[ Jill Austin]

"INVASION OF THE GLORY--God Wants YOU to Carry the Ark of His Covenant"

by Jill Austin

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What has been on my heart is the glory of the Lord, that we could have more of His presence and more of Him in our midst. 2 Corinthians 4 tells us that we are earthenware vessels but the treasure, the glory inside of us--is the Lord!

Everyone is running for the gold! Nations prepare for the Olympics and they don't want the silver or the bronze, they want the gold. I feel that the individual cry of our heart is: "Oh Lord, we want the gold!" We want His glory, to know Him better. "Lord, let Your presence and your fire dwell within us."

When we speak of prophetic evangelism, we are talking about being living vessels with the fire, the glory of the Lord, moving around us everywhere we go. It isn't enough to only have His glory in our church, home or renewal meetings. The Lord wants to invade our very lives and the lives of everyone around us so we can literally begin to be His hands, His eyes, and His feet to a hurting and dying world.

A Key to City Transformation

Exodus 3:2-3, 16-17, "And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. He looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, 'The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, 'I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites...to a land flowing with milk and honey.'"

What empowered Moses to stand before Pharaoh and courageously declare, "Let My people go!"? One encounter with a burning bush and Moses was forever changed. Not only was Moses ruined for God, but this personal visitation was what emblazoned Moses to become the deliverer of a nation!

Do you want to see God change your city? The common question I hear in conferences across America is, "How do we bring in a revival? How do we bring Heaven to earth? How do we welcome in the King of Glory?" I believe that one key to city transformation is personal visitation.

For God to change your city, you must first have a radical visitation yourself. If you want to usher in a major move of God, you must first and foremost have a God encounter yourself.

If we examine Scripture, we will see how the majority of our forefathers of the faith had a personal encounter with God to launch them into their destiny so that they could change the course of Biblical history. The result of these hallmark encounters were not just that they themselves were touched, but also that God's people were radically blessed. We cannot divorce city transformation from personal God encounters. If you want revival, cry out for radical encounters with Jesus!

Prayer: Lord, I want a radical visitation from You! Just like You suddenly appeared to Moses, I ask for a holy ambush of Your Spirit. I ask that You would put a bull's eye on my heart and ruin me for Jesus! I must have more! Use me like You did Moses to deliver an entire nation from just one personal encounter!

Do You Want A Visitation?

The glory of the Lord is such a burden on my heart. Do you want a visitation? How much fire, how much of the anointing, how much of the presence of the living God do you want in your life?

We are moving in a level of renewal right now as the Lord, the Captain of the Hosts, is moving all over the nations. It's a miracle that the living Christ, the King of glory, is moving across all the denominational barriers between all the different races, colors and tribes.

When we look back at what God has done in our midst, it ruins us for life. We can never again live only in the shallow end. We have seen people healed and His presence move powerfully in our midst. How can we go back or settle for less? We are talking about renewal; about how the Lord is moving in most of the nations and cities.

Our cry has been for God to bring us revival.

There have been conferences in the past that were so wonderful. The people had a high faith level; people were healed, delivered, and radically touched causing us to go a second or third week in that same city. When we would walk into a meeting, the whole atmosphere would be charged with the holiness of God. It wasn't the normal conference "safe level" where we believed God would simply meet us, but we knew Jesus was in the atmosphere. It was like "walking under water" when we entered the room because of the depth and heavy weight of the glory of God.

The manifestations often offend people but as earthenware vessels, we shake and tremble when we touch the throne of God. We have found that as it goes from renewal to revival, there is less shaking. It is like the verse that says, "Be still and know that I am God." When you feel the heavy weight and glory of the Lord and it begins to move on people, there is stillness. The glory gets saturated into the depths of who we are. It is incredible!

The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament is where the raw fire, the raw presence of God, dwelt. It was a wooden box. What was inside the ark? The pot of manna was inside the Ark, representing Jesus being the Bread of Life. His bread will satisfy us. There was also Aaron's rod, which was wood and budded, representing the resurrection anointing. Also there were the stone tablets representing the Law. We could never make it through the Law--that's why we have the Blood of Jesus Christ.

The chest was made of wood, signifying Christ's humanity. It was covered with gold, representing the divinity. They never were contaminated; they never came together, showing Jesus being God and man at the same time.

