The Dancing Hand of God, Part 7: The Manifest Presence of the Holy Spirit

The dancing hand of God is the Holy Spirit’s presence made real in a believer’s life, and in this seventh message the pastor draws a sharp line between God’s omnipresence and His manifest presence. Knowing that God is everywhere, he says, does nobody much good beyond showing how big God is. What changes lives is the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit, the anointing that destroys every yoke of bondage and turns believers into signs and wonders.

He teaches from Isaiah, the Psalms and 1 Corinthians, and tells of a healing on a Christian cruise and of whole households coming to Jesus in Canada. This is part seven of the series and continues from The Dancing Hand of God, Part 6: The Anointing Oil and the Empowerments of the Holy Spirit. Below are the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (NKJV on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached at NTC Ministries and posted on November 1, 2022. It runs about 58 minutes and closes with a prayer to receive Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The pastor recalls that when he first came to the area in the mid-1980s, before there was even a church, he taught the small Bible study the same distinction he brings here: the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God are not the same thing.

Many born-again people, he says, are comfortable with the idea that God is everywhere, but the moment God starts to manifest, it makes them uncomfortable. That manifest presence is exactly what the church has to embrace.

Omnipresence Versus the Manifest Presence

The pastor opens by saying we need the tangible presence of God more than we need to breathe. He reviews two passages from earlier in the series. The first is Isaiah 8:18: “Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel.” He reads Mount Zion as the church, so the purpose of God’s people is to be signs and wonders.

Knowing that God is everywhere is not a sign or a wonder, he points out. A manifestation is. When God shows up in a way people have never experienced, their first response is often, what is this? That is exactly what Israel said about the manna in the wilderness; the word itself means “what is it?” (Exodus 16:15). We need God to manifest in ways we have never heard of or understood.

He describes the times as days when the antichrist spirit is gaining momentum and many are giving themselves over to a reprobate mind. In such days, he teaches, the church is the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). Settlers heading west salted their meat to preserve it without refrigeration, and believers preserve the earth the same way by speaking truth, standing for righteousness and declaring the Lord Jesus Christ.

The table below sets out the two kinds of presence as the pastor contrasts them through the message.

The Anointing Destroys the Yoke

The second review text is Isaiah 10:27: the burden will be taken from your shoulder and the yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. Oil, he teaches, always represents the Holy Spirit in Scripture. Last week’s message showed how the fragrant anointing oil was put on priests and kings as a sign to leave them alone, and the Holy Spirit upon a believer is the same sign to every demonic force.

He explains the Hebrew word for anointing, mishchah, as an unction: to rub, the way a masseuse rubs oil into knotted muscles to relieve the stress and pressure. That is what the Holy Spirit does with the yokes and knots of life, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). When someone is slain in the Spirit, ministers say to leave them alone, because God is doing surgery.

The Holy Spirit is not a junior Spirit; He is as much God as Jesus or the Father. Jesus is Lord over the church, the pastor says, and the Holy Spirit is Lord in the church. The anointing is a consecratory gift that sets us apart. People who refuse that presence are seldom used by God, and what they do is mostly in their own strength.

He admits there were things in his life he could not change by trying. They came back a month or two later. But the anointing destroyed those yokes after time spent in God’s manifest presence. He then tells a testimony he heard from a church in Canada. A man who had used a wheelchair for over 12 years with MS reluctantly went on a Christian cruise. Two young women prayed for him at dinner and nothing seemed to happen. The next morning he showered, dressed and was halfway to breakfast before he realized they had forgotten the wheelchair.

The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give abundant life (John 10:10), more than we can work for or produce, above all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). He adds a second word, shemen, the oil itself, which he says speaks of perfume, richness and strength, like grease. When the Spirit comes upon your life, He takes away the squeak. He compares it to a home exercise machine that got harder every day until he found the little vial of silicone oil that came with it.

Where Can I Flee From Your Presence?

After leading a short prayer of repentance for being preoccupied with visible things, the pastor turns to Psalm 139:7–10. David asks where he can go from God’s Spirit or flee from His presence. Heaven, the depths, the uttermost parts of the sea: even there God’s hand leads him and His right hand holds him.

Ezekiel, a priest in captivity, saw the heavens opened and a wheel within a wheel full of eyes, and wherever the Spirit went, the wheels went (Ezekiel 1:15–21). The pastor sees God in eternity, seeing everything. Even at creation, the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters first, and only then was light spoken (Genesis 1:2–3). When the Spirit is manifest, the commanded blessings of God follow; it is about yielding, not working.

