that. I’m talking about learning to live in the presence of God until His peace, His joy, and His righteousness become evident in the way you live.
Psalm 16:11 says,
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Notice what the Bible says. In His presence there is fullness of joy. Not a little bit of joy. Not just enough joy to get you through a church service. Fullness of joy. Yet there are Christians who have been serving God for years and still live as though they have no access to His presence outside of Sunday morning. They come to church, experience something wonderful, and then spend the rest of the week waiting for the next service so they can experience it again. That’s not how God intended us to live.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that you could visit the presence of God once or twice a week. He made a way for you to have a relationship with the Father, and that relationship is supposed to affect every part of your life. So how do you know when you’re living in His presence?
Some people immediately think about what they feel. Maybe they get goosebumps. Maybe they begin to cry. Maybe they feel the tangible presence of God so strongly that they can hardly stand. I’ve experienced the presence of God in powerful ways, and there have been times when I could physically feel Him. But I can also tell you that there have been times when I was in His presence and didn’t feel anything at all.
For years, I would go into meetings where other people were having tremendous experiences with God, and I didn’t feel a thing. Julie could be sitting beside me experiencing all kinds of things, and I would be sitting there wondering what everybody else was feeling. But faith doesn’t have feelings, and feelings can lie to you. If you make your feelings the determining factor of whether God is present, you’re going to spend a lot of time questioning something His Word has already established. There are much better ways to recognize what His presence is producing in your life.
Romans 14:17 says,
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
There are three things I want you to notice in that verse: righteousness, peace, and joy. These aren’t simply emotions we try to manufacture. They are characteristics of life in the Holy Spirit. And when we learn to cultivate the presence of God, these things should become increasingly evident in us.
Let’s start with peace.
Jesus says in John 14:27,
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Jesus didn’t say He would give us the kind of peace the world gives. The world’s idea of peace is usually that everything has to be going right before you can have it. If the bills are paid, the family is getting along, everybody is healthy, and nothing unexpected happens, then you can have peace. But what happens when something goes wrong? If your peace depends on your circumstances, you’re going to lose it every time your circumstances change.
Jesus said, “My peace I give to you.”
That’s different. His peace can remain when everything around you is chaotic. You can receive a difficult report and still have peace. You can be facing financial pressure and still have peace. You can be dealing with something in your family and still have peace because your peace isn’t coming from the situation. It’s coming from Him.
Years ago, Julie and I opened our home to students from a local high school. Some of these kids were dealing with tremendous chaos in their lives. They had problems at home, problems in relationships, and all kinds of things pulling at them. And I made something very clear. They weren’t bringing that chaos into my house. Now, that doesn’t mean we didn’t care about what they were going through. We absolutely cared. That’s one of the reasons we opened our home to them in the first place. But I wasn’t going to allow everything happening around them to determine the atmosphere in our home.
We had cultivated peace there. When those kids came into our house, they experienced something different from what many of them were accustomed to. They could see that there was another way to live. And they had a decision to make. Did they want what God was offering them, or did they want to continue living according to everything the world was offering? Some of those young people are still part of our lives today. That’s what I mean when I say the presence of God should make a difference that people can recognize.
Colossians 3:15 says,
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Notice that word rule.
The peace of Christ is supposed to have authority in your heart. It should influence the way you respond, the decisions you make, and the way you treat the people around you. That doesn’t happen simply because you attended a good church service. It happens as you continue spending time with the Lord and allowing His Word to change you.
The second thing we see in Romans 14:17 is joy.
I love talking about joy because I believe Christians ought to be some of the most joyful people on the face of the earth. Now, don’t confuse joy with happiness. You aren’t going to be happy about everything that happens in your life. There are difficult circumstances. There are things that hurt. There are times when you receive news you never wanted to hear. But you can still have joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 says,
“And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The joy of the Lord is your strength. That means joy isn’t just something that makes you feel good. There is strength available to you through the joy that comes from God.
