Transcript: The Wonders of His Glory — Walking in The Manifest Presence of God Part 1 with Apostle Emmanuel Boluwatife

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The word is like a map that sets men on the path of destiny. The word of God transforms. It revives any builds. It builds conviction even in the hearts of men. And just like the woman at the well, when men encounter the spirit and the word of God, there's an exchange and revelation of identity. Weaknesses are exchanged for strength and greatness is made out of ordinary men. I will never be tired of telling you that God has predestined you for greatness. You must believe this. There is a seed of greatness on your inside. You must believe this.

A promise of greatness on your inside. You must believe this. There is no smallness in God's plan for your life as a believer. There's no toiling in God's plan for your life as a believer. There's no suffering in God's plan for your life as a believer. I want to break you out of that spot where you can no longer think small. The presence of God does not just make the difference. The presence of God is the difference. So join us at the experience when men encounter God and lives are transformed. Exodus 33 from verse 13 to verse 18.

There's a weight of burden coming upon people. Strong body. Body. Yeah. Yeah. You will understand in a minute why this is happening. From verse 13 it says, now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight, and consider that this nation is your people. There's someone at least I'm I'm saying that you have been you have been doing a study or a prayer or something. You have been, I don't know if it's a, if it's a study or a Bible study in your own personal place about the glory of God. Or about the presence of God.

And and I see the Lord answering you today. I see it has been a subject matter that has been picking your interest. And you have been studying about it, praying about it. And he said, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Then he said to me, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except you go with us, so we shall be separate. Your people and high from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you have found grace in my sight. And I know you by name.

And he said, please show me your glory. Moses is making three requests in this passage of scripture. This will continue. I see portals that have opened. I see serious portals opening in the spirit. It's an unusual service today. Love is going to be rekindled. Passion is going to be rekindled. Fire is going to be rekindled. Altars are going to be rekindled.

I'm a genuine and a serious is going to start in somebody's heart again. That which your eyes have seen and your hands have desired to handle. Moses is making three requests in the scripture. And those three requests shows us the progression of a man who has understood what truly matters in life. First, he says, show me your way that I may know you. Then he says, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. And finally, he says, please show me your glory. He wants to know the ways of God. He wants to carry the presence of God. And then he wants to behold the glory of God.

Three requests he's making. Show me your ways. Let me carry your presence. Show me your glory. This is a man who has come to understand that the greatest advantage that a man can have is not just that doors open for him. This is a man who has come to understand that open doors without God working with you into those doors is not a testimony. This is a man who have understood that it does not matter what miracle I receive if I not carry the presence of God. Because if you read it in context, context even makes it more interesting. It makes the request that Moses is making here even more powerful. Because this was just after Israel had sinned terribly by making and worshiping the golden calf.

It was just after the golden calf experience. And then most people was hungry and then God had told Moses that he could no longer proceed with the people towards the land he had promised them. But that an angel will go before them and their enemies will be driven out and then they would enter into a land flowing with milk and honey. But God said, I wouldn't go up with you. I wouldn't go up in your midst. Because you are a stiff necked people. So God is telling these people, I'm not gonna follow you, but my angel will follow you. You will still have the open door. You will still enter into the land flowing with milk and honey. You will still see the results, but I won't go with you.

Oh, God. It's it's interesting. Think about what is being offered here. They could still have had the journey. They could still have entered the land. They will still have victory over their enemies. They will still have the milk and honey. But they would not have the presence of God. They would have the promise without the one promising. God said, is this what you want?

You just want the result? You just want to enter into the landfill with milk and honey? You just want to be. No problem. You will have all of that. Go. But my presence will not go with you. Don't worry. An angel will follow you. You will still have a sense of spirituality.

You will still be a Christian. You will still have all the money. You will still have all the results. But all of that without the presence and the glory of God meant nothing to Moses. He said we will not go. I know I I I like all these things you have promised us, but let them not come if you will not go with us. It is worth nothing if I don't have your presence. They could still have joined. They had the angel with them. They had victory over their enemies.

They had the lamb, they had the milk, they had the honey. But they would not have the presence. And Moses refused that arrangement. He refused it. He understood that a promised land without God is still a wilderness. He knew. He knew that we might be in the wilderness now and be complaining. But if we attempt to enter into that promised land and God does not go with us, it is still a wilderness. That victory without God can't be success in you. That prosperity without God is still poverty.

In you. In fact, it is the greatest kind of poverty. And Moses knew. Moffitt was saying, if you are not inside what you are giving us, then we don't want what you are giving us. If we arrive there and lose the consciousness and the influence of your presence, then we have not truly arrived. But not many believers are willing to make that bargain today. A lot of believers are comfortable with money. Even if God is not there. With power even if God is not there. With results even if God is not there.

