Following up the last blog, I wanted to talk about some of the elements found in the presence of God's glory. The first is: praise. Praise is one of the important expressions of our worship and without it God's church will never see the glory of God. God inhabits the praise of His people and when people don't participate in praise they do not encounter the manifest presence of God's glory.
The second element is: humility. In Ex. 37:7 we see how he made the cherubim of beaten gold at two ends of the mercy seat. Why did it have to be done that way? Because there is something even more precious about gold that has been through the process of "beating". We see in the New Testament that even Jesus learned obedience through His suffering on the cross. According to I Peter 5:6 Jesus was exalted and lifted up out of a position of humility. Jesus chose the road of humility. When we choose humility, we worship like Jesus. The humble are received and revived in the manifest presence of God. The Word makes it clear that we are to "humble ourselves". We can either just experience the hammer blows of life, or we can submit to the hammer blows of life and know His presence. I once read one author who said, "Never trust a man without a limp". Jacob wrestled with God and came away with a limp. We must be reminded that we do nothing in our own strength - but in God's strength. Anything less and we will not see God glorified, nor see the presence of His glory in our worship. We are reminded that bowing is important to worship because where there is no humility, there is no throne. This could explain why the Church has less life - less presence of God - in richer, prouder nations than it does in humbler ones. May we humble ourselves beneath God's mighty hand - that in due time He may lift us up. The church today is dying of an overdose of powerless religiosity. We need the glory of God.
Thirdly, we need the element of unity. Jesus said, "Where two or more are gathered in my name, I will be there in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20) God deeply desires and is attracted to unity. So what does the church do? We start fighting over ridiculous things - even worship. We would rather be "right" than be near God...together. Does it not seem ridiculously ironic that we have "worship wars" in the church, mostly over personal tastes in music? God will not reveal His manifest presence in a divided church. Humility should bring us to unity. It is pleasing to God and also is a witness to the world. The "anointing" will only flow freely in unity.
These are some of the elements of the presence of God's glory. The question to the church: Do we want to pay the price? How much do we really desire the manifest presence of God's glory among us today? mjm
