Riding the Glory Cloud of Jesus

Paul said we should walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit is to allow the Spirit of God to direct our ways and perceptions. We learn to surrender the desires of our heart (soul) to the Lord. The goal of walking in the Spirit is to enter the glory cloud of Jesus. While we are riding in the glory cloud with the Lord, his Spirit connects us to the intimate heart of God. After I have been walking in the Spirit for days, I enter another dimension of the Spirit and beholding the glory of the Lord. It is like a spiritual ascension as I feel the joy, peace and the serenity of God around me. At that moment of entering the intimate heart of God is the moment of spiritual communion. This is a very good place to be in the spirit ascension process. It is also a very delicate place to be if you dare to share the glory of God with another. An intimate moment with God is the highest point of love exchange between God and man in the Spirit. Jesus described this moment saying,

"At that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (St. John 14:20).

"God is a Spirit those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (St. John 4:24).

King David said, "In his presence is the fullness of joy. At his right hand, are pleasures forever more" (Psalm 16:11).

Physical Love Fails Without the Love of God

There is no joy a person is seeking that he or she will not find in the presence of God. God is the greatest lover. Our problem in a relationship is to accentuate the physical and ignore the spiritual intimacy between a man and a woman in marriage. We stress the physical so much in a relationship today; we end up destroying such relationship. Any relationship based primarily on the physical will eventually fail, especially in this our over-sexualized society. The physical body will eventually die. The human soul lives forever either in the presence of God, or away from God in agony. Why should we define ourselves by physical pleasures when God defines us through the spirit realm from the foundation of the world? Love is not just about how you feel, but also about what you share from your heart with others. When the physical excitements start to fade, the same relationship that used to bring all these wonderful physical pleasures falls apart. We are yet to learn that the most intimate relationship between a man and a woman goes beyond the physical and the bedroom. Even when the physical excitements start to fade, the spiritual web that entangles a husband and wife keeps them together in soul union, and help to re-ignite the physical. The soul union becomes the unbroken cord of love that keeps them together even during very difficult times. Such marriage with a strong soul attachment woven in God’s love between the couple is not easily broken. If the love between a husband and a wife falls apart during difficult times, that love doesn’t worth that much to begin with!

Entering into a Secret Place of God

In our relationship with God, we have to enter into a place of intimate connection in the Spirit during worship. In such a place, we experience the spiritual communion between God and man in the Spirit. This should be our goal each time we worship God. Our intention is to enter the Holy of the Holiest and to experience the joy of spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus in the heart of God. Any Christian can do this from time to time although I do not feel comfortable being in such a high spiritual level all the time. Sometimes while I’m in the Spirit, the spiritual energy level can be too intense for me. I used to experience this type of spiritual energy intensity of God while I’m fasting. Other times, I may not be fasting when this unexplainable power comes upon me. Once the energy becomes very intense, I look for somebody and witness to that person, and I would feel better. Other times, I would pray to the Lord to reduce the intensity of the energy. I hate to lie. There are times, I got scared thinking I was about to die, or explode from within. Ministry is the Lord’s intended purpose for the power of the Holy Spirit. That was what Jesus told his disciples to do after the power came upon them on the Day of Pentecost. They were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the end of the world.

At other times when we are in an intimate communion with the Spirit of God, the energy may not be so intense so God can enjoy our company. Yes, God enjoys our company when he is visiting with us. Some times people just feel the joy of being in the Spirit without realizing that they are in spiritual communion with God.

God is a Jealous Lover

I over heard one well-known celebrity and a talk show host a couple of years ago saying, "I could not imagine why God would be jealous of me!" Quietly, I smiled to myself because I knew this celebrity had no clue what she was talking about. It sounded as if she was looking at God’s jealousy in the earthly sense when people are jealous of another either because of their possessions or achievements. God gave you all what you got! God is not jealous of anything you have. Even if you are not careful, he can snatch all from you in less than a few days. God is jealous because of man’s sin of idolatry being referred to as a spiritual adultery. Sadly, it grieved God’s heart when we share his glory with another. In spite of this, people still rub the face of God in the sewer when they go whoring after other gods. God the Father is a lover who resents the idea of man’s spiritual adultery. Today, we see Christians going to serve modern-day Baal. Some people worship sex, illicit desires, and other pleasures as idols as if these are the essence of life on earth. I’m not advocating for married people to give up physical intimacy. But, don’t we over stress the importance of physical pleasures? We observe Christians worshiping Buddha and playing harlotry at the shrine of Hinduism religion. Some Christians even advocate that Jesus is not enough for them. So they added the New Age religion to their worship of God blaspheming the name of God. What a crying shame!