With influence even if God is not there. That's the transaction a lot of believers are willing to make now. That's a transaction people are willing to make now. You mean I will still have this? I will still have the microphone. I will still hold crusades. People would come. I will still have a big church. Don't worry about you will not go with me, but I will have your angels. I would have, come on now.

What else do I need? Moses said no. No. No. No. He said no. He said no. What is this money when you've taken God from me? What is this gold when you've taken God from me? My God is more, is more, is more, is more, is more than silver or gold.

What is this money when you've taken God from me? What is this gold when you've taken God from me, oh? What is this influence when you've taken God from me? What is this light when you've taken God from me? My God is more, is more, is more, is more, is more than silver gold. My God is more, is more, is more, is more, more than silver gold. My god is more is more is more is more is more than silver gold. My god it's more, it's more, it's more, it's more, yeah, yeah. Small and silver or gold. My god, this more, it's more, it's more, it's more than silver that was what Moses was saying.

If you would not follow us, the the money is not worth collecting. Somebody gives you money but they have to sleep with you. That means you don't mind being wealthy as long as you are okay, even if God is not there. You can compromise anything worth compromising. It doesn't matter to you anymore. How lost must you be? How lost must you be to think that money can replace him? That to think that a good testimony is worth more than his presence. To think that an open door or a breakthrough is not is worth more than his presence. To think that if you lose access to his presence, anything you have is still worth having.

Moses knew. And so he said no. No. Many believers don't yet have this conviction. You want God to send an angel. You want God to open the door, to give you the job, to heal your body, to establish your business, to provide a spouse, and to take us into the land. But Moses wanted something greater than everything that God could place in his hand. Moses wanted God himself. That the reason he was pursuing God wasn't for the land, wasn't for the silver, wasn't for the gold. It was God himself.

This was the junction point where was asking Moses, why are you really following me? Are you following me for me, or are you following me? Because I've told you there's a land you are entering. No problem. The land is yours. Go and take it, but I won't follow you. And God and morphed and said, no. Never. May my eyes not touch it. If you will not follow me.

And when God saw the heart of this man crying, crying As the deer pants for waters. The Lord told him my presence will go with you. Moses asked him again, show me your glory. This means the glory of God is not separate from his presence. The glory of God is the visible expression, the weight, and the manifestation of the God who is present. God may be present without everyone recognizing his activity. But when his glory is revealed, something of his person becomes evident. His goodness becomes evident. His holiness becomes evident. His power becomes evident.

His wisdom, his beauty, his authority becomes evident. The invincible God is making himself known. Exodus 34 from verse four. You read from verse four thirty four from verse five to verse seven. The Bible says now, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him and proclaimed the name of the Lord. This is very oh my God. I don't have time to show you the theology of the Theophany. And the Christophany. If you have time, you can study that yourself. But because this is what is happening here.

When the Bible says the Lord descended in the cloud and stood within there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Next verse says, and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, Long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth. The next verse, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin by no means clearing the guilty. Moses asked to see the glory of God and God proclaimed his name and revealed his character. It's very important because many people think of glory only as power, only as light, only as fire, only as a cloud, only as an atmosphere or a physical manifestation. Those things may accompany the manifestation of the glory of God, but when God was explaining his own glory, he spoke about who he is. Who he is. He revealed his mercy. He revealed his graciousness, his patience, his goodness, his truth, his forgiveness, his justice, who he is.

For the glory of God is not just an atmosphere that makes people fall. It is the manifestation of the person before whom people are falling. The glory of God is his nature becoming evident. His presence gaining influence. His power producing results in your life that cannot be explained by words. When his healing power touches a sick body, something of his glory has been revealed. When his wisdom supplies an answer to you that no one could ever have naturally thought about or even produced, Something of his glory has been revealed. When his holiness enters into your heart and you lose the appetite for sin, for flesh. His glory has been revealed. When his goodness becomes visible through your life, his glory has been revealed.

When an ordinary person speaks and then hearts are convicted. Because an ordinary person is speaking. Chains are broken. Because an ordinary person is speaking. People are turning towards Christ and are saying, what shall we do to be saved? Because an ordinary person is speaking. The glory of God is finding expression through that vessel. So when we say that the glory of God is finding expression or the glory of God have been made manifest, we are not just saying that there is power or there is manifestations happening. We are saying something of his present. A character of his has been made evident in and through a life.

The glory of God is not a special reserve for apostles. It's not a special reserve for prophets. It's not a special reserve for pastors. It's not a special reserve for people holding microphones. No. No. No. The intention of God from the beginning was that humanity would live under his influence, would become an expression of himself upon the earth. That was the original intention of God. That the Garden Of Eden was not just special because beautiful trees were there.

