Yes, God is always there in His Arca Vigraha form, either as Krishna or Rama or Caitanya, whatever. So He must be offered all respects as if He is there personally present, and if you are always sincerely chanting and following our Krishna Consciousness programme of chanting and other things you will very quickly develop the eyes to see Krishna there.
Letter to Lalitananda, 2 September, 1972