Acts 1.8, please turn to it, it says, Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Now we all know that scripture by heart, most of us. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come.
I want to help you understand the source of God's power. First of all, what is the anointing? The anointing is the manifestation of God's presence. God's presence and God's anointing are not the same.
God's presence is His glory. While God's anointing is his power. Acts 1.8, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
Now here we have God's glory, the Holy Ghost. God's power, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come. So the anointing or God's power is the result, is the manifestation of God's presence.
Now, let's talk about His glory, because we must understand the glory before we really understand the power. Because if you do not have the glory, you'll never get the power. Now, I want to also show you through the Word how it is possible, if one falls from the glory, to keep the power and make a mess out of his life.
Nobody can begin without glory. They can end without it, but nobody can begin without it. The glory of God is given as long as a man is faithful.
But that glory will always birth power. That power is the gift that the glory of God imparts. The power is the gift of the glory. The glory imparts power.
But if someone walks away from the glory, amazingly he keeps the power. Because the power is the gift that the glory of God gives. So there are people who continue to pray for the sick and see miracles, who continue to preach the gospel and see salvation, and signs and wonders, but there's no presence. Why? The glory departs, but the power remains.
Don't you remember? The Bible is clear on that. Samson wist not that the Lord had departed.
Saul lost the glory and yet could prophesy after that. Now I'll explain all that as we go on, but I have to explain clearly to you the importance between the glory and the power. So let's begin talking about the glory. Now if I'm going too fast, don't worry, I'm going to give you the tape.
My gift. Yeah. In fact, you people don't know, when this is done, you're going to get the video. You're not, you will not have to buy it, you're going to receive it.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. So then if you miss anything, just rewind the tape and... So now, let me help you understand the glory.
Now, turn to Exodus 33, look at verse 18. You did not know you were joining a feast here. This is not Bible school, this is feast. Alright. And if I can have some extra volume and more cool air, I'd be grateful. Exodus 33.18 says...
Exodus 33.18 says... Now, here is Moses praying, and watch what he says. This is amazing.
I beseech thee, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. He prayed for the glory. Watch what God does.
In answer, the Lord comes to him in Exodus 34, look at chapter 34 now, beginning at verse 5, and the Lord descended in the cloud. He just prayed in Exodus 33, verse 18, he said, show me your glory, I want to see it. Exodus 34, 5, the Lord descends in the cloud of glory. And stood with him and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and... Hear this. And will by no means clear the guilty.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children. On to the third and to the fourth. Yeah. But you see that shows you God's mercy. That he will not punish beyond that.
He says, I will keep my covenant and blessing with those that love me to a thousand generations. But those that hate me only to the third and fourth. What a God.
He limits his judgment, but never limits his mercy. Now, God reveals his attributes. When Moses said, show me your glory, God revealed himself.
The Lord, the Lord is. And I love this about the Lord. He said, the Lord, the Lord God. Merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. And now God reveals not only His person.
He reveals his attributes. Who he is. Who he is.
Is revealed now. So when we talk about the glory of God. We're talking about the person of God. We are talking about the presence of God.
So when I say the presence, I say the glory. When I say the glory, I say the person. When I say the person, I say the presence.
The glory of God, the presence of God, the person of God are one and the same. One and the same. I keep forgetting that camera is in there, so I keep walking right straight close to it.
And forget those precious people are back there. And that their cameraman is trying to keep me right in there. Now. God revealed His glory at the same time He revealed His person, at the same time He revealed His presence. And I want to say something now, even though I'm not really teaching on it because I will, He also revealed His name.
Because the glory of God and His name are one and the same. Because he said to Moses, I will proclaim the name of the Lord in verse 5. The Lord descended and said, I'm going to proclaim my name. So when Jesus said, go ye in my name, he was saying, go in my person, go in my presence, and go in my glory.
Every time you say in Jesus'name, you bring the glory right before God. Now I'll talk about that later. This is just for information right now.
Now, Psalm 103 verse 7 says, Moses knew his ways, Israel knew his acts. In fact, I'll read it to you real fast and you can just write it down. You do not have to turn to every scripture, unless I ask you to, but let me just give you this one. This is Psalm 103, 7. It says, He made known his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the children of Israel.
God's ways, God's ways are connected to his person, glory, and presence. God's acts are connected to his power. The glory of God in that is his ways. The power of God in that is his acts or his acts. Moses knew the ways, meaning the presence.