No. Eden was special because it was an environment in which God and man lived in fellowship. Man was designed to function from the presence of God. That was the original design. The presence of God is to man, is to your spirit. What water is to a fish. It is the environment for which it was created. Exodus, Isaiah 43 verse seven, the Bible says, everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory, I have formed him. Yes, I have made him. That you were created for his glory.

It's the original intention of God. That means your life is supposed to become evidence that God exists. That God is good. That God saves. That God transforms. And that God still works through his people. Your life. Your life. Your life. The glory of God is therefore not something that you come to watch in another person's ministry.

And you come to sit down and say, that God is here. No. No. No. No. It is something your own life was designed to carry and to reveal. In Romans three verse 23, the Bible says for all have sinned and have come short of the glory of the Lord. Notice how scripture describes the tragedy of sin. That humanity fell short of the glory. That sin did not only make men guilty, it removed humanity from the order in which God's nature and God's government could be accurately expressed through them.

That man remained alive. He was still intelligent. But he became separated from the life of God, from the influence of God, from the government of God. He was still intelligent. He was still building things on earth. He was still powerful, but he could no longer reveal God as God was designed to reveal himself. Is it... I hope you know that you can see man by his human nature do powerful things on earth. Even after the fall, the Bible says that Cain left the presence of God and went to build a city. You would think that a man only becomes blessed because he knows God.

The Bible emphatically says that Cain left the presence of God. He went out from the presence of God, dwelt in the land of North, the East of Hidden, knew his wife, and and the next thing is he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. And the Bible says he built this city outside the presence of God. Outside the influence of God. Outside the government of God. Men can prosper outside God. Men can build cities and estates and own conglomerates outside God. Salvation you see is bigger than escaping punishment. It is the reason why it is wrong to say that the reason why you are inviting someone to Jesus is because Jesus makes rich. Mm-mm.

Mm-mm. Mm-mm. It is inaccurate to make men believe that the advantage of Jesus in your life is to make you rich. In Christ, what happens in salvation Is that God restores us to the life from which his glory can again be revealed in your life. Because what will fell short of was his glory. Standard. Our ability to reveal him as he wants to be revealed. That's what man fell short of. So it does not matter what man builds on this earth. He is still falling short of his glory.

And so when he came, he came to restore. Ephesians, Colossians chapter one verse 27. The Bible says to them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The hope of glory is Christ now in you. So when a man says for all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory, it's no longer accurate for a man that Christ is in. Because Christ is in you has now become the hope of glory. A man therefore who has received Christ has not fallen short. Are you with me? Under the old covenant, people saw the cloud resting upon the tabernacle. Under the new covenant, the believers become the tabernacle.

The believer has become the temple. The spirit does not just visit a building anymore. It dwells in the people. It dwells in the believer. Are you with me? The wonder of the new covenant is not just that God is with us. The wonder of the new covenant is that God is in us. You don't need to be a pastor before the holy spirit can warn you. You don't need to have a title before your life can reveal God. If you are genuinely born again, the spirit of God lives within you.

And the potential for manifestation already been placed inside your life. If you are genuinely born again, in first Corinthians three and verse 16, the Bible says, do you know that you are the temple and that the spirit of God dwells in you? Hear me brothers and sisters. God is everywhere by his omnipresence. That's the fourth dimension of the presence of God. His omnipresence is everywhere. Then God is also present within the believer. That's the indwelling of the holy spirit inside the believer. So God is everywhere. Is that not so?

He's in hell. He's he's in the clubhouse. He's in church. He's in the mosque. He's... Do you understand what I'm saying? God is everywhere. That's the dimension of God. He's omnipresent. It's why the psalmist says, where can I run from your presence?

If I go to the lowest of the lowest, you are there. It's called the omnipresent. Are you with me? Everywhere. You go through and you go through, it's there. It is one dimension of the operation of God, but there's also another dimension that is not just everywhere, it's now also within the believer. That's the indwelling presence of the holy spirit. He makes himself known to the believer inside the believer through the indwelling presence of the holy spirit. The third dimension of the presence of God is now when he makes himself known in a special way when believers gather in the name of Christ. The Bible says where two or three are gathered in their midst, there I am.

It is called the Emmanuel dimension. God in the midst of his people. That when two or three come together, when we come to church like this, the the dimension of God that is here, that is not in your devotion privately. Is why the Bible says, do not neglect the company of the believers. There is a dimension of God you cannot see at home. It comes only when two or three gather together. Are you with me? But there is also the manifested presence. The manifested presence of God. The moment when his invincible presence becomes recognizable through his influence, through the activity around a place.