I remember when I truly got my life right with the Lord. The presence of God convicted me, and I responded to Him. Two of the first things that became evident in my life were peace and joy. I’m telling you, I had so much joy I felt like I could attack hell with a bucket of water. I was excited about Jesus. I was excited about what He had done in my life. I wanted everybody to know about it. That joy wasn’t because all my circumstances had suddenly become perfect. It was because something had changed inside me.
Romans 15:13 says,
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
There it is again. Joy and peace. And notice that Paul connects them with believing and the power of the Holy Spirit. The more we learn to believe God and live in fellowship with Him, the less control our circumstances should have over what is happening inside us.
Now, that brings us to the third thing: righteousness.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus took our sin upon Himself so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. Think about what He has done for us. He didn’t simply come to make our lives a little better. He came to deal with the sin that separated us from the Father and make a way for us to be brought into a right relationship with God. And that relationship should change how we live.
First John 4:20 says,
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
You can’t claim to love God while refusing to love the people around you. You can’t spend time worshiping Him and then live as though His Word has no authority over your life. That’s why I say obedience is also an act of worship. Worship isn’t limited to what comes out of your mouth. It includes what you do with what God has said. If I say I believe Him, then my life ought to reflect that belief.
Jesus makes this very clear in John 14:6-7:
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”
Jesus is the way. The Father is the destination. Jesus came to this earth, died on the cross, and rose again so that we could be reconciled to the Father. He made a way for us to know God personally. And if we really believe that, it should affect more than our Sunday mornings. It should affect how we treat our families. It should affect how we respond when someone does something wrong to us. It should affect how we handle difficult situations. And it should give us a desire to tell other people about Jesus. If I truly believe Jesus is the only way to the Father, then I cannot be satisfied keeping that truth to myself. That’s part of what it means to believe.
Jesus continues in John 14:12-13,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Notice the purpose. “That the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Everything comes back to Him. The purpose of living in God’s presence isn’t so we can become important or get everything we want. It’s so our lives can bring glory to the Father. And when we make that our priority, it changes the way we approach everything else.
There was a man who had an excavation business but had gone a long time without getting work. He had equipment, he had the ability to do the jobs, but the contracts weren’t coming. He had borrowed money from family and friends just to keep things going. Then he heard a teaching about worship, faith, and speaking God’s Word. He and his wife began making worship part of their daily lives. They would get up and spend time praising God together. Then they would pray and declare God’s promises over their situation while continuing to pursue work. It didn’t all change overnight. But eventually, a company contacted him about a six-week job worth $30,000. This was back in the 1980s, so that was a substantial contract. He accepted the job and went to work. And he kept worshiping. While he was working on that project, the company called him back and offered him another six-week contract for another $30,000. His business began growing, and he was eventually able to pay off the debts he had accumulated.
What I appreciate about that testimony is that the man didn’t stop working. He didn’t sit at home expecting contracts to appear while doing nothing. He continued using the abilities and equipment he had, but he also changed what he was giving his attention to every day. He made worship a priority. And that is something every one of us can do, regardless of what circumstances we’re facing.
You don’t have to own a business. You don’t have to be in full-time ministry. You don’t have to be standing in a church building. You can worship God right where you are. You can cultivate an awareness of His presence in your home, at work, or while you’re driving down the road. You can spend time thanking Him, praising Him, praying in the Spirit, and listening for His voice. And as you do, allow His Word to shape the way you live.
Let His peace rule in your heart. Let His joy become your strength. Let His righteousness be evident in your actions. Because living in His presence isn’t about having a wonderful experience for a few minutes and then returning to life as usual. It’s about allowing your relationship with God to become the foundation of everything you do. You don’t have to wait for the next revival meeting to experience His presence. You don’t have to depend on somebody else’s worship or somebody else’s relationship with God.
Jesus has made a way for you to know the Father yourself. So spend time with Him. Worship Him because you love Him. Listen when He speaks. Obey what His Word says. And allow His peace, joy, and righteousness to become evident in your everyday life.
The presence of God was never meant to be somewhere you visit occasionally. It was meant to be the place from which you live.