Israel knew the acts, the power. The people that know the ways will never walk away. Those who know the power will betray him. You must have both to remain faithful. Israel, who had the power, said, Ha!
Let's go back to Egypt. Let's make a calf and worship it. The power of God is not enough to keep you. Only the presence of God will keep you. But I want to explain, I want to help you understand the presence.
God's ways, the Bible says, are not given to men who do not know Him. In Isaiah 55, Verse 8 and verse 9. And I'll read this to you. For my thoughts are not your thoughts.
Neither are your ways my way, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So the ways of God are not revealed to those that do not know him.
Moses was given something incredibly special. He was allowed to know God. And knowing God reveals His ways.
In Exodus 33, 13, now, that one I want you to look at. You probably are still there in Exodus. Notice what He says. Notice what He prays. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight.
And consider that this nation is thy people. The promise is what? And he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give the rest.
Now look at this most remarkable truth here. This is, it's simple yet profound. Here you have, look at me please if you will, you have the glory of God, say the glory of God. The glory of God reveals his person, say his person.
Then his ways, say his ways. Now you've got his glory, his person, his ways, and his presence. And then we have his attributes.
The five-fold manifestation of the glory of God. In fact, there are seven in that fold, but I'm only giving you five right now. I don't want to rush through this. When you see the glory of God, there are seven manifestations to it. Each one of them, I can teach on a whole night, but I won't.
That's why this will take me probably ten weeks, maybe even longer. The glory of God descended upon the tabernacle. Moses and only Moses could enter in. The high priests wouldn't dare except once a year with blood. Israel stood outside their tent doors and saw from afar The cloud, the fire, but when the thunderings and the voices, or when the thunderings and God's voice was heard, Israel said, we don't want it.
Moses, you be that mediator, we cannot handle that glory. Do you know the majority of God's people know nothing about it? They would rather have a Moses to say, no, you can have that.
You just give it to us spoon by spoon. We can't handle it. When God tried to reveal his glory to Israel, the request was, no. We will die if we hear that voice again. It frightens us to hear the thunderings.
It frightens us to see that glory manifested. We don't want it. We all want to feel the goosebumps, but they have nothing to do with God's glory. God's glory is not, and please hear this, God's glory is not manifested to your physical body. We mistake the presence of God and call it God's presence, when in fact it's His power.
Oh, I feel tingle. Oh, I feel this. Oh, and people feel things. We feel the power, but we know the glory.
You don't feel the glory. The glory is not felt. The glory is not experienced in the soulish realm, nor the emotions, nor the body. The glory of God is only revealed to the hearts of men.
Because you got to understand, when God tried to reveal it to the flesh, they said we can't handle it. In his love, he wanted to give them all himself. In his mercy, he wanted to reveal himself to men who were still in a body of flesh.
He said, no, we can't handle it. What happened to Jesus? When the glory came upon him, what happened?
It transformed his body. Suddenly his clothing became bright like no detergent can wash it. What did Peter and John and James do? They tried to hide.
They were frightened. The glory of God cannot be experienced in the flesh. Only the spirit of man can experience the glory of God.
God's presence within cannot be felt nor described. It can only be known. Moses said, that I may know thee. In verse 13 of Exodus 33. That I may know thee.
He had just prayed, show me your glory, and then said, I want to know you. I don't want to feel you, I want to know you. Sadly, many want to feel God. Just let me feel. Oh, I feel the presence of God.
They have misunderstood completely what the glory of God has to do with. Yes, we feel. Of course we feel. But we don't feel the glory.
We feel the power. Only the power is felt. Now, we're talking about the glory.
I know you've not heard this before, but I'm not here to teach you stuff you heard. I'm going to give you truth, and you go search it in the Scripture. Now, the Word of God has more to say about this.
In fact, amazing. Amazing truth. God promised his presence when his glory was involved. And Moses said, if your presence isn't with us, we're not going nowhere.
Now, here's what the glory of God will do once it is revealed. It will do with you and to you what happened to Moses. In Exodus 34 verse 29, the Bible says, It came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses'hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. What happened here?
Oh, something glorious that I pray will happen to you. He lost sight of himself. When the glory of God comes on you, it cancels self.
It will cancel you in such a way, you won't even recognize yourself. He wished not. He wished not. He did not know.
