Show Me Your Glory

If you haven't seen the video or listened to the podcast on 'Friendship with the Holy Spirit: An invitation into deeper intimacy', I encourage you to do that first before continuing with the rest of this material.

You can find the video HERE or listen to the podcast HERE (Episode 7).

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When it comes to being hungry for God and prioritising His presence, Moses has so much to teach us. I love his interaction with God that’s described in Exodus 33. Moses had led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and now they were on their way to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet, because of their rebellion against God, the plan He had for them had to change. The Israelites forgot what God had done for them, which meant they constantly grumbled. As a result, God told them He was no longer going to go with them on the journey. His new plan was to send an angel instead:

‘Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”’ Exodus 33:1-3

I don’t know about you, but I might have been tempted to say yes to this plan. First of all there was the promise of the angel. Angels are depicted in scripture as awe-inspiring and very powerful. If I was told I’d always have one accompanying me on my journey, I wouldn’t be quick to say no. Then there was the guarantee that all of Moses’ enemies would be driven out, so that He and the people of Israel could inherit the land God had promised them. If God told me all my enemies would be dealt with and that I’d be guaranteed to receive all the promises spoken over my life, I’d think I was getting a pretty great deal.

Yet, for Moses, an angel was not enough. The priority wasn’t His enemies being defeated; it wasn’t even getting to the Promised Land. Moses longed for something different. His priority and passion was God’s presence. God was the goal and God was the prize. As far as Moses was concerned, the most important thing was that God went with him and his people. If God wouldn’t go with them, they weren’t going anywhere. I don’t know about you but I find this so provoking.

How much of our lives do we live without being mindful of our utter dependence on God? 

So, Moses pleads with God to change His mind and go with him and the Israelites, and incredibly God relents: ‘“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”’ (Exodus 33:14). However, this still isn’t enough for Moses. As he keeps talking to God we see Moses’ passion and desperation for God’s presence continue to spill out of Him. God’s presence is such a high priority for Moses that he needs to make absolutely sure that he won’t be leading the Israelites alone. God must go with them:

‘Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”’ (Exodus 33:15-16)

There’s such an important revelation for all of us in this part of Moses’ dialogue. It’s God’s presence that sets us apart. The presence of God is meant to distinguish us as followers of Jesus, both personally and when we gather together corporately. When people meet us they should realise there’s something different about us because of God’s presence in our lives. This is about more than being kind or serving others – many people who don’t know Jesus do that. This is about God’s supernatural presence enabling us to do things such as: forgive those who harm us, trust for provision, endure suffering with hope and see incredible miracles. When we host God’s presence personally, we’re able to give those who don’t yet know Him a glimpse of what He’s like.

I have a friend who’s a paramedic and every time she leads a shift she heads to work early to pray over her ambulance. She prays that God will fill the ambulance with His presence so that His Kingdom will come while she transports patients. On one particular occasion she told me about a man they were called to, who was having severe mental health challenges. As they transported him to the hospital, and my friend started a conversation with him, it quickly became apparent that the symptoms he’d been suffering with had gone. He was now experiencing a deep peace. God’s presence broke into this precious patient’s life and gave him a glimpse of freedom. I love that my friend has grasped the truth that it’s God’s presence that sets her apart. 

In the same way, when people visit our churches they should realise there’s something different about us because they can see and feel God in the room. I remember when a Muslim guy started to come to the King’s Arms. He would often stand at the back of the room during worship, even though people would invite him to come and sit with them. It turned out, as people had conversations with him, that the reason he stayed at the back was because of a thick presence he felt whenever he moved further into the room. This man sensed the manifest presence of God before he knew Him personally. He had no frame of reference for what He was experiencing, but it did make him keep coming back to learn more. 

A church without the manifest presence of God can end up no different to any other social gathering.

