A New Season of Glory
By Ron McGatlin
We are currently moving into a new season of God’s glory in us and with us for the special purpose of the journey through the times of severe darkness and cleansing judgments into the fullness of the reality of the kingdom of God ruling on earth.
There have been many seasons of God restoring parts of what God designed for mankind in the beginning. Throughout history God has been progressively restoring His people, layer by layer and piece by piece toward the perfect human condition of godliness that Adam was the day God created him and breathed His life into Him.
Since the time thousands of years ago when Abraham set out on a Journey in search of a city not made with hands who’s builder and maker was God, mankind has been moving from season to season on a journey toward the fullness of God from heaven on earth.
The cross, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost over two thousand years ago restored the potential for God’s people to have a direct connection and intimate relationship with God. Through the dark ages that began after the first century, the truth of the gospel of the kingdom was not openly visible for over a thousand years.
Around 500+ years ago, progressive restoration of the gospel began. Salvation by grace through faith was first restored. Then only about 100+ years ago, the baptism in the Holy Spirit was restored to the people of God. Since that time there seems to have been increasingly more rapid restoration of truth and movement toward the goal and purpose of God, the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
As each new season begins, it brings fresh revelation of restored truth. The introduction of freshly revealed restored truth and the increased relationship with God that it brings always cause some confusion amongst some of the people.
For example, the advent of Christ Jesus into the world caused much confusion amongst the people who had been following God in the previous season of covenantal sacrificial activity. It was difficult for many who knew the old ways of God to consider there was a new and living Way standing before them in a brand new season. This caused much confusion among some of the people.
Perhaps one of the greatest times of confusion was at the changing season of Pentecost when the Spirit of Christ Jesus returned in the Holy Spirit to actually indwell His people and do the works of Christ Jesus through them.
Much later after the dark ages when these same truths were re revealed again into recent history, the confusion amongst some of the people was very evident.
Now what am I saying? I said all of that to say there is a new season of the restoration of the Shekinah glory of God that is NOW coming forth by the Holy Spirit to a broader spectrum of believers. The small group that I was gathered with on a recent Sunday morning is one of the many places where God is choosing to proclaim a season of Shekinah glory. When God spoke clearly by one of his prophetic voices that, God has come to us in this room now ”“ the Shekinah glory of God is here and you will never be the same again, it was not fully noted or heard in our spirits what God had just said.
Manifestations of His presence is not at all a new thing. It has been evident among the body of Christ and often present with us in recent decades. Therefore, we took no special note of the word at the time as if God had said nothing new. Later that evening after the gathering, some of us realized that something powerful had been spoken.
Another thing that also began to happen to those who were there that evening was that a fresh burst of life began to come upon us or perhaps more accurately rise up within us. It was similar to the spirit of revival that had set us on fire with fresh life in times past. We had not yet seen what was really happening but did feel something changing and a surge of increased life.
Over the next day or so, we began to get further understanding and revelation into the fact that a new season was upon us.
What is the new season of Shekinah Glory, and what does it mean to us?
The word "Shekinah” is the English transliteration of a Hebrew noun meaning dwelling or settling and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God.
One of the best Old Testament demonstrations of Shekinah glory was the manifestation of God leading and providing for the children of Israel in their forty years in the wilderness. The glory was visible to them as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the cloud moved, they moved. When it was still, they did not move. They followed the cloud wherever it went. There were no Walmart stores or supermarkets in the wilderness, yet the people were fed, clothed, and had shoes on their feet for forty years.
For their entire time in the wilderness, the Shekinah glory of God was present with them. However, when they entered into the Promised Land, there was a change. The special Shekinah glory was no longer guiding them, and the manna stopped appearing each morning. In the Promised Land they ate from the fruit of the land.
God is announcing a new season available now to the people of God. A new season of the Shekinah glory abiding with and resting upon His people to guide us and provide for us on this next portion of our journey. Our journey will go through much darkness that has captured the world and much tribulation of judgments that are cleansing the earth.
At the same time multitudes fleeing the destruction will run to God and be born again, filled with the Spirit, and transformed almost instantly. The supernatural Shekinah glory of the manifest presence of God is a major ingredient in the great harvest. The Shekinah glory upon us will draw the people to God and to His work of salvation and transformation.
The new season retains only the godly portion of the old and builds upon it with the new.
The past season had mixtures of impurities along with the God-sent grace works of love, power, and glory. The Pentecostal and Charismatic revivals and renewals of the recent past contained a very important part of the works of God that will not be done away with in the new season of greater glory. However, they will be very different.
All of the impurities of the mixtures and man-made systems will crumble and be dissolved by fire in the new season of greater glory in the life of oneness with God. Greater supernatural reality will be on every front. Astounding miracles and beyond supernatural life to "God-natural” life of oneness with all the attributes of God as His mature Sons.
The Shekinah glory is now coming to us for the purpose of leading us and strengthening us as we journey through the difficult season of vile darkness of the enemy that is exerting himself in an all-out attempt to stop the reality of the kingdom of God on earth. This season of judgment is for the purpose of dissolving all that lifts itself against God. The Babylonian nations are judged and will burn to ashes and all that remains in Babylon will suffer with the end of the once great nations.
New Jerusalem, the purified holy city prepared by the hands of God for which the great men and women of faith have sought for thousands of years, is being formed in His people. The great cloud of witnesses is urging us on to the final victory of God in the promise of His kingdom.
We are only a link in the golden chain of patriarchs and heroes of faith who have gone before us. As the writer of Hebrews wrote speaking of all the great men and women of God through the ages, 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Their work is made perfect (complete ”“ mature) through us. I believe that the "us” in this verse speaks of everyone after the cross in whom Christ dwells.
We are now a part of a new season characterized by His GLORY. God abiding within us and among us is the reality of New Jerusalem life now forming in us. We are as seeds and possess the fullness in us now of that which is to come, seeds of the kingdom to be sowed into the earth to sprout forth the kingdom of God on earth.
Faith is greatly building in this season. Supernatural love, power, and wisdom are becoming the norm for our lives. Earthly bondages and restraints are giving way to the attributes of God functioning in His pure-hearted holy people on earth. The ability to believe what the Bible says is for you and me now opening the door to mountain-moving faith and extraordinary miracles becoming part of our daily lives.
All of this is without one speck of the self-motivated prayers for us to consume upon our lust as it often was in the past season. We simply do not want anything at any time that is not the will of God. We will do only what we see and hear our Father doing.
We will not despair when natural life goes through deep changes. Our life does not consist in the things of this world. We are spirit beings becoming again the pure image of God as His breath again fills these bodies with the life of Christ Jesus.
His grace is producing His life and His glory in us and among us. Let God arise in us and His enemies be scattered from us, and we will not miss one minute of His abiding Glory of His manifest presence resting upon and within us.
Ron McGatlin