When you encounter the manifest presence of Christ, you are shaken to the core.When the prophet Isaiah met God in the fire, he was shaken to the core in one of the most dramatic fire-encounters in the Bible (Isaiah 6). Virtually every sensory perception was activated—his eyes were opened to see the Lord high and lifted up (v.1), his ears were opened to hear the angels singing Holy, Holy, Holy (v.3), his touch receptors were activated to feel the threshold shake (v.4), and his sense of smell was activated to smell as the incense smoke filled the temple (v.4).  Read More

When the genuine fire of God’s manifest presence comes, it accomplishes three things that only the manifest presence of Christ can accomplish:   Read More

Yes, Elijah met God in the fire, but when it comes right down to it, Elijah never prayed for fire. Instead, he simply prayed for the manifest presence of God to be made tangibly known to God’s people.  Read More

Normally when you want to start a fire, you do not pour water on the wood. When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, however, he was so confident that God was going to supernaturally send fire that against all odds he instructed the people to fill four jugs with water and pour it on the offering. He not only did it once, he had them do it three times to form a large puddle that surrounded the sacrifice.  Read More

On this day, August 22, in the year of our Lord 1727, “The Prayer Watch” was launched in Herrnhut, Germany. The Prayer Watch was a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week, fifty-two week prayer meeting that lasted one hundred years. The small community of only twenty-four young men and twenty-four young women rallied with their pastor, Nicholas Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, and agreed to spend an hour each day in prayer in their own rooms. They interceded for each other’s needs and the needs of those around them.  Read More

Elijah met God in the fire. In perhaps one of the best known fire-encounter moments in the entire Bible, Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. He boldly declared a universal biblical reality; “The God who answers by fire, He is God.” What Elijah was declaring is that our God consistently answers prayer by sending the fire of His manifest presence. This is a timeless kingdom principle that we not only want to learn, we want to learn to pray.  Read More

King Solomon met God in the fire. When he dedicated to God the magnificent temple he knelt on the floor, spread out his hand to God and declared the temple holy to God. He devoted this magnificent temple to God as a house of prayer for all nations, a meeting place for God and His people where God would tangibly answer specific prayers. When Solomon finished his prayer, God sent the fire.   Read More

The Apostle John met God in the fire. He was serving as a political prisoner of Rome on the Mediterranean island of Patmos when he saw the exalted Christ. His Lord was on fire from head to toe. Christ’s eyes were like flames of fire, His feet glowed like molten metal in a furnace, and His face shown like the sun in all its brilliance. In Christ’s right hand were seven balls of fire, and He was walking among seven flame holders.  Read More

King David met God in the fire. He knelt at a simple altar and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered his prayer with fire—the fire of His manifest presence. God loves to answer our prayers with fire. All prayer is moving toward the vortex of encountering God in all the glorious splendor of His revealed presence.  Read More

Moses initially received his call out of an encounter with the fire of God’s manifest presence. It ruined him forever. Later in his ministry, he was still crying out for the manifest presence of God, If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. When Moses asked God for His presence to go with him, he obviously was not asking for God’s omnipresence because it is impossible to get away from God’s omnipresence. Moses was explicitly asking for God’s manifest presence.  Read More

No sooner had Moses encountered the fire of God’s manifest presence than he stepped into barefoot worship. God ordered him to take the sandals off his feet—because he was on holy ground. The omnipresence of God had not made the dirt holy; it was the manifest presence of God that made it holy.  Read More

Moses met God in the fire. His life was immediately and permanently changed the day he encountered the manifest presence of Christ in the burning bush. As a shepherd, Moses had walked past that bush a thousand time, and a thousand other bushes just like it. Every other day, however, the omnipresence of God had been in the bush, and it had had absolutely no impact on him. Today was categorically different...  Read More

It is not your responsibility to set yourself on fire for God; that’s God’s job! The Holy Spirit is a skilled Fire-starter—not with a physical fire that kills and destroys, but with an internal Spirit-fire that purifies, empowers, and mobilizes.  Read More

On this day, August 13, in the year of our Lord 1727, the manifest presence of Christ was poured out on Nicholas Ludwig Von Zinzendorf and his church family in Herrnhut, Germany. This twenty-seven year old pastor of a group of young, vibrant believers would refer to this day as “our baptism in the Holy Spirit” and “our Pentecost.” Church history would call this day the birth of the missionary church. They received fire—they had ignition and they had lift off!  Read More

The highest privilege you have today is to minister to the presence of Christ. When Moses instructed Aaron and the priests to fulfill all their duties He clearly instructed them in their highest purpose, “that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.” God set apart the priests of the Old Testament for the ultimate purpose of ministering to His presence.  Read More

On this day, August 11, in the Year of our Lord 1906, the manifest presence of Christ was poured out in Akidu Yellamanchili, India. Meetings lasted ten hours at a time, and in some places, far longer.  Read More

No matter who you are, the highest calling you have is to minister to the presence of Christ. When the small group of church leaders gathered for their prayer meeting in Antioch, it was not just any prayer meeting. They gathered explicitly to minister to the presence of Christ.  Read More

On this day, August 9, in the year of our Lord 1907, A.B. Simpson, missionary pioneer, renewed his love covenant with Christ. Toward the end of a Bible conference, he reported that he received a “mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost in His complete Pentecostal fullness, embracing all the gifts and graces of the Spirit for my personal need at this time and for the new conditions and needs of my life and work  Read More

If you want to encounter the manifest presence of God, focus on Christ. When Jesus ascended the mountain of transfiguration, He invited Peter, James and John to join Him. This was far more than a fitness hike. Jesus was inviting them up on the mountain for one purpose—to pray (See Luke 9:28). While they were praying, the glory cloud of God’s manifest presence covered the mountain, and a voice out of the cloud declared, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!”  Read More

When God says look or behold these words are words of activation. Things we could not previously see, we are suddenly able to see. “See” is the Hebrew word “raah,” used 1,308 times in the Old Testament. It means to not only physically look at but to inspect, perceive, consider, discern, envision and behold both the object and the implications.  Read More

A good Christology makes way for a dynamic prayer life. God is invisible because He is spirit. When Christ was born, however, He manifested God’s presence to people like never before.  Read More

On this day, August 5, in the year of our Lord 1907, a large number of people sought the infilling of the Holy Spirit at the Old Orchard Convention in Maine. They not only asked, but they received. There were many profound manifestations of the blessing of the Holy Spirit  Read More

Look no further! Christ is the manifest presence of God. As you train your eye to recognize the manifest presence of Christ, it is important for you to understand that you are not seeking something separate from Christ, but you are seeking Christ Himself.  Read More

Christ is the manifest presence of God. More and more people talk about signs, wonders, miracles and other manifestations of God. Let us not forget, however, that Christ Himself is the manifest presence of God.  Read More