The earth became an empty formless waste and darkness covered the surface of the depths. The Spirit of God brooded over the waters and God said, let there be light. There was light.

Exodus 16 verse 10, while Aaron was speaking to the whole assembly of the descendants of Israel, they looked toward the desert and the glory of the Lord Yahweh appeared in the cloud. Finally Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1, stand up and shine for your light has come. The glory of the Lord Yahweh has risen up to appear on you.

I want to speak today about the glory of God and understanding the glory of God. It's a huge subject and the scriptures are full of it. Starting from Genesis 1 all the way through to Revelation and yet so few people fully understand it.

So few people have grasped what it's about and so few people have experienced it. Yet God intends each one of us to know his glory and to walk in it. Now everything about God is light.

There is no darkness in him and that is why the very first thing that God created was light. Now when you think of the word glory, there is another meaning when we think of it as a verb where to glory or to glorify means to lift up or to exalt. But that's not what we're speaking about.

Glory is radiance, light. It's the very nature of God. When God appears there's always a bright shining light because he has no darkness in him.

Well why do we need to understand the glory of God? I'll tell you why because our lives are full of darkness. We need his glory to overcome that darkness. You see our lives have become darkened firstly through sin.

The moment we sin we begin to lose the lights of the glory of God and sin creeps in so suddenly without us realizing it and before you know it things are starting to not be so bright anymore. The lights begin to get dim. Have you noticed it sometimes takes you a while to notice when the lights get dim? You know we have in our lounge several of these little light bulbs fitting into a chandelier and you know if one of them fuses you don't really notice it immediately.

It's just a feeling that something's different. Then the second one goes. You begin to think, man why does it feel so different in this lounge? And then the third one goes and we walk in we say why doesn't somebody switch on the light and it's so dull in here.

I can hardly see you. See sinners like that. It begins to creep in and it steals the light and you know it's so subtle at first we don't even notice it.

When we finally notice it the lights are already going out. We're already starting to walk in darkness and then we need something. We need the light and then we want to come run to the Lord and say oh Lord, Lord, why is everything wrong in my life? Lord why am I not walking in joy and happiness and blessing anymore? Because the darkness of sin has crept into your life.

We're also attacked by the realm of darkness which is the realm of satan. See satan has no light in him. He's the total opposite of the kingdom of God and the bible speaks of the kingdom or the realm of darkness and the kingdom of lights which is God's realm.

Now what happens when we experience all this darkness? The first thing you lose is your joy. So I haven't lost my joy. I look in the mirror.

What's the last time you smiled? I'm not saying on purpose. Everybody can hold their teeth like this you know. When's the last time that smile came spontaneously and naturally out of you? Where joy just bubbled out? Where people say to you, well you seem to really be joyful.

What's happening in your life? Is that your testimony? Or is your testimony, why are you so glum? Everything gone wrong? Did something happen? It steals your joy. And then it steals your health as well. Our emotions can have such a bad effect on our health and with satan already attacking us with spirits of infirmity before you know it, you've not only lost your joy but you're not feeling so good physically anymore either.

Somehow you don't have the strength to fight the attack that is launched against your body every day. All the diseases and germs and viruses that are all around us. To sum it all up, we are robbed of the blessing of God.

See that's why you need God's glory. Because you need the light of the radiance of his glory to dispel the darkness that has come into your life. Whether it be from your own failure and sin, whether it be from the attack of the enemy, whether it be from the things that people have said and done to you, darkness has entered and you need the light of his radiance.

Because when light shines, darkness flees. As you know we do, we scramble around and try and take the darkness out. How many bags of darkness do you need to take out of a room to make it light? It just doesn't work.

We get into our own self-effort. We think I need to do something. I need to do something.

I must work harder at this. I must try to stop sinning. Now you just need the glory of God.

That's all you need. And if you could learn to find and to embrace and tap into and experience the glory of God, you know how quick that darkness will flee. As fast as darkness flees when you switch on the light.

