Defining God’s Glory
The Scriptural term “glory” in the Hebrew literally means “a weight.” It is something that can be felt upon you. It is the same as the manifest presence of the Lord.
I remember during the course The Glory of God, Brother Sam simplified everything with this thought, “Wherever God’s glory is, God is there manifesting Himself.”
This is different from the omni presence of the Lord where we understand God is everywhere all the time, but God’s glory is where He Himself is revealing and unveiling Himself to a person or a situation.
I remember the day and moment where I felt God’s glory for the first time upon my life, God manifesting Himself to me personally and with it the calling of God for my future. It was 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts. Let me tell you about it.
My Testimony
The year previous was a big year for me. I had just graduated college at Virginia Tech and was starting graduate school in the fall of 1998 for my master’s degree in engineering at Boston University. I moved there with my fiancé’ at the time. We were planning on getting married at the end of that summer and did. And also let me interject a huge moment too as I move this story along.
The morning of my wedding, I gave my life to Jesus. That is another story for another time. I laugh thinking about my honeymoon night at dinner. That was the time I decided to tell my new bride that I gave my life to Jesus. You could’ve heard a pin drop. I couldn’t stop talking about Jesus instead of her and us. What a day that was for me, August 29, 1998.
Growing Up in the Lutheran Church
I grew up in South Jersey and was raised Lutheran. I was baptized as an infant, went to Sunday School almost every week, confirmed in middle school, and was active in the Lutheran church my whole upbringing through high school. Even in college, I found a Lutheran church and went from time to time.
I appreciated my upbringing. I don’t remember having a born again experience or being challenged to give my life to Jesus or “getting saved.” I just believed in God, went with the flow, and it was always just part of my life, not the main focus of my life.
Getting Filled with the Holy Ghost
Fast forward back to Boston. I was living in a new city, with a new wife, new school, and I was newly saved. I even found a church near Boston University that was spirit-filled. It was contemporary and different from anything else I ever experienced. The pastor there even spent time with me and talked to me about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and prayed for me to receive it and I did. It was such a powerful experience and I spoke in tongues for the first time. Never heard of that my whole life and in the matter of just a few weeks in the fall of 1998, my life took a 180.
So there I was at the ripe age of 22. Everything was so fresh and new and that was the time I was handed a teaching tape by Brother Sam.
God’s Glory Falling Upon Me
It was my twin brother Martin who gave me a few teaching tapes. He gave me a series called Searching the Scriptures and a few miscellaneous sermon tapes. He was the one who led me to the Lord and encouraged me to find a spirit-filled church.
So I would pop in a tape in my Walkman as I would take the subway to my engineering lab at Boston University. I loved these tapes because I was so hungry for the Word of God as I Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
It was a way to feed my spirit every day with God’s Word and I was loving it. Couldn’t get enough of it and then the day came that changed my life forever, not that getting saved and filled with the Holy Ghost weren’t eternal moments as well for me, but it was at this time that the calling to God’s glory came upon my life.
An Encounter that Changed Everything
It was just another day going to class. The subway ride was about 20 minutes. In Boston they have above ground trains in many of their lines. I was listening to a message and it came to the end, and Brother Sam decided to play the guitar and worship Jesus for a moment, which he did most meetings. This particular worship was captured on the tape. It was the song, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back…”
As Brother Sam was worshipping Jesus in my ears, my eyes looking out the window of the subway, watching the hustle and bustle of city life, God’s glory fell upon me. It broke me. Tears began to fall. I remember thinking two things in that moment, the first being a little silly when you think about it, but I thought it nonetheless.
I thought to myself, “Oh my God, Jesus, you are real.” Of course I knew He was real. I grew up believing it. I had just gotten saved and powerfully filled with the Holy Ghost.
When I got saved a few months previous, I was overjoyed being washed in the blood of Jesus, knowing of a surety that Jesus now lives inside of me. When I got filled with the Holy Ghost and felt the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through me for the first time, I was blown away again. But something about God’s glory falling upon me on that train arrested my life.
There were no words to describe it other than it was my heavenly Father imposing Himself, revealing His glorious splendor in a moment of time on that subway. I knew He was upon me, embracing me, reaching for me in the most personal and intimate way, His face looking right at me.
It changed the course of my life forever which brought me to my second thought looking out that window.
The Calling to Reveal God’s Glory to Others
I knew in that moment with God’s glory overshadowing me, that every decision I had ever made up to that point in my life had been wrong. God did not want me to be an engineer. I was so moved, not just because I was experiencing the manifest presence of God, but because a person by just singing on a tape brought the presence of Jesus to me.
At that point in life, I had never met Brother Sam. I just had some teaching tapes. But I knew in that moment, without perhaps being able to articulate it, that my calling was to reveal God’s glory to others as Brother Sam revealed it to me. If only the world experienced the real Jesus in all His glory, it would be the answer they were looking for.
There is too much talk in this world. If people can be touched by His glory, that is all they need, and I want to be somebody that brings it to them. My life and future was wrapped up in the glory. How do I get it for myself? I knew nothing about the anointing or anything. I just knew that Jesus changed the course of my life and I couldn’t go back. I had found the pearl of great price, knowing Jesus intimately. The call to the glory and the desire for God’s glory was birthed that day in my life.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Psalms 42:7
God’s glory overwhelmed me that day and continues today. Even over 25 years later the deep of God’s heart out of His glory is calling to the deepest place in my heart, beckoning me upward and onward.
I remember about a week later after the incident on the subway, I was able to have an evening by myself and I began to sing and worship the Lord and prayed to Him that I didn’t want to leave that room until I felt His presence for myself. That glorious presence fell upon me again!
Thus began my journey of running after God’s glory. It is the high, holy, and heavenly calling in Scriptures. Paul couldn’t put it more clearly in II Thessalonians 2:14, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Moses cried out to the Lord, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.”
And for those that arise and respond with this same heart in this generation, God is preparing them to be part of that company in the last days, God’s remnant, ushering in the coming of the Lord when His glorious voice looses His people:
Arise Arise, shine; for thy light is come, And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And gross darkness the people: But the Lord shall arise upon thee, And His glory shall be seen upon thee.
Isaiah 60:1-3
The counter today to the gross darkness that is everywhere is you and I arising and revealing God’s glory! May this calling be birthed today in your heart!
