JUST ONE TOUCH! Kay Keith Peebles 05/21/2021 21.20
I am forever ruined from living a “normal” life! It took just one touch of His Glory. When the Lord allows us to see, taste and feel His Glory, He places an indelible mark on our soul which we can never forget. The encounter of His Glory builds a powerful testimony which is as personal and powerful as life itself.
The Glory of God is supernatural and the natural mind cannot understand or explain it. That is why the Bible defines the experience as having miracles, signs and wonders. A miracle makes one “scratch their head” wondering how and why it happened. It is unexplainable because it defies science and logic. A sign points to Jesus who is responsible for the miracle. The only viable option is to believe with faith because one cannot reason it out in their natural mind. There will always be skeptics but true faith believes without seeing. Even though a miracle cannot fully be explained, the one who receives it and most who witness it know it happened and through that experience, they will never be the same.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is one we must accept by faith. Jesus died and was resurrected but we did not personally witness the experience. The Bible gives us the first hand testimony of His disciples and their detailed scriptural reports assure us 500 people testified of the fact. Since we did not witness it ourselves, we begin to believe in Him by faith. Our faith becomes immovable and unshakable when the word of God is confirmed through our own experiences with Him. Of the many miracles Jesus performed, some were quite remarkable such as raising the dead, cleansing lepers, delivering a man bound by thousands of demons, and using spittle to heal a man’s blindness. There were many skeptics in His day that refused to even believe the personal testimony of the one who was healed. Sadly, the same happens today but Jesus said: “Blessed are those who believe without seeing”.
My first encounter with the Glory of God was at a Women’s Aglow prayer meeting in Tampa. I was president of a local Aglow chapter and we had a weekly Bible study and prayer group. I was sitting in a winged chair listening to the Bible teaching. Suddenly I felt a weight rest upon me. It continued to become heavier, causing me to slide out of my chair and fall face down on the floor. It felt as if a lead blanket with an electrical current was covering my whole body from my head to my feet and pressing me against the floor. I knew it had to be the Lord but I didn’t want to do anything until He spoke to me. Then He quietly whispered in my ear:
“Tell everyone I want them to ‘be still and know that I am God.’” Psalm 46:10.
Just writing this story takes me back to that day and how it felt to really encounter the Presence (Glory) of God. I did not experience His Glory again until 1993 when a pastor from South Africa came to the United States to bring revival to America. His meetings were held in a church 45 minutes from my house. When I heard God was moving in revival, I had to go and see. The Presence of God was thick and tangible in the building, and the people were caught up in holy laughter as they enjoyed the Lord’s Presence. I had never encountered the joy of the Lord and I was unable to experience it personally for weeks. Years of brokenness had made me hard and guarded but each day as I came and sat in His Presence and Glory, He began to heal my heart and make it pliable again.
One day the joy finally came! I was in ecstasy. I had never known that the Lord loved us so much and that He loved being with His children. He had always seemed distant and stern to me but this joy removed a veil of religion, allowing me to see Him in a way I did not know existed.
I saw the Shekinah (Glory) cloud of God in one of those meetings and in another heard the voices of angels singing with us. How do I know? Their voices were octaves higher than a human being can sing. The cloud was like a fine mist resting around the ceiling of the church. The fear of the Lord permeated the room and the Lord gently revealed inner sin like my judgmental and critical heart. I was able to repent and give it to Him. Over the weeks much cleansing came as did victory. One day I knelt on the floor near the front by the altar, praying for the Lord to give me compassion for others. Every time I came He continued to melt my hardened heart more and more.
Anointing is different from His Glory. A person can be “anointed” with gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit but still have character flaws and sin in their life. The anointing is not a badge of purity on a person’s life. God will use anyone willing to minister to others, but to abide continually in the Glory realm it requires a surrender of a different level. In the Glory realm, the Lord reveals His character and His heart and allows us to enter into the depths of who He is little by little. At the same time, He reveals our heart with its hidden sin so that we can experience more freedom and be further surrendered to Him. It is holy, pure and awesome. His Presence forces us to decide if we want to remain living in this realm of Glory or go back to “normal” life, because it requires a deeper, more complete surrender of our lives to His Lordship.
In the Glory nothing is impossible with God! Faith for the impossible skyrockets as miracles, signs and wonders become the norm. The Glory realm affects our thinking, our emotions and our physical bodies. His presence can be so heavy one cannot stand anymore. The reality that He is God and He is among us causes us to reverence Him and do everything possible to “protect” His Presence.
Religion keeps us bound to our works but the Glory frees us to experience Him! Religion controls the atmosphere but in the Glory God is fully in control. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:10-25 we can quench and/or grieve the Holy Spirit. If we take the focus off Him and put it on ourselves, He will leave. If we continue to do so, He will leave permanently! That happened when Eli was priest. Because of his own sin and that of his sons, he lost the ability to hear the voice of God and eventually the Presence of God (Glory) left the temple. Ichobod is a Hebrew word which describes what happened when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. It means the Glory of God had departed from the House of God and from Israel. 1 Samuel Chapter 3 and 4.
The Presence (Glory) of God will remain on His people as long as they allow His weighty presence to convict them of their sin and heal them of all unrighteousness. If they begin to refuse to heed His conviction, the Lord will warn them through the voice of His prophet/s but if they reject His warning, His Presence will leave the house of God completely undetected by the people.
The Presence and Glory of God will draw a crowd but some come just to “see” yet never enter in. Others come and receive, but are never changed and fall away. They enjoy the benefits of His Presence for a short while but eventually go back to their normal life. However, there are those who will become offended when the Holy Spirit is given full freedom to move as He wills, because they have a need to be in control at all times. Still others will come, taste and see that the Lord is good, and they are no more enamored by the things of the world. Just one touch of His Glory and they will never be the same again!
The Glory of the Lord is a touch of heaven on earth. However, if we choose to abide in His Presence, the fullness of the Kingdom of God will fill us and pour through us wherever we go. It will impact all those around us and even permeate the atmosphere touching our neighborhood, cities and yes, even nations! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. Everything within the Word of God is not only true, it is available for all who believe. The Gospel becomes a reality in the Presence and Glory of God. We can all enter into everything we are to become by abiding in His Presence continually! It is not a pipe dream, a fairy tale or unattainable. All becomes manifest in the Glory realm of God.
Many fall away from the faith because there is no Glory in the house of God. Many give up hoping because the Presence of the King and His authority is not allowed to manifest change in the church. If the people in His house don’t change there is not hope for the church to impact the world to change.
I am finally beginning to understand the scripture: “For I tell you the truth, throughout history there has never been a man who surpasses John the Baptizer. Yet the least of those who now experience heaven’s kingdom realm will become even greater than he. From the moment John stepped onto the scene until now, the realm of heaven’s kingdom is bursting forth, and passionate people have taken hold of its power.” Matthew 11:11-12. The Passion Translation.
True faith should translate into action. Miracle working power comes from people who abide in His Presence. Bill Johnson, of Bethel Church in California, describes his ministry’s mission: “We look for broken people, broken situations and/or challenging opportunities to believe God for the impossible.” The Presence of God gives us a touch of His Glory so that we can become who He created us to be and do the impossible things He did to demonstrate the love of God to a broken world. It takes Just One Touch!
