Glory Explosion

                     Positioning Yourself for His Presence and Glory

                                       

Positioning Yourself for His Presence and Glory by Todd Bentley

WHAT GOD WANTS

There's one thing above all else that God wants from His people. That is to know His presence. He desires us to know His presence in our lives and He really is calling us to know that He is with us.

God's presence is His glory, and He is calling us into the river of His glory. God wants us hungry, desperate, and jealous for His presence. He said, "Todd, this is your job. Make My people hungry. I want you to make. My people hungry. I want you to stir My people. I want you to make them desperate. I want them to be jealous for My presence.

I want you to share with them the times that we have had together, and the ways that I have come to you in My glory, in My power, and I want you to do this because I want you to stir them, and make them hungry and jealous for Me. Jealous for My presence. Jealous to know Me."

Everything, yes, everything He does comes out of His glory. That's where the power is. The power is in the glory. The glory river of His presence.

EVERYTHING IS IN THE RIVER

Do you know the glory of God as God wants you to know it? God wants to give you His glory! It's going to permeate, saturate, and cover everything you do. He's calling His church into the river, into the glory. Everything He does comes out of the river. Everything God is going to do will come out of that river.

Do you need healing? Soak in the river of His glory. That's where the creative miracles are, that's where the blind see, the deaf hear, and the mute speak, that's where broken hearts mend, and disease washes away.

Are you contending for harvest? Get into the river, marinate in His glory. Harvest is there--not just one or two fish, but an abundance of fish. Are you in bondage? Jump into the river. Make a big splash.

Do you need a financial miracle? Dive into the river. Evangelism is there, joy is there, and sins are washed away in the glorious river of His presence. When we encounter the glory of the living God, the glory presence of Jesus the Healer is manifest--we are set free from sickness, disease, sin, lack, and bondage.

All God calls us to do, therefore, is to go deep deep into the glory, deep into the river of His presence. The power is in the river. In the river is everything. God is calling you into the river.

He is calling you to desire that place more than any place, or anything else. And when you desire, hunger, and thirst for His presence, you will glimpse the face of Jesus.

HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS?

God's glory is manifesting on the earth and in the lives of hungry believers in a fresh, new way. I believe that desperate saints will come into the glory of the Lord and see Jesus as they've never seen Him before. They will talk to God face-to-face, as Moses did (more detail in Part 2).

Listen, when you know Him and when you are obsessed with this one thing, that you would know Him, you'll know the power of His resurrection."That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Phil. 3:10a).

It will just happen. You will just manifest the power of God everywhere you go because God will trust you with it. God is calling you into the river. Jump in!

THERE IS A RIVER, LOCATE THE SOURCE!

Where is the river? The river flows from heaven, from God's throne, where His presence is. If you want to experience the river, first contend for the presence of the Source by positioning yourself before the Throne.

Position yourself before the One who is Life, the One who is the anointing. Get into the glory of God, into relationship, and into knowing Him. This is far and above your daily devotional time, far above duty or obligation.

This is hungering to be in His presence more than hungering for His power, or the work of His hand. It is a hunger for HIM above ALL ELSE. It's saying, "Lord, even if I never know, see, or experience Your power, it's okay. I just want to be in Your presence.

I want You for who You are, not for what You do." God is calling us into His glory to be ones satisfied by visitations of His presence, more than blessings or great demonstrations of power. He's calling us to know Him, to soak and saturate in the river of His awesome glory.

Much too often we seek other things first, and yet, the Bible tells us to "...seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). God is asking us to seek Him.

KNOW THE GLORY

Many walk with God, but don't know the glory, or intimacy with Him. There are times in my bedroom where the glory of God comes and I think, whoa! I'm going to heaven! Knowing the glory is not knowing about Him, but knowing Him for who He is and the inner reality of who He is.

It's about knowing the glory of the Lord in such a way, that the presence is as thick as honey thick, rich, weighty. It's the kabod, the weighty glory of the Lord. It's about wanting His glory more than anything else and wanting to be with Jesus, for the Glory of the Lord is His manifest presence, Jesus.

Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory, and it means literally, "weightiness" or "substance." There's a weightiness, a density, and a substance to God that is found nowhere else. His splendor is weighty and awesome.

One time, God's kabod fell on me with such intensity, that it left me speechless. I couldn't muster any words, but that was just as well for they would have messed up the experience. His splendor weighed on me until I was breathless. It takes a long time to recover from visitations of glory.

The Lord spoke to me about bringing me full-circle. This was after a season of soaking in His presence for sometimes up to twelve hours a day. It was a time I would just lie in His presence and soak, saturate, and marinate in the glory. Visions, miracles, and our ministry were all birthed out of that time.

CRY OUT FOR THE GLORY

At that time the Lord was saying, "Todd, there is a transition, I am bringing you into another level. You have growing pains--but you need to get hungry, even desperate. You're just not hungry enough, nor desperate enough. I want you to want Me more than anything."

I prayed and told Jesus how much I wanted His glory. I cried out to know Him. Suddenly, in the middle of seeking God--in my desperation, I felt His presence visit me. Thick! Oh it was so thick I couldn't stand. I lay on the bed and ah, man the glory was like a hovering electric liquid honey cloud.

I felt as though I was on a rollercoaster, just like, whoa! There was an electric current in the air, and excitement. The weight of God's glory enveloped me and hit me just below my knees. It felt like water, but it was electricity coursing through my body.

It traveled downward and then filled me right up into my head. I lay on the bed convulsing, barely able to breathe, experiencing rapturous realms of joy, delight, ecstasy, and pleasure. This was the filling of the glory!