He wished not that his face was shining. He paid no attention to what was happening to his body. He wished not...
that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. It's amazing. Once the glory of God visits your life, you will lose sight of self. Do you remember what happened to Adam?
In the garden. Yeah, let me remind you. As long as the glory was on him, he did not know he was naked. The minute the glory lifted, he said, uh-uh, I'm naked.
We lose sight of self when the glory is there, and we gain sight of self when the glory is not there. As long as the glory covered him, he didn't know he was naked. The minute sin entered in, the glory was gone.
We're naked. Nakedness is the result of the absence of the glory of God. A lot of people walking around naked, empty of God's power. Empty of faithfulness.
They're empty of the fruits of the Spirit. Empty. They're naked. They have nothing to fight with.
They are disrobed of the armor. As long as the glory is absent, you cannot be clothed. Now please hear what I just said.
Adam and Eve were not naked. They were clothed with the glory. So really the glory was their clothing. So they didn't realize they were naked because they were clothed.
And they were so accustomed to being clothed with the glory. The glory was like a mantle, like a cloak on them. They literally felt, if I can use the word felt, even though you don't feel. They knew the presence of God as a blanket on them and never paid attention to the nakedness of their flesh.
The moment the glory lifted, being accustomed to a covering, they looked for something to cover them to replace the lost glory. And rather than being clothed with the glory, they were clothed with leaves. Plant. Now, the power of God is not His glory.
The power of God results from the glory. Comes out, it's no different than the sun and the rays of the sun. That sun is the glory and the rays, the heat you feel is the power.
But let's go back to explain the glory. It's very important we understand that. The glory of God changes the heart.
The glory of God has nothing to do with healing your body. You got to understand what I just said. The glory of God does not heal sick bodies.
The glory of God changes hearts. Hearts. Hearts.
It's spiritual. That's the reason why Elisha the prophet died a sick man. Because the glory was in him. Even though God healed the sick through him, the presence of God did not affect his body to bring forth health.
He died in his sickness. Catherine Kuhlman died a sick woman. You say, well, how about the power that flowed through her? I'm not talking about that.
We'll deal with that later. Sickness is not healed in the presence of the glory. A whole lot of people, hear this, there's a whole lot of people on earth today who are physically sick and carry the glory of God. I've seen them.
There are people on wheelchairs who carry the glory of God. I know I'm saying new things to you that are probably shocking you, but I'm giving you the Bible. Paul the Apostle, whether it was a sickness or not, it was an infirmity in his flesh. But he carried the glory of God.
He said that I might know him. He didn't care about his body. He cared about the glory. There's a price to pay for it. But see, all of us want...
Well, I shouldn't say all, but anyways, the majority of people want health and well-being and strength and longevity. They don't think much about the spirit. What you and I need to know is this only lasts for this life. But the man within.
Yeah. The glory belongs to the man within. Now, the glory of God transforms us into the image of Christ. Remember what 2 Corinthians 3, 17 says, and 18?
Now the Lord is that spirit. In fact, you need to turn with me and read it. 2 Corinthians 3. 1718, now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So now he introduces the Holy Ghost as the Lord, for he is Lord.
But we all with open face. Now remember, remember what happened with Moses. Now I'll wait till you all get there. Okay, I'll wait till you get there. Look at me please for just a second.
Moses had to wear this when he walked out because they couldn't handle the glory. The flesh cannot handle the glory. Always remember that. The man of the flesh can't handle glory. Can't see it, can't look at it, can't handle it, can't understand it.
That's why they covered his face. The flesh cannot experience the glory of God. That's the reason why they said, hide your face, we can't see you.
We don't want to see you. In fact, we're afraid to look at you. Now Paul says, but we all with open face.
We don't have to veil ourselves. We are not afraid of it. We don't have to hide from it.
It belongs to you. You don't have to hide your face like Moses, but we all with open face. Oh, I love this.
Don't you love that? But we all with open face, without a veiled face, as in a glass. Beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same, what? Image. From glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
So, the glory of God changes you. Doesn't change your body. Changes you. Doesn't change anything to do with the flesh, just changes you.
That's what's important. Changes the man on the inside. Now, God's word declares that the glory of God, God's presence, God's glory, is experienced in the deep places of the heart. It's experienced in the deep places of the heart. For we read in Psalm 42, 7, deep, oh, let me read it to you.
