God's Presence Must Change Us

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Acts 17:26–28 (ESV)

Immanuel, God with us in eternity

“Though he is fully present, we may perceive only a certain aspect of his nature at a given moment. In a worship service we may sense overwhelmingly the presence of his love. In time of meditating on his law, we may perceive overwhelmingly the presence of his holiness. Even in hell, God is fully present, though its inhabitants perceive only his wrath. For the believer, eternity will be a pace where we experience the presence of God to the fullest of our capability. There, we will experience him as Immanuel, God with us as we have only experienced him to be in a limited way during this life.” - No One Like Him by Jen Wilkin.

How the love of God, his continuous presence, should change us

“The immediate results of coming to know Jesus Christ are the new hungers and new pursuits that are planted within the human will. I well recall that dramatic change in my own way of thinking. There were new longings, new hopes, new dreams, new fulfillments, but most noticeably, there was a new will to do what was God’s will. Thomas Chalmers characterized this change that Christ brings as “the expulsive power of a new affection.” This new affection of heart — the love of God wrought in us through the Holy Spirit — expels all other old seductions and attractions. The one who knows Christ begins to see that his or her own misguided heart is impoverished and in need of constant submission to the will of the Lord — spiritual surrender. Yes, we are all gifted with different personalities, but humility of spirit and the hallmark of conversion is to see one’s own spiritual poverty. Arrogance and conceit ought to be inimical to the life of the believer.  A deep awareness of one’s own new hungers and longings is a convincing witness to God’s grace within.” (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/gods-dupes/) Ravi Zacharias