Glorious Glory of God

I recently went to Alaska on a ten day mission’s trip. In some ways my heart was not one hundred percent into it, but I was pretty sure I was supposed to go. It seemed to be taking me some time to settle in an find a niche in the midst of all the work that needed to be done. I was not a very happy person during the first three and one half days where I felt I was wandering without the Lord. My prayer was only that God help me to be a help to others. Then in the middle of the fourth day God showed up and a mighty thing began to happen.

I saw hearts begin to melt, prophecies over people’s lives that came in twos, I had dreams of a mighty movement of God and I watched a small group of people drop their jaws in amazement and weep before God as my husband shared the word of Lord, that would penetrate our hearts and increase our understanding of the wonderful glory of God. From Isaiah.55 he read reminding us all of the call from God to just simply enter in to His glory.

So how about you, are you thirsty?

God’s word is creative. This is the one of the beauties of His glory. It creates as it goes forth. The glory of God is the beauty of His Spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is. And it is a beauty that He longs to pass to us. From Gen 1:1 we see that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

That hovering movement is the movement of God’s Glory falling upon the face of the earth and transforming it from nothing – quickening it or making it alive with plants and sunshine and animals and mankind. God’s word goes out from His mouth full of glory and unless His word comes back with full creative and glorified power it will not come back, because it cannot come back to Him empty. So it will not return unless it has accomplished its purpose.

Have you ever seen one of those dynamic fire work displays? The fuse it lit and it shoots up into the sky with breakneck speed and all you see as it shoots forth is a quick and fast fireball and then suddenly when it hits that place to accomplish its purpose it explodes into a beautiful and dynamic colorful display in the heavens that recreates as it explodes more light and more color, sometimes sending offshoots of little explosions of fire from it. God’s word is like that. God is like that and Oh so much more. He is an all consuming fire who will shoot like a fire rocket into our hearts and display the full color of His glory and even begin to birth new offshoots of fire in us - if we will not shrink back from Him. Won’t you let him ignite in you? Don’t you want that Holy Spirit fire to burn in you?

So, I ask again, are you getting thirsty yet? Oh don’t you want His glory? Don’t you want to see the Lord High and lifted up? As we enter into this word from God would you be willing to lift you’re your hands and surrender to God. The Lord says, “Come.” Are you willing to come to Him that so that he can quench that thirst in you? He says, “Come.”

We all want revival. But what are we willing sacrifice that we may have it? Quoting Rees Howell’s book Intercessor , and concerning the Welsh revival of the early nineteen hundreds he says this:

“Under the influence of the Holy Spirit there was an irresistible power. The feeblest ones were often clothed with a majesty that was indescribable, and their words were with unction, as they showed how the Savior was slain for our offences and raised again for our justification. Whole congregations were melted and people were crying out in agony of soul, “What must I do to be saved?”

I asked myself after reading this am I/are we at that edge of revival. Has God opened the door just enough to give me a glimpse of His glory? And how much will I travail to bring to birth that glory that He has implanted in me.

Have you ever entered into God’s presence and found you were unable to stand because His glory was so thick? Have you ever experienced the Almighty God in such a way? So often we see the merciful and loving Savior and this reality of Jesus is easier in some ways to ascertain. For to receive mercy and grace we need only to call upon His name. But the glory of God calls for desire and a yearning to be Holy as he is holy. It is a desire that is likened to giving birth whereas one cries out in angst to bring into the world life.

I have realized God’s attributes in many ways. I have climbed up so to sit in His lap calling Him Abba, Daddy -Father. I have called out to Him as my Savior, my Shepherd who leads me. I know Him to be my stronghold that keeps me locked into Him and my deliverer when the enemy comes to surround me. I have realized that He is Lord of my life and Sovereign creator of this world in which I live. But I had to wonder as sat thinking about His glory on my return home from Alaska. Have I seen His glory? Have I entered into His presence in such a way that my life is changed forever? I knew that I had, but quickly came my next question. Will I ever see His glory again in my life. I will, but only if I open my eyes.

