Red Letter Society has released a Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) track called Manifest (Live at North Bay).
Manifest is about the following scripture: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23 (ESV)
The presence of God is an interesting thing. Since God is omnipresent, being at all places at once, we must ask why we don’t experience that presence all the time. We can get distracted trying to drum up enough emotion or the right circumstances to make sure that we can “feel” God’s presence in our lives and in our church, yet, all of this is nothing more than a facade. The feeling will be gone the moment service is over or the emotion fades and no one's life will actually be changed.
There is a difference between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. We have seen the manifest presence of God throughout much of Scripture. We see it at the burning bush, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, in a still small voice, we see it fill up the temple so much that people had to stop what they were doing, The Holy of Holies, we see it in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, we see it on top of the mountain at the transfiguration, and now John 14 teaches that the presence of God is dwelling inside of believers. If God’s presence is literally living inside of his believers, what must we do to ‘feel it’ or to ‘know God’s presence?’
It feels too simple and too cheesy to be a reality, but Jesus says it comes down to one question: Do we love him? When we truly love him we will obey his Word and his commandments. If we believe what this passage says, then it means when we live our lives in obedience to Jesus EVERYTHING changes. When we read John 14 we can see many of the promises that God has for those who obey: He will help us, He will dwell with us, He will reveal Himself to us, He will make us His home, He will teach us truth, He will remind us of His teachings, and He will give us peace.
Lyrics:
I’ve been there before
In the Holiest place
You tore down the curtain
To show me your face
We’ve seen it before
We seek it again
A flood of your spirit
A touch of your hand
Manifest your Spirit here in us
Speak to hearts and awaken lives to sing
Our hearts are your temple
Where Your presence is dwelling
Manifest your Spirit here in us
Open eyes to forever taste and see
The holy of holies
Where Your presence is dwelling
We’ve seen it before
We seek you again
Show us your wisdom
Revive us again
From valleys before
To peaks I ascend
A Flood of your mercy
Revives us again
Manifest your Spirit here in us
Speak to hearts and awaken lives to sing
Our hearts are your temple
Where Your presence is dwelling
Manifest your Spirit here in us
Open eyes to forever taste and see
The holy of holies
Where Your presence is dwelling
Through valleys
Through distance
You are speaking
You are speaking
No curtain
between us
You are speaking
You are speaking
Your wisdom
We follow
You’re with us
You’re with us
Lead us to
your teachings
You’re with us (here)
You’re with us
Manifest your Spirit here in us
Speak to hearts and awaken lives to sing
Our hearts are your temple
Where Your presence is dwelling
Manifest your Spirit here in us
Open eyes to forever taste and see
The holy of holies
Where Your presence is dwelling
I’ve been there before
In the Holiest place
You tore down the curtain
To show me your face
You can listen to the track on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5zCLB21jGAf4VxjjM3lNrp
Here is a link to the video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMA4iF8h6uI
Would you like to hear more CCM music? Then check out our Christian playlists on: https://www.christiandance.eu/playlists