From Ichabod to the Kabod
“It is time to bring back the Ark of our God, for we neglected it during the reign of Saul.”
—1 Chronicles 13:3 NLT
We need the manifest Presence of God.
God is omnipresent—everywhere at all times—but He is not always manifest present, meaning present in a felt, tangible way. It is His Presence and power that change our lives and satisfy our souls.
Without His Presence, we are mentored by a lower-level atmosphere, and we begin to come to conclusions that are unbiblical and unhelpful. This is why the Presence and power of God matter so deeply. Yes, we need the power of God to reach the world (Acts 1:8), but we also need the power of God to disciple the Church.
David’s Greatest Priority
To understand this, we need to look at what is—arguably—one of the most underrated subjects in the Bible:
The Tabernacle of David.
When David became king over Israel, his first priority was not military strength or political expansion—it was to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He prepared a place for it and appointed musicians and singers to minister to the Lord continually, establishing what became a place of 24/7 worship that lasted for 33 years.
It was a place of perpetual praise, and therefore a place of perpetual Presence—because God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).
(If you want to go deeper, The Power of His Presence by Graham Truscott and David’s Tabernacle by Matthew Lilley are excellent resources…and the best books out there on the subject)
Here’s the heart of it:
David wanted to restore the Presence of God to the people of God.
His actions announced, “There is more than what we’ve settled for. We need more than what we’ve been living in. We need the Presence of God!”
We’ve Settled for Too Little
And I agree with David.
We need more than TED talks and mediocre coffee.
We need more than entertaining music.
We need more than religion.
We need the Presence and power of God in our midst.
We need the Word of God preached and prophesied.
We need encounters with the living God.
We don’t need another visitation—we need a habitation of God’s glory.
The challenge is that we’ve had Sauls leading instead of Davids.
By that I mean leaders who, like Saul, neglected the Ark—the Presence of God. Leaders who have, as Paul warned, “a form of godliness but deny its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Or like the Laodicean church, who managed to have church without Jesus—He was outside the door knocking (Revelation 3:20).
There is an urgency in the heart of God for His manifest Presence to be restored to His people.
Discipleship Happens Through Atmosphere
Here’s why this matters:
Discipleship happens through atmosphere.
Whatever environment you consistently place yourself in will determine what you begin to think is normal. People are trained by atmospheres—often without even realizing it.
Think about farming.
There’s a documentary on Amazon Prime called The Biggest Little Farm. It tells the story of a couple who bought a run-down farm and brought it back to life. Their strategy was simple but profound: revive the soil. When the soil is healthy, the crops follow.
When I visited that farm and took a tour, I learned some fascinating things:
The quality of the soil determines the quality of the crop
If the soil lacks nutrients, the fruit lacks vitamins
The wrong soil limits what the plant can produce
The right soil maximizes the plant’s potential
Because of the industrial revolution in the early 1900s, crops began to be grown for quantity instead of quality. The soil was stripped of nutrients, and the fruit suffered as a result. I was told that an orange from the early 1900s had 25 times more vitamin C than an orange today. In other words, it would take 25 modern oranges to equal the nutritional value of one orange from back then.
The environment determines the outcome.
Ichabod: A Gloryless Environment
The Presence and glory of God are the right soil—the right environment—for the believer.
That’s why David said, “It is time to bring back the Ark of our God, for we neglected it during the reign of Saul.”
Before David took over, Israel was living under what I would call Ichabod.
After Israel lost a battle, the Ark of God was captured by the Philistines. The sons of Eli—the corrupt priests—were killed in battle. One of their wives, pregnant at the time, went into labor when she heard the news and gave birth to a son.
“Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has departed from Israel,’ because the Ark of God had been captured...”
—1 Samuel 4:21
Ichabod means “no glory.” It described the spiritual condition of God’s people—an environment void of His manifest Presence.
And that matters, because discipleship happens through atmosphere.
Powerless environments produce powerless believers.
Imagine being raised in an environment where you never see people saved, healed, delivered, or transformed—where prophecy doesn’t flow and the Word is never preached with power. That environment shapes your view of God.
When Kabod Shows Up
In Luke 5:17, we’re told that as Jesus was teaching, “the power of the Lord was present to heal.”
The room was packed with Pharisees and teachers of the law. The power of God was present to heal—but no one was healed! Eventually, four men lowered a paralyzed friend through the roof, and he was healed—but the power had been there the whole time.
When you’re discipled by Ichabod, you don’t know what to do when the Kabod shows up.
(Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory.)
And when Jesus forgave the man’s sins, the Pharisees accused Him of blasphemy. When you’re discipled by Ichabod, all you have for the Kabod is criticism.
David reversed that environment. He shifted Israel from Ichabod to the Kabod—from gloryless to glory-filled. And that same shift needs to happen again.
Atmospheres That Change You
Imagine being raised in an environment where God is moving in power—where His Presence fills the room, love touches hearts, and revival fire burns. Environments like the Azusa Street Revival, the Jesus People Movement, or more recently, Asbury.
Those environments change you.
I experienced this personally at Asbury in February 2023. I didn’t realize what I had received until I returned home and began ministering. While preaching at my home church, fourteen minutes into the sermon, the Lord interrupted me and said, “Do an altar call for repentance.”
No music. No buildup. Just obedience.
It wasn’t repentance for obvious sin—it was repentance for being bored with Jesus.
People left their seats, knelt at the altar, and began to weep. Worship broke out. The Presence of God filled the room. I restrained myself from ministering in the gifts because it felt too holy—I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. Jesus was the focus, and His glory filled the space.
That’s how your normal gets elevated by an atmosphere. You get in environments of glory, and you get changed.
A man recently shared with me that he had lived with a fear of death for many years. He walked into a Spirit-filled church, and during the very first song of praise, the power of God touched him. No sermon. No altar call. Just the Presence of God—and he was delivered. Completely set free.
From Glory to Glory
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”
—2 Corinthians 3:18
This is why I’m saying all of this:
The power of God isn’t just for reaching the world—it’s for discipling the Church.
The anointing teaches us all things (1 John 2:27). The Presence of God trains us in His ways. Our mission—the Great Commission—was never meant to be carried out apart from the power and Presence of God.
We need churches, homes, and prayer rooms filled with the Presence of God. We need power-filled environments so we can raise powerful disciples.
Raising the Tabernacle Again
“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down…and rebuild it as in the days of old.”
—Amos 9:11
This prophecy carries many implications, but one of them is clear: the Presence and power of God would be restored to the people of God, just as it was in David’s day.
In your family.
In your ministry.
In your church.
In your house of prayer.
Prioritize the Presence of God—because it is in that atmosphere that discipleship happens.
Question: How can you practically prioritize the manifest Presence of God in your life?
Are there any shifts that need to be made?
This message was also preached live at the Heart of David Conference—watch the full video here ⬇️