Oh, let me read it to you. Am I going too fast? Oh, I love it.
Thank you. Are you learning? I am.
Actually, it's going to get better and better as I go on. Psalm 42, 7, Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of thy water spouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. So, where is the glory of God?
The glory of God is in the depth. God communicates with our spirit. Deep calls unto deep. That's where the water is flowing. That's where the waves are coming.
That's where the billows are going all over you. And that deals with God's glory here. So when he talks about...
Thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Think about the glory of God coming like a wave upon David. Now, we all know, of course, the shadow of the Almighty. Again, His presence, His glory.
Psalm 91 verse 1, he that dwelleth in the secret place shall abide under the what? Shadow, under the shadow, that shadow of the Almighty is his glory. And there you've got amazing promises.
Now I'll not take the time to go through them because I expect you to go and read that in your Bible. Read the benefits of the glory in Psalm 91. No plague, no evil, long life, on and on. But now we come to something amazing. In fact, so amazing, it's hardly ever talked about.
Turn to Isaiah 26, verse 8, verse 9. And I'm going to have you read that out loud. You're going to read this out loud back to me. Isaiah 26. Now, ladies and gentlemen. I want you to pay attention just a second before you read this. I want to establish this truth and then go on.
God's presence comes when we seek Him in the depth of our spirit. Say that again. God's presence comes when we seek Him in the... Now, now, you're going to stop. Now, think about this.
God's presence comes... Not when I scream at him. Not when I pray for hours and wear myself out.
Not even when I fast. Not when I hold a prayer meeting and agree. God's presence comes only when I seek him in the depth of my spirit.
Look what Isaiah said. Read verse 8 and verse 9 slowly and out loud. One, two, three, go.
Oh, that's marvelous. Did you pay attention to what you've read? Look back at these two verses. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited. We've waited for your judgments, or your word.
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee. For thee. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. In other words, Lord, our soul is crying out for you. Lord, we've read your word.
That's what he means by judgments. Lord, we've read your word, and we have waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to know your name.
It's to thy name. We want to know your name. And we want to know you.
Remember you. Now, with my soul have I desired thee in the night. All the soul can do is desire. And that's where people stop.
Prayer, in many cases, is in that realm. It doesn't go beyond that. So God's glory is never really revealed. Because people stop with my desire, my desire. What is your desire?
I want, I want, I want, I desire. And you pray hard, and there's nothing wrong with it. And in fact, he says here, With my soul have I desired thee in the night. Well, if he did it in the night, he did it in the day.
In other words, he so desired God day and night. But then he said, and there is the key, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. For when thy judgments, or when your word is in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
And what he's saying here is amazing. He's actually saying that the word of God will not invade the earth until God finds a people that can carry his glory. With my spirit have I sought thee.
With my spirit I'm seeking you, Lord. I desire you with my soul, but I can't go further with my soul except just to desire and keep crying and longing and desiring, but I can't seek you. with my soul.
Only can seek you with my heart. But when my heart finds you, your judgments will fill the earth. What did Jesus say? I pray that they might be one as we are one, and then the world will know. Isn't that powerful?
The world will not know nor hear until we are one with him. That's what he said. In John 17 he said, Once they are one with us, the world will know.
Evangelism will spread. Why has not the world known him? Because we don't know him. How can he reveal himself to them?
If we still need to know Him ourselves. So while the world doesn't know Him, you need to know Him first. Once you know Him in the depth of your heart, the next step is He'll use you to reveal Himself to them.
So He said that they might know Thee, one with us, and the world will know. That's in John 17. Now, I'm going to give you that along the way as we study this for the next few weeks because I don't want to rush you. I'm just kind of throwing things at you here and there, getting your heart stirred up. I'm teaching on the glory.
I'm going to continue. Now listen to this. When you seek God with your spirit, something is going to happen.
That seeking is done in holy silence. You cannot seek God with noise. Noise is the job of the flesh.
The spirit only knows silence. What did the psalmist say, and we just read it earlier? He said, deep calls unto deep. That's where silence lives.
Holy silence. Now let's talk about this a second, because this is very, very, very important. And it's not natural silence that I'm talking about.
So when I say silence, I want you to understand I'm not talking about quietness. There's a big difference between quietness and silence. We use the word and mean the same thing, but it's not the same thing.
