Winter
1998
The
Manifest Presence Of God P-10
By Walter Beuttler
Those who set apart quality time to seek the Lord and in anticipation,
wait in His presence, will be given revelations and openings
in the Word, and may be blessed with movings and manifestations
of the Holy Spirit.
"The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him;
and He will show them His covenant." Psalm 25:14.
This "fear" is a worshipful reverence that moves
the heart of the Lord to make known the "treasures of
darkness." These are spiritual nuggets and principles,
which are buried beneath the "letter of the Word"
and can be known only by revelation. To be valid, there must
be a Scriptural basis for these experiences. We should not
move into areas which go beyond the text and context of the
Word of God.
"He who has My commandments, and keeps them, he it
is
that loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved of
My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
Myself to him." John 14:21.
For the Lord to <I>manifest<D>" Himself
to us means that He will make His presence known to us, through
one or more of our physical senses. The following is a Scriptural
example of this.
"For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear
a
noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise
of a great host; and they said one to another, lo, the
king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the
Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us."
II Kings 7:6.
There were no horses or chariots, but the Syrians heard sounds
as if they were there. Through this seeming "sound,"
the Lord gave the Syrians the message He intended them to
have.
I have often heard a sound that awakened me, as if the Lord
had audibly knocked on a door that was close to my ear. The
Lord was causing me to hear the sound of a knocking, which
conveyed the message that it was time to get up and wait on
Him.
The fact that this knocking can be spiritual, rather than
literal, is confirmed in the Song of Solomon.
"I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my
beloved that knocks, saying, Open to Me, My sister,
My love, My dove, My undefiled." SS 5:2a.
In Acts 2:2, another reference is made to sound.
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house
where they were sitting."
Here, the presence of the Holy Spirit was made known to those
who were gathered in the Upper Room, through the "sound"
of a rushing mighty wind. This indicated the initial coming
of the Holy Spirit to abide within the believer, which had
been promised by Jesus, and for which they were waiting.
This was the Lord "manifesting" His presence through
the medium of sound. They heard with their physical ears the
Holy Spirit come into their midst. This experience introduced
them to the personal presence of the Holy Spirit.
Hattie Hammond told me that she heard, with her natural faculty
of hearing, an entire (spiritual) orchestra playing during
a visitation. Thus, on occasion, God may manifest His presence
to us through a particular sound, which is perceivable to
our human faculty of hearing, in order to convey a message
to us.
This experience of our hearing an "indication"
of the presence, or of the purpose of the Lord, should be
a part of our spiritual experience. It will happen, or take
place when, within the judgement of God, the occasion requires
such.
Another way in which the Lord may manifest His presence to
us, is through the faculty of smell.
One time, during a move of the Spirit, a fragrance wafted
through the Chapel. It was recognized as the fragrance of
the presence of the Lord. The wife of the music director attended
this service while he stayed home with the children. When
she returned home, he asked her about the perfume she was
wearing. He was smelling the fragrance of the Lord from the
meeting, which still clung to her clothing.
We should be responsive to, but never strain after manifestations,
as they are altogether a matter of Divine discretion. The
Lord should never be told "how" He should meet us;
for the prerogative of how belongs to Him. Rather, we should
wait in His presence, open our spirits before Him, and respond
to whatever way He may move upon us in order to make His presence
known.
I believe the Lord has given these manifestations to me that
I might, as I minister throughout the world, let others know
that these personal visitations from the Lord may occur, and
then help them with their response to them.
I have been told by many that by sharing these experiences,
I have helped them to understand various movings of the Holy
Spirit which they had experienced. Once, after ministering
from Revelation, "<I>Behold, I stand at the door
and knock<D>," a lady said, "I have been awakened
many times by a sound of knocking, and once I heard my name
being spoken. I thought there was something wrong with me.
Now I understand that this was the Lord, and that I am to
respond."
"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as
of fire, and it sat upon each of them." Acts 2:3.
The Word tells us that these manifestations "appeared."
Those present actually saw something that looked like flames
of fire. Here the Lord was manifesting His presence through
the medium of sight.
"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law,
the priest of Midian ... and the angel of the LORD
appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst
of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned
with fire, and the bush was not consumed."
"And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this
great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the
LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to
him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses,
Moses. And he said, Here am I." Exodus 3:1-4.
This bush only looked as if it were burning, as it was not
consumed. This manifestation of the presence of the Lord was
used to arrest the attention of Moses. The Lord was patiently
waiting for him to notice and respond. When he did, the Lord
spoke to Him.
The Lord may use a special means to attract our attention,
and will speak to us only after we respond. This flame, which
seemingly burned, was a Divine presence that is called, "the
Angel of the Lord." The practical lesson here is the
fact that there is such a thing as a manifestation of the
Lord, which is perceivable to our human faculty of sight.
Israel had seen the presence of the Lord for forty years.
By day they saw the Shekinah Glory of the Lord as a cloud,
and by night, as the appearance of a fire. They were to follow
this manifestation of the presence of the Lord, by moving
when it moved, and staying when it stayed.
They were given these manifestations of the Divine presence
that they might learn the principles of guidance, as they
were led through the wilderness.
"Now when all the people were baptized, it came to
pass,
that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven
was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily
shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven,
which said, You are My beloved Son; in You I am well
pleased." Luke 3:21-22.
Here, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in a bodily shape,
like a dove. The Holy Spirit is a person with all the faculties
of personality. He does not have a body, but He descended
in a form that was like unto a body. He can take other forms
to reveal His presence, as in the upper room, He used cloven
tongues of fire to make Himself known. Thus, Spirit has form.
The Lord uses these varied manifestations as a means to make
Himself known to us. Experiences such as these should be the
norm for us, and not the exception.
It is important for us to understand that we are to look
past whatever means the Lord may use to make His presence
known to us, and respond to Him, as the manifestation of His
presence indicates.