“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” John 3:6
If you’re not conscious of this you can’t walk in the Spirit.
We need to make a practice of reminding ourselves of our primary existence which is spiritual.
Say this to yourself : “I am a Spirit that is having a body experience”. Your spiritual consciousness/antennas will be activated and fined tuned. The scripture says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, as a born again you source your existence from the Spirit realm.
We relate with the things of the Spirit as spiritual beings created in God. We should normalize living spiritual lives and being comfortable with the realm of the Spirit .
It’s important to shift from that paradigm of a human being seeking spiritual experience to a spirit being that lives a spiritual life. This is the secret to living a life filled with signs and wonders.
We are the light of the world and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit can’t be strange to us. Many believers are guilty of not turning on their lights. Jesus Christ said “ we are the light of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden”. When you culture yourself in the consciousness of the Holy Spirit, you will discern his leading and live a supernatural life. The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned. If you’re not spiritual you cannot discern them.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” Philippians 3:3
We are the fulfillment that Christ gave in John 4:23-24,
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
We are spiritually connected to God, and we will manifest our nature, in the Holy Spirit. People who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit, it sounds like foolishness to them, and they can’t understand it. For only those that are spiritual can discern what the Spirit says.
Manifest Presence of God
God is everywhere, but God does not manifest his presence everywhere. He doesn’t reveal His presence to everyone. We need to take time to decipher between the manifest presence of God which is called the Shekinah and the omnipresence of God. The manifest presence of God- Shekinah presence of God- is always at a place and at a time, but the omnipresence of God is everywhere every time.
The first example is in Daniel 3:24-25
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
The fourth person in that fire was the manifest presence of God.
Some of us don’t know how to discern the presence of God because we have not practiced the consciousness of his presence. Our spiritual senses have not been developed to discern the presence of God. In 2 chronicles 5:13-14 God manifested his presence at the dedication of the temple, however he was present throughout the building process etc.
"It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord;" 2 Chronicles 5:13-14
"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting" Acts 2:2
When the Holy Spirit came upon the early church like tongues of fire and rested upon all the people in the upper room it was an expression of the manifest presence of God. All of them carried the fire. This is proof that God wants everyone to be filled with the fire of his presence. God wants every one of us to enjoy His manifest presence and have spiritual encounters. Some believers never encounter God’s presence because they think it’s only for an exclusive few, maybe the ministers, or they think it’s just too much. Like the children of Israel they would much rather have someone else encounter the presence of God and share their experience.
"Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid[d] and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was." Exodus 20:18-21
Similarly believers exclude themselves from the manifestation of God’s presence and spiritual experiences. It’s our duty as ministers to help people to come into this reality. I’ve understood that God loves and enjoys when every child born of the Spirit embraces and lives in the reality of his manifest presence because it strengthens their faith.
Born again believers have the right, and privilege to have fellowship and intimacy with the Holy Spirit. When we cultivate the habit of practicing the consciousness of His presence, we’ll become so used to Him that even when we’re in the marketplace, and He decides to manifest, we will know.
”Jesus Chris opened the scripture, and He read: “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor…”, He outlined His manifesto. After he read, he closed the book and said, “today, this prophecy is fulfilled in your ears. The Spirit of the Lord was actually upon Him. Another example is found in the book of Kings when Elijah outran the chariots of Ahab because the hand of the Lord was upon him.
Examples of the Manifest Presence
The manifestations of the Spirit of the Lord are backed with evidence not assumptions. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will know. God has made the provision, through his manifest presence so we can know him by experience.
There are Biblical examples of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, one of them is falling to the ground. Some people describe it as being slayed by the Spirit of God, they’ll say, he was slain by the Spirit. When the weight of the glory comes on you, and it will override your physical composter, it overrides even your emotions. Some people start to weep or laugh when they encounter the presence of God. Once the Holy Spirit came on me and for hours I couldn’t stop praying. It was like an engine was activated in me. When I started slowing down, I felt the push from my inner being to keep going. One day I was praying in tongues and I started sounding like a woman. I was almost going to shut down, but I could feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit to continue. It ended being a refreshing time in the Holy Ghost.
Learn to engage spiritual activities like a spirit being. The privilege we have in God is that we can engage with him with a renewed spirit. Your recreated human Spirit can now relate with the Spirit of God. Sometimes when the presence/the hand of God comes on you, it overpowers you,
"...and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God." 2 Chronicles 5:14
The priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud. They were slain in the Spirit. They all went down to the ground. We see another example when Daniel
"As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.” While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet." Daniel 8:17-18
When Daniel fell down it was the evidence of the Spiritual strength overriding his physical strength, composure and ability. This is what happened in the case of Samson when the Holy Spirit would come on him and he would be empowered with might and could do exploits that are beyond his physical strength. The presence of the Holy Spirit was overriding his physical weakness and he was doing what he could not normally do in his strength.
The first time I had an encounter with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the glory of the Lord , his presence that came over me and I couldn’t stand. It was my friend who was ministering and I couldn’t get back up even if I wanted to. I’ve had some of these experiences, and so I could relate with it from a practical perspective. Some people don’t understand, because they haven’t related with these experiences, they blaspheme, and they laugh at us when they see us manifesting the presence of God. Let’s see some other examples.
Habakkuk 3:16-19
16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.
Some people can start shaking when they encounter the presence of God. I’ve had such encounters before, when the presence of God came over me, it felt as if I was electrocuted, and I started shaking. Not because I wanted to shake, but the presence of God was overwhelming and I reacted physically to his manifest presence. On some other occasions i became hyper sensitive and joyous.
