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                         The Awful Presence of God

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By David Wilkerson
November 26, 1990
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          The Hebrew word for "awful" means dreadful, fearsome,
          great -- awesome! We normally give this word a negative
          connotation, but that is not at all the biblical
          meaning.

          In the Old Testament, Jacob was touched by a holy
          dread. During his journey to Haran he lay down and
          slept, and in the middle of the night he awoke and saw
          a ladder of angels reaching into heaven. At the top of
          the ladder the Lord appeared, and He revealed Himself
          to Jacob, declaring, "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy
          father, and the God of Isaac" (Genesis 28:12).

          "And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely
          the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he
          was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!"
          (Genesis 28:16-17).

          Daniel was another who was touched by the great dread
          of God's presence: "I prayed unto the Lord my God...
          the great and dreadful God" (Daniel 9:4).

          God also said to all of Israel, "Sanctify the Lord of
          hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be
          your dread" (Isaiah 8:13). Isaiah is saying, "Let God
          grip your heart with His holy dread!"

          You may believe that this kind of fear and terror
          describes an Old Testament concept of God -- that Jesus
          came to reveal to us a Father who is full of love. Yes,
          God is love (I John 4:8) -- He is mercy, kindness,
          patience, longsuffering and goodness. He is a perfect,
          loving heavenly Father.

          But He is also a Spirit, high and holy! The problem is,
          we have become too "familiar" with God. We have made
          Hirn to be "like unto ourselves." That's why we don't
          recognize His holiness. The Bible says He is a
          consuming fire -- a holy, dreadful-in-power Savior!

          John, known as the "apostle of love," saw the Lord
          coming to the churches in all His New Testament glory.
          He described Him this way: "His eyes were as a flame of
          fire... and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged
          sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in
          his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as
          dead" (Revelation 1:14-17). If Christians today beheld
          but a fraction of God's holiness and dread, nobody
          would be able to stand in our church services!

          In Times Square Church we are praying for a great and
          dreadful manifestation of the presence of God -- in our
          services, our hearts and our homes. I personally have
          been crying out, "Lord, let us see Your glory! Pour out
          Your presence among us! Let Your glory be such that
          sinners are convicted of their sin and Christians of
          their sloth. Revive us!"

          Yet as I weep and groan in my spirit, the Holy Spirit
          says, "Do you understand the consequences of praying
          for such a thing? Will you pay the price for such a
          manifestation? Let me show you what it will mean to
          follow through on this request...." You see, there is a
          cost, a price to be paid!

          Beloved, right now something sovereign is going on! It
          is beyond us -- we did not do anything to merit it! And
          it's happening because God's Word says the set time to
          bless Zion has come!

                    ------------------------------------

                         God Has An Appointed Time
                         For Every Movement, Every
                              Awakening, Every
                        Restoration and Outpouring!

                    ------------------------------------

          When that designated time comes, God awakens and stirs,
          as if from a sleep. This stirring always occurs in
          man's darkest hour, when everything seems hopeless -- a
          time when only a sovereign work of God can save the
          day!

          No such event takes place without full preparation.
          Everything is in place when God speaks the word, "It's
          time!" And God always prepares vessels just prior to
          His outpouring. He shuts men up in His presence, and He
          places them in strategic places.

          God has placed us on Broadway, the crossroads of the
          world, with a message for the end of time. Yet similar
          moves are happening in a number of places, here and
          overseas! Right now God is raising up pastors and lay
          people who have hearts that are broken for Him.

          When the set time came for God to deliver Israel from
          Egypt, He already had a man placed in the wilderness,
          trained and ready -- Moses! He already had a priest --
          Aaron! And He had a people who had come to the end of
          themselves, who were ready to hear a message of
          deliverance. They were in the middle of a fiery
          furnace, facing their darkest hour!

          Their deliverance couldn't have come 15 years before,
          or 20 years before, or anytime before, for that matter
          - because God had a set time! He had said they would
          remain in captivity for 430 years -- and He watched
          over that time to the very day!

