So many say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Are YOU one of them? On the day of Pentecost, the people were gathered in the upper room in one accord, worshipping God as though He was visible right there in the room. How about in your home, or in your place of worship? Do we need to SEE God to believe the scriptures? The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.

Does not that verse speak to you today? Yes, if you are a Christian! But do you believe it LITERALLY? I mean, when YOU worship, are you aware of His presence there? I heard this from the Holy Spirit: “How would your behavior change If I suddenly made myself visible to you? Would you worship Me differently? If you would worship as though you see Me, and believe My promises as though you had already received them, you would see your breakthrough. How long must I bear with you? How long will you walk in weakness, and being carnal, having little power? Remove the strife from among you. You cannot serve two masters: strife and weakness, or unity and power.”

Unbelief is evident in most of our worship services today. We worship an “absentee God”, in that yes, we believe God is everywhere, but we don’t necessarily believe He is HERE, right here among us. Because, after all, we can’t see Him, and we CAN see our fellow worshippers, and we know THEY are here, but GOD? If He was really here, wouldn’t we be seeing signs and wonders and miracles?

In the time of Moses, when God thundered to the people from the top of Mount Sinai, there was little doubt in the people’s hearts that God was present. Now it is written in Hebrews 12:18-29,
18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

How can we say we are serving God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, if we don’t even believe His presence is there when we come together to worship? Again, if Christ Jesus showed up visibly in your worship service, would anything change? I recall reading in John 20:18-29,
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

The Lord Jesus reprimanded “doubting Thomas” for his faithless unbelief. Do you expect Him to be any more pleased with US who don’t really believe His Words? I say unto you, in all godly fear, His words may well be as they were in Luke 13:23-27,
23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

It may sound something like this: “LORD, LORD, we played church each week, putting in our two hours faithfully, we sang songs, we prayed, we listened to sermons….we gave…”
The Lord Jesus might say, Yes, I know, I was there.
“But when were You there, LORD? We never saw you, we always hoped You would show up, but You never did. The preacher told us You were there, but if You would have been, we would have acted differently. We would have REALLY worshipped You better, REALLY, we would have!”

You see, that’s what doubt and unbelief costs you. It keeps you from truly worshipping the LORD in spirit and in truth. It makes you jaded, numb to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and deprives you of the joy of being in His presence. It keeps you from receiving your breakthroughs, your healings, your miracles.

I find it so sad, preaching to congregations, telling them that the LORD is indeed here, right here, right now, and watching them look back at me as if I’m some well meaning, but deceived person who has spent too much time out in the sun. I know how much it hurts my heart, seeing people come week after week, hurting, or discontent, or sick, and leaving the same way, even though they’re faithful to come.

How much more it must hurt the LORD’s heart, with Him reaching out, offering Himself to His people, not in criticism or judgment, but in pure, unconditional love, and them sitting there like lumps on a log, clueless that the LORD is in the house. We SAY we believe, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say. We come, we sing a few songs, we pray, we hear a sermon, we go home, business as usual. When all the time, the LORD is here, reaching out to us, and we are missing the time of our visitation, because we can’t “SEE” Him. Our spiritual eyes are scaled over, our spiritual ears are dull of hearing. How long, O LORD, will it be before we believe without seeing it first?