God strongly resented this kind of spiritual infidelity. It started in the Garden of Eden when the "demonic Being" of the devil visited Eve while she was naked. What Eve shared with Satan in an intimate fashion was more than the apple. Things would have been so much better for us if they only shared the apple. There are many pieces of evidence in the Bible referring to this fact. What was shared between the two was more than the apple. In some places in the Bible Cain was referred to as the evil seed. "Not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother" (I John 3:12). Where did the wicked (evil) one come from? Even Jesus came out and said to the religious leaders of his time who wanted to claim that God was their father because they came from the blood of Abraham. "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (St. John 8:44).

I believe that Jesus settled the argument as to the functioning DNA of the devil today in every man born of a woman. We are all born in sin.

God expresses great hurt and grief in seeing us share the special gift of spiritual intimacy with other gods. However, in the Bible, he described this spiritual adultery in a physical way that we can better understand it. He used physical metaphor in a graphic way to express spiritual adultery. Although husband and wife share some aspects of spiritual intimacy with each other, the highest level of sharing spiritual intimacy is between God and man. How many husbands can willingly accept their wives sharing physical intimacy with other men? How many wives are willing to allow their husbands to share physical intimacy with other women without willing to draw blood? This is where the true love comes into bearing. In the physical, man is willing to draw blood because of physical adultery. If the physical adultery hurts so much, and makes jilted lovers weep, how much more the spiritual adultery we commit against God when we go whoring after other gods? God expresses his grief over spiritual adultery in these verses:

"When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread my wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and enter into a covenant with you, and you became mine" says the Lord God (Ezekiel 16:8).

"But you have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return to me," says the Lord (Jeremiah 3:1).

"Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion" (Jeremiah 3:14).

"Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel," says the Lord (Jeremiah 3:20).

"But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and pour out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it" (Ezekiel 16:15).

"You are an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hire them to come to you from all around for your harlotry" (Ezekiel 16:32-33).

"Surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you love, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. And I will judge you as woman who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy" (Ezekiel 16:37-38).

Anybody who does not understand why God is a jealous God can now understand from reading these verses from the Word of God. These are just very few verses depicting God’s great disappointment with those who commit spiritual adultery. Although those verses were referring to the children of Israel worshipping idols, but those verses are also applicable to us today because of the rise of apostasy, pantheism, the worship of modern days idols in Christianity, and the religious syncretism. Only God can deliver human mind from the deceptions of the devil!

The Secret of God the Healer

Perhaps entering and riding the glory cloud of Jesus may sound odd to some people because they never learn to walk in the Spirit of God to begin with. The lady who had the issue of blood in the Bible (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-47) touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. According to the story, Jesus was not aware of what was about to happen, that was why he jumped up, turned around and said, "Who touched me!" His disciples surrounded him and many people were walking with them in the crowd. Peter told Jesus that why was he asking such a question while many people were pressing and pushing them back and forth. Jesus answered and said to Peter, "Somebody touched me because I perceive power going out of me" (St. Luke 8:46). Then the woman who touched the hem of his garment came trembling to show her face in the crowd, because she received instant healing. Jesus then complimented her and said, "Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. Go in peace" (St. Luke 8:48).

This is one of the most interesting and unique stories of Jesus healing a woman in the Bible. Most of the time, either Jesus would do something, or say something, and the person would be healed. In this particular situation, the woman entered into the glory of Jesus, and touched the tip of his glory. "And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for power went out from him and healed them all" (St. Luke 6:19). As we know Jesus walked around in the glory cloud of his Father. That was why it was very difficult for the soldiers to arrest him. There had been many warrants issued for Jesus arrest, none of them ever worked because the Bible said it was not yet his time. When it was time for Jesus to be arrested heading for the cross, he had to make himself available to be arrested by shedding some of the glory-energy in the Garden of Gethsemane. That was why he was sweating in the cold of the night while praying prior to his arrest. Otherwise, if those people came close to Jesus with evil intention, they could drop dead. But, Jesus allowed himself to be arrested. Consequently, the glory energy that surrounded Jesus was not only for healing, it was also for his protection against evil. Anybody who walks in the Shekinah glory of the Lord has protection from evil.

In this story of the woman healed with the issue of blood, the woman had a word of revelation or information that many people were not aware. The woman knew the prediction about Jesus, "The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings" (Malachi 4:2).

The woman did not only have that divine information about Jesus, she had faith in the information. With that piece of information, the woman threw her illness at the hem of Jesus garment and she was healed. As soon as that incident happened news spread very fast all over the cities. As soon as Jesus got to another city, they begged him so they could touch the hem of his garment. "And as many as touch the hem of his garment, were made perfectly well" (St. Matthew 14:36).