Luke 24:4 -5
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
The responses we have to the manifest presence of God are not mechanical but the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Another example is child likeness , there’s this kind of childlike joy that you’ll experience and you just want to embrace Him so closely. It’s nothing anyone can explain with carnal foolish words, it’s an experience that can be known. The presence of God is real and tangible, we can experience and know him intimately.
We’ve been in meetings where people began to see visions. When the presence of God fills the place and there can be a sweet scent, a sweet aroma, sweet perfume that just permeates the atmosphere. Another experience we’ve had once while we were at a meeting was when the presence came into the hall, I could not minister, I just stood still. Everywhere was quiet and after some minutes, people started manifesting.
Culture Yourself to Expect the Manifest Presence of God
The manifest presence of God is not something you encounter on occasion but it is a reality that you can consistently live in as you culture yourself to be conscious of the Holy Spirit. In your personal time of worship the Holy Spirit can prompt you to lift up your hands or go on your knees or sing a specific song. when you yield to him in these moments you are training yourself to be aware of his promptings and instructions. There are songs that are born out of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit; these are spiritual songs that can only be born out of your alignment and willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will always respond to such songs and as a result the atmosphere of a place will be changed. It’s important to train yourself to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit so that you can encounter him daily.
This is the life that God wants us to live. This is our heritage in Christ Jesus that we can know him intimately. When we normalize having encounters with the Holy Spirit we wont see a number of christians choosing to consult psychics to have demonic spiritual experiences. It’s an insult to God for a born again christian to consult mediums, demonic books and different sources to know his will.
We have the Holy Spirit but we don’t want to walk the path of sacrifice to pay the price to know him. When a believer submits to a strange spirit he begins to backslide, some become possessed, some become addicted to drugs and some become suicidal. The devil never gives anything for free. It’s God that gives freely. Anything the devil gives to you is a spiritual exchange. You want comfort? He’ll give you little comfort, and he’ll give you some other things with it. It’s only the blessings of the Lord that makes you rich and adds no sorrow to it, not the blessings of the devil. The devil doesn’t give things for free. Even if he gives you the whole world, he will take your soul, that’s what Christ said. He will always take something more precious to you than what he’s giving you. When you build your spiritual consciousness, you will manifest the supernatural. Don’t forget, always say to yourself, “I am a Spirit, having a body experience.” You shouldn’t allow what your body is saying or your feelings dictate your heritage in God.
The Holy Spirit Brings Us into Supernatural Experiences
If you read 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, you will see healings, miracles, deliverance …..etc. manifesting. As the church of God we need to wake up to this consciousness, if we don’t wake up to it, many of these experiences will look like strange experiences to us and they’re not supposed to be. God wants us to enjoy Him, that’s why God gave us the Holy Spirit. As we yield to the Holy Spirit he brings us into supernatural experiences. For example, I was in the presence of God praying and the Lord started speaking to me about a person. Sometimes he’ll even speak to me about places.
Once we were going to Liberia for the first time on a mission. Revive African coalition, with some ministers from the UK and the US on the team. I was invited to be on the team with going to Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. As my usual practice, I would go into the presence of the Lord and ask God. So as I was praying and the Lord told me “yes, you are going to Liberia, but you’re not going to have a meeting in Monrovia. You’re going to Ganta instead of Monrovia and that is where you will minister”. He told me the ways that he would minister. When we got to the airport the guy leading the team told us that the plans had changed and we were to minister in a different province. the guys that came to receive us apologized saying that “the ministers in Monrovia are not ready but the ministers in Ganta are ready to receive you. This guy is one of them, and they are leading you there.” Many other instructions followed. This encounter happened because I was conscious of the Holy Spirit and I obeyed his instructions even when it didn’t make sense.
When you are in his presence and you don’t know what to say, begin to pray in tongues and there will come a time when he begins to minister to you, you can start groaning or even speaking new tongues. He is moving you from one level to another in the spirit realm.
Practicing the Awareness of the Holy Spirit
It’s important to practice the awareness of the Holy Spirit, because when you face battles in life you won’t be lost. We should desire to live in the presence of God. The early apostles encountered the manifest presence consistently and they lived supernatural lives. The manifestations of the Holy Spirit were a norm not something strange that happens occasionally. They were not dry, they were aware of the Spirit of God who is able to quicken back to life. Imagine if we gathered together and each person has made a practice of the presence of God, our services would be different. Demons would not be comfortable around us. The whole body gets nourished by what each joint supplies, don’t culture yourself to become someone who only takes and never gives.
These are some exercises that will trigger the awareness of the Holy Spirit.
1. Praying in tongues alone with God.
2. Meditating on the word of God: You can take a simple scripture and think on it as you go about your day. Learn to confess the word and continue to speak on it. Learn to pray the scripture and the Holy Spirit will inspire you.
3. Practice repentance
4. Learn to think and engage your thoughts and the Holy Spirit will minister to you, when he prompts you yield in obedience. Don’t despise thoughts, just like demons can give thoughts the Holy Spirit also gives thoughts. The occult project thoughts, once your mind yields you will be trapped.
5. Practice forgiveness, even when you feel so hurt, learn to let it go and forgive the person. It’s not easy but consciously put the flesh under and forgive the person. When Satan tempted Jesus and he failed, he gave him a break for a season.
6. Practice obedience, you can’t enjoy the Holy Spirit unless you know how to follow and yield to the Holy Spirit when he prompts you.