No point in a universe of countless galaxies is nearer to God than any other. Scripture pictures Him measuring the heavens with a span (Isaiah 40:12). You are never farther from God than anyone else. Yet Adam, in his guilt, tried to hide, and God played along, asking, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8–10). Guilt makes people hide, from God and from people, but the blood of Jesus cleanses from all guilt.

In the beginning God (Genesis 1:1), not matter. Matter cannot cause itself, he says: his car never became two cars overnight. God is the only giver of life; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). If God had wanted law first, He would have given it in Eden. The law shows our weakness, and believers are delivered from it to serve in the newness of the Spirit (Romans 7:6).

God never wanted sacrifice and offering so much as a broken spirit and a contrite heart (Psalm 51:16–17). Without His presence our weaknesses show all the time, as Paul cried, “O wretched man that I am!” and then thanked God through Jesus Christ (Romans 7:19–25). David knew God saw him even in his mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13–16), because God is everywhere, a thousand years ago and a thousand years from now.

The Dancing Hand of God in His Temple

When Solomon built the temple, he asked whether God would indeed dwell on the earth, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him (1 Kings 8:27). The temple was not big enough to hold God, the pastor says, but it was a place for His manifestation. Now every believer is that place. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous, and the right hand of the Lord does valiantly (Psalm 118:15–17).

Paul told the Athenians that God determined the times and places where people should live, so they would seek Him, though He is not far from each of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:26–28). Where you live is where God wants to manifest Himself through you. When we give our lives to Jesus, He takes out the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26), and then we yield so the same miracle-working power flows through us.

Jacob, running from God with a rock for a pillow, saw a ladder with angels ascending and descending and woke saying the Lord was in that place and he did not know it (Genesis 28:12–16). That, the pastor says, is what God wants your coworkers to say about you. When believers prophesy, an unbeliever’s heart is revealed and he reports that God is truly among you (1 Corinthians 14:24–25).

Born-again believers have the Spirit in them, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit is God’s power upon them. Religion keeps people guilt-ridden, but every believer is the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) and a king and priest to God (Revelation 1:6). He recalls services where cars stopped on the highway with doors open and engines running as people ran inside crying out to God, and he wants that again. At Solomon’s temple the glory cloud was so heavy the priests could not stand to minister (2 Chronicles 5:13–14).

Manifestations for Every Believer

We have to cooperate, the pastor says. James 4:7–8 tells us to submit to God and resist the devil, to draw near to God, and He will draw near to us. When you feel uncomfortable in God’s presence and want to get up and leave, that is the enemy using guilt through the law. Stay and bask in His presence, he urges, until you forget the problems you had, just like the man who forgot his wheelchair.

In 1 Corinthians 12:1–7, there are diversities of gifts, ministries and activities, but the same Spirit, Lord and God. He calls these governing manifestations, and says they are not only for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers but for everyone. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. God is with a drunk face down in a gutter, but He needs to be manifest for that person, and that happens through believers who let Him manifest in their lives.

He tells of planting a church in French-speaking Canada. He began sharing the kingdom aloud at a restaurant table and a couple dozen people gave their lives to Jesus. The next day a business owner invited him to a barbecue at a large home. About 18 business people and their families gathered; all gave their lives to Jesus, called their children and grandchildren over, were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and were water baptized in the salt pool that afternoon.

Soon after, he and his wife were flown to Salt Lake City to meet with business people there. As he shared the kingdom, he began to prophesy over the men and their businesses, and they all gave their lives to Jesus and were baptized in the Holy Spirit, saying they wanted his God. He never planned any of it; he simply started sharing Jesus. If earthly fathers give good gifts, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13).

Those Who Wait on the Lord

His presence can be decreased by denying or ignoring Him, the pastor says, and increased by practicing it. Isaiah 40:28–31 says the everlasting God neither faints nor is weary, gives power to the weak, and those who wait on the Lord renew their strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary. Waiting on the Lord is practicing His presence, soaking in it every day.

He explains the Hebrew word for wait, qavah, by its use in Genesis 1, where the waters were gathered together into one place (Genesis 1:9). Pour half a glass of water into another half glass and you can never separate them again. When we wait on God we become one and intertwined with Him. He adds that the word means to be twisted together as in a dance, which is the dancing hand of God, and to be gathered together with Him in expectancy.

