How to receive or contain the Glory of the Lord?

2 Chronicles 5 : 13 & 14 - "13 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying:

“For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,”

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God."

These verses elaborates on when and how the Glory of the Lord descended and the weight of it. In today's world this experience or manifestation is difficult to find in any church. Each person that attends the church has different thoughts running in his mind and faces a lot of pressure constantly. To equalize each persons thoughts and to make them focus on God kills the time of praise and worship. The worship leader struggles to pull all of them together to unite the minds and worship the Lord.

To see the manifestation of the Glory of the Lord in a church, it's the responsibility of the each individual to come with focus and a heart to worship God leaving all the worriers outside the church.

This chapter shows how the people came before the Lord, including the king and experienced the manifestation of the Glory of the Lord. The manifestation took place on the temple (building) in the Old Testament but, in the New Testament we are the temple of the Living God (1 Cor 3:16). We being the temple of God, how much more prepared should we be? This means that the Glory of God would rest on us.

In order to experience this, we learn the key rules from this chapter:-

• Consecrate yourself

• Unison

• Praise

• Thanksgiving

• Song raised with musical instruments

Let's learn more on these to grow closer to God.

• Consecrate yourself :- The priests and the levites, all consecrated themselves before they came before the Lord (vs. 11). So, we need to consecrate ourselves each time we go before the Lord. Putting behind all our worries, thoughts, imaginations, and situations. And go with an empty heart and mind, cleaning ourselves with the Blood of Jesus.

• Unison :- All of them came in UNISON and sang. Unity is needed in a Christian's life. It doesn't mean that when a certain person does anything against God be in unity with them but, in a situation like this we need to correct them gently according to the word of God. Unity is that you be in peace with God and everyone around you. God doesn't accept any sacrifice or praise if there isn't unity and love. We need to go and reconcile with any person that we have a drift with and then come in UNISON to God and offer our praise and sacrifice ( Matt 5:24).

• Praise :- Praise is the admiration of God. When we admire a person, we praise them, in the same way, God should be our admiration. When we start to think of all the attributes of God, and all that He has done for us, we automatically praise Him. A heart of gratitude lets praise come out of us. Praise God at all times and for everything.

• Thanksgiving :- We need to thank God for each and everything. Showing gratitude to the Creator is the best thing to do. Many a times we thank God only when there is happiness around us or when something good happens. No, this shouldn't be our attitude. We need to thank God when things don't go right and when things go right. God knows what's best for us. So, everything that happens in our lives, it's for the good of us. Be thankful to God always.

• Songs with instruments :- " When they sang with instruments, the Glory of the Lord filled the house of God." Wow, such an amazing experience. When we sing to God with instruments. it make a sweet aroma to God. He just comes down. You might say, "I can't sing and don't know how to play an instrument." Hmmm... Well the good news is, you don't have to be professional singer or a musician. As God sees' the heart not the tone. God used a donkey to speak to Balaam the prophet. Donkey's don't know to talk but it just happened. The donkey didn't bother about it's voice or tone but wanted to do the will of God and bring Him praise. We've figured out about singing but you might ask me," what about playing the instruments?" Not to worry, all the instruments are in us. We don't need to know any instruments to worship God. He gave us beautiful hands to clap, gave us a throat to sing which more or less resembles a guitar and feet to dance. Who needs instruments to praise God now. We all are musicians and singers for the Lord.

To contain the Glory of God, we learnt 5 ways to practice while we enter the presence of God. We need to :-

• Consecrate yourself

• Unison

• Praise

• Thanksgiving

• Song raised with musical instruments

When we do them, in our lives each time we go before the Lord, we get filled. So next time whenever you go to pray alone or at a gathering, follow these and see a difference.

God bless.