But when God meets with people during worship, or brings revelation to people through preaches, or sets people free during ministry – that’s what sets us apart. God’s presence in our churches is meant to distinguish us and reveal to those who don’t yet know Him that He’s real. This is why it’s so important that we make room for God in our meetings, that we honour Him when He comes and that we submit to His leadership. This is why it’s so important that we learn to prioritise and host God’s presence. Like Moses, we need to put our spiritual stake in the ground and say, ‘If you don’t go with us we’re not going anywhere.’

After pleading with God to go with him, and hearing God confirm that He would, Moses still wasn’t satisfied. At this point we see the ultimate motivation of Moses’ hunger for God’s presence: ‘Then Moses said, ‘“Now show me your glory.”’ (Exodus 33:18). I absolutely love this. Moses’ hunger for God’s presence was not rooted in wanting to see his enemies destroyed or in entering the Promised Land. His desperation for God to go with him didn’t even come from his desire to be set apart as belonging to God. Ultimately, Moses’ hunger for God’s presence was an overflow of his passion and hunger for God Himself. 

Moses longed for God’s presence because he longed for God. Not because of what God could do for him, or so that he would have everything he needed to fulfil his calling. As far as Moses was concerned, God Himself was the great reward. This is such a brilliant provocation for us as we think through hosting His presence. Are we seeking God’s face (longing to know Him) more than we’re seeking His hands (the things He can do for us)? When we gather together, are we motivated to host God’s presence first and foremost because we love God and want to be with Him? Moses gives us a great example to emulate. God is our greatest gift and our greatest honour is to know Him.

Knowing God

When Moses prayed to see God’s glory, God caused all of His goodness to pass before him. I wonder what that would have looked like? The staggering truth for us is that God actually wants to be known and now we get to see His glory through the beauty of Jesus. Colossians 1:15 describes Jesus as the image of the invisible God and Hebrews 1:3 says He’s the exact imprint of God’s nature. When Jesus was doing ministry with His disciples, in one particular conversation He told them: ‘“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”’ (John 14:9). Jesus came to show us what God is like. He came to reveal the Father. When Jesus healed the sick and set free the spiritually oppressed, He showed us the Father’s compassion and power. When He angrily cleared the temple and rebuked the religious leaders, He revealed the Father’s holiness and passion for freedom. When Jesus forgave sins and spent time with the outcasts, He displayed the Father’s mercy and grace. Jesus came to show us what God is like, and those who walked with Him and welcomed His presence got a front row seat.

God makes Himself known to us through Jesus. He also shows us who He is and what He’s like experientially through the Holy Spirit; through His manifest presence on the earth. Jesus talked to His disciples a lot about the promised Holy Spirit who would be poured out when He went back to heaven. He told them that the Holy Spirit would be their advocate and their comforter; that He would convict the world of sin and bring revelation of sonship and daughterhood; that He would teach and lead, and empower the disciples to release God’s Kingdom wherever they went. People would no longer have to know God from a distance; now they’d be able to know Him tangibly and intimately because His presence would be with them and dwell in them. Jesus actually told His disciples it was better that He went away so that the Holy Spirit would come (John 16:7). 

When Jesus had gone back to heaven and been exalted to the highest place of honour, the promised Holy Spirit was finally poured out. The Pentecost account in Acts 2 tells us that He fell on the believers like tongues of fire and they all started praising God in different languages. There must have been other demonstrative manifestations because many in the crowd thought the disciples were drunk. Peter got up to explain what was going on, and as a result of the outpouring of God’s presence, the church burst onto the scene with over 3000 converts. The disciples were now full of the promised Holy Spirit and their lives would never be the same again. As an aside, the Holy Spirit still loves to come in response to Jesus being honoured. When we lift Jesus up in worship and through preaching, and we keep Him at the centre and make much of Him, God’s presence often rushes in. 

God loves it when we cry out for His glory.