That is the manifested presence of God. So God is in the mosque. But God is not manifesting himself in the mosque. Do you understand what I'm saying? God is everywhere. But he's not revealing himself everywhere. The fourth dimension is now when God makes himself visibly. Conspicuous in the life of a person. That is not just enduring, that we know that the holy spirit lives in a man. The man now becomes an effulgence of this fourth dimension.

That when he goes, there is a manifested presence around him that God makes himself known that I am with this one. And it becomes obvious around him. In his church, in his house, in his school, amongst his colleagues. He can be a teacher. When he goes to class and he's teaching, there can be a a a difference in his teaching. He can be a hospital doctor. He can be an engineer. It doesn't matter what he is. He can be a businessman. When he carries this presence, anywhere he goes, anywhere he enters, an activity around him that shows God is with this one.

So when God was speaking to Moses and God told Moses, my presence will be with you. What he was saying is this manifested presence. This presence that was not hide himself. This presence that was not conceal himself. He said, Because the holy spirit can live inside a believer. Is that not so? Yet the believer can grieve the holy spirit. Is that not so? The believer can resist the holy spirit. The believer can quench the holy spirit.

Can resist the influence, the promptings, and the yieldings of the holy spirit. Is that not so? Can live as though the holy ghost is not there. So the question is not whether God is present. The question is, is his presence finding expression? It is his manifested presence. Not just is he inside you, but that is he manifesting himself. Do you understand what I'm saying? So you you can say but we all have the holy ghost. It is true.

But how come you did not know before you fall into trouble? Was the voice not speaking to you? That's the manifested prayer. Do you understand what I'm saying? That that's the glory revealing himself now. That himself making himself known. So he's beyond just, I have the holy ghost. He has the holy ghost. It has not come to the presence of God is made manifest. His character is made manifest.

His wisdom is made manifest. His healing is made manifest. Do you understand what I'm saying? The manifested presence of God is recognizable. It is the recognizable influence of God through the ministry of the holy spirit. In and around a yielded life. It is recognizable. Let me start again. The presence or the manifested presence of God is the recognizable influence of God. Through the ministry of the holy spirit in and around a yielded life.

It is when the spirit of God is no longer a doctrine that you believe. It becomes a person. Person can make himself known. He can make himself known. He can reveal himself through a man. When you speak your words, carry conviction beyond grammar. He can make himself known. He can make himself known. Your counsel carries wisdom beyond your age. He can make himself known.

That is the spirit of wisdom. It's not just a doorman spirit of wisdom. Your communications reflect that you carry something on your head. When you speak in the boardroom, you speak with a depth of wisdom that shows that this one's life is different. Because when we put to work your solutions, any problem you are facing is solved. It shows there is something else about this one's life. That's the manifested glory of God. It is what you see working in the life of Daniel. Daniel did not walk in in healing and miracles. He wasn't healing the sick.

He wasn't raising the dead. Is that not so? What he was doing was functioning in the marketplace with a degree of wisdom that when the pagans saw it, they said, surely, God is with this one. This the God of Daniel is God. What did they see? That is the manifested presence of God. A revelation of himself through a man. Your presence brings peace to confuse the environments. Oh, there are individuals like that. When they they they they've they've been so wrapped into the glory of God that when they their physical aura, there is something it commands physically, their aura and atmosphere around them.

It was said of Charles G. Finney that when Charles G. Finney goes into lands and cities for crusades, he would usually move into pub houses, beer houses, places where they drink, and they will just sit down. By sitting down alone, people will start crying. People will start weeping, and they would not be able to explain what is moving them, what is provoking them in their hearts. What is... Why am I crying? Why am I weeping? Somebody henpered and they are henching, carry the presence. The holy ghost can reveal himself to the one who was henred.

Because when we talk about carriers of the glory and the presence of God, it's not a vague terminology. We are not saying people that walk around with a cloud following them. It's not vague. It's not vague. Because we pride around, every believer has the holy spirit, but we don't see him manifest in your life. We don't see him reveal himself in your life. That is the That's the difference between believers. You can have two believers. Both of them sing. One comes and sing.

Everybody claps. One comes and sing. Miracles happen. Healings happen. Yet they are singing the same song. The power is not in the song. The power is in the ability of the individual to reveal the presence of God. That's what makes us honor men. Because there's a protocol to thing. That's what makes us part, and it's not a corporate reserve for apostles, I said.

It's not a corporate reserve for apostles, I said. No. It is not. It is not. When I see believers like this, your prayer produces effects beyond what your human strength can produce. It shakes the heavens, it shakes the earth. I've seen men like that that when they begin to pray. Oh Jesus. Every believer prays. But there are men that even in their secret place, when they begin to pray.

