Experiencing the Glory of God

God manifests himself to people at anytime and any place where he chooses. When we want God’s manifestations there are many things we have to do to prepare and achieve this purpose. We must create the atmosphere for this to happen. Remember, we are living in the earthly realm dominated by the activities of the devil. Certain places need to be set aside for the worship of God. Living in the glory cloud of God should be the ultimate objective of all Christians walking in the Spirit. When the angel of the Lord announced the birth of Jesus, the glory of God was revealed as the Shekinah glory of God manifested. Throughout the Old Testament, the glory of God was revealed to the children of Israel in the wilderness and also inside the tabernacle. Shekinah glory represents the presence of God. At the point and time when God reveals himself, supernatural manifestations happen including miracles. In the process of bringing the glory of God down on earth, there are about seven things we have to do.

The way the presence of God manifests in people may differ based on the mission and the ministry God places before them. Some may experience miracles; others may experience joy and peace in his presence; while other people may just enjoy the communion of his presence.

Create an Atmosphere Conducive to Spiritual Worship

For the glory of God to manifest during worship, the atmosphere of spiritual worship must be created. Worshipping God is not about entertainment, or coming to enjoy an exciting sermon. Worship in the sanctuary is to lead a person or a group of people into a spiritual merging with the Spirit of God during worship service by a worship leader. Anybody can achieve this in privacy during daily devotion and meditation on the Word of God. Sometimes, you may need a time to be alone by going into your prayer closet and spending some quality time with the Lord in prayer and worship.

Consecrate Yourself and Your Location

God loves purity just like Psalm 24 says. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall enter his Holy place? He that has a clean hand and a pure heart."

The importance of consecration is preparation to get out of the flesh and enter in the Spirit of God. God instructed Moses to prepare the people to meet with him on the mountain (Exodus 19:9-17). Preparation is very important in meeting with God. You cannot effectively enter into the Spirit of God after you just have sex, or just got drunk. People who approach the presence of God with such filthy body are placing curses upon themselves. It is like rubbing the face of God in the sewer! How many of you want your dinner to be served in a toilet bowl? Why are you doing to God with a filthy mouth? In the process of meeting with God, it is very important to separate yourself from everything that defiles a man before God including sex, drugs and alcohol (II Chronicles 5:11, 13-14, Rev 14:4).

Be careful of the location of your worship. Pray and consecrate a place before a prayer meeting. Bind the demons, rebuke negative spirits, and cast all of them out. Jesus has granted you the power! Position cherubim and Seraphim with swords of fire, swords of lightening, and swords of thunder at all the entrance doors. If anybody comes into the sanctuary with demons hanging on them, these spiritual warriors will blast them off. Subsequently, demons will not be able to come inside the sanctuary and cause disruption during service inside the sanctuary. If by any chance any demon comes inside the sanctuary, on seeing these heavenly warriors brandishing their weapons, the demons will tremble and run out the door weeping. Then position the Holy Spirit and the ministering Spirits to take positions during service inside the sanctuary. If you do not dis-empower demons, they will hinder your ability to create a spiritual atmosphere conducive to the worship of God.

Learn to Walk in the Spirit of God

Once you receive the Holy Spirit, the next stage of spiritual ascension is to learn to walk in the Spirit of God. In this process, we learn to crucify human desires that are opposed to the desires of God, and embrace the will of God through the Holy Spirit. The ultimate goal of a walk in the Spirit of God is a spiritual ascension to experience the glory of God. When we walk in the Spirit of God, we allow the Holy Spirit to direct our ways, and instruct us how to serve the Lord.

Receives and Engage the Fire of God

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we also receive spiritual gifts, spiritual assignments, and the fire of the Holy Spirit. The fire is the energy of God attached to the anointing to help us achieve God’s purpose. From time to time, we will receive the replenishment of this energy. About three times in a month, I received the replenishment of this energy. It tends to manifests in form of heat energy as if my whole body is set on fire from within. No matter how cold it may be on the outside, when the energy comes upon me, I may start sweating. Sometimes this Holy fire can be very intense and making my physical body very uncomfortable. Immediately, I have to find a place to release the energy by ministering to somebody.

Meditate Daily on the Word of God

In your Spirit walk with the Lord, you must read your Bible everyday during daily devotion. Meditate on the Word of God continuously. Be sure to fast once or twice in a week to accentuate the Holy Spirit within and diminish the desires of the flesh. Fasting is also good for soul purification and personal transformation. Reduce physical pleasure if you tend to binge on earthly things. Both physical and spiritual disciplines help you to ascend in the Spirit of God. If you mediate on negative emotions, you invite and attract negative spirits to hang around you. Negative spirits love to ride on negative emotions.

Ride the Wind of the Holy Spirit

While you are walking in the Spirit of God, you will start to hear the Voice of God. It is very important that you must obey and be directed by the instructions coming from the Lord. Some people may pray for God to direct them, but refuse to follow the instructions of the Holy Spirit. Please do not ask God to speak and you refuse to listen. At times, a person has to train himself to hear and carryout God’s instructions. From personal experience Jesus himself trained me to listen to the Holy Spirit and carry out his instructions. If you allow him, the Holy Spirit will direct EVERY aspects of your life. This is necessary for you to be in union with the Spirit of God. The wind of the Holy Spirit includes the daily instruction you receive from the eternal Spirit of God. If you ride this Spirit wind, you will never get lost in the storm.

Revelation of God

While walking in the Spirit of God, suddenly God’s revelation will be revealed to you. This may come as a vision, or in a dream, or by the way events are arranged in your life. Other times God will send a person to you to either confirm a message or give you a new message. Please take revelations very seriously. Each time revelation comes; God is getting ready to do something spectacular. If you place this revelation together with the fire of God, while meditating on the Word of God, it is a passport to experiencing the presence of the glory of God.

Attributes of God’s Presence

In the process of experiencing the presence of God, it is very important to know some facts. First, God visits his messengers from time to time on the mission field. Jesus talked about such visitations. You should not let him catch you playing around. Second, the Lord may visit just to spend some time with us just like he said in the Book of Revelation to come and dine with us. This is a spiritual dinning, not physical food. Trust me you will really enjoy this. It is like experiencing Heaven on earth. During such visit, do not complain, just adore him and say very nice things around him praising him. Exercise your heart of gratitude to the Lord. Please NEVER get angry when you are experiencing a visitation. I have done this in the past with very unpleasant experience. When I got angry Jesus said, "Don’t you dare get angry with me!" He spoke directly into my spirit. I have learned my lesson. Third, the Spirit of God moves and travels on the vehicle of the whirlwind (Job 38:1, Isaiah 66:15, Zechariah 9:14). Sometimes he travels with windstorm, earthquake storm, or rainstorm. I have personally experience this. Other times he comes with a very soothing wind blowing away sadness, despair, and sorrow, and leaving you with joy, peace, and serenity. Fourth, God’s presence may be a very timely message for you to do something right away. Do not delay God’s instructions. If you do not know he is God, ask for confirmation. The Lord gives me confirmation for his messages. He has NEVER failed me. If I do not receive confirmation, I do nothing.

Always remember that worship is not about listening to an exciting sermon, or the entertainment of any sort inside the sanctuary. Worship is not even prayer with a grocery list of your desires. When you enter into the Holy of the holiest, worship is adoration and praise while enjoying that sacred communion with God and basking in his glory.

By Yinka Vidal, author, Closer Walk With Jesus.

Follow up article: Riding the Glory Cloud of Jesus.