He is eager to meet with us and He wants to be known by us. This is a mind-blowing truth that we must never take for granted. Sometimes when He comes it’s loud and obvious, like the violent wind and tongues of fire at Pentecost. Sometimes it’s quiet and profound, like when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove at Jesus’ baptism. Irrespective of what it looks like, it’s always incredible when God comes. When God comes with His holiness and majesty, we get a glimpse of how awesome and pure He is and of how surrendered our lives should be. When God’s presence heals people and sets people free, we get to see His power on display and we learn that nothing is impossible for Him. When the Holy Spirit comforts us in our grief and suffering, we meet and get to know the God of all comfort. In God’s presence we get to see and experience more of His heart, His nature and His ways; we get to know Him more. God’s presence is breathtaking and life-changing and when He comes it’s difficult for us to stay the same. We must be hungry for more of Him, both in our own lives and also in our churches.

I wonder if your church meetings could be described as a place where God’s manifest presence is prioritised? And whether you could recognise times every week where the Holy Spirit is invited to do things only He can do? My concern, as I minister in a variety of churches and settings, is that we’re settling for far too little of God’s presence in our corporate gatherings. If God really is eager to come, why aren’t we seeing more miracles, or more lives transformed or more moments of awe and wonder? It’s so easy for us to attend a church meeting, consume some worship and be entertained by a preach, and then head home with minimal impact to our everyday lives. Yet, the God we worship and learn about in scripture wants to inhabit our praises and reveal Himself through His presence. We must long for more of God’s manifest presence among us. Firstly for those in our communities who already love God, and equally for those in our midst who haven’t yet given their lives to Him.

I remember being in a meeting where I was meant to be preaching, but by the end of the worship God’s presence was so close that I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I took the microphone at the front and knelt down in God’s presence. I explained to everyone in the room that I didn’t feel able to cut across what the Holy Spirit was doing and encouraged them to keep looking to Jesus and loving Him. As we lingered in God’s presence, people started encountering Him in different ways around the room. Some people knelt on the floor and started to weep as God’s compassion flooded over them. Other people started to worship spontaneously as they caught a greater glimpse of God’s beauty. Still others felt stirred to pray for and prophesy over those around them. It was a beautiful moment as God’s presence took centre stage and people encountered Him afresh. It’s so important that believers in our churches experience times like these, when God comes close and we submit our agenda to what He wants to do. These experiences shake us out of over-familiarity in our relationship with God and stir our faith and expectation as we see Him moving powerfully in our midst. Believers full of God’s presence tend to anticipate and long for more. We must make room for Him to come and meet with us as we gather together. 

Those who haven’t yet given their lives to Jesus also need to encounter God’s manifest presence when they come to our churches.

They need to see that Jesus really is alive and that the God of the Bible is a Father who loves them and wants to reveal Himself to them. Just a few thoughts on seeker sensitive services here. I understand the thinking behind making our church meetings seeker sensitive. We want to make those who don’t know Jesus feel welcome and remove anything that could be a hindrance to them coming to know Him. The heart is to see as many people as possible give their lives to Jesus and come home to the Father, which I love and applaud. However, I think we do people a major disservice if we don’t introduce them to the Holy Spirit and what’s possible in His presence.  

It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict people of their sin, show them their need for Jesus and connect them with the Father. He is the best evangelist there is and He’s the expert when it comes to saving people. We have to trust Him to know what people need when they come to our meetings. We have to invite Him to come and have His way and then surrender to His leadership. We can’t invite people to give their lives to a powerless gospel or a distant God. Seekers among us must experience God in our meetings, through healings and deliverance and His holy presence and tangible love. Above everything else, people who don’t know God need to see and meet with Him. He’s the one they desperately need and relationship with Him is what they’ve been made for.

As we prioritise and learn to host God’s presence, He will meet with us and do the things only He can do. It’s important when this happens that, like Peter at Pentecost, we’re mindful of explaining anything that might not make sense to those who don’t yet know God. This will help to alleviate fear, minimise offence and enable people to engage with what’s happening in the room. Not everyone will feel comfortable in God’s presence and I think that’s to be expected. Acts 2 gives us great insight into typical responses in people’s hearts when the Holy Spirit comes. Some people will reject God because of offence or fear, but many will be drawn to Him as they see His goodness and power on display. Our ultimate goal must be to have as much of God as we possibly can, while at the same time, helping as many people as possible go on the journey with us. 