You sinner will find it difficult to stay around them. Iniquity cannot dwell around them. Sin cannot stay around them. Impurity cannot stay around them. There is just this provocation that they have, that their atmosphere and their presence creates to sin, that nothing unholy can, can, can, can permit their presence. There are men like that. I've seen men that when they begin to pray, something in other believers start responding. As though as though their presence commands other men to pray. They they hold people's hands and they cannot stop praying. They shake somebody's hands and they say good morning sir.

How are you doing? And something, a whole government tolerizes the person that they have held. That is the manifested presence of God. Fighting expression is not a corporate result for men of God. It is not. It is not. Oh, there are believers who are rising in this place. I tell you. I tell you. I tell you.

I tell I tell you that your conduct makes the character of Jesus visible. That God can so surround and influence a believer that people can interact with you. They will encounter something in God just by interacting with you. It doesn't mean that believers are spooky. You go about your daily activities. You cannot deny that there is an aura around you. There's a presence that you carry. A presence that you carry. It makes solutions easy for you to give. When people are confused, they run to you for answers because your aura just makes everyone calm.

It does not matter what the problem is. When we come around this girl or we come around this guy, there's a way it makes you feel as though you don't have problem. It's an aura. It's a presence it carries. It's an aura. That is the life believers were called to live. After life, believers were called to live. After life, believers were called to live. In second Corinthians chapter three and verse 18, the Bible says, but we all with unveiled faces, beholding us in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. We all with unveiled faces.

Beholding us in a mirror. The glory of the Lord. We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Just as by the spirit of the Lord. It says we all, it is a pastors. It is a man of God. It is a apostles. We all. This experience is not for a secluded class of believers. We all are called to behold.

We all are called to be transformed. And as you behold the glory, the glory you behold begins to alter the person beholding it. Oh my God. It begins to alter the person beholding it. Oh yeah. Moses stood before God and eventually his face carried evidence of where he had been. His face started glowing. He didn't have to announce to anybody that he had encountered God. Something upon him testified of it. Exodus 34 and verse 29, the Bible says now it was so when Moses came down from Mount Sinai.

And the two tablet of stones were in Moses' hands. When he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone whilst it talked with him. He did not know. He did not know that his face was shining. But other people could see it. Everybody could see it. You see, this is one of the genuine evidences of the glory of God. The carrier of the glory does not need to advertise that I'm carrying the glory. When you have stayed with God, something begins to rest upon your life. You never have to announce it to men.

You might not know yourself that something has changed, but when you come out, men can testify that there is a face shining. Your reactions change. Your responses change. Your desires change. Your courage changes. Your words changes. Your priorities change. There is a weight that comes upon a man that doesn't come from the volume of his voice. It doesn't come from the cloth he wears. It doesn't come from titles.

That weight come because a man spend time with God. Because a man has beheld the glory of the Lord and has been transformed. And when that happens, people know that something has changed. They know. They know something has changed. But you are no longer the man they used to know. You are not ashamed to go to the people you used to fornicate with, to the people you used to sleep around with, the men that used to press your body and do all kind of things. You are not ashamed to tell them something has changed about my life. I came to touch and I met the glory of God. And as I beheld the glory of God, something was happening.

Even men cannot explain. Your language has changed. They call you and they say, come and sleep with us again. And you said, no, no, no. Something has changed about me. As I beheld, something was changing in my life. May somebody behold this glory. My desires have changed. My appetite has changed. Even as we build the glory, we are transformed.

Your appetite changes. Your desire changes. What you hunger after changes. What you hunger after, what you pursue after, it changes. As we behold his glory. That's what men see. That's what men see. And what it means to be a believer. And what it means to be a Christian. Something in you should be altered.

Your mentality should be altered. You are not the same guy we knew. Used to be a wrong guy, a womanizer. Someone that carries women everywhere. They know you. You are the bad boy of the school, the bad boy of the workplace. They call you the popular thug. But as you behold this glory, as you behold this glory, I should see that there's a transformation happening. I should see that you are starting to carry his glory more and more. That men can begin to see that your face is shining.

They're not comfortable with the things you used to do. You smoke around and drink around before. But now that has to change. Your presence should become the reasons why sinners are convicted. That you used to know me when I was in the world. It might even be last week. I was still in your room sleeping with you. But a man can have an encounter with God. An encounter with the glory of God. That becomes the reason why the cost of his life is altered.

An encounter with the glory of God. You wouldn't feel shame. Whatsoever. To go back to the same people. That you used to pack dung with. And tell them I no longer belong here. I no longer belong here. I am not ashamed. They will say oh, oh, oh, you are not ashamed. Verily, verily, verily I say unto you, they will start looking at your life and they say, my goodness.