There's no fight. There's no struggle because darkness cannot overcome light. And there's nothing in this world that can resist the glory and power of God.

Well, how does God's glory appear? Well, truth be told, it's hidden from view. God doesn't just manifest his glory openly. Scripture says that God dwells in thick darkness.

And when you see the presence of God, you usually see the cloud that he hides his presence in. God's presence, his glory always appears as a cloud. But within that cloud is God himself.

Now when people see the cloud, they respond to it in different ways. A lot of the time when people see God's power and the cloud of his glory, they actually are afraid. And they want to run from it.

This is what happened when the Israelites came to Mount Sinai and God's glory came down on the mountain with a cloud and they were thunderings and lightnings and clear evidence that the power of God was on that mountain. Well, the children of Israel were terrified. They said, please tell God not to shout at us.

We're afraid. One man, one man chose to walk into that cloud, into the very presence of God. And when Moses did that, something happened to him.

Something amazing happened to him. He became filled with the glory of God. After Moses had spent a bit of time up in that cloud and came out again, he was shining like a light bulb.

He was shining bright. He was glowing. I think that terrified the people even more.

Eventually Moses had to put a veil over his face because everybody was afraid of him. And you know what? When you get to tap into the glory of God, something's going to happen to you. You're going to be changed.

You're going to be transformed. You're going to start to shine. And a lot of people won't understand it.

They'll try to avoid you. Jesus also went into that cloud while he walked this earth. As a man, he went into the presence of the Father.

Now we don't know what happened when Jesus went to pray because nobody was ever there. They always found him afterwards praying, except the one day when he took his disciples up to the top of the mountain and they all fell asleep. And Jesus did what he always did.

He began to enter into the cloud, the glory of the Father. And the disciples woke up and they saw him glowing. And they didn't know what to do with it.

They just didn't know what to do with it. And so you know what God did? He brought his cloud back immediately. You read it there in the Gospels.

This cloud came over and covered it over again. Then when the cloud lifted, everybody's gone. Just Jesus standing by himself.

All the glow was gone. He was back to normal. So the cloud didn't only exist in the Old Testament, also exists still in the New Testament.

And since Calvary, cloud and the glory is now contained in who? In Jesus. The Corinthians 4 verse 6 says, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus now radiates the full glory of God.

Well, when he walked this earth, he didn't do that all the time. He came as a man. Jesus as a man had to enter into that cloud and spend time with the Father to experience that glory.

And because he had that glory, he could do amazing things. And when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended up, he took his place on the right hand of God. He took his place on the throne of heaven.

And Jesus now carries the full glory of God. And when Jesus began to appear to his disciples after his ascension, he was very different. John decides to have a meeting, get in the spirit on the Lord's day.

While he's in prison on Patmos, he gets into the spirit. Well, he got into the spirit before. He'd been with Jesus.

He'd seen how Jesus prayed. And he heard this voice behind him. And he turned around and he looked and he saw this being was so bright that it looked like his head and his hair was snow white and his eyes of a flaming fire and his feet like they were on fire.

And the scripture says he fell at his feet as dead. And then this being spoke to him and said, I'm the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I'm the one who was dead and is now alive forevermore.

Well, there's only one person that applies to and that is Jesus. The risen Lord. So where are we going to find the cloud now? We're going to find it in the presence of Jesus.

If you want to experience the cloud of God's glory, you're going to have to learn to develop a relationship with the Lord Jesus. So I know the Lord, I have a relationship with him. What kind of relationship do you have with him? How well do you know him? How much time have you spent with him? You know, when two people are in love, they want to be with each other all the time.

Let me ask you a simple question. Have you fallen in love with Jesus? Do you love him more than anybody in this world? Is your heart so stirred in passion for him that you're like a starstruck lover who says, I don't feel like eating. I don't feel like doing anything.