Now, I’m not talking about having some kind of emotional experience every time you walk into a room. I’m talking about something much greater than that. I’m talking about learning to live in the presence of God until His peace, His joy, and His righteousness become evident in the way you live.
Psalm 16:11 says,
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Notice what the Bible says. In His presence there is fullness of joy. Not a little bit of joy. Not just enough joy to get you through a church service. Fullness of joy. Yet there are Christians who have been serving God for years and still live as though they have no access to His presence outside of Sunday morning. They come to church, experience something wonderful, and then spend the rest of the week waiting for the next service so they can experience it again. That’s not how God intended us to live.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that you could visit the presence of God once or twice a week. He made a way for you to have a relationship with the Father, and that relationship is supposed to affect every part of your life. So how do you know when you’re living in His presence?
Some people immediately think about what they feel. Maybe they get goosebumps. Maybe they begin to cry. Maybe they feel the tangible presence of God so strongly that they can hardly stand. I’ve experienced the presence of God in powerful ways, and there have been times when I could physically feel Him. But I can also tell you that there have been times when I was in His presence and didn’t feel anything at all.
For years, I would go into meetings where other people were having tremendous experiences with God, and I didn’t feel a thing. Julie could be sitting beside me experiencing all kinds of things, and I would be sitting there wondering what everybody else was feeling. But faith doesn’t have feelings, and feelings can lie to you. If you make your feelings the determining factor of whether God is present, you’re going to spend a lot of time questioning something His Word has already established. There are much better ways to recognize what His presence is producing in your life.
Romans 14:17 says,
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
There are three things I want you to notice in that verse: righteousness, peace, and joy. These aren’t simply emotions we try to manufacture. They are characteristics of life in the Holy Spirit. And when we learn to cultivate the presence of God, these things should become increasingly evident in us.
Let’s start with peace.
Jesus says in John 14:27,
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Jesus didn’t say He would give us the kind of peace the world gives. The world’s idea of peace is usually that everything has to be going right before you can have it. If the bills are paid, the family is getting along, everybody is healthy, and nothing unexpected happens, then you can have peace. But what happens when something goes wrong? If your peace depends on your circumstances, you’re going to lose it every time your circumstances change.
Jesus said, “My peace I give to you.”
That’s different. His peace can remain when everything around you is chaotic. You can receive a difficult report and still have peace. You can be facing financial pressure and still have peace. You can be dealing with something in your family and still have peace because your peace isn’t coming from the situation. It’s coming from Him.
Years ago, Julie and I opened our home to students from a local high school. Some of these kids were dealing with tremendous chaos in their lives. They had problems at home, problems in relationships, and all kinds of things pulling at them. And I made something very clear. They weren’t bringing that chaos into my house. Now, that doesn’t mean we didn’t care about what they were going through. We absolutely cared. That’s one of the reasons we opened our home to them in the first place. But I wasn’t going to allow everything happening around them to determine the atmosphere in our home.
We had cultivated peace there. When those kids came into our house, they experienced something different from what many of them were accustomed to. They could see that there was another way to live. And they had a decision to make. Did they want what God was offering them, or did they want to continue living according to everything the world was offering? Some of those young people are still part of our lives today. That’s what I mean when I say the presence of God should make a difference that people can recognize.
Colossians 3:15 says,
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Notice that word rule.
The peace of Christ is supposed to have authority in your heart. It should influence the way you respond, the decisions you make, and the way you treat the people around you. That doesn’t happen simply because you attended a good church service. It happens as you continue spending time with the Lord and allowing His Word to change you.
The second thing we see in Romans 14:17 is joy.
I love talking about joy because I believe Christians ought to be some of the most joyful people on the face of the earth. Now, don’t confuse joy with happiness. You aren’t going to be happy about everything that happens in your life. There are difficult circumstances. There are things that hurt. There are times when you receive news you never wanted to hear. But you can still have joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 says,
“And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The joy of the Lord is your strength. That means joy isn’t just something that makes you feel good. There is strength available to you through the joy that comes from God.
