PASSION FOR THE GLORY OF GOD - PART1

Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence

Moses was one such a passionate person who chased after the Glory of God. He prayed, "Please show me Your Glory" (Exodus 33:18). The fact that God answered his prayer is proof that God is willing to hear and answer our cries for His Glory. The backdrop to Moses' prayer is strategically important. A number of significant events preceded this prayer which deserve our attention. Few men in the Bible had encounters with God's Glory like Moses did. It all began the day that Moses saw a bush that was burning in the wilderness but wasn't comsumed.

Let's review his encouters with God's Glory and power:
- At the burning bush encounter, he heard God's audible voice ordering him to take his shoes off because he was standing on holy ground. God proceeded to call him verbally to lead His people from Egypt to the promised land. (Exodus 3)
- He threw his rod down, and it became a serpent; then he picked the serpent up by the tail, and it was a rod again. (Exodus 4:1-5)
- He put his hand into his bosom, pulled it out, and it was leprous; he returned his hand into his bosom, and when he withdrew it again, it was healthy. (Exodus 4:6-7)
- He watched ten fearful plagues invaded Egypt: blood, frogs, lice, flies, pestilence, boils, hails, locusts, darkness and death. (Exodus 7 to 11)
- A protective misty cloud clung breathlessly to the ground between Israel and Egypt's army while a fierce gale blew over the adjacent sea, dividing the waters. (Exodus 14:19-21)
- They walked through the sea, on dry ground, with a wall of water on this side and that. (Exodus 14:22)
- On the opposite shore they watched as the sea returned upon itself, killing Pharoah's entire army. (Exodus 14:26-28)
- The bitter waters of Marah were made potable by casting a piece of wood into the waters. (Exodus15:25)
- Manna from heaven appeared on the ground, and water poured forth from a rock when Moses struck it. (Exodus 16 to 17:7)
- Then, they came to the mountain where God Himself descended in fire and a thick cloud. Huge plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, there was lightning and thunder, the entire mountain shook ... and they heard the voice of God Himself. Then, He said to Moses, "Come on up!" Moses climbed the mountain at God's command and lived for two sets of forty days in the fire of God's Glory upon the mountain. (Exodus 19)

Then Moses asked to be shown God's Glory, and God showed him His back. (Exodus 33:12-23)

The above chronology is the general increase of intensity in Moses' encounters with God's Glory. The progression launches with his seeing a burning bush and culminates in his seeing God's back. There are varying degrees of intensity of Presence, and there are varying degrees of intensity of Glory. For example, when we praise Him together, the Lord sits enthroned among His people. This dimension of His presence is so palpable that we can often sense His presence with us as we worship Him together. And then we enter that sphere where we move from the Presence Realm to the Glory Realm. (The Glory Realm or The Glory Zone were discussed in the last 2 posts)

What Exactly Is The Glory Realm? When we ask to be shown His Glory (personal or corporate), what are we asking for? In Moses' encounters we see two-fold description:
The first aspect of Glory - is found in His words "I will make all My goodness pass before you" (Exodus 33:19); where it is perceived by one or more of the five senses. It is an encounter where you literally see, hear, smell, taste, or actually feel spiritual realities. (We have discussed these tangible manifestations in the last 3 posts on The Shekinah Glory of God)
The second aspect of Glory - is described in the Lord's next phrase of verse 19, "And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you." God was saying, "Moses, I am going to proclaim My name before you in such a way that it goes beyond a physical hearing and becomes a true spiritual hearing. It's not just a sensory experience, but it's also an experience whereby the Holy Spirit supernaturally enables us to comprehend spiritual truth in our inner man so that we might know Him a greater and deeper dimension. Wow!
The two-fold definition of Glory is consistent with the apostle John's experience (as well as many others in the Bible). As per his account in Revelation 1, John literally saw the risen Christ with his natural eyes, but the experience didn't stop there. Jesus then proclaimed His name to John: "I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." (Revelation 1:8, 18). John's heart must have nearly exploded with the revelation insight of Christ's words as He spoke these awesome truths straight into John's spirit. John not only saw and heard, he also understood. This Is Glory - the invasion of God's reality into the human sphere!
(An extract from GLORY - When Heaven Invades Earth by Bob Sorge)

As a worshiper, you will always be grateful for His Presence, but you'll never be satisfied until you touch His Glory. The church was birthed in Glory! Right from the beginning at Acts 2, God breathed Glory into the DNA of what our coporate identity is all about. We were created for Glory (Isaiah 43:7). You've been promised Presence, but Glory is in your genetics.

Next post ... How do we touch the Glory Realm?
Blessings - TPWC

THE SHEKINAH GLORY OF GOD -PART 3 (THE GLORY ZONE)

"For the earth shall be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

as the waters cover the sea."

