My search for Glory

But I must say the real reason for my disillusionment is that I’ve been ruined by His presence. Isaiah said it, so I can say it! “I am undone.” The Hebrew word there means “ruined”. One encounter with Him ruins your appetite for encounters with man. Worship leaders also learn how to elevate the soul with the anointing upon their gifts, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. But I sometimes wonder what happened to the true worship leaders whose sole purpose is to lead God’s people into His presence for His sake?

The anointing can easily draw a big crowd, but the problem with those type of man meetings is that you can curry the favour of men without ever seeking the favour of God. There is a better way, and Jesus demonstrated it with His life. The Bible says that Jesus grew in favour with both God and man. And He always, always, always put God first.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus single focus was to hear what the Father was saying and say it and to see what the Father was doing and do it. That is why Jesus, and the ministers who have followed in His footsteps, never worried about drawing big crowds. If you know God and please Him through total obedience, hunger for Him will bring the crowds to you. What would happen to our meetings if we did that? I can guarantee you that they certainly would be different from what they are now.

I am afraid that most of our carefully orchestrated church services and revival meetings would go along just fine without God’s help, approval, or appearance. Judging by the fruit of some of our endless meetings, they have already been functioning that way for a long time. What a sad commentary. It’s a statement on our low hunger level that we would be satisfied with less of God than He wants us to experience.

PROMISING WHAT YOU CAN'T DELIVER
We have practiced and perfected the art of entertaining man, but along the way we have lost the art of entertaining God. Sometimes we get so involved in attracting man with one outstretched arm that we lose the desire and the ability to attract God with the other. When you can pull men toward you but you can’t get God to come close anymore, the temptation is to keep promising Him though you can’t deliver Him.

Time and again we gather large crowds of people under a plastic banner that proclaims “Revival!” Then we become like some perpetual late night TV co-host of the church scene, saying “Here’s God!” With practiced voice inflection and hand flourishes we invite and announce Him - only we have no place for Him to sit. In our drive to please men we forget to please God. There’s no mercy seat!

So He never really quite shows up. He just peeps out from behind the curtains (or the lattice as Solomon said) releasing just enough of His anointing to let you know He’s there, but not enough to have a Damascus Road Encounter that utterly changes you.

Part of the problem is our habit of misusing terminology to artificially raise the expectations of people. We perpetually over-promise and under produce. As I’ve said before, if someone says, “The glory of God is here” from an upright position, you may have my permission to question the validity of the comment. We are guilty of hyping trickles into torrents - but only in our vain imaginations. When people from the world walk in, they say “It’s nice in here. It feels peaceful. Good, it is God. There’s no doubt about it, it’s God…but how much of God?” and they walk out.

ONLY HIS FACE CAN SATISFY
We promise God’s glory, but often at best we give a limited measure of God’s anointing. God’s anointing was never meant to satisfy the hunger of our souls. The anointing and the gifts empowered by it are simply tools to assist, enable, encourage, and point us back to their Source. Only God Himself can satisfy the hunger He placed within us. His hand can supply our needs, but only His face can satisfy our deepest longings. As we look upon His face, we are brought into union with our destiny, and we enjoy the favour of His loving gaze and the incomparable kiss of His lips.

There is a big difference between encountering the anointing of God and encountering His glory. I’m not really interested in the anointing anymore - not when it is compared to the glory of His manifest presence. I say that because it is the only way I know to help people understand the dramatic difference between the anointing and the glory of God.

The anointing of God in all its various forms has a valid purpose in His plans and purposes. The problem is that we have become so addicted to the way the anointing makes us feel that we’ve turned our eyes and hearts away from the glory of God’s face to get more of the anointing in His hands.

SPIRITUAL PORNOGRAPHY
We would often rather be vicariously thrilled by God’s touch on someone else’s life than pursue it on our own. Or, if we are in ministry, we can become addicted to people’s infatuation with us because of the anointing. It feels so good to stand in the flow.

Addiction turns even the strongest anointing into a cheap thrill. At its worst, a preachers uncontrollable craving to minister under the anointing - and a believers driving compulsion to receive ministry under the anointing - becomes a form of “spiritual pornography.” As in the physical variety of this compulsion, “spiritual pornographers” want to get their thrills by observing the intimacy experienced by others rather than shouldering the responsibility of relationship with God.

PROSTITUTING THE ANOINTING
The primary purpose of the anointing in both the Old and New Testaments was to separate things and people and make them acceptable to God. Unfortunately, we tend to prostitute the anointing because we want to smell good for everybody else.

The purpose of the anointing is to bring God and man together in holy communion. Moses knew the difference between the anointing and the glory. He had the anointing of God. He knew the thrill of working miracles and signs and wonders through the anointing. Moses had a good thing, but he asked God for the best thing. He said “Please, show me Your glory.”

I must admit, I feel the same way Moses did (although I won’t compare my ministry to his). The evidence of God’s power in the anointing isn’t enough anymore. I want Him. I long to see His glory and dwell in His manifest presence more than I long for the blessings of His hands.

Don’t make the mistake of prostituting the anointing to pursue man so your church will grow. Just say “I care more for His presence than His presents. I elevate ‘glory’ above growth.” No, that is not heresy. My Bible doesn’t contain a single instance of God acting worried about the size of His Church. If things go right, you don’t have to worry about your church growing. Just get serious about pursuing Him. Perfume yourself with the anointing and enter into such heated worship toward Him that you don’t care who is there and who is not.

Set your sights on the goal of breaking open the heavens to behold His glory over your city and nation. It is easy to mark the churches that have learned how to focus anointing vertically for God’s favour instead of horizontally toward men.

Just look for the glory filled footprints of God leading you to their door. They have had a visitation.
Materials from God's Favourite House copyright 2000. Used by permission of Destiny Image Publishers, 167 Walnut Bottom Road, Shippensburg, PA 17257, USA.

Tommy Tenney is founder of the GodChasers.network and has been used to both spark and fuel the fires of revival
Email - GodChaser@GodChasers.net Web - www.GodChasers.net