Silence deals with the spirit. While quietness deals with the flesh. Be quiet. Means don't talk. But silence is deeper.
Much, much deeper. So the psalmist commands in Psalm 46.10. Be still.
Be silent. And know. Know what? Wait, wait, wait, wait. The that is added in the translation.
The English language could not translate the original. Be silent. Be still. I am God.
In other words, you can't know the I am without that holy silence. Holy silence is produced. In the inner being, in the heart, with my spirit will I seek thee.
I don't have to talk, I don't have to shout, I don't have to even cry. I just seek. That's what Jesus meant when he said knock.
Knocking is in the spirit. Remember, ask, that's the mind. Asking requires knowing what you're looking for. Seek, that's the soul.
But knock, that's the spirit. Even though Isaiah used, I seek thee with my spirit, really and truly, Jesus interprets that word as knocking. That's what Paul meant with groanings that cannot be uttered.
Deeper than words. Deeper than emotions. Now I know this may not be as easy for you to understand, but I'm going to help you slowly here and show you what the word has to say about this. Be still and know I am. Be still and know I am.
Now, I am God, the word God also was added, because the Hebrew says I am. In fact, he said, be still, Yahweh. In other words, I'm here. You cannot know him without that.
But let's understand a little more. What is silence? Silence is the result of excess.
Of excess, of fullness, of abundance. Abundance produces silence. Lack produces noise. When people are empty, they scream. When people are full, they say nothing.
Abundance produces silence. You don't have to say anything once you're full. So silence is the result of abundance, not lack.
When the presence and glory of God fills your heart, it produces silence. Silence, oh this is so glorious. Silence and the glory of God go together.
And I'll show you scriptures in just a second. The fullness of his presence and silence go together. The presence of God results in silence, and silence results in the presence of God.
I'll explain that in just a moment. The presence of God stills the soul. It does not stir the soul.
The presence of God stills the soul. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. It stills it. People that holler and scream and shout, they know nothing about what I'm talking about. The presence of God stills the soul.
Say it. The presence of God stills the soul. Say it again. The presence of God stills the soul. It's like this.
When the presence of God comes in, now remember it comes as you seek Him with your spirit. Once you seek Him with your spirit, that presence comes. When that presence comes, it fills your heart with holy silence. That holy silence invades your being now in such a way that your soul just calms right down.
And the calming of the soul will absolutely cause the body. To experience perfect peace. My peace I give unto you. It flows from within. And like an overflow.
My cup runs over. That's what David said. Isn't that amazing?
Like somebody said. I'm drinking from my saucer. Because my cup is running over.
I can't drink from my cup. I've got to drink from my saucer because that cup is just flowing over. But that's what the peace of God is. The peace of God is like a well. The presence of God causes that blessed peace to just fill my soul just like a well just goes all over me.
And you've experienced it. Maybe they didn't know what it was. Now listen, listen to this.
God's presence steals the activities of the soul and the activities of self. In fact, turn to Zephaniah. All of you, turn to Zephaniah with me. Habakkuk and then Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 7. It's amazing.
He said, hold thy peace at the presence of God. But I've got to have you underline that. Zephaniah 1 verse 7. Not Zechariah, Zephaniah. Zephaniah is in the mind of prophets right after Habakkuk.
Did you find it? Okay, now see, read verse 7. It says what? Hold. Zephaniah 1.7.
Zephaniah 1.7 says what? Yeah, now some translation says be silent. Same thing. Hold thy peace at the presence of God.
At the presence of the Lord God. You see now, the Lord God shows up and now there's what? Silence. Look what else the scriptures say.
says turn to Habakkuk 2 you're right there Habakkuk 2 and verse 20 but the Lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence God reveals himself and silence is the result Habakkuk 2 20 Now, please listen to me very carefully. Now you can also write down Zechariah 2.13, it's the same. Zechariah 2.13 talks about that the earth must be silent in the presence of God, meaning the presence of God produces silence. Now, the silence I'm talking about is spiritual, right? Yeah, now, I've got to explain to you what is spiritual silence, but I don't know if I can get to all that tonight.
I'll try. When God's presence invades your heart and stills your soul, listen now, when God's presence invades your heart and stills your soul, something's going to happen to your body. Your body is going to immediately surrender.
