THE GLORY

THE GLORY

                “And it came about when the priests came from the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filed the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 8:19, 11.

                Any church family that knows where we are in time should be praying for the glory of God to fall in our day as it did in Solomon’s day. The only difference this time around is that the glory of God will fill His living temple and we as living stones will be filled with the glory of the Lord and it is in this way that the final harvest will come in.

                When the glory of God falls, people can no longer stand up. Daniel fell to the ground as if dead. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Moses… all of them, when they had their encounter with the Lord were thoroughly shaken and changed. The glory of God radiated from the face of Moses so that the people could not bear to look at Him and so he had to minister with a veil over his face.

                When Moses saw the burning bush that it was aflame with fire but was not consumed, went to look at it and the Lord said, “Take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy. So, there in the glory, God commissioned Moses to go back to Egypt and to set His people free. And when Moses asked, “Who shall I say is commanding me” God responded. “I Am that I Am. Tell them that I Am has sent you.”

                In the Garden of Gethsemane when the great mob of priests and soldiers led by Judas came looking for Jesus He asked them saying: “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “ Jesus the Nazarene” and He said to them, “ I am He.” When therefore He said to them “ I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground.” John 18:5, 6.

                The same I Am that had spoken from the burning bush to Moses, was now speaking from a human body. The same flame that had dwelt in the bush without consuming it, was now dwelling in a human body. Jesus is the Great I Am and as such, the soldiers could no longer stand, until the Lord allowed it.

                In recent revivals such as Azusa Street in the LA area in the early 1900s, the Pastor John Seymour  could not stand either and a cloud filled the  old warehouse they were using as a church and at times a pillar of fire would appear over the place so that neighbors would call the fire department. During that time thousands of people from all over the country came to be in God’s presence, Seymour used to preach with a box over his head so that all glory would go to God and not to himself.

                Hundreds of miracles took place. In one account a man who had lost his entire arm to an accident, came into the presence of the Lord and people watched as a new shoulder socket formed and bone came and flesh came upon the bone and his entire arm was replaced by the Lord. The same thing happened to another man who had lost his leg.

                In more recent times, in Brownsville Florida, Steve Hill, an associate Pastor was preaching when the glory came. When it did, the Pastor, John Kilpatrick, was knocked to the floor by the Lord and he stayed there for 4 hours unable to move a muscle or to talk or even to blink his eyes.

                For 3 years after that people came from all over the world to witness and to experience the glory of God. Hundreds maybe thousands were healed and forever changed. Complete strangers walking by would be compelled to come to the church and as they walked through the doors, they would fall to the floor as if dead.

                `When true revival happens it is not something worked up. God takes over and He doesn’t come in to blend in, to sanction our traditions, or to honor our fleshly routines. Humanity is laid low as God does a sovereign work in people’s lives.

                I would say that a majority of churches are not in any way ready for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Many would outright reject Him, because He would disturb their traditions and their routines.

                In Exodus 20:25, 26, right along with giving the Ten Commandments God said to them:

                “And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.” Likewise with the final revival. It will not come about by human devises and our flesh must be laid low. Everything man made will be burned up   and in this revival flesh will not be seen, nor the works of man exalted. It will be the glory of the Lord.

                On this account, there are a few things that trouble me about the Altar in Jerusalem that they are about to bless and to begin to make animal sacrifices on it, but I will reserve those thoughts for another article.

                But the point to be made about true revival, and especially this last great revival that will bring in the final harvest, it will be built upon an altar of uncut stones. No one will be able to take credit for it. No one will be in control of it. But humble and yielded hearts of the nameless and faceless servants of God will be anointed with the glory of God so that everywhere they go, people around them will come to the Lord and repent and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

                Just as Joel tells us in Joel 2:28: And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind…”For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14.