          But after those 430 years, nothing could stop His plan
          from going into motion. In that time, God had put
          everything in place, tending to every detail. When He
          called Moses, He was able to put all his fears to rest:
          "Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which
          sought thy life" (Exodus 4:19). God had killed off
          every man who remembered Moses! He had prepared the
          way!

          In the same way, when God's set time came to deliver
          Israel from Babylon, He had everything ready, everyone
          in place! He had said Israel's captivity would end
          after seventy years -- and in that seventieth year,
          Daniel felt a stirring, an urgency in his heart. He
          shut himself in with God, travailing in prayer. That's
          when he read the book of Jeremiah and counted that the
          number of years since the prophecy had been seventy!

          Ezra, the scribe, was filled with a new revelation of
          God's desires -- because God was preparing him to bring
          forth to the people a holy word! Nehemiah was placed in
          the king's court as a preparation for God's rebuilding
          plan! Haggai and Zerubbabel both were stirred for the
          work God would unfold!

          The prophet Haggai had warned that when God's time
          came, some would not believe it: "This people say, The
          time is not come" (Haggai 1:2). But when God's set time
          comes, nothing can stop it and nothing can hinder it!
          It is like a mighty Niagara overflowing, sweeping away
          all before it.

          When it looks like all is lost -- when it looks as
          though Satan will prevail -- that's when God's set time
          comes! That's when God shows the church and society
          that only He can do what's needed because it will take
          a miracle! Jesus said that when we see everything
          spinning out of control, and men's hearts are failing
          them for fear -- we should look up, because our
          redemption is near!

          This is God's set time to awaken the remnant in the
          modern Babylon of New York City -- to raise up a final
          testimony to this doomed city! He has been preparing us
          to be part of that!

          Why have we been moved to intercede? Why have we been
          travailing? Why has the Spirit called us to set aside
          our own interests for His?

          Because God has been setting all things in place, to
          pour out His Spirit! A battle is raging in the
          heavenlies, and Satan knows the hour is late!

          Once the Lord has decided He's going to move, how do we
          know when the set time for God's deliverance comes?
          Three things occur:

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                           l. When God's Set Time
                      Arrives, He Builds a Holy Fire.

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          When it was time to deliver Israel from bondage to
          Egypt, God had to get the attention of those who were
          called to lead the people out of darkness. How did He
          do this? He built a fire -- He started a burning!

          Here is the picture: Moses was alone on the mountain of
          God, and suddenly, sovereignly, a fire was set before
          him. A flame was sent to arrest a man of God! It was a
          type of the Holy Spirit -- a fire that never goes out!

          That fire was put into Moses' bosom, and from that
          point on his heart would be ablaze with God's message.
          He was now set apart to be a vessel of deliverance for
          his generation!

          Is there a stirring in your heart? Do you feel a fire
          burning in your innermost being? God wants your
          attention -- not because you are good or deserve it,
          but because He needs a people through whom His Spirit
          can work and flow, whose hearts are prepared for His
          presence!

          Scripture says Moses "turned aside" when he saw the
          fire. He could have walked on, but he didn't. He put
          aside all his own interests. "When the Lord saw that he
          turned aside to see, God called unto him" (Exodus 3:4).

          God has been doing this same thing for centuries -- but
          most Christians never "turn aside." God starts a fire
          in their heart, in their church -- but they continue to
          go their own way, following after their own interests
          and not God's.

          Beloved, this is the key! When this fire starts
          burning, God is trying to get your attention! He's
          saying, "You've been wrapped up in your own affairs, in
          your family's affairs, for so long -- but now I'm going
          to start a fire!"

          We're not going to hear from God until we turn aside
          from our own way and give Him our full attention! He
          waits until all else is put aside.

          God told Moses, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy
          shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
          standest is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).

          In the Old Testament, if someone wanted to redeem a
          piece of land he owned and you had an interest in it,
          you gave up your rights to that land by giving the
          owner your right shoe. Then you took off your left shoe
          and carried it, walking barefoot from that place.

