A friend just remarked about praise & worship (for which she is the keyboarder) “I'm always in awe of how God's presence shows up. That is the true joy and honour.” To which I replied “Amen - Always amazes me too but it really shouldn't. Where 2 or 3 are gathered etc. He's already there we should expect Him” It’s at moments like this that I almost inevitably spot a little flag waving in my mind’s eye. Its God, of course, saying, “Excuse me please, Can I have a wee word about that?” Last time He did this I was up til after 1 a.m. typing His and my collected or inspired thoughts down. Why do people wait til its late to send me messages like this??
Well, the Word does say that “where 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, there shall I be also.” Yet so often our expectations seem to reflect our faith levels and we really don’t expect Him to “show up” or “put in an appearance”. SO much so that when His presence does manifest itself in any way, we always seem to be utterly gobsmacked – that’s colloquial English for amazed.
My trouble is that, as a ‘sometime prophet’ (as my on line bio reads), I see many things in visions from the Lord. Increasingly of late I have been seeing the golden Glory Cloud of His presence over meetings, over churches, over towns. (Not yet seen it over a nation but it’s coming.) It is truly amazing to behold and it carries power even in a vision – so much so that I frequently sit down before I fall down. It’s almost Old Testament in the way I cannot stand in His presence – even in a vision !!
So what is it about our level of faith or our level of expectation? Why do we regard our churches, our meetings, even our own lives in such low esteem that we do not expect anything special from our loving God. He is always in our meetings, whether we realise it or not – His Word promises that much. I believe our trouble is that we have ignored Him or suppressed Him for so long that even He may be surprised to be allowed to manifest His presence among us. The Holy Spirit absolutely delights in making His presence known among us. When someone is leading or just joining in a song and their face shines – THAT is the Holy Spirit trying to say hello to the rest of us. Yet we ignore Him because we have little or no expectation of His divine presence. That is just so incredibly sad.
So what’s to do? I suggest we increase our expectation levels because we KNOW He is already among us when we start our meeting – where 2 or 3 etc. I suggest we acknowledge this in our hearts and give ourselves to praise and worship in a new more whole hearted way. EXPECT the Lord to manifest His presence and when this happens DONT QUASH Him – you will grieve the Spirit and He will leave you alone again immediately. Let us RAISE our Faith levels to a new heightened expectation of the manifest presence of God. Expect to even SEE the Glory Cloud of His Presence in your meetings – but don’t expect to stay on your feet for long. You will be on Holy Ground!! It might not be a bad idea to show your expectation by taking your shoes OFF before you start. This may well say to the Lord that you are acknowledging His presence among you and that you are indeed on Holy Ground.
When the anointing and the presence comes – it will be a whole new ball-game from that moment on. Your praise and worship will never be the same again. All because you lifted your faith and raised your expectation levels a little bit. God will raise them much higher when He “shows up” and WOW – I see it already – your faith will rise exponentially. Your expectation levels will hit unprecedented heights. His presence will bring passers by in off the streets and they will fall in the anointing because, like us and like the priests and Levites before us, they will not be able to stand in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Amen – let it be so Lord. \o/
© Chris Bennett 2009
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I have played piano and keyboard for years. It has only been during the past year that people have commented about the profound experience they have while I play.
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was because of the outpouring we were experiencing in our church. That is when something changed.
A couple weeks ago, I was invited to play at another church - one that is not experiencing the same level of manifest glory. It happened there as well.
That is why I am in awe. I know that it isn't my skill or talent. It is supernatural. I do not ever want to take it for granted.
Bless you Janet & thanks for your comments. It is exciting when the manifest presence of the Lord is such that it becomes tangible. To be a part of that is such an encouragement to everyone present. I hope your anointing grows and grows so that His presence accompanies you everywhere - worship leading, shopping = everywhere !! :-))
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