Habakkuk 2:14

WHAT IS THE GLORY REALM?
It is the realm of eternity. It is the revelation of the presence of God. It is the manifestation of His presence. He is Glory. He is everywhere, but Glory is the manifestation of that reality. Earth has the atmosphere of air, whereas the heavenly atmosphere is Glory, His presence. When Glory comes down, it's a bit of heaven's atmosphere coming down to us, a taste of His manifest presence.
We don't see the air, do we? But all of us would be dead if we are not breathing it. We are not conscious of the air unless we see the wind blowing the leaves on the trees. Yet, the earth is covered by it. In the same way, not one inch of Heaven lacks glory. Now God is giving us a taste of that Glory, Heaven manifested on earth.
(An extract from GLORY Experiencing The Atmosphere of Heaven by Ruth Ward Heflin - e-book available upon request with your email address)

THE ARE DEGREES OF GLORY
Bob Sorge in his book - GLORY When Heaven Invades Earth shared that there is God's Presence Realm and God's Glory Realm. As we press in deeper in our worship, the spiritual intensity of God's Presence will increase ... then we enter that sphere where we move from the Presence Realm to the Glory Realm - that's when we cross into the sensory threshold. When God heals a sick person during worship, we are experiencing a tangible manifestation of the Glory Realm

You probably heard about other tangible manifestations of the Glory of God where believers received "gold dust", heavenly fragrance, glory cloud, vision and visitation of angelic hosts ... personally I have experienced some of these manifestations. There is also a higher level which I call the Extreme Glory Realm where signs and wonders explode in the Glory Zone (i.e instant weight lost, implantation of gold teeth, creative miracules and healings ...). you can easily witness some of these manifestations in the internet. HOWEVER, A WORD OF CAUTION - believers then to get caught up with the such manifestations and sensations rather than the purposes of God's manifest Glory.

These Extreme Glory manifestations are not in my experience I am not in the position to judge or comment. I can only say that throughout the Bible that whenever or wherever the Glory of God is manifest - God is glorified, there is an increase reverence in the fear of God, enemies were defeated, lives were transformed and salvation of multitudes.

1) Old Testament examples:
a) Moses - the 10 plagues, crossing of the Red Sea, the providence of manna & quails (Exodus)
b) Joshua - the fall of Jericho's wall (Joshua 5:13 - chapter 6)
c) Gideon - defeating the Midianites with just three hundred men (Judges 7)
d) Samson - defeating the Philistines with a donkey's jawbone (Judges 15)
e) Elijah - defeating the prophets of Baal (1Kings 18:1-40)
f) Elisha - feeding the poor widow (2 Kings 4)
g) Ezekiel - prophesing to the dry bones to come to life (Ezekiel 37:4-6)

2) New Testament examples:
a) Jesus in the Gospel (most of these affirmed Jesus is the Son of God and His Lordship)
- many creatives healing miracles with signs and wonders (the four Gospels)
- turning water into wine (John 2:1-11)
- providence miracle of the feeding of the five thousands (Matthew 14:13-21, John 6:1-13)
- still the storm(Matthew 8:18,23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25)
- walking on waters (Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-51 & John 6:16-21)
- cursing of the fig tree (Matthew 21:19-22, Mark 11-20-24)
b) The book of Acts
- Peter & John healing the lame man at the temple gate (Acts 3:1-10)
- Peter's shadow and healing (Acts 5:12-16)
- Philip was transported to another town to preach (Acts 8:39-40)
- Peter's miraculous escape from prison by visitation of an angel(Acts 12:1-18)
- Paul & Silas in prison delivered by a sudden violent earthquake (Acts 16:16-34)
- Paul did extraordinary miracles (Acts 19:11)

When God invades earth with His Glory, it is to visit His corporate church with His manifest presence. This is what happened on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), when the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the room and tongues of fire came to rest on the church. This is God's reality invading the human sphere, appearing to entire groups of people and transforming entire cities. These kind of Glory manifestations are increasing as we approach the return of Christ. However, when God rends the skies and come down, it is not always for a corporate gathering; sometimes God rends the heavens to visit an individual.

My goal is to ignite you with a passion to chase after His Glory not His manifestation. Moses was one such passionate person who chased after the Glory of God. He prayed, "Please show me Your Glory" (Exodus 33:18) ... next post

Blessings
TPWC

THE SHEKINAH GLORY OF GOD - PART 2 (THE GLORY ZONE)

In the continuing message on the Shekinah Glory of God, I thought it might be good to share some ideas both in written and pictorial expressions of people who have encountered His glorious presence

1) Ruth Ward Heflin - GLORY Experiencing The Atmosphere Of Heaven
When I was a young girl, I went directly from school to the church on Wednesday afternoons. The faithful of the church were gathered in prayer from one to four. I attended most of those prayer meetings.
During the first two hours they had been making their petitions and interceding before God. During the last hour they would just bask in His presence. Those were the best times. Every petition they could think of had been made. Now the Holy Ghost took over. Sounds of glory, dropped into my spirit from those years, have kept me as I traveled all over the world in ministry.
I have been in thousands of meetings and heard thousands of sermons, but the greatest influence in my life has been those glory sounds that came forth in the latter hours of those prayer meetings where God's people touched the eternal realm.
As air is the atmosphere of the earth, GLORY is the atmosphere of Heaven. It lifts us up above the earthly, into the very presence of God.