Yield. Yield your members, Paul said. You can't yield your members until the well is flowing. Self-effort is suddenly swallowed up in the workings of God.
I'm going to say this again because it's so important. God's presence invades your heart. Now it stills your soul. Now your body yields. It's automatic.
It has nowhere else to go. Because God's presence that begins to permeate your being suddenly will cause your body to yield because self-effort is swallowed up in the workings of God. You'll quit digging wells where there's no water.
People often dig wells and there's no water. You know what Isaiah said about it in Isaiah 57 and verse 10? He said, you have wearied yourself in your way. You've struggled and have worn yourself out and found emptiness.
How many people do you know that pray and pray and pray and find nothing? You know why? They're digging empty wells.
They're doing it the wrong way. It all begins with, in the night or in the day, with my spirit will I seek thee. Now that blessed presence fills your heart, now that blessed presence fills your soul, now that blessed presence literally permeates your being, so much so that self-effort, self-effort is swallowed up.
Self-effort, say it. Self-effort. What happens to it?
Swallowed up. It's swallowed up in the workings of God. In other words, he begins to work and you don't have to.
What did Paul say about that? He works in you to do his good pleasure. Remember that?
Now, the second this happens, your weariness stops, your working stops. You don't have to wear yourself out praying and fasting and begging and crying and getting all sick and tired after you're all done. Because it's all flesh. Oh, how often I've seen people pray, cry, holler, and they get nothing.
One poor soul, I saw him one time in a Bible school. I was preaching at an Assembly of God Bible school in Florida, in Lakeland. And this kid was just crying and hollering and screaming and crying. And he was sincere, he just wasn't getting nowhere. And I said, young man, none of this is impressing the Lord.
Just quit this. He had no clue what I was saying. I have found the way and the poor guy was digging wells and finding no water. You don't have to dig.
How easy it is to find. The highest spiritual attainments are attained easily. But so few find them.
And you will. I said you will. Say after me, the highest spiritual attainments are the easiest to reach. Say it again. Yeah, they're the easiest.
They're the easiest step. Isaiah 57 verse 10. It says you've wearied yourself for nothing. You've worked and worked and worked for nothing.
In fact, I want to read this to you because I think you need to hear it as it is read, as it is written. 57.10, it says, hear this. Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way. You wear it yourself because you think you're doing so good. I prayed three hours today.
God's got to do it. He doesn't do a thing. Because your prayer was wasted. See why?
It's not in the spirit. What was the command of Paul? Pray all prayer and supplication in the spirit. So few know how to do this because they're trying it all in the flesh and the soul and crying and begging and pounding the walls and getting nowhere.
You're going to learn here how to pray. You're going to see what the scriptures talk about when it comes to prayer. Because power is the result of glory. And glory is the result of true prayer.
Now what is true prayer? Oh, good question. Now listen carefully what I'm going to say right now.
You enter his presence. By silent prayer, now silent prayer becomes His presence. What I just said is very deep, so I've got to bring you back out and help you understand it.
You enter His presence by silence, holy silence. And holy silence is silence in prayer. Do you know when the anointing comes on me? Just when that happens to me. I can praise, I can sing, I can cry, all that.
But the second stillness invades my soul, the presence of God invades my being, and people throughout that whole stadium start feeling the power of God flow. It's almost like a faucet comes on. It unlocks the power of God. Silence.
I become so still that I lose all awareness of what's going on behind me, around me, beside me. I am totally lost. I'm gone. And that usually lasts maybe three minutes.
It doesn't take much to break in. Suddenly I'm in. And usually that happens just when I'm singing Jesus All-Glorious. And if I'm not in, I'll sing it twice. If you haven't paid attention, pay attention next time.
And sometimes I'll stop and redo the whole thing and Cheryl has to follow. And Jim. I'll go, Jesus, all glorious. And I'll go right back.
Because I can sense I'm too far from there. I'm still far. You know it.
You just know it. And then there's that place where just everything just... I don't know how to describe it. I have to say it invades my soul.
And now my heart explodes. It explodes in such a way. In fact, at times I've noticed myself caught up in such a way that I forget that I'm in the service.
Almost to forgetting that I have to pray for the sick. And that's when they start popping out of wheelchairs because the power is released when that happens to me. Think what God can do with you, if you can enter in. And I'll explain that more to you, but listen.