I remember when I truly got my life right with the Lord. The presence of God convicted me, and I responded to Him. Two of the first things that became evident in my life were peace and joy. I’m telling you, I had so much joy I felt like I could attack hell with a bucket of water. I was excited about Jesus. I was excited about what He had done in my life. I wanted everybody to know about it. That joy wasn’t because all my circumstances had suddenly become perfect. It was because something had changed inside me.
Romans 15:13 says,
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
There it is again. Joy and peace. And notice that Paul connects them with believing and the power of the Holy Spirit. The more we learn to believe God and live in fellowship with Him, the less control our circumstances should have over what is happening inside us.
Now, that brings us to the third thing: righteousness.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus took our sin upon Himself so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. Think about what He has done for us. He didn’t simply come to make our lives a little better. He came to deal with the sin that separated us from the Father and make a way for us to be brought into a right relationship with God. And that relationship should change how we live.
First John 4:20 says,
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
You can’t claim to love God while refusing to love the people around you. You can’t spend time worshiping Him and then live as though His Word has no authority over your life. That’s why I say obedience is also an act of worship. Worship isn’t limited to what comes out of your mouth. It includes what you do with what God has said. If I say I believe Him, then my life ought to reflect that belief.
Jesus makes this very clear in John 14:6-7:
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”
Jesus is the way. The Father is the destination. Jesus came to this earth, died on the cross, and rose again so that we could be reconciled to the Father. He made a way for us to know God personally. And if we really believe that, it should affect more than our Sunday mornings. It should affect how we treat our families. It should affect how we respond when someone does something wrong to us. It should affect how we handle difficult situations. And it should give us a desire to tell other people about Jesus. If I truly believe Jesus is the only way to the Father, then I cannot be satisfied keeping that truth to myself. That’s part of what it means to believe.
Jesus continues in John 14:12-13,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Notice the purpose. “That the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Everything comes back to Him. The purpose of living in God’s presence isn’t so we can become important or get everything we want. It’s so our lives can bring glory to the Father. And when we make that our priority, it changes the way we approach everything else.
There was a man who had an excavation business but had gone a long time without getting work. He had equipment, he had the ability to do the jobs, but the contracts weren’t coming. He had borrowed money from family and friends just to keep things going. Then he heard a teaching about worship, faith, and speaking God’s Word. He and his wife began making worship part of their daily lives. They would get up and spend time praising God together. Then they would pray and declare God’s promises over their situation while continuing to pursue work. It didn’t all change overnight. But eventually, a company contacted him about a six-week job worth $30,000. This was back in the 1980s, so that was a substantial contract. He accepted the job and went to work. And he kept worshiping. While he was working on that project, the company called him back and offered him another six-week contract for another $30,000. His business began growing, and he was eventually able to pay off the debts he had accumulated.
What I appreciate about that testimony is that the man didn’t stop working. He didn’t sit at home expecting contracts to appear while doing nothing. He continued using the abilities and equipment he had, but he also changed what he was giving his attention to every day. He made worship a priority. And that is something every one of us can do, regardless of what circumstances we’re facing.
You don’t have to own a business. You don’t have to be in full-time ministry. You don’t have to be standing in a church building. You can worship God right where you are. You can cultivate an awareness of His presence in your home, at work, or while you’re driving down the road. You can spend time thanking Him, praising Him, praying in the Spirit, and listening for His voice. And as you do, allow His Word to shape the way you live.
Let His peace rule in your heart. Let His joy become your strength. Let His righteousness be evident in your actions. Because living in His presence isn’t about having a wonderful experience for a few minutes and then returning to life as usual. It’s about allowing your relationship with God to become the foundation of everything you do. You don’t have to wait for the next revival meeting to experience His presence. You don’t have to depend on somebody else’s worship or somebody else’s relationship with God.
Jesus has made a way for you to know the Father yourself. So spend time with Him. Worship Him because you love Him. Listen when He speaks. Obey what His Word says. And allow His peace, joy, and righteousness to become evident in your everyday life.
The presence of God was never meant to be somewhere you visit occasionally. It was meant to be the place from which you live.
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