There is an uprising of people all over the world who are obsessed with His presence. Bill Johnson calls them the ‘burning ones’ and at IHOP they call this movement the ‘One Thing’ movement. People who are burning with passion for the presence of their saviour and the result is reciprocal, because He is burning in passion for us. The fruit of which manifests as revival and renewal in communities all over the world. It all starts with us desperately seeking his face or intimate face time with God, before we ever see the fruit overflow into our communities.

Only when we truly encounter His presence are we truly changed. Anyone who changes is a testimony of Jesus to the world around them. [1]The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, it creates the opportunity for God to do in others what He has so mercifully did in you. When you testify of what God has done in you it creates hope in others. Real hope has the power of influence with others. The very spirit of the testimony rests on the testimony to create a love encounter for the receiver. The testimony is not merely words spoken to reflect a great encounter, it is a lifestyle whiteness that reflects the nature of God played out in our lives. This is it, that we live out what God has done in us. That we are outwardly who God has changed us to be on the inside. That others can see His nature begin to permeate our lives on all levels. That we ‘overflow’ or ‘leak’ His goodness and character out the abundance with in us. This is how others see the face of God in and on us. That we become a God encounter for them. That all the theology that we learn and experience becomes a theophany or christophany to others around us.

Christophany – the appearance of Christ

‘We have enounters with His love so that we become an encounter of His love. Theology has to create in us a theophany.’ – Kevin Dedmon

We become champions of His grace, and testimonies of His love when we seek His face and truly find Him in all we do. Everyone loves a champion or a hero. Those that overcame unbeatable odds, slayed a dragon or killed a giant. Stories or testaments of champion exploits travel far as little boys fantasize about becoming champions in their own rights, playing ‘slay the giant’ or ‘rescue the girl’. Champions reproduce champions in the hearts of others. That what God accomplished in us becomes accessible, tangible and possible to those around us. That God himself, become more accessible, tangible and possible to even the hardest heart. Sales people call this ‘word-of-mouth’ or ‘viral’ marketing. Nothing spreads hope and possibility better than the testimony of Jesus, especially when played out in someone’s life. You will often hear future-believers say, “Did you hear about so-and-so, they found Jesus!”. Which I think is kind of funny considering the fact that He is looking so hard for us and all we do is say yes.

Have you noticed how new believers are so full of hope, because they had a life changing experience with God. They can’t wait to tell everyone about the change in their lives, but it isn’t till people around them see the fruit of what has happened, before they believe and are often converted.

The faith and passion of a new believer was never meant to be exclusively a salvation experience. We are called to go from glory to glory. Jesus isn’t a drug, that once you experience Him in the first encounter, you spend the rest of your encounters trying to reproduce the same high. No! Experiencing His touch, His love, His face is supposed to be an ever increasing high, that you can’t get enough of. The experience and revelation of His love is supposed to increase and manifest change in us, as a testimony of His life exchange with us. Love encounters lead to and increase of knowing him, which increases our hope which we know overflows in acts of faith. The very faith with live by then produces opportunities for others to experience the love of God as we live, as we be Christians, not do Christianity.

We pray for the sick, because we can’t help it. It is an overflow of the revelation of His love and who He is in us. That we are full of the abundance of our father. [2]Out of the abundance of the heart the life will speak. I miss quoted this on purpose, however I think if we read the reference in Luke 6:45, we can see that Jesus is saying that a heart full of good things produces good things. Our lives full of His goodness produces Him and all His goodness around us. We tend to reproduce who we are, so we better get full of His presence. I like the scripture in [3]Ephesians 5:18 that says, be filled with the Spirit. It is a great word study because it basically says, “…do not be filled with things that are wasteful but be made full or complete with the Spirit…”. That the Spirit completes us, or He fills us to satisfaction, not wanting anything else. I have heard others say that the Scripture uses a double verb of ‘be-being’ filled with the Holy Spirit. That is to stay full at all times, always filling up what is lacking in us. We fill ourselves up with private, intimate love encounters with God. It isn’t what we do to get that encounter that matters, but that we have the encounter. It could be soaking, worshiping, slaying a dragon, getting healed, watching others get healed, reading your bible, etc. We will do whatever it takes to experience a revelation of how wide, how deep and high His love is for us. For example David slays the giant from a place of knowing who His God is. He slays the giant in public from a place of private intimacy with God. He slayed the bear and the lion before he slayed the giant. The overflow of what God has done in the secret place with David causes him to step up into his public destiny.