          Moses knew that God was saying to him, "Take off your
          shoes, Moses -- give up all your rights. Your interests
          are now secondary. Mine come first!"

          I tell you, God is going to have a people in these last
          days who turn aside from all that is wicked -- even
          from the good things that eat up time! He is going to
          prepare a people who put aside career, hobbies, sports
          and everything else as secondary to Him!

          When you see Gods fire, how can you think about
          anything else? When you hear your name called, how can
          you say anything but, "I heard from God! I heard from
          heaven!"

          God has put a fire in my soul and He's gotten my
          attention. I have turned aside and have heard Him call
          my name as He did Moses: "David, take off your shoes
          (your rights and pleasures, your own interests) and
          stand barefoot before Me. I have heard the cry of
          bondage to sin, drugs, alcohol, demonic powers -- and I
          have come down to deliver."

          "I have surely seen the affliction of my people... and
          have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters"
          (Exodus 3:7). A taskmaster is a tyrant who drives
          forced laborers. We know who this tyrant is -- it is
          Satan, who harasses and mocks!

          You can't tell me the Lord hasn't heard the cries of
          10,000 AIDS babies in New York City -- or the cries of
          all the AIDS children, now 4 and 5 years old, who are
          about to enter our schools with only half a mind! God
          has heard the cries of ghetto mothers, of the poor, the
          homeless, the backslidden!

          God says, "I have heard these cries from heaven! The
          devil has afflicted you and your family long enough!
          Now I've come to stop it!"

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                          2.When This Happens, the
                      Devil Gets Furious and Tries to
                             Put Out the Fire.

                    ------------------------------------

          Moses came to the people with his heart ablaze -- and
          what a great stirring there was among them! Everyone
          was talking about the great, new thing God was about to
          do, and hope filled their broken hearts!

          Moses' message was, "God is going to visit you. He is
          going to bring you out of your afflictions. He is going
          to deliver you and your children, your livestock --
          everything!"

          God backed up His message with signs and wonders! He
          was anxious to let His people know that the set time
          had come. So He gave Moses three signs: First, Moses'
          rod turned into a serpent, then back into a rod when he
          picked it up again. Second, Moses' hand became leprous
          when he placed it in his bosom, then it was healed when
          he removed it. Third, water from the river, when poured
          out of a cup, became blood.

          Now consider this picture: Moses and Aaron are on fire!
          God is beginning to reveal Himself -- His word of
          deliverance has come. A body of believers has been
          awakened, and God is visiting His people. But in the
          midst of the promises He issues a strong warning: "I am
          sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go [except
          under compulsion]" (Exodus 3: 19).

          God warned Moses and all the people: "Yes, deliverance
          is coming. I will bring you out. All that I promised
          will happen -- but the devil will be furious. You are
          in for a fight! It won't be easy because Satan will do
          all he can to stop this work!"

          Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, represents Satan, king of
          the abyss and god of this world! Beloved, don't think
          for a moment the devil will play dead when God's people
          are being stirred and the message of God's visitation
          on His people is being preached!

          Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh, "Let God's people go!"
          But Pharaoh answered, "Who is the Lord, that I should
          obey his voice to let Israel go?" Exodus 5:2).

          I want to ask you this: Have you considered that your
          family is in such a battle? God saved you and your
          house, and He called you to travail for them. But do
          you think Satan will let them go without a fight?

          You see, the Bible tells us that things got worse for
          Israel instead of better (Exodus 5:6-14). Moses was
          preaching, "God is with us. The answer is here, and
          soon you will see great victory!"

          But it was a different matter with the people! Satan
          was enraged by God's visitation, and the outbreak of
          vengeance that followed came straight from hell.
          Israel's leaders were beaten and their brick-making
          quotas were greatly increased: "Let there more work be
          laid upon the men... Ye shall no more give the people
          straw to make brick" (Exodus 5:7,9). In essence: "Lay a
          heavier burden upon them -- let them go scrounge for
          grass!"

