THE GLORY

            I remember a time when there was a hunger among the people of God.  Although we were Christians and active church members, we felt there was something missing.  Our spirits were longing. For what?  We didn’t know exactly, but we knew there was something deeper than what we were experiencing.  We began to ask God, and doors started opening for us to hear His Word as we had never heard it before.  It was the same Bible, the same words, but suddenly they radiated Spirit and Life that was not only filling the void in us, but energizing our souls. It was as if a light had been turned on in our spirits and we could see clearly the Word of God.  We were aware of the working of His Spirit in us and around us as never before.

The Word is alive, because the Word is Jesus.  The first chapter of John tells us that.  It also tells us that Jesus is God, and nothing was created without Him.  Then it says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  That light is His glory, His presence displayed for us to see and experience.  In the light of His glory, we began to thrive and grow in the Word.  We were excited and celebrating the light Jesus had brought to us.  We realized the Word could be applied to our lives, and would change us.

This revelation of God’s Word and His Spirit came in answer to many desperate prayers from many people across our nation. The answer came because we were hungry and thirsty for more of Christ.  Do you have a soul hunger that has not been satisfied?  Are you doing the same rituals over and over and still feel empty?  If so, you are in the right position for a spiritual revolution, because Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

If you are hungry for more, ask of God.  “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Luke 11:9)  Those are not just calming words to encourage us when we are down.  They are powerful words of promise spoken from the same God who said “Let there be light: and there was light”. These words carry that same power and will bring light to your soul.  We are not waiting for God.  He is waiting for us to ask, seek and knock…and it shall be.

            My grandmother was born in the late 1800’s, and she used to tell us about a revival that took place in the early 1900’s.  Her mother would take her along as she went up to Paris Mountain to pray with other believers.  She said there were woods on both sides of the road and the men would pray on one side and the women on the other.  She told us you could hear those prayers long before you ever got to them. The people were consumed with seeking God.  He consumed their thoughts, their desires, their lives and their time.  My grandmother vividly remembered the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit that followed.  She recounted many miracles that she witnessed.  This outpouring was about the same time as the Azusa Street revival on the west coast.  They were very similar in their origins, because the revival they experienced on Paris Mountain began among regular people who were tenaciously passionate to know more of God.

God is waiting for us to ask and really mean it.  He will move again if we pray like that and if we are truly hungry and thirsty for Him.  He will show us His glory.  He will impart to us His Spirit.  Our part is to lay aside other things and seek Him.  He will make us into His image during those times of prayer.  He will do a work in us, but He also wants to do a work through us, one that will reach the nations. Until we are emptied of self and filled with Him, He cannot do that.

Too many professing Christians are content with just enough ‘religion’ to soothe their consciences, with church as usual and a surface relationship with Jesus. Yet, all along it is God’s desire to fill us all with His Spirit and let His Word come alive in us.  He wants His glory to be seen in us.

            I was recently part of a prayer service where we did just that – we prayed.  The presence of God was very palpable to me.  I sensed He was right there with me, hearing the cries of my heart. I know He heard them because He has renewed something within me.  Why is it that
Christians seldom come together like that to pray?  We have some organized prayer vigils where someone offers up prayers for us on specific subjects and that is alright, but this prayer from the heart is anything but organized.  It comes from the depth of individual hearts and is heard individually by the Father.  It is the spoken desire of every longing heart being lifted up to heaven with no filter, just completely abandoned to God. It brings the very presence of God into our lives.  And that presence cannot be contained within us, so it spills out to those around us.

Satan would like to keep us from such prayers that change the world.  He knows how powerful our prayers are.  He knows the damage it does to his evil kingdom.  The early church prayed together and saw wonders and miracles.  They had power and authority in their ministries and thousands came to Christ.  They were real Christ followers, many giving their lives for the gospel.

What do you want in life?  What is your greatest desire?  Is it for the things of this world or do you long to walk with God?  When we crave the presence of God, He will come and do a work in us that cannot be stopped and cannot be explained with words.  It is a transfer of His power and glory to us.  Jesus prayed to His Father for His disciples (and us) before His crucifixion, and asked the Father to make His followers one with Him.  He said, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”  (John 17:22-23)

This glory is placed within us through the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to the world, not to showcase our talents or build a career. The moment we take credit for His glory and receive the honor that belongs to God alone, that is the moment when His glory will depart.  God chose to reveal this glory through Jesus when He was on earth. Jesus was the manifest presence of God in human flesh. Now He has chosen to reveal Himself through us.  But first, we must be filled with His Spirit.  Just as Jesus was totally united with and submitted to the Father, we must be totally united with and submitted to Jesus.  We cannot do the work of God’s kingdom without being made into the image of Jesus, without His manifest presence being seen in us.  That is why Jesus gives us the same glory He received from the Father.  He gives us the “power to become sons of God.”  He gives us the “Holy Ghost and power” to be witnesses.  We are merely vessels to show forth His glory.   It is His glory in us, not our glory.

When Solomon built the Temple, it was a place separate from the natural way of life.  It was holy and was dedicated solely for the glory of God.  Everything in the temple was there for worship to God.  The day Solomon brought the people together to dedicate the Temple, God came in a cloud to show His glory and placed His presence there among them.  Look at what happened next.

“Now it happened that when the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord’s house, so that the priests could not stand [in their positions] to minister because of the cloud, for the glory and brilliance of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house (temple).”  (Amplified Bible) 

When we surrender to Jesus Christ, and He places His Spirit in us, we become the temple of the Holy Ghost.  “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

            When we are inhabited by the Spirit of God, we are set apart solely for God’s service.  We are not to take the praise and honor that belongs to God to glorify ourselves.  We are only earthen vessels He uses to point the way to Christ.  We cannot continue to stand in our own position and in God’s glory at the same time.  If the priests had continued doing what they were doing, they would have missed what God was doing and would have called attention to themselves rather than God’s presence. 

We may know the ropes and have figured out how to operate in the religious system, but the glory of God (His presence, holiness and power) is not manifest in the parameters of a system or on our terms.  Nor will He allow another to receive His glory, honor and praise.  Jesus said He had given His followers the same glory He had received from the Father, but that glory must shine from a vessel that is submitted to the Father as Jesus was, that shows love with a meek spirit, does not seek its own way, and has the power and authority of Jesus that is controlled by the Holy Spirit.  Those who are led by and walk in the Spirit will show the glory of Jesus Christ to others.  They will not turn the spotlight on themselves.  This Light is His glory, His presence revealed through jars of clay.

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)  Do others see the manifest presence of God in you?

“For ye are bought with a price:

therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,

which are God's.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20