Spring
1995
The Importance of The Manifest
Presence of God
Walter Beuttler
Several years ago, the Lord asked me to shut myself in with
Him. I found a place where I could be totally alone with the
Lord in fasting and prayer.
Sunday afternoon, I realized that I had spent 48 hours in
prayer, fasting, and seeking the Lord with no results. I had
neither felt or received anything, nor was I aware of His
presence. I knew the Lord wanted to speak, but He did not
do so.
Then I said within my heart, "It takes God a long time
to speak." No sooner had I said this, than the Lord spoke
to me in a voice that was as clear as a bell and as sharp
as a razor. This was a voice which was not audible, but a
voice that I heard, "To hurry God is to find fault with
Him."
The Lord said I was criticizing Him because I thought He
was too slow. I apologized and asked Him to forgive me. As
soon as I did this, the Lord walked through the door into
the room where I had been waiting upon Him. I did not see
nor hear Him, but it was so real that sight could not have
made it any more real. The Lord walked in, and behind followed
His presence, which was as a Royal Dignitary walking to His
Throne with a long robe following which spread throughout
the entire room.
The Lord came and stood to my left, approximately an arm's
length away and stayed there for four hours. During this time,
He taught me from His Word on the subject of "Knowing
God." I was given a Scripture, which I found and read.
Then it would marvelously unfold so I could see its beauty,
depth, and purpose.
The next summer, I was in Bangkok, Thailand. As I walked
along the street, to my great delight, I saw a lotus bud lying
on the side of the road. I picked it up, pulled the petals
back and delighted myself at the beautiful arrangement of
the lotus within.
This was as the Lord did, as He marvelously unfolded His
Word in all its beauty and fullness. Our knowing Him is very
near to the heart of God. This is a "knowing" that
includes the knowledge and personal experience of the manifest
presence of God.
At six o'clock, the Lord turned, faced the door and said,
"And the Lord left him to try him." With that, His
presence collected from all over the room and followed Him
as He left the room.
This four hours of personal teaching from a personal Christ
on the true knowledge of God was beyond anything I could have
anticipated. I did not know that later He would send me into
more than one hundred countries to share what I had learned
during this time.
In sharing the experience that followed this time of visitation
from the Lord, I am very carefully choosing each word. This
is the absolute unembroidered truth, recounted as accurately
as I know how.
The Lord had said that He "left him to try him."
In school, we teach and then give a test. I thought that since
the Lord had been teaching me, He would test me on what I
had learned. I waited, but nothing happened, so I thought
I would go to bed. It was only eight o'clock, but I had slept
very little since Friday.
Then Satan walked through the door into the room, as if the
door had not been there. I was standing by the bed and recognized
him at once. He entered precisely as the Lord had entered,
and stood where the Lord had stood. Behind him followed a
satanic presence like a regal robe of some sovereign, which
spread throughout the entire room exactly as the Lord's presence
had done. I was not aware that I had any fear as Satan spoke.
His voice was not audible, yet it was a clear distinct voice
that I heard.
He said, "the Lord did not visit you." I answered
out loud, "yes, He did." Next, he said, "the
Bible is not the Word of God." I responded, "yes
it is." Then he said, "the Lord did not teach you,"
and I replied, "yes He did." Following this exchange,
he said, "why don't you deny God." I said, "why
should I?" He responded, "because God is not a real
God," and I said, "I know He is real." Then
he said, "you are not saved," and I said, "I
know I am saved."
After this, he said, "you are praying too much,"
and I said, "no I am not." Then even stronger, he
said, "you will lose your mind because you are praying
too much," and I answered, "I am not praying too
much, and I will not lose my mind."
This went on for some time while I stood by the bed. Then
it seemed as if the room began to turn and I was in the center
of a merry-go-round that went faster and faster. Then he said,
"see, you are loosing your mind." I said, "no,
this is only an illusion, nothing is moving, you are trying
to deceive me and make me think the room is moving when it
is not."
This was a very serious matter, as I began to see triangles,
circles, squares, trees, rocks, and mountains, as everything
moved around in the room. Then he again said, "are you
ready to deny God," and I said, "no, I will never
be ready."
I firmly held my ground as he attempted to cause me to deny
all that the Lord had taught me. Then he turned and went out
through the door. As he did, the whole satanic presence collected,
and followed him like a regal robe out of the room, and I
was again with the Lord.
I noticed that it was now ten o'clock and thought I would
now go to bed. Then Satan walked in the second time and stood
where he had been, and again his presence followed him and
filled the room. This time, everything seemed to be much stronger.
We went through the whole thing again with one difference,
there was a tremendous power that came from him. When he spoke,
"are you ready to give up?" it came with an authority
that was frightening.
I noticed that I was weakening. I could tell that my answers
were no longer as resolute as they had been. He kept hammering
away to cause me to give in, and I resisted until I had no
more will to resist. Finally, I said within myself, "I
can resist no longer," and threw myself on the bed, seemingly
in defeat.
Just as I struck the bed, I felt something stir within me.
I knew it was the presence of the Holy Spirit. I now concentrated
on this presence that was inside of me. Satan was still there,
but I ignored him and concentrated on this presence of the
Lord. As I did this, the presence began to slowly expand and
sing. It was not me that sang, but the Holy Spirit within
me. I clearly heard Him sing the chorus, "Isn't He wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful, isn't Jesus my Lord wonderful."
As the Holy Spirit continued to sing, His presence became
larger and stronger. I listened, and presumably the devil
listened also, but said nothing. I was occupied with what
was going on inside of me. Finally, His presence reached my
throat and I joined in and sang with Him. Satan still had
nothing to say as I sang out loud while the Holy Spirit sang
within me.
Then the Holy Spirit stopped, and I waited. He (the Holy
Spirit) spoke and said, "When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, then the Spirit shall raise an arm in defense
against him." With that, Satan turned and quickly left,
and the glory of the Lord filled the entire room. The Holy
Spirit came to my defense at the very moment I had become
too weak to resist. Now it was midnight. The next day, I returned
home.
You may wonder, why did this happen? For four hours, the
Lord had been teaching me things about the knowledge of God
and about His personalized manifest presence. The enemy sought
to destroy the very thing the Lord had given me. The one thing
the devil hates is for us to personally know God. He does
not want the Lord's people to experience the personal manifest
presence of God in their lives.
I believe the reason the devil tried so hard to defeat me
is due to the vital importance of this message concerning
our personally knowing the Lord, and the reality of His manifest
presence.