This girl is not lying. In fact, some of them would even say, give her some time. She will come back. She will come back. It's not him. He will know him. He will come back. But no. No. I've said bye bye to that life because this one is not a will that I'm...

It's not it's not me trying to change. It's that I beheld the glory of God, and something within me was altered. Even me, I know something is wrong with me. I can't explain it, but something is wrong with me. My presence will go with you. That's another wonder of the presence of God. It produces rest. My presence will go with you. And I will give you rest. Another wonder of the presence.

Another wonder you've seen the life of a man walking in the presence. Rest. Israel still had a long journey ahead of them. They will still go ahead and cross difficult terrains. They still had many battles to fight. They were confronting fortified cities. They were fighting nations stronger and mightier than them. Yet the Lord said I would give you rest. Rest. Rest did not remove the war.

They will still face the war. They will still face the battles. They will still journey the journey, but rest. Perhaps the reason why there's no rest in your life Is because the manifest presence is not there. I know you have the holy spirit. Don't get me wrong. But the manifested presence is that my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Perhaps the reason why you are always anxious. When the Bible says be anxious for nothing. And you cannot bring yourself to be anxious for nothing.

You go through life with anxiety on full throttle. The Bible says, he will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on him. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives. Or you look at your life as a believer, you cannot find peace there. Perhaps the manifested presence is not yet there. God, he says my presence will go with you. Rest means that God would personally bring them through the journey and settle them securely in what he had promised to them. That is rest.

That they would labor for the outcome outcome of that labor would not depend on their strength alone. That is rest. That they would fight. But they would not fight as a people abandoned by God. That they would carry responsibility. They would work. But they wouldn't carry the crushing fear that everything that they are doing completely depends on their ability to succeed. Rest is that settled confidence that comes from knowing that God is present. God is with me. God is involved.

God is carrying this thing with me. God is carrying this load with me. What would have been too heavy for you alone to carry? Rest is knowing that God is in the midst of this journey. God is in the midst of this journey. I don't walk alone. And even as you are walking inside fire, inside water, rest inside is understanding I am not alone. I am not alone. That song says I'm not helpless. I don't walk alone.

Rest is understanding. I am not alone. Rest. That consciousness, the understanding but the consciousness that in the midst of the storm, a man knows that God is with me. That thing comes by the presence of God. The Bible makes us know that my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. When I find men who are who lack rest in their life, they are working, but you can tell babe, they they are sweating, they are laboring, there is too much effort being applied in what they are doing. And the thing wants to kill them. They are choked. It's as though they are going through life.

Life is going through them. There is no peace whatsoever. Ah, my brother, the manifest presence of God has not been revealed in your life. Rest is not the absence of work. It is freedom from anxiety. Even as you walk. It is possible to be surrounded by trouble and still possess rest. Because the presence of God has settled in your heart. You are still moving. You are still serving.

You are still building. You are still confronting opposition. But your soul is not being destroyed by the journey. Your soul is kept at peace. You are not weary. There's a mighty mountain in your front, but you are not disturbed by that mountain. You look at the mountain and know something will happen. See something? Something. You are you are not just there looking at it and there is anxiety all over.

What would I do now? What would I do now? And you know, I've seen people who are students. And the moment exams are coming, there's this unholy fear and anxiety because they have a mountain of resources to read. And you can tell this one does not know the presence of God. Ah, you don't know. If you know the presence of God, you will have mountains to read and have rest as you read. Rest as you study. Knowing fully well, God will help me. I don't know how, but he will help me.

Either he gives me strength to stay and I stay long to finish everything I have to finish, or I have direction to read only what will come out. I I just know God. And there's a settled confidence. And you are walking into the exam, all you are is a settled confidence. Rest. That is rest. You see a man who is resting in God, you will think they don't have problem. It's a lie. It's a lie. It's only a man that carries the presence.

Psalms 23 from verse one. It says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It then goes on to say, because the Lord is my shepherd. Number one, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He leads me beside the still waters.

If I find myself around muddy grounds, is the Lord still my shepherd? If everywhere I find myself, there is confusion and turbulence. Is the Lord still my shepherd? Because if he's my shepherd, he makes it clear where he's leading me. It is besides still waters. How come I found myself in the midst of confusion and trouble? At some point, at some point, something happened. He then goes on to say, he restores my soul. There is nothing that can be wrong with my soul. My soul is restored because he is my shepherd.