That is how Jesus worked: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Religious people expect a 45-minute service and lunch. What are we expecting from God? A better marriage, better children, a better job, yokes released and liberty.

Intimacy with God is not a matter of miles but of experience. When people say He is over here or over there, Jesus said not to go out after them (Matthew 24:26). Start expecting His presence to manifest in your own home. The final verse is Psalm 27:14: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.” Our pursuit of God succeeds only because He is seeking us and wants to be found.

Welcoming His Presence This Week

The pastor closed by asking everyone to lift their hands, ask forgiveness for ignoring the Holy Spirit, and invite Him to manifest. Here are practical steps drawn from the message:

• Do not run from the uncomfortable. When God’s presence feels unfamiliar, stay and let Him work instead of leaving.
• Let go of guilt. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, so stop hiding from Him or from people.
• Soak in His presence daily. Set time aside to wait on the Lord, not only to ask Him for things.
• Ask for the Holy Spirit. The Father gives the Spirit to those who ask, so ask Him to come upon you.
• Share Jesus where you are. God placed you in your town and workplace to be a sign and a wonder there.
• Raise your expectations. Come to church and to prayer expecting God to break yokes, not just to finish on time.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 We need God’s presence more than we need to breathe
• 0:59 Omnipresence versus manifest presence
• 2:09 Signs and wonders: Isaiah 8:18
• 4:14 The anointing destroys the yoke: Isaiah 10:27
• 6:27 The church as the salt of the earth
• 8:43 Anointing as a masseuse’s oil
• 10:52 The anointing sets us apart
• 11:59 The wheelchair on the cruise
• 16:06 Oil as grease that takes away the squeak
• 18:16 Prayer and Psalm 139:7–10
• 19:58 Ezekiel’s wheel and the Spirit at creation
• 24:00 Adam hiding and the work of guilt
• 25:21 In the beginning God
• 29:18 A broken spirit and a contrite heart
• 33:01 Solomon’s temple: 1 Kings 8:27
• 35:22 New creations and Jacob’s ladder
• 38:35 Practicing His presence
• 41:43 Draw near to God: James 4
• 43:49 Governing manifestations: 1 Corinthians 12
• 45:01 Revival at a restaurant and a barbecue in Canada
• 47:41 Business people saved in Salt Lake City
• 52:05 Wait on the Lord: Isaiah 40:28–31
• 53:21 Twisted together as in a dance
• 57:08 Closing prayer

Dancing Hand of God Series

This message is part of an eight-part teaching series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:

• First message: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 1 — The Holy Spirit From Creation to Today
• Previous: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 6: The Anointing Oil and the Empowerments of the Holy Spirit
• You are here: The Dancing Hand of God, Part 7: The Manifest Presence of the Holy Spirit
• Next: The Dancing Hand of God Part 8: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Frequently Asked Questions

If God is everywhere, why do I sometimes feel far from Him?

The pastor teaches that no point is nearer to God than any other, so you are never farther from Him than anyone else. The feeling of distance usually comes from guilt or from religious ideas that place God far off in heaven. Guilt makes us hide, as Adam did in the garden. The answer is to receive the cleansing of Jesus’ blood, stop hiding, and invite the Holy Spirit to manifest His presence.

Why do some people feel uncomfortable when God’s presence is strong?

The pastor says it is common, even among born-again believers, because a manifestation of God is often something they have never experienced. Their first reaction is like Israel’s over the manna: what is this? He adds that the enemy uses guilt and the law to whisper that you should get up and leave. His counsel is to stay, humble yourself before God, resist the devil and let the Holy Spirit do His work.

Can the presence of God grow in my life?

Yes. The pastor teaches that God’s presence in a person’s life can be decreased by denying or ignoring Him and increased by practicing and accepting it. He compares it to exercise: as you wait on the Lord and soak in His presence day after day, it keeps increasing. It may take time, he says, but God will gently grow you and build your faith until you are ready to do whatever He asks.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Isaiah 8:18 — for signs and wonders
• Isaiah 10:27 — the yoke destroyed because of the anointing
• Psalm 139:7–10 — where can I flee from Your presence
• 1 Kings 8:27 — heaven cannot contain You
• Acts 17:26–28 — in Him we live and move
• James 4:7–8 — draw near to God
• 1 Corinthians 12:1–7 — the manifestation of the Spirit
• Isaiah 40:28–31 — those who wait on the Lord
• Acts 10:38 — anointed with the Holy Spirit and power
• Psalm 27:14 — wait on the Lord

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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