How can we effectively reach others without a living testimony of what Jesus has done or who He is in our lives. These victories create a hope that gathers the nations and defines history. Giant and dragon slayers forever reflect a new standard of living because of personal breakthrough. Their private victories lead to public victories. Those that created a ‘possible’ out of and ‘impossible’. We are those that reflect God’s purpose or His will to turn impossible into possible. This is the whole mandate in Is 60. and better explained by Paul in Eph 5.

Paul is making the comparison of walking in the light versus walking in your former ways as children of darkness. I like to look at the ’light’ versus ‘dark’ issue as an issue of revelation and the lack their of. That the whole battle over our minds is a battle of revelation. That we can’t see what isn’t revealed and we can only see what is revealed by the Spirit. Paul makes this point in Eph 5 vs 13: “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.”

That you were unable in your former ways to walk in ‘revelation’ because you could not see. That you can’t see what isn’t reveled by the Spirit, but that which is reveled becomes seen or a revelation. And that which becomes a revelation, becomes a light for others to see. Or becomes a light that illuminates by the Spirit, a revelation for others to see what could not be seen before your encounter.

That was a mouthful! I will try again.

1. Before our encounter with Christ/Holy Spirit/God, we couldn’t see or perceive what was good or bad for us. A sort of ‘ignorance is bliss’ moment.

2. But when we encountered His presence, the Spirit revealed to us what was profitable and it became a revelation to us.

3. What became a revelation to us became a testimony that is used as a light by the Spirit to reveal in others the love and will of God in their lives.

Simply said, when God comes upon an individual they become aware of how much He loves them, then this internal revelation externally manifests as a lifestyle of faith. Which, in turn creates the same internal revelations in others around them, which multiplies to those around them exponentially. Ultimately reflecting God’s love and will throughout the world.

Then Paul directly quotes Is 60 to further illustrate his point.

1“Arise, shine; for your light has come,

And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

2“For behold, darkness will cover the earth

And deep darkness the peoples;

But the LORD will rise upon you

And His glory will appear upon you.

3“Nations will come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

4“Lift up your eyes round about and see;

They all gather together, they come to you.

Your sons will come from afar,

And your daughters will be carried in the arms.

5“Then you will see and be radiant,

And your heart will thrill and rejoice;

Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you,

The wealth of the nations will come to you.[4]

That the world is covered in darkness because of a lack of revelation of who God is or how much love He has for them. The fact that He already has so much love for them means all we have to do is reflect that love. To do this we stand up into Him and have our own personal encounter with Him. To be-being filled with His presence so that the internal transformation and external manifestation, reflects His love and ultimately reflects Him into the darkness around us. By just arising or coming up into our relationship with Him or creating an opportunity for Him to rest on us which creates an overflow of His love and revelation that pushes back the darkness and opens the hearts of those around us.

Bill Johnson says: “He is in us at salvation, for our sakes, but on us for other people’s sake”

Kings and nations will come to the brightness of the hope it creates in you. Reconciliation and restoration will be yours and abundance and increase will be your testimony. Um, to quote a friend of mine, Ben George, “Yes please!!”

So Paul is saying do not be filled with things that are of no value, now that you are aware of His love, be-being constantly filled and satisfied with His presence overflowing in behaviour that reflects that. As you do you will reflect Him to those around you and they too will be changed. You will go to the grocery store and see a person with a hearing aid and automatically ask to pray for them out of the overflow of His goodness in you. When they get healed they too will have experienced His love and be able to give it away. This is the hope that overflows as acts of faith that will draw nations and kings to you. You will slay your giants and further reveal God to the hearts of those around you as you seek His face.