If there is fear in my soul, my soul is restored because he is my shepherd. If there is worry in my soul, my soul is restored because he's my shepherd. Depression in the soul, he says, he restores my soul. So I'm having suicidal thoughts. He my soul. I hear whisperings and whisperings of people telling me to kill myself. It restores my soul. Something tells me I'm not enough. I'm not enough. It restores my soul.

My mind is troubled with so many things. It restores my soul. It leads me on the path of righteousness. For his name's sake. And his ears, yeah. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Everything in this Psalm flows from the present of the shepherd. David experiences provision because the is present.

He experiences direction because the shepherd is present. He experiences restoration because the shepherd is present. He says, I am aware that there are valleys I am walking through. They call them the valley of the shadow of death. It is even though I walk through these valleys, I wouldn't pray for escape. I wouldn't say, God, deliver me. It is I will fear no evil. And my assurance is not so because I'm so gifted or so intelligent. It is for you are with me. That a man can walk through valleys carrying another atmosphere with him.

Let me tell you something I want you to believe. Securing the certainty of the presence of God and the consciousness and the influence of the presence of God is sometimes more profitable than even praying for an escape from an unclean situation. If the situation changes, but you remain far from God, you have not truly escaped. But if God meets you in the situation, restores your soul, changes your heart, gives you wisdom, teaches you his ways, you will emerge carrying something that remains even after the trouble has ended. The presence of God guarantees direction. Direction Is why I saw in my spirit the last time I saw the vision of an angle landing on the shoulders of some people. Direction. The presence of God guarantees direction. He leads me on the path of righteousness. He leads me on the path of righteousness.

Another thing that the presence of God guarantees upon a man when it settles. When he reveals himself is distinction. Distinction. Mothis asked a question. He said, he said, how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight. Except you go with us. So we shall be separate. Your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. What guarantees distinction? Is the presence of God.

What made Israel distinct was not their population, was not their military strength, was not their intelligence. What separated them from surrounding nations was the presence of God. And Moses understood that without the presence of God, Israel would become another nation attempting to survive by human strength alone. And they will fail miserably. There ought to be something about a believer's life that cannot be explained by natural advantage alone. Please, please, please, believe what I'm telling you. There has to be something about your life that that that cannot be explained by natural advantage alone. It doesn't mean that believers should become irresponsible. Believers should become careless. Believers should become passive.

No. It means that after diligence, after wisdom, after preparation, after all of these things have been acknowledged, there should be something and evidence that God is involved in your life. There should be answers that came from communion with God. There should be courage. There should be boldness. The presence of God predives transformation. We see that again and again in second Corinthians three and verse 18 that we read. Nobody beholds his glory and remain the same. When a man carries the the presence and beholds the glory, it says we are changed into the same image that the purpose of beholding is becoming. That if you spend time around God but continually become more proud, more dishonest, more arrogant, more immoral, more self centered than whatever you are calling an encounter, we should check it.

You can't care me that you have an encounter this Sunday and then you your encounter ends you again. In the same bad habits, in the same unfortunate situation and circumstances, in the same illicit relationships, in the same immoral things that you do, we should check the encounter that you had. Because if we behold his glory, we are transformed into his image. So what kind of encounter are you having that is not giving birth to transformation? Go Acts four and verse 13. I make this part one. I want to show you how a person gets to that point. When the presence becomes manifest in his life. Is not a fluke. We all, every believer can work in this.

Every believer, every believer. We all. A young man was sharing a testimony with me yesterday. As we were talking. And he told me that when he came to church, he had astigmatism of some sort in his eyes. And then mentioned about two more conditions that he had, I can't remember. And he was just sharing with me. He said, he said, he just kept on coming to church. Then all of a sudden, one day, he just remembered that wait, I used to have astigmatism. I used to...

He couldn't remember when the thing left. He just found out it had left. It's the effect of beholding. You can't behold and not become. And the implication of becoming is that the change will be happening. You yourself will not even be aware. People sometimes who are conscious, who knew where you used to be, who knew what used to happen to you, who knew your condition, would now tell you, guy, you used to be epileptical. Almost in three months now, have you... There's no month you... That that goes by that you will not have a crisis.

He said, What now happened? Wait, that's true. That's true. It's what happens when a man beholds. It's what happens when a man beholds. You see, the presence of God begins to the presence of God begins to like a magnifying glass, zoom into that individual's life. And please to check. What does not look like Eden? What does not look like God? What is not good?

What has deviated from the pattern of creation? What is not how God created it? Is it your soul? He restores my soul. Is it your body? Is it your, do you understand? Understand? That That that... That, it it begins begins to to check. Check.

