“But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18, NIV)
The Glory of God cannot be contained in buildings made by man; even the heavens cannot contain the majesty of our God. Solomon at the dedication of the Temple prayed, 'But will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You...!' (2 Chronicles 6.18.) Yet God sent His Son, Emmanuel, 'God with us'. And today, He is not just with us, but He is IN us through the person of the Holy Spirit. After we become born again, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. You are a walking manifestation of the Glory of God!
I want you to know the Power and the Glory of God. He is so big, so powerful, no place on earth can contain Him. And yet, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and she carried within her, the very essence of God. What couldn't be contained by the whole of creation, was carried in the womb of a humble woman who submitted to the plans and purposes of God. Like Mary, we carry within us the majesty and splendour of God, and the whole world must see it!
We must demonstrate the Glory of God here on earth. In 1994 I preached in Susuman, Siberia. With so many being healed amongst the crowd I can only remember the most outstanding. A man and woman who were paralysed were healed instantly, as was a woman who had been brought from the hospital with crippled legs, able to walk only with great pain and the aid of a stick. This is where the biggest miracle of all began. This woman was so excited by her own healing, that at the end of the meeting she asked me to go into the hospital next day to pray with the other patients.
Going by taxi to the hospital next morning, she was waiting on the steps outside. Completely healed, she could walk freely and without any pain as she took me up the crude concrete stairs and into the first ward. Looking around at the men lying on their beds in this room I realised the need. Although the staff in these hospitals are caring, it was the poor equipment and lack of drugs and medicines which gave an atmosphere of hopelessness.
I prayed for the man on the bed to my right as I entered who had multiple sclerosis. He was the one I had been brought in to meet, but he had no real belief. Next to the window was another man. I talked with him through Svieta, asking why he was there. He told me that his back was broken, so I laid my hands on him, immediately all the pain left, he straightened himself and got up and ran off to make a cup of tea for me! By now the news of what God was doing was spreading, and another man who was almost blind came from a different room. As I laid my hands on his eyes, they opened, and he could see. Someone brought a Bible which was by the side of one of the beds and he read it excitedly, shouting in his enthusiasm for all to hear, “I can see, look I can read!”
Due to the delays in leaving the city, I had time to go and talk to the mayor who had invited me to come to his office. He told the four of us who went in that he was not a believer and that the Orthodox Church and the communists had tried to persuade him not to allow us to hold the Crusade. “I did not listen to them,” he said, “I told them that if you could help us spiritually in the town and also help to reduce the problem we have with crime, that you should be free to come. By the way, I heard what happened in the hospital yesterday, thank you for emptying one of the wards!” – I later discovered that the blind man who was healed went into the hospital wards, read the bible and as a result the patients were healed!
Do you see what the Power and Glory of God in you can achieve?! It is not us who work the miracles, it is God in us. The power in the name of Jesus heals the sick!
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. (Psalm 63:1-2, KJV)
I remember a time when I experienced the Glory of God, it was as if I was in heaven with God Himself. In 1972 I was arrested and imprisoned for Bible Smuggling. My soul was in despair. All I had ever wanted to do was serve the Lord, yet here I was in a communist prison. On one particular day, I was in so much distress I couldn’t pray anymore. In my pain I started to pray the Lord’s Prayer through gritted teeth. I came to the line which says, ‘Who is in Heaven’. Then I argued, Yes, You are in heaven, but I’m in a stinking filthy cell, don’t You understand? Joy, happiness, glory – that’s in Heaven. But I’m down here – and then I remembered the truth – You sent Your Son – Your only Son – and You sent Him down to this earth, He was in a prison cell like me. Yes, God was willing, not only to let His Son die, death is easy, but He was beaten and tortured – why – because God loved me! He allowed His Son to suffer – for me! How could I complain? And then I realised, God is not just in Heaven; He’s here, in this prison cell with me! Suddenly the glory of that revelation flooded my soul. I began to understand who God is!
Then came the next part, ‘Hallowed be Your Name’. I questioned, what does this really mean? Surely this is the moment when we must worship Him, and how can I worship God in this cell? My mouth was closed, and I was trying to praise Him through clenched teeth because of my suffering and pain. Suddenly my heart opened and a miracle happened: it was as if Heaven had opened, the cell was filled with a brilliant light, all the angels of Heaven seemed to crowd into that cell, and I began to praise and worship the Lord. I got to my feet and began to run around that cell singing, “Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!” The glory of God filled my heart, changing me, the sadness and the pain were gone! I was locked in a prison cell, yet I was in the presence of God, experiencing the glory of God, something greater than I had ever known in a church – it was as if I was transported into Heaven! I made so much noise, the guards came running to see what was happening – but the glory of God was so great, they did not even enter the cell. From that moment everything changed, God began to answer every prayer, I got food to eat, God showed me the day I would get out (my birthday), and that I would be speaking in the biggest auditorium in Britain to 10,000 people, sharing the joy of the miracle of answered prayer. And God answered my prayer as He promised.