I just want to be with him. Have you ever been there? If you've been there, you've started to learn how to touch the glory of God. If you've never been there, you've never seen the glory of God.

Not even close. It starts in relationship with him. Now he's not just the tender loving Jesus who walked this earth.

He will manifest himself to you that way as the comforter, but he is the risen living Christ who carries all the power of the universe and all the glory of God. And if you will get to know him, you will get to know his glory. Now what happens when you experience the glory of God? It's going to affect every single part of you.

It's going to touch your spirit and empower you spiritually in a way you've never known. Amazing things are going to start coming out of your spirit when you experience the glory of God. Your soul is going to be purged and healed.

Hoots of the past are going to get wiped away. All your fears and your anxieties and all your cares and your depressions are going to get wiped away just like that. It's the ultimate inner healing experience.

And your body is going to get affected too. And this one is probably the most dramatic of all. When people step into the cloud of God's glory, sometimes their body cannot take it.

Many people, the moment they experience the glory of God, they begin to shake because their body cannot handle that amount of power. Most of the time, they can't even stand. Oh, when did that start? Way, way back in the Old Testament.

Now, I don't know whether Moses made it to the top of the mountain and just collapsed there and stayed in the presence of the Lord and he's back for 40 days. But I know the scripture says that afterwards when God told him to create the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, and that cloud came and sat down on the tabernacle, Moses couldn't walk into the tent. He was down on his face.

When you come face to face with the full glory of God, your body cannot take it. We see other occasions. We see when Solomon dedicated the temple.

Scripture says, and the cloud of God's glory filled the temple and the priests couldn't stand to minister because of the cloud. Have you ever seen the glory of God? Just see when suddenly everybody starts falling. Something is there.

Something is there. And many, many folks, even in recent times, have seen that cloud come into the room. When that cloud begins to touch people, something starts to happen to them.

Sometimes people are so filled with joy that they begin to laugh uncontrollably. They start to giggle and laugh and laugh and laugh, sometimes hysterically. You probably think they're crazy.

Do you know what's happening? All darkness is being removed. Very often when a person has had severe hurts and bad experiences in life, they just need a time lying there on the floor laughing in the presence and glory of God. They get up transformed, healed, changed.

How does that feel for you? How does it feel for you when you step into that cloud? I think that's going to depend on how open you are to receive. But many have testified that it put them on a kind of a high, strong as drugs or alcohol, that they felt lifted up. That's the most wonderful, wonderful feeling to be in the glory of God.

If you've ever stood to preach and that glory came upon you while you were preaching and you begin to experience the wonder of it, you realize that is the most exhilarating and wonderful experience in this world. There is no experience in this world that comes even close. Because of that, a lot of people become glory junkies.

They run to meetings where people are flowing in this anointing and they'll come and stand in the line 10 times just to get knocked down and feel it. Oh, that feels so good. Let's get up and stand and have another shot.

But you see, when the cloud appears in a group of people, it has an effect on them. But God wants you to move beyond that. He wants you to move like Moses, to step into that cloud and take on the full glory that is being offered to you so that you now become a carrier of that glory and you can go and now impart it to others.

You have to come to a place where you are holding enough glory that you're not falling. You're not experiencing. How do you come to that place? You've got to have been in that cloud a few times like Moses did up in the mountain a few times in the tent of meeting.

Moses had a disciple by the name of Joshua and he saw how Moses was getting blessed. And like all good disciples, he said, I want more than my master. So when Moses would go and stand in the presence of God in the cloud and he left, Joshua would stay on for a couple more hours.

But what effect did that have on him? Joshua stood up to become one of the greatest leaders Israel had seen. People looked to him and they said, we're going to follow you. They were always complaining about Moses.

No, we don't feel like doing what Moses says. Moses, why didn't you do this? Moses, why didn't you do that? When Joshua stepped in, they said, we are not worthy. We submit.

Don't anybody dare question the leadership of Joshua. How did that come about? Because Joshua had that heart and that spirit that said, I want more. I want more.