Believers and unbelievers alike need to meet with God and see His presence welcomed and prioritised in our corporate gatherings. It’s so important that like Moses, we cry out for His glory and hunger for more of Him, rather than settling for too little. First and foremost because we love Him and want to be with Him. But also because we want to become all He’s called us to be, and step into the unique calling He has for our lives. The Holy Spirit reveals God to us and enables us to know Him better. He also changes us to be more like Jesus, equipping and empowering us to reveal the Father to those who don’t yet know Him. 

Revealing God

Before He left them for the last time, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father has promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”’ (Acts 1:4-5). It was crucial to Jesus that His disciples stayed in Jerusalem and did nothing until they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. Ministry had to wait, miracles had to wait, the disciples’ calling and commission had to wait. The main priority, as far as Jesus was concerned, was His disciples being filled with God’s presence. It was the Holy Spirit who would transform the disciples and equip them to live the life that Jesus modelled. It was the Holy Spirit who would anoint the disciples with power so that they could reveal the Father to people wherever they went.

If you read through the book of Acts you see many examples of this happening as the disciples fulfil the great commission. One of my favourite stories is about Philip. Stephen has just been stoned to death and the remaining believers have been scattered as a result of growing persecution. Had I been in Philip’s shoes I’m sure I would have backed off extending God’s Kingdom for a bit to go into hiding, but Philip continues to speak about Jesus with great boldness. This is how his response is documented:

‘Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralysed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.’ Acts 8:4-8

What an incredible reaction to persecution. I love that the people paid close attention to what Philip was saying because of the signs he did; because of the power that flowed through Him. It was the power of the Holy Spirit, backing up the proclamation of the truth about Jesus, that caused people to sit up and take notice. Many people were set free from spiritual oppression and those who were lame or paralysed were healed. Philip was able to give people a glimpse of the heart and nature of God because He was filled with the presence of God, and there was much joy in the city as a result of his visit. 

I sometimes read about what the disciples did in the book of Acts and question where God’s power is in my life. I wonder if you can relate? Far from meaning to be a discouragement, the stories of the early church are meant to stir us and provoke us to cry out to God for more. More of His manifest presence in us and flowing through us. There is so much need in the world around us. So much brokenness and sickness and hopelessness and pain. The truth is that God is the answer for everyone we meet. We’ve got to know more of His presence in our lives so that we can reveal His brilliance to those who don’t yet know Him. We’ve got to be able to show people they have a Father in heaven who loves them unconditionally and for whom nothing is impossible; that the Holy Spirit is able to bring them supernatural peace and comfort no matter what they’re going through; that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for them and is worth giving everything for. There is so much need and yet we carry so much hope, because the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, and anointed the disciples, now lives in us. 

The Holy Spirit wants to flow through us like rivers of living water.

God’s heart is to use us to reveal His power, which in turn reveals His love, wherever we go. There is so much power available to us and yet, so often, we don’t live as if that’s true. I think the challenge many of us face is that we’ve rarely seen the power of the Holy Spirit at work when we gather together in our churches. As a result, our faith hasn’t been stirred as to what’s possible when God shows up. It’s very difficult to give away what you haven’t first tasted or received. Remember Philip? He gave away out of the overflow of what he’d received. His own encounter with the presence of God ignited his faith to believe for the impossible, and that’s what he started to see. When we’re part of a community where God’s presence is prioritised, His transforming power isn’t far behind. When we see and experience God’s power changing lives, we step into new places of faith and expectation that He wants to use us to reveal His power to others.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 2 from my book, Hosting God's Presence. You can get hold of the book HERE

Find out about my Hosting God's Presence online course HERE

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Wendy Mann Equip | www.wendymannequip.com

Building Family, Prioritising God's Presence, Extending God’s Kingdom