Do You Really Want My Glory To Come?

"Lord, Show us your Glory! Pour our Your Spirit on your sons and daughters!"

If you have been around the prayer movement any length of time or are interested in revival, spiritual break through or evangelism you have probably prayed a prayer similar to the one above. They are simple words, that when answered, have the power to transform entire cities, regions and nations. But have we ever stopped to consider what we are actually asking for?

The other night during a regional prayer meeting as we began praying this prayer, God suddenly responded to our intercession in an unexpected way. How did He respond? He asked us a question:

"Do you really want My Glory to come?"

The immediate answer in our hearts was "Yes, of course we want Your glory to come!!". We want to see our region impacted with a revelation of Jesus. We want to see people healed, power on the preaching of the word, breakthroughs in evangelism and experiencing really awesome times of worship! Yes Lord, we want Your Glory to come!

He continued to ask the question. 

"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
"Everything's going to change! Everything's going to change!"
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"


As the question kept being repeated, the reality of what we were asking for began to sink into my heart and I realized that it was so much greater then I had every truly considered.

I began to realize that my idea of His Glory coming largely entailed what my friend Brian describes as "Church on Steroids". It's essentially Church exactly the way we know it now, except for the fact that the worship time is now totally awesome, the message finally rocks and when we pray for people at the end of the service we actually experience some sort of Holy Spirit manifestation (even if they don't get healed, delivered or transformed).

The problem with that picture is this; it assumes that everything we are doing right now is totally sanctified and submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It assumes that our lives, programs and methods of doing church are perfect and all that we lack is a bit of Holy Spirit power to take them over the top! It says to the heavenly hosts; "We're all good! We just need a bit of energy on this thing!!".

But what will really happen when God pours out His Spirit upon us? Will it simply make everything we're already doing a lot more enjoyable? Or is there something that we are missing?

The more I pondered this question, the more I began to see things differently. The more I realized that everything would change. Not merely because God is itching to do something "new", but because His presence would require that everything change! For God is Holy and in Him there is no darkness at all! (1 John 1:5). That means that everything that is now contaminated by compromise would need to experience instant and radical purification in order for it to remain, or else it would come to it's ultimate demise!

Oh, How we dream of living in the "Acts 2 Reality"! We want the buildings to shake! We want to see tongues of fire!! We want to experience the thrill of seeing thousands saved in a day!!! We want to walk down the street and have the lame healed by the passing of our shadow!(Acts 19)

But what about the ramifications of such encounters?

What about the dramatic increase in the need for radical holiness? "Be Holy for I am Holy". God is Holy, and where His presence dwells there is nothing but holiness. Consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), who fell to the ground dead because they told a single lie! That too is the Acts 2 reality!! God's presence always produces radical holiness (whether we want it or not). Are we ready to encounter such holiness? Are we ready to lose all of the things that we currently cherish which God considers items of compromise?

You see, right now we don't feel a lot of urgency in the area of holiness, but when His Glory comes, those days of saying "It's a process" and being slow to obey will go by the wayside. His Glory will come and will demand that anything that will remain in His presence be Holy.

And what about other Acts 2 Realities?

Who is going to baptize the 3,000 new converts that come into the Kingdom in a day? Based upon the way we do baptism now, with pre-baptism classes, public testimonies and submersing each candidate individually (in front of their friends and family), that process alone would take well over 13 DAYS to complete! By the time we would be finished baptizing the converts from the first day of God's presence being poured out we could potentially have a backlog of 39,000 people waiting to be baptized!

But wait, there's more!

Who's going to do the ongoing discipleship required of these new converts? Who will train them up in the basic understanding of the Word, prayer, communion, confession, repentance and the gifts of the Holy Spirit? We could easily see 250 small groups be formed within a single day. We can't expect our Pastors to handle such a workload. So that means you and I will have to become teachers, preachers and bible study leaders overnight. And don't kid yourself, you're not going to be walking them through the latest best-selling Bible study manual bought through your local Bible Bookshop. It will most likely be you, a bible and two dozen hungry new believers crammed into your living room - no worksheets, lots of questions and plenty of spiritual activity (both Good and Evil).

Paul, before he left on one of his missionary journeys led a bible study that lasted all night (and was broken up in the middle because someone needed to be raised from the dead after falling asleep (Acts 20). Are we ready for that to aspect of His Glory coming?

And what about this spiritual warfare? What about healing, deliverance and miracles? Who is going to do the prayer ministry for all of the sick people who are suddenly lining up outside of our churches, homes and places of employment? It won't just happen in a flash, it will most likely take real people praying for other real people. I'm sure the Lord will provide angelic messengers and supernatural encounters, but we will still be the main graceforce in this outpouring.

And what about when our long day of ministering is done? Am I prepared for my neighbor to show up at 3 am with his sick daughter because he heard that when I pray for people Jesus comes with power to heal?

Who's going to dispose of all of the unneeded medical equipment? The drugs and corresponding paraphernalia?  How about the mountains of pornographic magazines, DVD's, alcohol and other substances that start piling up outside of our homes, churches and stadiums?

And then the persecution will come! The enemy will begin to openly hate us (Matt 24:9), stirring up the hearts of wicked men against those who profess the name of Jesus. We will be put in prison (Acts 12). We will be beaten (Acts 16). We will have people attempt to kill us (Acts 21), and sometimes they will succeed (Acts 7).

These are all part of what happens when God's Glory comes upon His people with power! This is included in the fullness of the Acts 2 reality. This is what we are really praying for!

Rest assures, there will also be much rejoicing! It will be a time of great joy, celebration and pleasure as we experience a foretaste of what it will be like when Jesus rules the earth from Jerusalem. Yes, we will have exceedingly great revelation of the beauty and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His name will begin to receive the glory that it is due! True worship will be in abundance as the glory of the Lord is revealed on the earth.

What I have envisioned here is merely a glimpse of what will happen when the Lord pours out His Spirit upon us and a more complete picture of what we have actually been asking God to do. So let us not be shortsighted in what we are asking. His Glory will do more than bring a bit of "fire" upon our regular weekly meetings. It will come like an all-consuming fire that purifies everything within His presence.

Will it cost us? Yes, but only the things we didn't really need.
Will it be worth it? Absolutely!

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)

So join with me, and many others, in lifting up this cry before our Father:

"Lord, let Your Glory fall upon us! Amen."

-

Jon