How do we experience God's glory then? He said, that sounds great. I would like to experience some of this. I have to sit and wait for it to happen to me.

Okay. If you want to experience the glory of God, the first step you will have to take is to get into that cloud. There's a choice involved.

You must want to experience the glory of God. I've been in and seen through the years so many times where the cloud of God's glory will come down upon a meeting and some people will enter into it and man, they have a blast. What a meeting we had tonight.

Man, I could have carried on for hours. The person sitting right next to them says, I didn't feel a thing. What a boring meeting.

I couldn't wait for them to get finished so I could go home. What made the difference? You see, the cloud was there for everybody. You may even have seen the cloud.

You certainly see it happening to people around you. But you see, there's the questioning of the heart. There's the yes buts.

But you know what? I like to keep things prim and proper. I'm not going to roll on the floor like an idiot or shake or cry or laugh. People are stupid.

I couldn't understand why God is not blessing me and why I'm not experienced because you didn't step into the cloud. I like the Israelites who looked at it with fear and said, I don't trust God. I don't trust what he'll do if I step into that cloud.

I don't know what he's going to do to me. You'll carry on that way forever because you see, the Lord never imposes himself on us in any way. You've got to eagerly desire.

The scripture says, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, earnestly desire. That means you must be passionate about it. Oh, I don't really need this.

You know, I've got the word. I'm good. I've got my life under control.

Everything's good. I don't need this. Now, there's a lot of things we can go without in this world if we want to.

But why should we go without things that can be such a blessing, such a wonderful experience? Oh, you know, if I feel depressed, I can go and take tranquilizers. The doc will give me a scripture. Oh, we'll hit the bottle, you know? Freaking easy.

That'll take away my cares. No, it won't. The glory of God when it comes doesn't just give you that high.

It takes away the problem. You don't wake up in the morning with a hangover. So then, how do we step into that cloud? How do we step into it? And what if I don't see the cloud? Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst.

He is the carrier of the cloud, folks. And he promised that if two of you will unite your hearts together, you'll be there. Sometimes that's the key, is the unity.

See, scripture says when the musicians began to play and they were all together as one, the cloud of God's glory came down. The scripture says on the day of Pentecost, they were all with one accord in one place. They were in one heart and mind and spirit.

And the fire of God came down and fell on them. Oh, the cloud was here today. You may not have seen it, but it was here.

Jesus still, that's what he's saying right there. See, I see him in the spirit. I see him as the tender, loving Jesus, the comforter.

And he's come to show loving care and understanding and love. Then I see him transform and he begins to shine and his glory begins to manifest and he becomes radiant. First time I ever saw that, I didn't know who I was seeing.

I used to spend a lot of time in prayer, especially in my prophetic preparation, spending hours praying in tongues till I came to the place where Jesus became so real to me that I could sit down and have a conversation with him. To the point where eventually when I was ministering, he was here. I could ask him.

If I came to council with somebody or pray with them, I could say, Lord, can you tell me what the person's problem is? What should I say to them? And he would tell me. So I could hear his voice. See, but that wasn't the cloud of glory.

Every now and then while I was spending those times in prayer, facing up and down and enjoying his presence, I'd see this being appear in the room like a bright angel, shining with radiant glory. And I knew he was standing right there. And I could feel the power radiating from him, sometimes so strong that it actually pushed me back up against the wall.

I didn't know what that was. I knew that it was a picture of the angel of the Lord that would appear to people in the Old Testament. Well, what was the angel of the Lord? The angel of the Lord was God's glory appearing in a physical form.

See, the Bible calls that the word that became flesh. See, Jesus was the image of the invisible God until he took upon himself the form of flesh. And now he's returned, even as he prayed before he went to the cross, Father, glorify me with the same glory that I had with you before the world began.