The cover of the chest is called the Mercy Seat. We need the mercy of God in our lives. Facing each other were the Cherubims, angels facing each other over the Mercy Seat. The Priests would come in one day a year and throw the blood on the Ark, which was the Atonement.

Let our prayer be, "Lord, bring the Ark of the Covenant and have it dwell and live right where we are." We all signed up to see the Manifest Presence of the Lord everywhere we go so eyes would be opened, the lame would walk, and God would give us valuable words of life that would bring souls in.

He wants to give each of us nets that are filled with the Shekinah glory of the Lord so that when we throw those fishing nets out in our homes, neighborhoods or work, that we would catch fish. He has made us to be fisherman and we should never be satisfied unless the Lord gives us more fish.

The Cry of God's Heart

I feel the Lord is crying out for us to be MORE hungry for Him. It's so easy to get into programs and meetings. Even during the time of Moses, it was very easy for them to fall into a form of religion without having a hunger and a fire for the presence of the living God.

There is a cry in each one of us to not be an empty shell. We so need His fire in the depths of who we are! We need our bones to burn because we love Him so much. We need our blood to boil, so to speak. We need a divine hunger put into the depths of who we are. We need the Lord to grab hold of us and shake off apathy and complacency until there is a fresh love for Jesus Christ our Lord.

We can never hear enough about returning to our first love. We can never hear enough the voice of the Bridegroom and that He is coming. Do you remember when you first met Him? Do you remember that passion you had? Do you remember when He would barely whisper and you quickly responded? Will you let Him ignite a burning passion of first love in the depths of your heart once again?

Is there a void and emptiness in you, even though you know how to pray for people, even though you move in leadership and know how to train and equip people? Will you come back to Him, to your first love? Is the fire inside of you like the Shekinah glory of the living God? Is there a resurrection anointing and the fire of Jesus touching you?

I feel the Lord is constantly saying, "I want you to want Me more. I want you to be more hungry for Me." As soon as you start feeling that you have arrived, you start to lose your cutting edge. We somehow begin to be satisfied with the shallow end and there is no longer those deep cries and remembrances of when the gold came, when the Shekinah glory and heavy weight were in our meetings. We forget about the healed minds and healed bodies. Lord, help us not to forget Your Presence!

His heartbeat was not just to have His Shekinah glory in the Ark of the Covenant. You see, when He died on the Cross, it rent the veil that we would be living temples with the Ark of the Covenant, the Shekinah glory, inside of us. We can take out Aaron's rod and proclaim that yes, we are made out of wood, but because of the resurrection anointing our lives have budded and flowered.

You may have gone from religion to religion trying to fill that empty place inside of you, but now that you have the bread of life, the Word of God with fire and revelation on it, you are full. The Lord is asking if you remember who He is.

There have been meetings when the heavy weight of the Lord was there and eyes would be opened and people would begin to see in the eternal realm and weep as they saw souls literally going to hell. They would see Jesus walking as a living fire in a room and touching people.

All I know is that when we get touched by the Lord, when we get glimpses of eternity, it ruins us for life. There is that cry that says we have to have more of Him!

God Wants YOU to Carry the Ark of His Covenant

He has called you to have His Shekinah gold inside of you. He breaks the lies that say, "You can't be a prophetic man or woman of destiny and birthright." I break the enslavement of the enemy to take them down.

The Lord says,

"I have called you as a prophetic people, full of birthright and destiny.
I have called you as high flyers, as eagles.
Ones that would shout and rend the heavens, ones who would be warriors.
I have called you to be a people of destiny.
Don't settle for less."

Let the Lord start to release the vision that you are eagles. May you love Him enough that you want to fly to the heights, to take flights as eagles as you keep your eyes on Jesus, the Son of the living God.

The Lord says,

"Do you love Me enough to risk again?
Do you love Me enough to take another chance?
Do you love Me enough to be willing to fly?
Do you love Me enough to soar above your circumstances?
Do you love Me enough, though it may cost your very life?
I am calling you to soar into the heavens.
I have not desired that you be earthbound.
Let Me break the chains that are holding you down.
Let Me loose you from your bondage.
Let Me teach you how to catch the wind.
My child, come and soar again.
Take the jump. I will catch you. I won't let you fall if you trust Me.
Take the jump. I will catch you. I won't let you fall."

Jill Austin
Master Potter Ministries