"Glorifying God"

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee."  John 17:1

If glorifying God is not your greatest desire, then you need to recheck your profession of Christianity.  We were made to glorify God.  The greatest way we do this is by receiving Jesus as our Savior and following Him as Lord. 

Once we come to God through Christ, glorifying God isn't something that we just sing about, it isn't something that we just do during worship service, it is our daily lifestyle.  Our lives should daily be to the praise and honor of God.  His glory should be revealed in us through our attitude, our actions, our reactions, our conduct, our morals and in the things we say. 

How does God get glory from our lives?  How do we glorify Him?  The more Christ Jesus is seen in us, the greater glory God receives.  This happens, as we have already said, first by receiving Jesus into your life as Savior.  Then it happens as we decrease and allow Him to increase-- give Him full control.  "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) It happens as we die to self (self-will, self-desire, self-ambition, self-centeredness) and become living sacrifices to Him.  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1) It happens as we give ourselves totally to Him and surrender to His will.  "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."  (Galatians 2:20) It happens as we allow the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of Christ.  "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2)

Jesus glorified the Father in all that He did while He was on earth.  He continues to glorify the Father on earth today through those of us who put our faith and trust in Him and let Him live through us.

Have a great day.  The more Jesus is seen in us, the more glory the Heavenly Father receives from our lives.   

For further reading:
Ephesians 1:6,12
Galatians 1:27
John 17:10
 

"He's With You"

"And the Lord was with Joseph..."  Genesis 39:2a

It seems like we talk a lot about how the Lord is with us and never leaves us.  But this is so important that we get this truth deeply ingrained in our spirits.  There are times we walk through difficult places.  There are times we find ourselves in situations that look as though they will destroy us.  There are some places that we encounter that cause us to wonder if God knows where we are, or if He is still there.  We all face some "dark times" that scream at us, "Where is your God?" and try to make us doubt that He is with us. 

Joseph was in some of those places.  He was in a pit, left for dead.  He was in slavery in a foreign country.  He was thrown into prison.  Yet, more than once the scriptures tell us that the Lord was with Joseph-- He was with him in Potiphar's house and in the prison.

There is a fact that we often overlook at the cross.  Jesus was forsaken by the Heavenly Father while He was on the cross bearing our sins.  "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) The Father should forsake us because of our sins.  He should turn His back on us.  He should have nothing to do with us.  He has every right to leave us.  But He doesn't and it is because Jesus took it all for us--- even being forsaken by the Father.  He was forsaken, the Father left Him, Father God departed from Him.  Jesus took that as well so that we don't have to worry about the Father forsaking us.  He took our punishment.  He took our sins.  He took our abandonment by God. 

The absolutely worse thing that Jesus experienced on the cross-- was being forsaken by the Father.  Now you and I can have the confidence, assurance and peace of knowing that He will not leave us or forsake us in our worst times and hardest places... or any place for that matter.

Have a great day.  Even in the darkest place, the hardest place, the most difficult place you find yourself going through, you can rest assured that the Lord will not leave you.  Jesus took care of that at the cross.   

For further reading:
Genesis 39:21
Psalm 22:1
Mark 15:34

"Rate It"

"My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times."  Psalm 119:20

When you go to the doctor in pain, you are asked to rate your pain on a scale from one to ten.  When you take a survey on the performance of help you were given by some business, you are asked to rate it.  We use a rating system to determine how good or bad something is, or how well we either approve or disapprove of something.  The Palmist was "rating" his desire, his hunger, his longing for righteousness and the things of God in this verse. 

When he said his soul breaketh, he was expressing a deep passion and intense longing for righteousness, God's commandments, and the things of God.  This morning, how would you rate your desire for the Lord?  How would you rate your desire for His word?  How would you rate your hunger for righteousness?  On a scale from one to ten, would it be a one?  A ten?  Or somewhere in between?  The Psalmist's desire was "off the charts".  Would yours be too?

If you rate it anything less than a ten, or above, you could almost equate that to a zero.  Anything less is too low.  "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." (Deuteronomy 6:5) That's a ten.  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." (Matthew 6:33) That's priority- so, that's a ten.

