Recently at a prayer meeting held at my church in Kansas, we had several prophecies come forth regarding Isa 43. The Lord gave three of us the same Scripture with various applications. To sum it up, and give application to my homeland of Scotland, the Lord spoke and identified the church today as the people of Isa 43. These are His people coming out of exile and heading back to Jerusalem. He is the one that gives water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 

 There is no doubt that the church in the West right now is a spiritual wilderness, a dry desert indeed. Yet a reformation is coming. Not a revival. God is getting ready to sweep away all that has become “established.” There will be a new found awe and reverence, a Holy heaviness if you like.

We will capture again something of His majesty, His “awefulness,” meaning full of awe. This “cheap,” god that we currently worship will be no more. The Church is only as great as its perception of God. This missing “shekinah,” will be restored.

Shekinah means “the presence of God visible.” God has spoken to me several times this year in regard to His manifest presence and many of the posts will be what the Lord has given me. There is a unity coming, not an ecumenical unity, a unity of believers who will band together for a common purpose. The purpose is to defeat the forces of darkness.This of course would be a dramatic shift, a reformation indeed. It will only proceed forth from the presence, the manifest presence of God. We, as a the Church, do not deserve this. We look as worldly as the exiles coming out of Babylon. Yet we are a Covenant people and He will do it not because we deserve it but because he loves us and understands our frailty.

If Christians would passover into the promised land, into the most intimate chambers, they must be abandoned to the battle. It is time for the Church of Christ to arise and set their sights on entering into the manifest presence of God. They must be willing to lay down their lives, die to themselves and all of their fears if they are to enter that place where they will be engulfed in the flames of Shekinah glory. This is a higher place than miracles, although miracles will follow in the path of this new generation, but as an unintended consequence of the outflowing of Gods presence. Like a mighty incoming tide the warriors will be swept into His presence. And as with every tide that flows in, it will flow out. And as we flow out on a tide of majestic reverence then we will take a portion of that glory back into the darkness of the world, a world that the Lord so loves.

Right now, the “Church,’ is in a similar situation to those Israelites of Ezra’a period. We have joined ourselves to the world, and we have lost our distinctiveness. It is no surprise that the world cannot tell us apart from them. In 9:12 The Holy Spirit speaks prophetically through the priest and says “Now therefore, do not give your daughters as wives for their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.”

We, as the church here on earth have given our children, sons and daughters in marriage to the world. We have sought peace by giving up our principles and turning from the word of God. We have sought prosperity and the things of the world and we are not strong. We are entering into the days of the Lords indignation. God says to us in Ezekiel 22:24″ You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey, they have devoured people:26: Her priests have violated My law and profaned My Holy things, they have not distinguished between the holy and the unholy.27: ” Her leaders are like wolves tearing the prey ………to get dishonest gain.”

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

We can “know,” the love of Christ which passes knowledge. How can one “know,” that which is beyond knowledge? And not only know this God, but we may be filled with all His fullness!!!!! What?

Yet here the Scriptures are telling us that we can know this remarkable mystery, that we might be filled by the fullness of God, a fullness that all the universes that exist cannot contain for He contains them. This is a remarkable promise from God to His people. He will allow Himself to be known. 

 Are you ready to only get your joy from Him? That all your contentment flows from Him? That all of your peace flows from Him. There is a revolution coming, a reformation of His church is coming and the Lord will be doing some separating and it will be the call that will separate us. He never compels any of us to do anything, He calls. Are you at a place that you are willing to lose everything for Him? Your job? Your reputation? All that gives you pleasure? Your pride? Your ego? Your place in society? Your place in the church?

I have come to a point in my own life where if I cant move forward in His presence then I just want Him to take me home.I have seen and walked in the futility of “life,”(as a Christian mind you) and there is nothing in this life that I want. I prayed the Moses prayer and told the Lord that the only way I want to move forward is if He is with me. I fast every week and I do it for selfish reasons, to come into His presence.

I think it all boils down to being in His presence or seeking His presence. I think that should be our permanent state. I know that sounds too simple, but I believe that this is the essence of our lives in Christ. I think that as a church we should always be seeking to come into His presence, it should be foremost in everything we do.

For God is not powerful, He is power. God does not have authority, He is authority. If I am in Him, in His presence, then I am moving and abiding in power and authority, it automatically comes with being in His presence.

In His presence I am changed, In His presence I have fullness of Joy, In His presence mysteries are revealed, In His presence I am healed, In His presence, offenses melt away like wax, In His presence I experience eternity, In His presence is the essence of Hope, In His presence I dwell in power, In His presence the crossed wires of my dysfunctional life are uncrossed. In His presence I forgive. In His presence I forget. In His presence I count my brother and sister in Christ higher than I count myself. And of course, in His presence there is fullness of Joy. And since I am still in the flesh, in His presence I abide under the shadow of His wings, and even that shadow is brighter than a thousand suns.

And when I necessarily come out of that presence(oh that I would dwell there forever) then I take a small portion with me, a portion of change, a portion of joy, a sense of His mystery, a portion of healing, I love more than I am offended because I care less about myself,my hope is increased, my knowledge of eternity and the eternal destination of my soul is greater, and I am less dysfunctional and more like Him. Then I pass on a small part of that to those I encounter and God is glorified . And I am encouraged and I begin again to hunger and thirst for that place and attempt to do whatever to come into that place again. I am totally addicted to the presence of God and it is my one and only motivation to even live.

Every problem will melt like wax in the presence of the Lord. Its not that we will be problem free, its that our problems will pale in comparison to His presence, as Paul would say “Our light and momentary afflictions,” will seem very small as we move in the vision of the eternal. The Church is only effective in relation to its perception of God. We , as a community in general, have been worshipping a weak and anemic God.

Yet just one-second in His manifest presence blows that perception out of the water, that is why this coming move, this Reformation, is a reformation of our very walk with Him. Ego’s will have no place in this new move. There will be no powerful personalities in this new move, there will just be servants who the Lord will use to usher His people into His presence and in His presence we will only be conscious of Him and Him alone. And when we come out of that presence and go back into the world then we will glow, just as Moses did glow and the people who dwell in the darkness of this world will see a city set on a hill and they will be drawn to that, the light of Christ, the light of the world.