And then he entered into your soul, and he finds out there there are depression is there, low self esteem is there, a weak self image is there, A wrong identity is there. Several kind of nonsense is there. Then the presence of God. Like a mother end begins to do something to that soul. As that lady begins to behold, as that young man begins to behold, exposing himself to the atmosphere of his presence. Something begins to happen. He just found out that him that used to walk like this before. He can't read his head when he's talking to people. He can't be bold and be confident and be strong. You can tell him his visage and on his countenance that he has been mentally beaten down by his upbringing.

But as he beholds, he just finds out that I can now walk straight. I can now, there's now boldness in me. I can stand before anybody and say anything. I'm not afraid of my opinions being shared. I can be bold for the gospel. I can be bold for the kingdom. In that testimony, how God blessed it, he can't come and share outside because he's thinking I might make a mistake. I mean, not when you have beheld something. When you behold this thing, you will realize that your weaknesses and limitations become becomes traded for his strength. It begins to take away what you know to be your weakness, what's not your...

To be your limitation. It begins to replace it with something else that is in himself. Now when people look at you, what they find in you is the divine. What they find in you is the divine. The guy will say, ah, enter my right an exam. I used to faint. I used to have a dream. I now have a dream. When I have that dream, I will now forget everything that you have not beheld. When you behold his glory, something about your mentality starts to change.

You know that I've I'm not a victim of whatever dream I have. We have been given a more sure word of prophecy. A more sure word of prophecy. It is the word of God that is absolute. And though you know, if the Bible says if we have the same spirit that rose from the dead, dwells in your mortal body, that spirit will quicken your mortal body. So the believer knows gradually that my mother body can be quickened. Something is happening gradually. He's beginning to discover that I'm not a forgetful person. I'm not a dull person. This is not my identity.

It's not who I am. You know this is that him that would have probably carried a book and he will not understand. He will just eat his head and say, I knew it. I all this thing. I can never understand anything. I'm just a fool. Something is changing in his disposition. He now hold the same thing, and he's not saying, I can get this thing. I can get this thing. He opens it again.

He he takes a phone and he's studying. He said, I don't understand. Let me let me find out that textbook again. So a different approach to problems he would normally face and give up because he is he's beholding something that is changing something within himself. He would not, he might not even pay attention to know that something is hidden inside you. He might not know. He will not be working. Have you advised when she crashes, child be somewhere there. And she comes and she's excited and she's looking at all of them. Have you read?

Have you done this? And she enters. And she doesn't even remember that wait, this isn't who I used to be. Has sipped away in the process of beholding the glory that she can no longer trace back when that limitation even left her. All that is there now is the presence of divinity. That's how the the businessman can also be affected. That's how the engineer can also be affected. That's how the doctor can also be affected. It does not have to do with who is a man of God and who is not. I know he's not.

Beholding us in the mirror are being transformed. Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reveal yourself tonight. Lord of miracles, Hailoroy, the one who set me all tonight. God of miracles, oh god of miracles, yeah. There is no time that I'm with you, now my life is not transformed. God of miracles, God of miracles, Let me show you a scripture and then we stop. Acts of Apostles four and verse 13. I want us to read the scripture. Loud and clear. One, two three go that they are being with Jesus.

That I have been with Jesus. That I have been with Jesus. Higher. Higher. That I have been with Jesus. That I have been with Jesus. What will men see? That will make them know that I have been with Jesus. What will men see? What will become the effulgence of his glory?

The manifestation of his spirit. That will make it more obvious that I've been with Jesus. Rise up on your feet. Been with Jesus. I've been with Jesus. I've been with Jesus oh and I've been with Jesus. Something must show. Something must give. That I've been with Jesus. There must be an evidence oh.

That I've been with Jesus. When a child with autism stays with Jesus. It should become obvious. Within a few moments that you have been with Jesus. See, somebody can always be depressed and sorrowful. And they've convinced themselves to believe that's how I am. They never smile. They never laugh. There's nothing to rejoice about. Nothing to be joyful about.

It looks as though they are always depressed, always sorrowful. Ah ah. But you've been with Jesus. You've been with Jesus. Something should change. Your countenance should be brightened. It should be brightened. It should be brightened. When a man without life comes to Jesus, something should change. When a weak man comes to Jesus, something should change.

Let the weak say I am strong. He told Paul, it is my strength. It's made perfect in your weakness. When I'm weak, I am strong. And yet my grace is sufficient for you. It should be obvious. That I've been with Jesus. Should be obvious. That I've been with Jesus. That I've been with Jesus.

It should be obvious. The prayer really is simple as you pray. Let my life carry your glory. Let my life be an importance of your power, of your wisdom. Let it be obvious I've been with Jesus. Let my life be a testament. That I've been with Jesus. You have been with Jesus. Thank you for listening. We believe you've been blessed.

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