God’s Glory – Or Yours?
During the summer huge maple trees that provide a
beautiful blanket of cover and isolation surround my home. In the autumn –
these trees shed all of their glory, and through the winter months there is
little beauty to behold. Of course,
living in the “Great Northwest” - the evergreens stand tall and full… and do
their very best to fill in all the empty spaces. I count the months until the maple trees flourish once more – and
display their full glory!
I heard pastor Dave Roberson teach about people
dying to their own will, their own desires, and to their own glory. My trees remind me of this message.
Pastor Dave said that a body-builder’s glory is his
body; a model: her beauty; a man like Bill Gates: his money & success.
What is your glory?
What in your life defines who you are?
What do you take the most pride in?
Your car?
Your athletic ability?
Your success?
What defines you?
Where is your glory?
A few years ago, if you asked me “who are
you?” - “What are you about?” – “What defines you?” I had a great list of what
I did to share with you. I had a clear picture of what I was busy with – but
had no idea ‘who’ I really was.
Today I really can’t think of one thing that I would class as my ‘glory’
– but what ever it is, I will gladly die to that – so that I can take on the
Glory of God! Amen?
I think it was pastor Scott Olin who said, “The
Glory of a thing is the true nature of a thing.” I WANT the nature of God to be my nature! However… just like my maple trees, without
the season of rest or death – there is no season of glory.
2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust.”
I still remember pastor Ron Berry’s
message, last New Year’s Eve: “Jesus Christ, the hope of glory – in YOU!” As
a believer, we carry the only HOPE the world has. We carry the answer to life’s
questions, and the cure to life’s sorrows.
And, what do we do with that glory?
How often do we even take it outside the four walls of the comfort-zone
of the church?
The past few years, it seems that the Holy
Spirit is drawing people aside, for a season of “death.” A Season to die to all those things we
thought we couldn’t live without. A time to die to the things we’ve filled our
life with. Even the “works” that some
of us thought gave us value in the Kingdom of God.
No change = no growth!
NO DEATH = NO LIFE!
The blessings of God, the great and wonderful things
that fill our life can be the very thing that hinders us from having that
personal relationship with our Father, God.
The very reason He created us.
I’ve taken inventory of even the things that I
thought I wanted one day… the things I hoped and prayed were in God’s plan for
me; even the vision for ministry. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is
absolutely nothing that life has to offer that can compare to a moment of His
presence!
No matter how much or how little you have - dying to
“the pride of life, your own will, lust of the eye, the desires of your heart”
can be a difficult season (only if you fight against the inevitable
change). Not everyone will choose
to “die.” What your life is, and what you are filling it with…. is it worth hanging on to, if it would keep
you from experiencing the amazing and awesome presence of God… flowing from you
like rivers of living water? I think
not!
It is our soul and our flesh that need to die, and
the Bible says we need to die daily.
In America right now – the church is in a Season of
“repentance” and “change.” I personally believe that we are at the beginning of
the “later & former reign
Revival!” We are already
experiencing the beginning of “harvest”
in churches across this Nation. I believe we are entering the Season that John
wrote of when he said he looked down through time, saw these days, and wished
he could be here to experience it. We
are beginning to see the “Glory” of God in the church. In the streets, on the
Internet, on television, in the movie theaters (Megiddo) - GOD is
showing Himself STRONG! Praise the Name
of The Lord!
WhatEVER “Season” you find yourself in… remember
that your Father loves you – and He delights in doing GOOD for His kids.
When we find our selves in a winter season – a
season of death and/or rest – REJOICE!
A wonderful, glory-filled new season is on the way!
I truly believe that if you intend to do the things
that God designed you to do, If you plan to do anything more – to build the
Kingdom of God on earth…. NOW is the time!!
Amen? ■
God bless you, with a fresh revelation of His
unconditional-love, and a fresh look into the things He has in mind for you.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11
1: To every thing
there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2: A time to be
born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is
planted;
3: A time to
kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4: A time to
weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5: A time to cast
away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a
time to refrain from embracing;
6: A time to get,
and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7: A time to
rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8: A time to
love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9: What profit
hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10: I have seen
the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11: He hath made
every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart,
so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the
end.
