“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:” I Corinthians 2:4
Because God has already rent the heavens through the Blood of Jesus and given us access to all of His resources through prayer, we can live and work under an “Open Heaven!" Because of this truth, the glory of God is our inheritance as the children of God.
The word “glory” is found throughout the Bible. It can be used in several ways. One example that is found in Scripture is when “glory” is used to describe honor, wealth, and power. This would be like a reference to the “glory” of a king or a person held in high esteem. The second usage of the word is to describe God’s manifested or tangible presence. If we carefully examine this definition of “glory,” we will discover that it can be used to describe personal encounters that people have in which God’s glorious presence moves out of the supernatural realm into the earthly realm. It is experienced by people using one or more of their five natural senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Are we saying that God can be experienced in this way? Yes!
Throughout the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, we find examples of times where ordinary people experienced God in these ways. Approximately 2 million of God’s people saw His glory with their physical eyes by day as a “pillar of cloud” and by night as a “pillar of fire.” This wasn’t a mystical or emotional spiritual experience. These people actually SAW the “cloud” by day. They SAW the “fire” by night. Children who were born in the wilderness grew up never knowing that this manifested, visible revelation of the glory of the Lord was something that was out of the ordinary!
Moses saw and experienced this same holy “fire” when he stood before a burning bush in Exodus 3:1-6. God spoke to him in this place and even told him, “…Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5 nkjv). Moses saw the “fire” of God and experienced something of His holiness as did Isaiah because the Bible says, “…he was afraid to LOOK upon God” (v. 6 nkjv).
Another example of the revelation of the glory of the Lord occurred on the Day of Pentecost. This example involved people physically hearing the sound of His glory as the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those who had gathered. Acts 2:2-3 nkjv records:
And suddenly there came a “SOUND” [they could hear] from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there APPEARED [they could see] to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
The miracles of Jesus were revelations of the glory of the Lord, because they were heavenly invasions that impacted people in ways that they could experience using their natural senses.
In John 2, we find the story of the first miracle Jesus did at a wedding in Cana where something terribly embarrassing for the host family had occurred…they had run out of wine. Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to her Son asking Him to please do something. Jesus commanded the servants to take six large water-pots, each one capable of holding between twenty to thirty gallons, and to fill them with water. They filled them to the brim. When the master of the feast had tested the water, to his utter amazement it had become the finest of wine. This was the first miracle Jesus performed. John recorded the account this way, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and MANIFESTED HIS GLORY; and His disciples believed in Him” (John 2:11 nkjv).
God’s power flowed into the earth and six pots of water had been turned into the finest, most exquisite wine as a result of this heavenly intervention.
In Acts 4, we read the account of the intercession of the early Church as they prayed for more boldness to preach the Gospel and see powerful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit through signs and wonders. The Bible says, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was SHAKEN; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31 nkjv).
When these people who had already been filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost prayed for the boldness to preach the Gospel without compromise, the glory of God filled the place with such power that even the physical building where they had gathered was shaken! Heaven invaded the house! That’s power!
In Acts 5:14-16 nkjv we read that the measure of God’s manifest glory was resting upon Peter in a great way:
“And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least THE SHADOW OF PETER passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, AND THEY WERE ALL HEALED.”
It is incredible to think that it is possible to walk in such a measure of the manifest glory of God that no sickness or demonic power would be able to stand in our presence any more than a snowball can withstand the blue flame of a welder’s torch!
By this definition, God, in all of His splendor, can and does move into the natural realm of human existence where He can actually be experienced by people. I believe that people everywhere long to be touched by God in a tangible way. A lost and dying world longs to see the Gospel, experience the Gospel, and be touched and healed by the power of the Gospel. They want to do more than to just hear the Gospel with their ears. A person who hears the Gospel should have an experience that needs an explanation, not just an explanation of something that is in need of an experience! The Gospel must be a life-altering encounter.
An Extraordinary Calling
The Bible is full of accounts of how God has demonstrated His glory throughout history. Some people think that these are only stories that have been passed down for historical reasons and are only intended to entertain us and teach us allegorical lessons. They are wrong! Others believe that these biblical stories are examples of God’s maximum ability. This is also wrong! These testimonies are but a sampling of what is possible in God. With God, the supernatural is natural and the impossible is possible. Christianity is intended to be a supernatural existence from beginning to end, and the demonstration of God’s power should be the norm.
Someone said to me, “What is your ministry gift?” They thought I would talk about being an apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, or evangelist. Instead, I said, “I’m an usher.” The greatest calling that any of us can have is to usher the presence of God into a world that so desperately needs to experience it. Through prayer, you have the privilege to usher in the glory of God, bringing Heaven to earth. Now that is an extraordinary calling!
Miracles Today
The manifestation of God’s glory is not just something that happened in biblical times. Right now, because of the prayers of God’s people, faith in His Word, and the declaration of the Gospel, we are seeing God’s glory manifested all over the world every day.
Here are a couple of testimonies that have come about as a result of prayer:
• In the city of Nsukka, where more than 425,000 people gathered in the final meeting, Mrs. Regina Attah came with her three children: Umeka (12), Chinwendu (10), and their brother Chukwudi (7). All three children were totally blind; Umeka for eight years, Chinwendu for two years, and little Chukwudi for one year. During the prayer for the sick, all three children received perfect sight at the same moment!
• In Sapele I received a word of knowledge about someone who had been wounded by a gunshot and had not been able to recover from it for years. In response to that word, a lady came to the platform to share her story. She had been shot in the leg four years earlier and had been partially crippled since. That night, after prayer, she and I danced together on the platform…she was totally healed!
You can read eleven more faith-inspiring testimonies, including one from a man who was raised from the dead in Chapter 7 of ((Your Kingdom Come by Daniel Kolenda!))