          The Israelite leaders met Moses and Aaron as they came
          out of Pharaoh's palace, and complained to them, "The
          Lord look on you, and judge; because ye have made our
          saviour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in
          the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand
          to slay us" (Exodus 5:21).

          They were saying, "Moses, all this praying on God's
          mountain, all your talk about a great visitation from
          God, all your preaching about restoration and healing
          -- it's getting us nowhere! It's stirring things up too
          much, and we can't take any more of this fury from the
          enemy! We see no sign of God at work. We are rejected,
          not delivered!

          And Scripture says, "They hearkened not unto Moses for
          anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage" (Exodus 6:9).

          After this, even Moses lost heart! "God, why did You
          send me? Why did You stir me up? Why did You put this
          fire in my soul? Why aren't You keeping Your word?"

          "Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath
          done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered
          thy people at all" (Exodus 5:23).

          Moses forgot that God had warned him this would happen.
          God had said, "Pharaoh will not let you go unless he is
          forced!"

          Dear saint, we also have been warned. "Be sober, be
          vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
          roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
          devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

          From Pentecost to this very day, every outpouring of
          the Holy Ghost has brought forth the wrath of hell!
          After the outpouring of the Spirit in the Upper Room,
          multitudes were saved. The Lord came down and shook
          everything in sight. The poor heard the gospel and the
          lame leaped! Signs and miracles abounded!

          But the devil quickly sent forth his henchmen to harass
          the work of God in the midst of the glory. "The
          priests, and the captain of the temple, and the
          Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they
          taught the people... and they laid hands on them, and
          put them in hold [prison] unto the next day" (Acts
          4:1-3).

          All through the New Testament, the moment God moved,
          Satan reacted. And if Satan is not reacting against
          you, maybe you haven't yet threatened his kingdom in
          your surroundings!

          You see, God will test us before He moves into
          full-speed-ahead! We have a tendency to pray through,
          to get relief from our burden, and then to sit back and
          wait. But satanic harassment is a sign we are touching
          God! Are you enduring hardship? Pray on. Is the answer
          beginning to unfold? Pray more! Is the rain beginning
          to fall? Pray still harder!

          When God called Moses to the mount, He swept him up
          into a cloud of glory and for six days said nothing to
          him. All that time he was shut in with God in the fire
          of His holiness, where God was preparing him for the
          great word to come: "And the seventh day he called unto
          Moses out of the midst of the cloud" (Exodus 24:16).

          Are you willing to wait on the mount in the glory? I
          ask this because we so often want "quickie" blessings
          -- no sweat, no tears, no waiting on God! We demand our
          rights and go our lazy way, simply "taking it all by
          faith."

          If God speaks once again to this generation -- if His
          glory comes -- it will be to a man, woman and church
          shut in with Him until the fire of His awful presence
          burns out all self and sin. We can have no cloud of His
          presence, no desperate hunger to go to Him, until He
          speaks!

          This is my final point -- the last thing that occurs
          when God decides to move:

                    ------------------------------------

                            3. Many Will Remain
                         Untouched When God's Awful
                        Presence Is Revealed In Our
                                  Midst.

                    ------------------------------------

          What happens when the glory of the presence of Jesus
          manifests itself? Those who have repentant, righteous
          hearts fall before Him and worship! They purge
          themselves and cry out, "God, cleanse me!" And once
          they experience His glory they want more! They go from
          glory to glory!

          Over and over these words are written, "And the Lord
          said unto Moses, come up unto the Lord...." Moses got
          one revelation of God's glory after another, until
          fmally his face was aglow with the Lord's glory! Israel
          could not stand to look upon him!

          Yet after all that, we hear Moses pleading with God in
          Exodus 33:18, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." God
          will have a people in these last days who will give Him
          no rest until He again reveals His awful glory!

          At one point we see Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,
          and seventy of the elders going up the mount, to the
          presence of God! "And they saw the God of Israel" --
          they saw Him as clearly as the sky itself -- and the
          sight of His glory was "like devouring fire on the top
          of the mount" (Exodus 24:10, 17).