One of the secrets to divine healing of diseases today is not only to walk in the Spirit of God and mediate on his Word, but also learns to enter into his glory cloud of the Lord Jesus. While basking in the glory cloud of God through Jesus, we connect to the heart of the Father experiencing intimate moments with him that no living human being is able to explain. The human soul is therefore in total surrender to the Spirit of God at that moment of adoration in a spiritual worship. At such a moment, we experience the greatest spiritual communion with God, and the diseases break off from our physical body because illness cannot exist in the presence of a Holy God. Think about the fact that the woman only touched the hem of Jesus garment to behold his glory. What will happen if a person not only enters into the glory cloud of Jesus, but also enjoys basking in his glory?

Benefit of Having Inside Information

Sometimes it pays to have inside information about the operating glory of God. While the disciples of Jesus were fighting over who is the greatest, who would sit at his right or left hand in the kingdom, or what were they going to receive for leaving their families to serve Jesus, it took a woman to breakthrough and enter into the glory of Jesus. All these disciples have been walking with him for a couple of years. They knew who he was, but it took a bleeding woman who had faith and almost lost hope to touch his glory. Due to her determination to break all restrictions, she crashed into the glory of Jesus. Even the disciples had no clue regarding what had happened. Only the bleeding woman had the clue to her healing as a secret inside information. She broke into the glory of Jesus, and she was healed!

Today, many people go to church as spectators sitting in the church to be entertained as if in a movie theatre during service. They are unable to enter into the Holy of the Holiest to worship God. They do not have a clue about spiritual worship. Until our Sunday worship takes us to a place inside the tabernacle where our human spirits meet and have communion with the Spirit of Jesus, we have not really worshipped. We have only been entertained! All the dancing and emotionalized excitements are not as important until we touch the face of God through Jesus in worship. If you learn to ride the glory cloud of God, it is a meeting place of a healer. This was what happened to the lady with the issue of blood. When we seek the presence of God during worship and attain the spiritual ascension, at that moment the Heaven breaks, the Portal Gates of Heaven open up, and we experience the glory of God. At this moment we bring the glory of God from Heaven to the earth, and miracles and supernatural events tend to take place. There is nothing as wonderful in this world as riding on the glory cloud of God through Jesus.

Dance With My Father

As Christians, it is not enough for us to walk in the Spirit of God. Each time we walk, we are always going somewhere. Your place of intention is to enter the glory cloud of Jesus as you ascend in the spirit with the help of the Holy Spirit. What do we do when we enter into his presence? Then you start basking in the glory cloud of God through Jesus. You enjoy the spiritual communion with God the Father and Creator. In that spiritual union, you start dancing with the Lord in the Spirit. David said, "You have turned my mourning into dancing" (Psalm 30:11). He was rejoicing!

In a parade with the Ark of God, "David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod (II Samuel 6:14).

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4).

"The Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one, will save, he will rejoice (dance) over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice (dance) over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).

So David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord" (II Samuel 6:21).

Even David’s wife Michal could not stop him from dancing with the Lord.

When King David was dancing before the Ark of the Lord, do you think he was dancing alone? No, the Lord was dancing with him including the angels from Heaven. Anytime the Bible says God rejoices, it means God dances! If we learn to dance with the Lord, we will experience a different side of God in love than we have ever seen.

God gave Jesus as a bridegroom to the church as a wife. Subsequent to this, God’s intention as the Father of the groom is to dance with each believer who has accepted his Son. The story of the prodigal son is typical of what God planned for repented sinners. The father threw a party when his lost son returned home. He was therefore rejoicing. The father in the story of the prodigal son is God. Similarly, God himself said, "Blessed are they that are invited to the marriage super of the lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God" (Rev 19:9).

So, what does the father do at the wedding banquet of his son? The father dances with the bride. Each one of us believers represents the church. I just pray we give God the Father, the opportunity to dance with his Son’s bride. Be prepared to dance with my Father at the wedding banquet of Jesus Christ. Just imagine how it’s going to be that day at the marriage super of the lamb. We talk all the time about the table. What happens when the super is over and the music begins? Each believer dances with God the Father at the wedding celebration of his Son, Jesus.

Today, while on earth before the day of the marriage super of the lamb, we can still dance with God through Jesus. The spiritual communion we enjoy with Jesus during his visit is like having a dance with God in the Spirit. If we can experience his presence during a spiritual communion, we can enjoy the spiritual dance with God, even while still on earth.

As we ride the glory cloud, let us remember that Jesus is the man in the glory, and no other person qualifies. He is the only way! If you are looking for true love, joy and peace in life, find Jesus. He will walk you through the cloud of his Father’s glory. Your heart will melt with the supernatural love of God as your soul dances in communion with God the Father to the symphony music of Heaven in unison with the saints. What a day of joyful celebration!

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

By Yinka Vidal, author, Closer Walk With Jesus

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