Have a great day.  On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your desire for the Lord?

 

"Shifting Into Gear"

"And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers."  Deuteronomy 6:23

As I was praying this morning, I felt the Lord was giving me a "prophetic" word for the time.  The word is "shifting".  There is a shifting that is taking place and will take place.  This shifting may involve nations, powers, structures, and organizations, but I believe it deals with the church and body of Christ.

Yesterday, I was in my vehicle and stopped at an intersection.  I needed to back up but when I shifted into reverse, out of drive, it didn't go anywhere.  It just sat there and made a loud whining sound.  I had missed the reverse gear and had it in neutral.  There are many who are in the wrong "gear".  The Lord will be shifting you from one to another.  You are in one place when you should be in another place.  When we are in the wrong "gear", it doesn't always mean that nothing is happening-- you may be prospering, you may be bearing fruit-- but it is not the direction or place God has purposed for you ultimately.  (Joseph was doing well and being blessed in Potiphar's house, but he was then shifted elsewhere- the prison.)  On the other hand, there are times when we aren't seeing any fruit, and it is because we are in the wrong place.

I believe He is shifting us, in the body of Christ, out of neutral.  Although our vehicles have a "neutral gear", neutral is not a gear.  It is the place where the transmission and engine are disconnected. Far too many, for far too long have been in a place of "disconnect" with the "engine" (our Lord, the power source.)  This shifting will take us out of neutral-- the place of lethargy, compromise, complacency, laziness, slothfulness.  It is time the church rise up- get in gear- and go forward fulfilling the Great Commission that Jesus left us to do.  It is time we stop hiding our lights under a basket.  It is time we start being salt again.  It is time we show forth the praises of our God.  It is time to work while it is still day, the night is coming quickly.  It is time we stop being fearful and intimidated by men and be bold for Jesus.  It is time we lay aside our agendas and become living sacrifices, doing His will.  It is time to surrender to the Lord's plan and stop trying to fulfill our own. 

Have a great day.  A shifting is coming, especially to the body of Christ, so that we might get in the place God has purposed for us to be so that we can go forward for His glory.

 

"At Risk"

"And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.  So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai." Joshua 7:3,4

In any organization, be it a military, a business or a social organization, there is a plan, a chain of command, and a protocol to follow.  If these are not followed, then the whole operation is put at risk.  The plan may not be accomplished.  This happened at Ai.  God had a plan to bring His people into the Promised Land.  At Ai they did not follow the proper procedure.  They left out the "chain of command" - which was God.  They didn't acknowledge Him, they went in on their own.  They were defeated by the people of Ai and had to flee for their lives.  It put the whole plan at risk.

This is not only a pattern to follow in the military or some organization.  It is the pattern of the Kingdom of God and for our individual lives.  God has a plan for His Kingdom and its representation on earth-- the church.  He has a plan for each born-again believer individually. 

 That plan is accomplished as we follow the chain of command.  The Lord is the chain of command.  The Lord is the One we seek for guidance and instruction.  The Israelites acknowledged Joshua, their human leader, but they left out their True Leader, their King, their Master-- the Lord. 

It is accomplished as we follow the Lord's protocol.  Which is not only to acknowledge Him, but to follow His leading, to obey what He tells us to do, when He tells us to do it and how He tells us to do it.  The protocol is if He tells us to march around the city seven times, then that is what we do.  If He tells us to wait for the sound of the trumpet, we wait until we hear it.  Etc.

If we go off on our own, if we try to do it ourselves, if we don't wait for Him, if we attempt to do it our own way, then we put His plan, our destiny, His purpose in our lives at risk.  Not to mention that we have a lot of "excess" to have to then deal with-- like an Ishmael.

If we are to accomplish God's plan for our lives, and the church.  Then we are going to have to follow the chain of command-- get direction from Him.  And we are going to have to follow protocol-- obey what He says to do.

Have a great day.  We put God's plan for our lives at risk if we don't follow the procedure He has prescribed.

For further reading:
Joshua 7, 8