Early one Sunday morning I found myself pacing back and
forth in front of the altar in my church’s sanctuary, crying out to God. With a
heavy heart I wept, asking God to send His glory to my church. “Please send
Your glory to us,” I pleaded.
That was when the Holy Spirit spoke these words to me,
“Fuchsia, what are you looking for?”
I replied emphatically, “The glory.”
He continued, “When the glory comes, what will it look
like?”
“I don’t know,” I answered sheepishly.
Then He said, “If you don’t know what the glory looks like,
how will you know when it gets here?”
I didn’t know how to respond to that question, but His
communication was clear. We have heard for years that the glory is coming. We
sing songs about God’s sending us His glory. We quote Bible verses such as
“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27, NKJV) and Jesus’ prayer, “‘Father,
I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they
may behold My glory’” (John 17:24). But unless we study the Scriptures to
understand how the Bible defines the glory of God, we may never experience the
reality of it in our lives and churches.
What is the glory? “Glory” refers to a quality of God’s
character that emphasizes His greatness and authority and involves beauty,
power and honor. It is used in three senses in the Bible. First, it may refer
to God’s moral beauty and perfection of character, which is beyond man’s understanding (see Rom. 3:23). “Glory” may also
refer to God’s beauty as a visible presence (see Ex. 13:21). And “glory” sometimes refers to the
praise and honor that God’s
creatures give to Him (see Ps. 115:1).
God wants to reveal His glory—in all its aspects—in and
through the church today. For that reason it is vital that every Christian
grasp the significance of what the glory of God is. Being filled with the glory
of God is the priority of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church corporately and
in our lives individually. Only as we focus our lives to become one with the
priority of God will we position ourselves to be changed into His image “from
glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).
As we become glory-bearers, the glory of God reflected in our lives will ultimately bring the
lost to Him. We will be part of the end-time revival and ingathering of souls
that God will bring to those who are seeking His glory.
The Old Testament is filled with pictures, or types, that
are meant to reveal to us the nature and character of the glory of God. But it
is in the New Testament that we find the ultimate act of God to reveal His
glory to mankind: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth” (John 1:14). God Himself became man in order to perfectly reveal His
glory to us and redeem mankind to Himself.
If you and I are to experience the glory of God revealed
through our lives, we must relate properly to this incarnate glory of God
manifested in Jesus Christ. Though He was God, Jesus walked as a man filled
with the Spirit of God, having emptied Himself of His divine powers in order to
fulfill the Father’s will of redemption. Because He walked this Earth in utter
dependence on the Holy Spirit (see John 5:30), He can now ask us to do the same
in order to manifest the glory of God in our lives.
We can’t look at Jesus’ victorious life and object, “Yes,
but He was God.” As a complete man, Jesus taught us by example that the source
of victory—the source of His glory in us—is being filled with, empowered by,
and obedient to the Holy Spirit.
Adapted from “Behold His Glory,” an article by Fuchsia
Pickett published in SpiritLed Woman
magazine, December/January 2002.
PRAYER POWER WEEK OF 12-26-2011
This week ask the Lord to help you live in utter dependence
on the Holy Spirit as Jesus did so that you would be empowered to obey Him and
reflect His glory in all aspects of your life. Thank Him for His great
sacrifice of love and continue to pray for opportunities to share His gospel
and minister to those in need. Pray for those who suffered loss of jobs and
loved ones during this season and remember the persecuted church and Israel.
Pray that we, as God’s people, would humble ourselves, turn from our wicked
ways and seek the Lord in repentance for our nation. Lift up our spiritual,
civic and national leaders and pray for the upcoming elections. John 1:14; 5:30
To enrich your prayer
life and learn how to strategically pray with power by using appropriate
scriptures, we recommend the following sources by Apostle John Eckhardt: Prayers that Rout Demons, Prayers that Bring Healing, Prayers that Release Heaven on Earth and Prayers that Break
Curses. To order any or all of these click here.