But you know what he prayed for you and me? And he said, I'm giving them your glory, giving them your glory. Scripture says in Romans, those whom he predestinated he called and justified and glorified. See, in God's eyes, you are already glorified.

He intends you to walk in that glory. They came when the tender, loving Jesus said to me, walk towards him. And I was terrified.

And I walked right up to him and into him. Then suddenly it's like he disappeared. And I said, and now? He said, look around you.

You can see the flames burning all around. He said, you are now a carrier of that glory. It's now all around you.

He said, when you go and you touch people, it'll be as though I'm touching them. When you pray for people, it's as though I'm doing it. He said, you've now becoming a carrier of my glory and my power.

See, it's not enough to go where the cloud is and get in and fall on the ground and roll around and laugh and have a wonderful time. No, no. We've got to enter into that glory so that we can become a carrier of it.

But where do we start? Take time to be in his presence. Have you seen these little things that you get that glow in the dark? Sometimes you get them like necklaces and various other things. You know how they work.

You put them out in the sun for a few hours and they absorb energy from the sun. Then when nighttime comes, that energy begins to radiate outwards and they glow in the dark. Now, if you don't leave them in light, they eventually lose it.

They lose all the light. They don't glow in the dark anymore. See, you're designed to be just like that.

You got to go and spend time in the radiance of his glory. And when you do that, you absorb that glory. And when you go from it, you'll be like Moses.

You'll be a glow in the dark child of God. Here's another way to do it. Praise and worship.

You know that music is one of the most powerful ways of coming into the presence of God. Now, we saw that God created first light. Now, it doesn't tell us in Genesis, but you'll find it, I think in the book of Job or somewhere, where it speaks of how the Lord formed the earth and created everything.

And he said, while the morning stars sang, the sons of God shouted for joy. God created the world in the presence of music. You know that heaven has non-stop music 24 hours a day.

That's what the worship angels are for. You look in the book of Revelation, how they worshiped around the throne. God lives in the presence of music.

We see it there when Solomon dedicated his temple. It says, as all the musical instruments began to play, bam, old David took it one step further. He took the ark of God and he put it in a tent in his own home and he had music playing there 24 hours a day.

God's manifest presence and glory was there. Well, you know, I'm not really a musical person. You have a spirit.

You were created in music. You were created in the presence of music. You were created with music in you.

Animals don't have this. Every human being has music in them. That's why the music industry is so big and powerful.

What's the last time you came into his presence? You say, oh, the same old songs they sing again. I'm sick of that song. Oh, I don't really know that song.

Don't you realize that you can use music to come into the presence of the Lord? One of the most powerful ways of doing it, because music makes your spirit, soul, and body all vibrate together at the same time. I find that when I'm feeling a bit dry, when I feel like the anointing's gone, the Lord isn't there. You know what I do? I sit at the piano, I pick up my guitar, and I begin to worship in this spirit.

And you know, it's like the moment I do that, I step into the cloud, and he's there. He's there. So how much time are you spending in his presence daily? So you know what? You know, after five minutes, I've prayed everything I can think of.

That's not the kind of prayer we're talking about. When you were in love, you didn't need to say anything in the presence of the one you loved. But you know what? If you have to say something, just pray in tongues.

Let us go. Sing in tongues. Very, very powerful.

Do that so you get a breakthrough. I've taught this elsewhere. I've taught that it's like digging into an underground stream where, for a while, it feels like you're drilling through rock.

But eventually, you break through that rock into the underground stream, and it becomes a gusher of God's power coming out of you. Now, here's the important thing. Even if you've had that breakthrough, it's not going to keep you.

Even though you may have bathed in the sunlight, when darkness comes, you may begin to glow. But when the glow's over, it's over. You've got to get back into the sunlight to recharge.

Now, Jesus himself saw the necessity for that. Scripture says, right in the middle of when he was actively involved preaching and having healing crusades, he would disappear into the desert to recharge in the presence of the Father. So, I don't have time to go and spend hours in the presence of the Lord.