                Then God goes on in the following verses to talk about idols carved from wood and overlaid with gold and silver and yet there is no breath inside it. And then he goes on to say in verse 20. “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him”

                In the New Testament Paul informs us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. So when God fills His temple with glory in these last days, He is going to fill us, His people.

                We live in the most momentous of times. The signs of Jesus’ coming are everywhere and in every form, but beware of this: Whatever God intends to do with His living Body, by His Holy Spirit, He first demonstrates it in Israel in physical terms.

                If Israel is building an altar on which to offer animal sacrifices, then we as the church should take the signal that it is time for us to build an altar… a willing and humble altar of uncut stones upon which the glory of the Lord may fall. We must offer our bodies as living sacrifices upon the altar so that God can pour out His fire as in the days of Elijah. Everything in us that is not of God will be burned away. Our temples will be cleansed so that we might become vessels of His fire.

                In His end time’s discourse, Jesus said: “Therefore, be on the alert- for you do not know when te4h master of the house is coming, whether in the evening at midnight, at the cock crowing, or in the morning- lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. But what I say to you I say to all. Be on the alert.” Mark 13:35-37.

                Is your church ready for the fire to fall? Are YOU ready for the fire to fall? Is your church so dedicated to its cut stones of tradition that it will not welcome the uncut glory of God to fall and to mess up their long standing traditions?

                When Jesus suddenly comes to His temple, everything that is not borne of God will be shaken… will be taken away… will be burned up, so that what is left will be of Him. Heb. 12:27-29

                I am not talking about the Benny Hinn style forehead bopping  and courtesy falls. I am talking about a sovereign act of God as He comes into His people with an anointing that is seven times greater than Pentecost. It will be poured out upon the whole world and upon all flesh so that those who receive it, to them He will give the right to be called the children of God, even to those who believe on His name. John 1:12, 13.

                At the end of the service last night, nearly the entire church came forward and we joined hands all around the sanctuary crying out together for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Lord was there in a mighty way, but it is not yet the glory… for when the glory comes we will not be able to remain on our feet. All that is not of God will be consumed. Our plans and agendas will be laid in the dust and the “program” will become the Lord’s. He will mess up and expose and destroy everything that is not of Him. The wood, hay and stubble will be burned up so that what remains will be gold tried in the fire.

                In past revivals, as the glory faded away, many tried to replace it with emotions  and such. But what God is about to do will come suddenly and sovereignly upon those who are praying for it and preparing their hearts for it.

                I believe that the time has come. These events are upon us and we need to prepare to receive that which God is about to pour out. It will only come to  clean vessels. It will come to those who have allowed God to build their lives by His Holy Spirit. He will not come to altars of cut stones on which we have wielded our tools of fleshly devising. This is the work that the cross must now do in us, for we must be crucified with Christ, nevertheless living yet not us but Christ living in us so that the power may be of God and not from ourselves. Gal. 2:20, 21.

                God has, on occasions, visited His people with temporary revivals. He does so just to remind us that He is still in the business of pouring out His Spirit upon those who are crying out and believing for it.

                But the final revival will not end as have previous moves of God. This time it will bring in the final harvest and then it  will continue on until we are glorified and seated with Christ in heavenly places.

                If you church is dead and prophetically illiterate, then get out of it and find a church that is alive and if all else fails, then start a small group  and begin to pray for revival. It was from one of these small home groups that I was truly born again and filled with the Spirit of God and that anointing remains on me to this day, in spite of myself. It creates a hunger in us for more and more, for what we have of the Holy Spirit is only a down payment of that which is to come. (Gal. 3:23-29, 2 Cor. 1:22, 2 Cor. 5:5, Eph. 1:14)

                It is time for the glory of the Lord to fill the earth even as the waters cover the sea.  

                In his talk last night Pastor Corder, opened by saying that nothing real happens apart from the Holy Spirit. Everything else we do is just churchy games we play to placate our hungry souls. So again I say: “It’s time to begin praying for the real thing, and preparing our hearts to receive it.