Holy silence, produced by prayer, true prayer in the spirit, now invades your soul. You've entered in to God's presence with silent prayer. Now silent prayer becomes his presence.
I asked Rex, how many hours do you pray a day? He gave me an amazing answer. This was years ago.
I did not understand it then I do now. He said, my life is a prayer. Now, he didn't mean that he didn't have time along with God.
Of course he does. But Ms. Kuhman was like that. She walked around in an atmosphere. You could sense it all around her. She developed an atmosphere of God around her.
And that is a process that we all walk into. Now listen to this. The moment that presence invades your being, something's going to happen. Job 4.16 says, write it down, Job 4.16, he said, the minute, well, let me read it, I better read it to you.
This is one of the most amazing scriptures about this. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes.
There was silence. There was silence. There was silence. And then, I heard a voice.
How many want to hear God's voice? It's in that silence. It's in that silence. The silence of God is a voice.
It's what? A voice. A what?
A voice. Now watch. Stop, stop, stop. What did Elijah hear? A still small what?
Voice. Was it a sound? No. Was it a sound?
No. Was not a sound. Was it a noise?
No. No. What was it? A voice has no sound and no noise. It's a voice.
A voice does not require sound or noise. See, we are programmed wrong. Because we are living in the outer court where we have to hear it. He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying.
The Spirit doesn't talk to your ear. The ear Jesus was talking about was your heart. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says. How does God speak to you?
By witness. Witness. Witness. We have the witness of the spirit. We have the voice of the spirit, in other words.
Now I'll explain that to you later, because I'm giving you too much in one night. When I say voice, I don't mean sound. And I don't mean noise.
And I don't mean audible. You can hear the voice of God and none around you will hear anything. That's what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus.
Nobody heard a thing except him. Why? It wasn't a sound.
It wasn't a noise, it was a voice. That voice was heard by his spirit, and all those with him didn't hear a thing. Why? Because it's a voice. A voice is not heard, a voice is known in the heart.
Remember, I know there's a whole lot more coming to you in the following weeks. I'm just giving you what I believe is going to prepare you. Now, the Word of God. Oh, this is glorious.
Entering God's presence. Now, remember what I just said. Silence becomes His presence.
His presence becomes silence. Say what I just said. No, say it all. Silence becomes His presence. His presence becomes silence.
Say it again. Silence becomes His presence. How many understand?
Put your hand up high. If you don't, you will. Now, you enter into God's presence, but the Bible has something amazing to say about this.
At that moment, something will happen. Something, in fact, amazing and something that Jesus talked about. I'll read it first, and then I'll give you the scripture. Listen.
Oh, this is marvelous. Whoso is simple, let him turn hither. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.
I'll read you a little more prior to that. Wisdom has built her house. She has built her seven pillars. She has killed her beasts, mingled her wine, furnished her table, sent forth her maidens. Now she cries upon the highest places of the city, and she says, Come in!
but only the simple can find my way. Isn't that amazing? That's Proverbs chapter 9, verse 1 to verse 5. Because then he says, Come eat of my bread, drink of my wine which I have mingled. If you want God's presence, He offers it to you, he says, whoever is wise, I've prepared it for you. My pillars are built, my house is built.
I have killed my beast, I have prepared my wine, I have furnished my table. Now I've sent my servants out, he calls them my maidens. And they're crying from the highest places of the city and saying, whoever is simple, turn here.
And when you come in, he says, eat my bread, drink my wine, it's all yours. That's in those five verses. But it only belongs to the simple. What did Jesus say?
Become a child. Doesn't belong to the grown-ups, only to the children. Now, in this amazing place, the presence of God, there's protection. Just write it down, write it down. Psalm 3120, there's protection.
In this presence, there's light. In this presence, yeah, there's protection, Psalm 31 20, but there's light also in it, Matthew 17 1 to 5, there's light. It says a bright cloud, a bright cloud, a bright cloud. Overshadow them a bright cloud. The presence of God contains within it three things, protection, brightness, and power.
For the Bible says there's protection in that presence. No devil can get in there. No Satan, no demons can get in there.
Two, there's light. There's no darkness. No world.
No influence of men. And I'll go back and talk about this in two weeks and take you through, but I want to just prepare you now. And somebody get, I think Michelle is back there already.
All right. And then there's power. Because Habakkuk 3, 4, this is an amazing scripture.