I've got work to do. I've got a job. I've got to cook meals.

I've got to do housework. I've got to do all sorts of things. Sure.

But you're not going to experience the glory, are you? I thought I could get away with it. But I'd have to pray for a long time to get through. I can hear from him very quickly, within minutes.

See, but I wasn't walking in the glory. That's the difference. You get a nice prophetic word.

Yes. Oh, to feel that glow, to feel that joy, the peace, the awesomeness. You can just stand and say, I could do this for hours.

You know, you may have to pray for an hour or two before you get there. But once you get there, if you maintain it, your prayer time is going to become so exciting that everything else will bow. You'll say, this comes first on my agenda.

I'll go without a meal if I have to. I could spend that time in his presence. God's glory is a powerful force that can change our lives.

And it is available to us in Jesus. But folks, it's not automatic. You must earnestly desire it.

And you must press in to experience it. And even when the time comes, you begin to see the cloud and you see God's manifest presence. You must make a choice to step into that cloud and to fully embrace it, to make yourself available to him and say, Lord, here I am.

Use me. Now there's so many different other aspects that we can look at. And in time, I'm sure I'll be preaching a lot more because this is my new hobby horse.

I've got so excited about the glory of God that I just want more and more and more. It's a kind of a drug addiction, which is great. You're allowed to get addicted to that drug.

We can get addicted to Jesus anytime. It's fully acceptable. It may take you a while to grasp for the penny to drop, for you to see that, hey, there's something missing.

I need this. I desire it. I want it.

I'm expecting the glory cloud to become more manifest. We come together in these meetings. I expect that when we stand up to worship and praise, eventually it's going to get like it was in the temple where people will start to fall because the power of God is so strong that they cannot stand.

I'm desiring that. I'm earnestly desiring that. I'm expecting that.

I'm expecting God to do signs and wonders and amazing things because wherever he is, signs and wonders follow naturally. Not even miracles anymore. They're everyday occurrences.

That is the kind of spiritual life we should be living. It's the kind of spiritual life I want to live. Most of my life's gone already.

I can at least enjoy the ones that are left as a glory junkie if necessary. I speak for myself. Do you want it? Then start asking him for it.

Start spending time in prayer and saying, Lord, I want this. Lord, I want this. I earnestly desire this.

I want you to manifest yourself to me. I want to know you in your fullness. You'll come to a new plane that you didn't know existed.

You'll wonder why you took so long to get there. Father, I thank you for your word. I've shared it as you gave it to me.

I've shared what's on my heart. You know my heart, Lord. You know my desires and my passion.

Lord, I just look upon your people and I see so many of them are struggling. So many of them are struggling with darkness. They're struggling with sinful habits.

They're struggling with demonic attack and sickness and disease and so much darkness in their life, Lord. You are the author of light and radiance and glory. Oh, Jesus, come and manifest yourself in your glory, in your magnificent, exalted, risen glory.

Come and show yourself to your people and show yourself to this world through your people and those who will dare to step into that place and embrace it and be filled with your glory. Become a carrier of your glory, Lord. Oh, Salababunda Masita.

I want you to just reach out to him now. Just reach out to him now and say, Lord, I want this. Lord, I desire more of this.

I want to experience you in greater ways than I ever have before. I want to know your power. I want to know your joy, to know the freedom that there is in your spirit.

Thank you, Jesus. Lord, I ask you to manifest yourself to each one that's hearing this message now, that you will make yourself real to them. And as they begin to spend time in your presence, they'll begin to experience more and more of you.

So that when we come together, Lord, your glory is already here. Each one is coming, radiating all that glory that we can pull it together, Lord. And then we can go out and take it into this dark world and shine your light there and bring the people out of darkness into light.

Show them that we serve a living God who loves and cares for them. Hallelujah. Give ourselves fully to you, Lord.

Here I am, Lord, send me. Here I am, Lord, use me. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

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