It felt euphoric , awesome--a baptism of glory. I've had many God encounters, but I tell you, this was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. This was different. The weight of His glory was so intense.

SEEK THE GLORY ABOVE ALL ELSE

We have to want this weighty presence, this river, more than anything else. We have to live on Jesus. It's not the same as vision, I love vision, and sometimes I feel as though as long as I have vision, I can keep going, but that's a danger zone. The only way we can keep going, the only way we can truly live, is to live on Jesus.

We cannot live on vision, not on demonstrations of power, not on daily, dutiful devotions, not on words of prophecy, nothing else, but desperation and hunger for the glory. Our appetites direct our lives. Why nibble when you can feast on God's glory?

Does the passionate desire for anything of the world supersede your longing for God? Hunger for anything besides Him is dangerous. Only hunger for God assures victory. Drink deeply of God's glory.

Once, around one o'clock in the morning, I said, "My God, I'm hungry. I'm tired of a powerless gospel, of powerless Christianity.

I'm not satisfied with how I've known You, and I need You to come down tonight." I was so desperate for Him, that I thought I was going to die. I tore at the sheets, clung to them desperately, and screamed at the top of my lungs, "God, I need You!"

I buried my face into the mattress, convulsing in tears. I had to have the glory realm! I had to have the atmosphere of heaven! I had to have the Kingdom of God in word. I couldn't handle hype any more.

I couldn't handle talk. I had to have the pure glory of Jesus. I had to have it, right then, and right there! His glory, His presence had to be on everything I did. I had to have the glory . . . I just had to.

BREATHING GLORY

I took hold of God, and He took hold of me, for the presence of the Holy Spirit suddenly washed over me. I felt as though I was face-to-face with His presence and said, "Holy Spirit!" His presence was so rich, so real, whoa! and then it seemed as though a lightning bolt hit me, and it scarred me, transformed and changed me, in an instant.

I grasped the sheets of the bed, "holding on" until the sensation passed. Then, I rolled over on my side and my entire body was heavy, numbed by God's power.

I said to myself, "I'm different." Most of us say, "God change us, I want to be different," but this time I said to Him, "I'm different." I felt it inside. I was different. This glory was so awesome, that it was as close as my skin. It was like breathing glory!

This is for you, friends. The glory of God is coming into the church. The glory cloud is manifesting. Gold dust, oil, dental miracles, gold flakes, feathers. They are happening.

The Shekinah glory is coming. I tell you, the world is going to witness the sweeping power of the glory of Jesus and the Shekinah is going to change people in an instant.

TRANSFORMING GLORY

Do you know what the Shekinah is? Shekinah is a Hebrew word that refers to the manifest presence of God. This presence is among His people. When King Solomon had finished having the Temple of God built, the presence of God came upon the Temple so powerfully "That the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD" (1 King 8:11).

This presence is sometimes referred to as the Shekinah Glory. Do you know what happens when you come into the Shekinah? You instantly change. The Shekinah glory is so alive. The Shekinah glory is gloriously full of the brightness, the light, and the fire of God.

One visitation of the Shekinah, the manifest weight of His glory, and it instantly transforms you. Instantly.

EXTREME LIVING IN HIS GLORY

The glory is the atmosphere of heaven. The glory is the very atmosphere where God dwells. In this atmosphere is extreme living. I believe we are living in these extreme days--extreme days of Christianity and living.

The supernatural is going to be natural and real, a common occurrence, in everything we do, and everywhere we go, as believers. God and His kingdom can so come, and Jesus can be so manifest, that the glory can change the spiritual climate of a meeting, of a city, or a region, of a nation!

When we get into the river of glory enough, people will remark as they did to Peter and John, "You've been with Jesus and you've been with Him!"

I believe there is a place where you can get deep enough in realms of glory, and stay there, wanting nothing but the Shekinah glory to fill and refill you. When you pray, seek nothing but the glory, not His hand, but His face, and you can become so filled with the glory that you will carry it for all to see.

SHOW ME YOUR GLORY! (EXODUS 33:7)

I tell you, I want His glory to drip down the walls of my room. I want my carpet stained with my tears of holy desperation. How about you? After experiencing His glory, all I wanted to do was talk about it!

Every time I'd try to preach on something else, glory came out of my mouth! I preached and talked about nothing but holy hunger, desperation, and seeking His presence for months, and I'm still preaching it!

How desperate are you? Are you willing to do what it takes to be in God's glory even if it takes days, even months, until the glory touches you? Some people just want the preacher man to wave his hand and give us a shot of glory, but it doesn't work like that, friends.

You have to hunger, thirst, pursue the glory, and usually it happens in your quiet place, without distraction. Then, you don't have to worry what others are thinking, and you can let loose, and go all out for God in your desperation.

But don't worry--you can seek His glory anywhere. It doesn't matter who's smiling at you when you look up into heaven and see your Father smiling, delighted with your holy desperation. Seek His smile and seek His glory. If you have His smile, His kiss, the river of His glory presence, nothing else matters.

In part two, we'll see that God is raising up a generation of people who aren't focused on the hand and the power of God, but rather, His face for those who want to get hold of who God is, so that God's glory alone will transform them, their families, cities, and nations.

Who will stand in His holy place? Is it you? Find out how you can prepare your heart to ascend the holy hill, to meet God face-to-face, as Moses did.

Examine the hearts and motives of Moses and Jacob, and understand how God's glory changed them, and then apply those principles to your life for extreme living and living life victoriously and to the max in the river of God's glory.