2) Brownsville Revival 1995 -2003

Pictures of people touched & worshipping in the Glory Zone

(pictures used with permission from Sister Cathy Wood - official photographer)

In His Glorious Presence

WHEN GLORY FALLS!

Brownsville 9-7-2001There was really no way for me to take photos last night! The GLORY began to fall and I made a quality decision to worship instead of work! Pastor was going to preach but we never got there. It became a night like when there's no company and we all are in our pajamas just being comfortable with each other. Oh, we had visitors alright, but no guest was brought in to preach. There was freedom to not think about what we needed to do next. It was like the beginning of the revival. Prayer ministry began very early, before 9:00. It was spontaneous and exciting. Lindell (worship pastor) must have been prayed for because he just sat there, unable to play the keyboard for long time. The sounds in the sanctuary came from voices in worship and joy as the Holy Ghost kissed the crowd. No one wanted to leave. There were people sitting on the steps, all over the floor, on the pews, under the pews ..... We are still hungry. We are still desperate for the move of God.

More insight on the Glory Zone in next post

TPWC

THE SHEKINAH GLORY OF GOD (HEAVENLY WORSHIP ON EARTH)

This week I felt led to share about experiencing the Glory of God in worship? If you are passionate about the Presence of God, you will never be satisfied until you see the Glory of God.

What is the Glory of God? It is visible and tangible manifestation of God's Presence. In Biblical Hebrew the word is called Shekinah and is derived from the Hebrew verb שכן. The word means literally to settle, inhabit, or dwell, and is used frequently in the Hebrew Bible. (See Exodus 40:35, "Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud rested [shakhan] upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle." See also Genesis 9:27, 14:13, Psalms 37:3, Jeremiah 33:16).

The Bible has many examples:

In the Old Testament - Moses saw the burning bush. The visible manifestation of God’s presence was seen not only by the Israelites but also by the Egyptians when God showed His power and glory in the ten plagues and when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.

Examples in the New Testament - Peter, James, John, Stephen, and Paul saw Him in His Glory. Three of those in The Transfiguration of Jesus; Stephen at his martyrdom; and Paul, we don't know when, but he said in his story "there was a man taken up to paradise," and heard unspeakable things.

Bob Sorge in his book "GLORY - When Heaven Invades Earth" (a must read) defines the word GLORY as a noun :

(1) Glory - Honour, reputation, dignity, praise

(2) Glory - Endowment of blessing, power and life

(3) Glory - The heavenly dimension where the magnitude of God's personhood irradiates throughout the heavenlies

(4) Glory - The invasion of God's reality into the human sphere

The highest goal of worship deals with point (4) and Bob Sorge defines "GLORY" as used in the Bible to describe the action of God whereby He takes of His Glory which is eternally existent in heaven, pushes through the veil that separates natural and spiritual realities, and reveals within the parameteters of our time and space the spendor of His magnificient beauty and splendor.

There is coming a time when the Glory of the heavenlies is going to invade our natural plane, and mankind is going to be abruptly awakened to the might and power of God's Presence. It is to this revelation of Glory which the following verses point:
- For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,as the waters cover the sea ( Habakkuk 2:14)

- "And I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory," says the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:7)

- The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken (Isaiah 40:5)

In my personal experience, I had encountered glimpse of His Shekinah Glory - once in the worship seminar and another earlier time as a young Christian in a prayer meeting when His Glory fell. Both times there were visions (just a few seconds) of bright light ..... at that time I did not know the meaning of these two experiences but they were such awesome times and encounters when/where you just do not want to leave the place. Time just stood still in His glorious presence!

A few years ago, the church I attended when through a refreshing period of what we called "Revival" and very often we experienced such a glorious presence of God in our worship services. Sometimes the worship service would last more than 3 hours and everybody were immersed in His Presence. Often we experienced both heavenly and physical manifestations. Some people have actually smelled heavenly aroma during worship services. Others have seen vision of angels or heard angels singing. When you have a spiritual experience that is actually perceived at the sensory/physical level, then you are touching the Glory realm.

If you are a worshiper or worship leader, how do you touch or lead people respectively into the Glory realm? ..... next post

Blessings

TPWC