Winter 1995
Preparation for Visitation
Nancy Taylor Warner

"Then I was by Him, one brought up and I was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him" Prov 8:30

"And he carried me away in the spirit..." Rev 21:10

The key to our being able to "walk in the spirit" is the time we spend "waiting upon the Lord." Ask yourself, how much time do I spend each day waiting in His presence? There is a marvelous benefit to setting apart time to meet with Him.

A number of years ago, I visited those whose lives revealed an evident spiritual quality and anointing, to ask how they received it. I found that each had one thing in common, they spent much time waiting upon the Lord.

Waiting upon the Lord is a time of worshipful quietness before Him in which we become receptive to the Spirit of God. It is not a time in which we make our requests known, or become passive; but one of expectation in which we actively wait to be filled with His presence and fellowship with Him.

In our meetings, we are experiencing "touches" of visitation. As this Holy Spirit "rain" begins to fall, His presence descends. The degree to which we receive depends on the preparedness of our hearts. A part of this is the quality time we set apart to wait upon the Lord.

We should not wait upon the Lord so we might have a glorious experience. Rather, it is to become quiet and sensitive to His presence where we begin to hear His voice. Once we begin to hear, He will lead us according to His purpose to accomplish His will in and through us, and then we may receive our glorious experience.

"It is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body" I Cor 15:44a.

As we continue to wait, there will be a progressive dying of our flesh to all the voices of our natural mind, and a subsequent birthing of the mind of Christ with His thought and His purpose. We should cultivate this practice of waiting upon Him in our daily life experience until we are no longer governed or controlled by the demands of the natural realm. As we do this, we will become more sensitive and our ear will become more and more tuned to the voice of the Lord.

"For since the beginning of the world men have not
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the
eye seen, O God, beside thee, what He hath prepared
for him that waiteth for Him" Isa 64:4.

There is a place prepared by God Himself for those who will wait upon Him. As we enter this set apart place, we will renew our strength and ascend into this special place that has been prepared for us.

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the
young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait
upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles" Isa 40:30-31a.

It is here that we will begin to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom. There will be a realignment of our lives. Our priorities will change from the natural to the spiritual. Our spiritual senses will be energized by His presence and restored to respond to His purposes.

The Lord had said to Israel,

"And I will dwell among the children of Israel,
and will be their God" Exodus 29:45.

Later, the children of Israel grieved the Lord. Because of this, He said to Moses as he was being prepared to lead Israel into Canaan, "Depart and go ... and I will send My Angel before you ... to a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in your midst, ... for you are a stiff-necked people" Exodus 33:1-3 NKJ.

Moses desired something more than merely coming into a land that flowed with milk and honey. He desired the Lord Himself to lead. Therefore, he took the tabernacle, pitched it without the camp and prayed, "Show me now Your way, that I may know You, and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people" Exodus 33:13b NKJ. As a result of the expression of his desire, the Lord responded and said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" Exodus 33:14 NKJ.

Then Moses said, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here" Exodus 33:15 NKJ. In other words, Moses said, I do not want just the blessings, I desire your presence in our midst, in the very center of what we are doing.

Moses clearly expressed the principle that the abiding presence of the Lord's "manifest presence" is an indication and sign of who His people are.

"For how then will it be known that Your people
and I have found grace in Your sight, except
You go with us? So shall we be separate, Your
people and I, from all the people who are upon
the face of the earth" Exodus 33:16 NKJ.

The Lord responded to this desire of Moses for His presence and said to him, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken: for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name" Exodus 33:17 NKJ.

This desire of Moses for the presence of the Lord has become very personal and real to me, for there was a time when I prayed, "Lord, there are many who are gifted in preaching, and there are those who have healing and prophetic ministries; but if ever I am involved in ministry, may it be Your presence that marks this ministry."

Moses not only desired the abiding of the presence of the Lord to be with Israel, but he coveted a personal knowledge of the presence of the Lord. Therefore, he asked to personally experience God's presence.

"I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory" Exodus 33:18.

The Lord answered, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy" Exodus 33:18. Hidden within the heart of God, for those alone who seek Him, are innumerable treasures.

Then the Lord said to Moses,

"Behold, there is A PLACE by Me, and thou shalt
stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass,
while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee
in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with
my hand while I pass by: and I will take away
mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but
my face shall not be seen" Exodus 33:21-23.

As Moses spent time in the presence of the Lord, the glory that came upon him became so glorious that the people would not look upon him, and he had to cover his face. Yet the Word tells us that the glory which we have is even more glorious.

In Joel, the Lord tells us that He will restore to us the former and the latter rain. This includes the glory of the old covenant, but more glorious, the restoration of new covenant glory which is yet to be fully released unto the people of God.

We are being changed from one level of glory to a higher level of glory. As the presence of the Lord is increasingly made more manifest, it will create a hunger within us that will bring us to that same "place by Me" that Moses experienced.

A mirror can reflect light into another mirror, which can reflect into yet another mirror. There can be a reflection of reflected light. We may be birthed from a certain ministry and even flow in the same anointing, and echo the same teachings, but unless we personally have cultivated the presence of God by spending time waiting on the Lord, we will simply be reflecting reflected light, a dimmed reflection of the glory of the Lord.
We are to reflect His glory in all of His brilliance. When Moses spent time in the presence of the Lord, the glory became so glorious that he was asked to cover his face. This intensity of glory resulted from his being in the presence of God for a prolonged time.

We can reflect a certain truth because we sat under an anointed ministry, or we can choose to go a step farther and come into the presence of the Lord Himself and receive a deposit of God Himself into our spirits.

Anointed teaching will help to bring us into this if we do not settle for the lesser and become satisfied with the teaching, without entering into the relationship from which the teaching came. It should be as a spring board that lifts us into this "place by Him" where something is being deposited into our being.

"When the day of Pentecost was fully come ..." Acts 2:1.

We are experiencing touches of visitation, but when the day of visitation has fully come and we are all in one accord in one place, suddenly there will come a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it will fill all the house.

This should be our expectancy as we continue to intercede for the presence of the Lord, and passionately desire His glory in our midst.