Amazing scripture. Are you still there? You're not falling asleep?
Good. Now listen. Listen to this. Habakkuk 3, verse 4, the Bible says, listen carefully.
And his brightness was as the light. His brightness was as what? The light.
He had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power. God's power hides inside his presence. Ye shall receive power.
Power, power, after that the Holy Ghost has come. God's presence hides His power. Habakkuk 3, 4, but now watch this. The power, and I won't dwell on this because that's what we're going to talk about in two weeks.
But the power, you've got to understand the power now, hear this. As I close, Jesus said in John 14, 17, He's first with you. He's then in you, then he's upon you. The Holy Ghost, John 14, 14, verse 17. He's first with you, he's then in you.
Then Acts 1, 8, he's then upon you. The presence of God is first inside of you, before that it's with you. Now I won't take the time because we're running out of time, but I've got to say this. He's with you to convict you before salvation.
He's in you to fill you at salvation. He's upon you after salvation to use you. So he's with you before salvation to bring you in. He's in you at salvation. And then He's upon you to use you after salvation.
That's why we read John 14, 17, He's first with you, then in you, but then just before Jesus went away, He said, He'll be upon you. Now, the moment the power of God comes upon you, it will not change you, it'll change your actions. Hear this, hear this, all of you class, dear precious people, hear this. God's glory changes you. God's power changes your actions, your behavior, your actions.
What you do, what you do is the result of God's power. Now listen very carefully, very carefully to what I'm going to say here. The presence of God changes your heart.
The power of God changes your action. The presence of God will cause you to be. The power of God will cause you to do.
The presence of God will cause you to be. The power of God will cause you to do. Say with me, God's presence will cause me to be. But the power of God will cause me to do.
Now you remember 1 Samuel 10, 6. Samuel said to Saul, And the Spirit of God shall come upon thee, and thou shalt be turned into another man. Once God's power comes on you, you're going to talk different, look different, act different, behave different. That's action, that's doing. Then the scripture says, The scripture says, 1st Samuel 10, 7, 1st Samuel 11, 6. I should say, excuse me, yes, yes, yes, of course, what am I talking about?
In fact, you know what, I really need to read this to you. I don't want to take any more time, but oh, this is so good. And Michelle, please come up here.
Bring Suzanne with you. 1 Samuel 10, 7. The Bible says... 6 and 7. And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee.
You'll prophesy with them. You'll be turned into a different man. And now watch this. And let it be when these things come upon thee that thou do.
That you'll do as occasions will serve you. The power of God has got to do with what you do, not who you are. Now, 1 Samuel 11, verse 6, And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those things, and his anger was kindled. Something happened to his emotions.
Look at me, hello! God's presence has nothing to do with your emotions. God's power does. When the power of God came on him, he got angry. Why?
It stirred his emotions. God's presence stills you. God's power stirs you. Say it. Yeah.
Those who are stirred by the spirit, that's the part of God that's doing it. But the part of God is the result of the presence. You can't have power without presence.
You can't have power without presence because the power is the child of the presence. The power is the child, he's the offspring, he's the fruit of the presence. God's power is the fruit of his presence. Do you hear what I just said?
No, I'm glad you're all hearing. But now God's power is bringing action. Suddenly he says, you'll be a different man.
Now look what he does. He gets angry, his emotions are stirred. But look what else happens here. Don't go away, Michelle, I'm one minute away from giving it to you. and now we read something amazing in Judges about Samson.
I'm not going to keep you, but you've got to hear this, just to show you the difference, because this is going to prepare you for two weeks from now. Judges 14, 5 and 6 says, when Samson, after he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, it says, then when Samson down, and his father and his mother to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah, and behold, a young lion roared against him. A lion, a young lion, strong lion comes at him.
Look what happens. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon. Every time you see upon, that's power and not presence. The presence is in you, the power is on you.
Upon, upon, upon is the power, power, power, not the presence. But it's still the Holy Ghost. And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. In other words, a goat. And he had nothing in his hand.
The power of God came and stirred him so much, he slew the lion. And then in verse 19, And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and went down to Escalon, and he slew thirty men. And then in verse 14 of chapter 15, and the Spirit of God, the second section, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became like flax that burned him with the fire.
Action, action, action is the result of the power. We'll continue in two weeks. Did you learn anything? All right.