          They saw God, ate in His presence and visibly beheld
          His awesome holiness (verse 11). Yet just forty days
          later they backslid completely!

          Aaron came down and apostatized, and the elders turned
          back to the ways of their flesh! The very moment God
          was laying out plans to deliver them and use them
          mightily so that all nations would dread them, they ran
          to embrace idols!

          Beloved, here is the only definition of "idol" you'll
          ever need: It is anything that keeps God from working
          in your life! Anything at all that hinders the Holy
          Spirit from bringing you into the cloud!

          I see something frightful, incomprehensible -- that is,
          that God's people can experience such glory in the
          awful presence of God, and in just a few short weeks
          turn away totally to idolatry! "And the people sat down
          to eat and to drink, and rose up to play" (Exodus
          32:6). God said to Moses, "They have turned aside
          quickly out of the way which I commanded them" (32:8).

          You may say, 'I'm not like that. I could never turn to
          such idolatry!" But this tendency is in all of us!
          These were the same children of God who "answered
          together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we
          will do" (Exodus 19:8).

          They had a full revelation of God's presence. They had
          been under the cloud, had heard God speak, had seen
          miracles and had pledged obedience. But it all came
          from their heads and lips, because their hearts were
          still divided!

          The children of Israel told Moses, "Go thou near, and
          hear all that the Lord our God shall say... unto us...
          and we will hear it, and do it.... And the Lord said
          unto (Moses), I have heard the voice of the words of
          this people... they have well said all that they have
          spoken. O that there were such an heart in them, that
          they would fear me, and keep all my commandments
          always" (Deuteronomy 5:27-29).

          I have often cried out in agony, "God, send Your awful
          presence -- cleanse us!" Now, I see that we must lay
          everything down at His feet, and our hearts must be
          weaned totally from this world. For if we have a
          divided heart, the coming of His awful presence will
          only hasten the backsliding of many! Those set on
          mischief, stiff necked or stubborn will turn aside and
          go back!

          In the New Testament the Lord says He will "remove
          their candlestick": "Remember therefore from whence
          thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or
          else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy
          candlestick out of its place, except thou repent"
          (Revelation 2:5).

          Their testimony will be taken from them, and they will
          have no part in what God is doing! Their lamp will
          flicker and die! They will be as the virgins who had no
          oil, no fire -- no witness!

          The Lord will say, "I am going to pour out my Spirit
          and do a new work -- but you have no part in it. I
          wanted to use you and bless you, but you turned to your
          idols. You rose up to eat and drink and play!

          "Now I'm going to remove your candlestick. I'm going to
          take away your witness. You have no part in witnessing
          of Me, because your heart has never been with Me!"

          God has already done that with many believers and many
          churches -- and all that's left are weak, frail,
          shallow, worthless "witnesses."

          Praise God, He is preparing a people who are set on
          fire, consumed by Him and burning with love -- for He
          is about to make His move against the devil's kingdom!
          "Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh... I am
          the Lord" (Exodus 6:1-2).

          Satan cannot stop our prayers! He cannot hold back the
          work of Christ! The devil will be dealt with severely.
          And the power against him will be so great that, like
          Pharaoh, he will let God's people go!

          "And (Pharaoh) called for Moses and Aaron by night, and
          said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my
          people... go, serve the Lord" (Exodus 12:31).

          Beloved, that's exactly what the Lord is doing to do
          for you! He's going to come down and overpower the work
          of the devil in your home and family. One day, perhaps
          even in the middle of the night, the devil will say,
          "I've been harassed enough by persistent prayers -- go!
          Serve God!"

          God has called us to bombard hell, to pull down
          strongholds, to battle against principalities and
          powers of darkness. It is because God is about to do a
          work, one that has never been seen before!

          We're not on Broadway, at the crossroads of the world,
          by coincidence! And the stirring in your heart is no
          coincidence, either! A divine purpose and a plan are
          about to unfold -- and in spite of all the harassment
          of the devil, you can say with certainty, "Oh, yes!
          That's a sure sign I'm touching God. The devil is mad!"

          Thank God -- He's at work!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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