the presence of God,

2 Samuel 6:3-23 talks about the Ark of the Covenant which represents the presence of God. Uzzah was struck dead by God when he touched the ark with hand, intending to steady it while on the moving cart. Did God deliver too harsh a judgment on Uzzah? After all, his act seemed a natural one. The truth is that Uzzah had become too familiar with the presence of the ark in his life. His act of touching the sacred ark was an act of disrespect to the presence of God.
In verse 9, David asked, "How can the ark of the Lord come to me?" How can the presence of the Lord come on to a person? Who has the presence of God? It should be the heart's desire of all God's people to carry the presence of God in our lives.

There are two truths about the presence of God: one, we can never get too familiar with His presence and second, everything will start to change when His presence falls upon the situations which we are in and upon our lives. It is the presence of God that can make us do awesome things. Sin is going to stop the presence of God in our lives and so we need to watch our lives carefully.

In order to carry the presence of God in us, we need to:

1. Serve the Lord with gladness

2 Samuel 6:12
"so David went to the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness."

Religion binds and restricts who we are in God. The church needs to be set free from any obligation towards God and instead, serve Him with gladness in their hearts.

2. Sacrifice

2 Samuel 6:13
"that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep."

Without sacrifices, we are not going to impact the city for Christ. God is interested in your heart.

3. Be enthusiastic

2 Samuel 6:14-15
"then David danced before the Lord with all His might…brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet."

Forget about what others think of us. There is no such thing as 'private Christians' and we need to live our lives being excited for Him. People will be interested to find out what is this 'special person' who is within us that make our lives so interesting.

4. Remove personal judgments

2 Samuel 6:16
"Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw king David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart."

Don't judge too fast. It is easier to find fault with others than to look at ourselves. God is not interested in our judgment of others. Man's judgment is not going to affect how God looks at the person. We need to travel light as Christians. We need not carry these extra baggages in our walk with Him. Remember this, our judgment is not going to affect God and the person we judge but it is going to affect us. This root of bitterness in our lives will stop us from being fruitful for Him. Michal was barren as the result of being bitter towards many things in her life.

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There are seasons for everything. Sometimes, we will not understand why God allows things to happen in a particular way. Good things we have prayed for and yet we do not see any results ...that might be a time of pruning. Time of pruning and testing is going to make our roots go deeper into Him. The Bible tells us about those lives who are not faithful in Matthew 25:14-30. In verse 29, "… for to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." Always be reminded that we are all working in His vineyard. We are going to bear fruit for Him and not for ourselves. As we carry His presence on our shoulders as men and women of God, He is going to show forth Himself and awesome things will start to happen!!