The House Shook

I heard a sermon several years ago that made an impact on me, not so much because of what it contained, but for the possible implications. Let me start by giving a little history. When Israel left Egypt and Moses went up on the mount, there was a thick cloud that came down and covered the top of the mount. Then during the time in the wilderness, the Israelite's were led by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. This cloud was the very presence of God.
In 1 Kings ch 8, we read the story of how Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. If you remember Solomon had just completed building a permanent Temple to house the Ark. If you look in verse 10, we are told, that once the Ark was placed in the temple, actually look back at verse 6 for a moment. "And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto 'HIS' place". Not "unto it's place", but "HIS" place. Now look back at verse 10 and 11, we are told that once the ark was placed in position, and the priest left the building, that a cloud filled the house of the LORD, and that the priest could not minister because the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the LORD. This is called the Shekinah Glory, which means "the glory of the presence of the LORD God".
Now to the meat of today's devotion, Acts 4:31 "And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost..." The Shekinah Glory came down and the whole house was shaken. The glory of God was so great that the house could not contain it. There are so many lessons here, not only the greatness of God, but the answer to a prayer made physically known.
For years now, every time I walk into a church service, I pray that the Shekinah Glory of God will appear, I pray that the church building will be shaken, that the church people will be shaken. After all the church is not the building, but the people. I desire more than anything else, to be in God's presence to the point that not only am I shaken emotionally and mentally, but the the physical building can not contain His presence. There have been a lot of times that I knew that I was in the presence of God, and there is no better feeling than to know that He loves me enough to allow me that honor. But, can you imagine not only feeling Him next to you, but to look around and see the effects of His presence.
Imagine this, you are sitting in church, the pastor is preaching the Word, when you feel the presence of God, then you look up, and see the light fixtures starting to sway. Then you feel a vibration in the pew, you look around and see that you are not the only one to notice. You then notice the cloud filling the building, a peace comes over you that can only be explained by God's presence. You start worshiping God, and then you see other people heading to the alter.
There is no way our human minds can comprehend the greatness of that occurrence. Just the thought however, is enough to make my heart leap for joy inside my chest. Even though I know that this does not have to happen for God to make His presence known, even though I can and do worship Him continually without the building being shaken, I would still love to be that much in His presence, not just spiritually but physically. What about you, would you like to experience the Shekinah Glory? Are you praying for it?