John Wimber - The Presence of God

If you were regularly attending John Wimbers church at the Vineyard in Anaheim California during the early to mid 80’s, you will never forget the encounters we had with the Numinous, or Presence of God in our midst during the intimate moments of worship. (If you would like to get a small taste of what I’m talking about, please see my other video titled, “Rare Vineyard Worship Part 1”. There is a link to that video below) Those encounters did not happen by chance or because The Lord was doing something unique and special for that time and place, those encounters happened by design and were deliberate and planned. First, it was happening because we wanted it. Second, it was happening because we learned how to get it. Gods wants to reveal Himself to his people, for the purpose of empowering His people, So God can work through His People. We see this in Exodus 19 and in Acts 2. We are “The Body of Christ”, called to cooperate with Father in doing His works, the same way as Jesus did. We have a model to follow in Christ. If we are going to do the Power Ministries, then we must be in the Presence Ministry. If we are not experiencing that level of His Presence during worship at our churches, it’s not because of God, it’s because of us. If we don’t want it or we don’t expect it, then why would we get it? There are typically two reasons keeping us from having it: We either don’t know how to appropriate The Presence of God in our church, or we don’t know why we should appropriate The Presence of God in our Church. It is not wrong to want this, because we need this. We were created to be in His Presence and we do not have to wait until we die to be there. Once you get past that and you want it, which is 90% of the battle, how we appropriate it is very simple: He Leads. Discover what He is saying and doing, in the moment, and cooperate with Him, any time you are leading His people to worship Him. His people are not there “For You, they are there “For Him”. They are not there to sing your songs or to watch your band or to have an amazing experience from your performance. They are there for Him and ONLY Him. So, lead His people into His Presence, and then, get out of the way.    • Rare Live Vineyard Worship 1984