Once in my life can I say I have experienced God so powerfully that I can tell you with assurance that His glory fell upon me. I was studying the book of John in our home in Maine and I felt the Holy Spirit urge me to go into the bedroom and kneel down to pray. So I obeyed and I got up to go pray. I knelt beside my bed and as soon as my knees hit the floor the Holy Spirit descended upon my and the glory of the Lord filled that room. I saw nothing with my eyes and I spoke nothing with my mouth. I could not even open my mouth. But my heart sang for joy as I became aware of the Lord singing and dancing over me. His presence overshadowed me and I reveled in Him and knew that he delighted in me. After a time [ and even today I cannot tell you how long it was] I felt His glory departing and I begged Him to stay because it was so wonderful. But I will tell you, I know if I had not already been on my knees such glory would have taken me there. There is no way I could have stood. I was so captured by Him that I became immobile.

I want that glory to descend again. I don’t think I really want to expose all the wretchedness that lives within me to a pure and Holy God, But I do want to know and experience him in a greater way than I ever have and if that means being bowed low before Him and bringing to Him all that lies within me that cannot meet face to face with a Holy God then I am willing.

When you realize the glory of God you cannot be complacent. Complacency cannot exist in the realm of His glory. I am speaking of such a realization of His glory that it is like and invasion of soul, where God’s reality reaches deep into my humanity and splits asunder all my own thoughts and intents so that I can see His. And when He invades He brings light and in the midst of that light I am overwhelmed. There is nothing else that matters. There is nothing I can do except to wait on Him to receive the glory He disposes at His will.

Isaiah 6:1-5 says:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

His glory fills the whole earth. It is already there and when God opens our eyes to see His glory it is like we have become undone. And when we realize the presence of the Almighty God we also come to understand our own unworthiness to stand in His presence. When we come into His presence in this way how could we not be on our faces.

Too often we come into worship with hearts far off and still too hard to receive all the glory that God wants to bring into our lives. We leave a place of worship saying how wonderful the presence of God was and we fail to recognize that there is so much more.

Often what we experience is a great move of God, but it is only a fraction of what God wants to bring into our lives. He desires that we know Him. He longs for us to draw near to Him. He is jealous for us and wants us completely and wholly to Himself. He is holy and wants us to be holy and He is willing to pour out His holiness and His glory into our lives. And if we are willing He will do it; by His Spirit He will pour into us His ownglory.

Fo rthe Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together .

We were created for God’s glory - Is. 43:7. It is only fitting that He would long to pour into us and lavish us with this great glory. Today, in these times I think many will say that the glory of the Lord fell upon them or upon a place of worship. But I wonder how loosely we use the expression “glory of God” and how drastically our lives would be changed if indeed the glory of the Lord fell upon us. It is my prayer that His glory would be realized again in my life. I believe if we desire the awesome presence of God that he will delight to fulfill it, but I also believe that we need to be ready to see ourselves in light of His glory.

In the scope of the Kingdom of God and His glory there are two kinds of people. Those who remain dead in their trespass and sins and those whom have received Him and have been quickened unto eternal life and His glory. this idea of quickening is seen in Ephesians.2:1-10

We live in a world of Technicolor, where dull and lifeless places are brought to life by digitally enhanced coloring, making the images that we view seem more appealing and in some sense larger than life. I remember back in the day when we had only black and white TV. I don’t remember it bothering us. We still enjoyed watching the movies and TV Shows in spite of the lack of color. Then along came the first introductions of Technicolor where it began to take those old films and spice them up with color and I remember being so impressed with this. And now, today we have entered into the crème de crème of color with Blue Ray. The creator of Technicolor had quickened the industry. He made it alive. But beyond being quickened is being raised up with Christ. Beloved know that when the battle in the heavenlies rages around you that you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies and that His glory is all around you and that you can fight this enemy who cannot stand in the glory of God.

What can I do to open myself up to receive the glory of God in my life?

1. You must be born again – Quickening must come. You cannot possibly experience the glory of the Lord unless you are one of His own. You may see his hand at work and His glory revealed in many ways, but to experience His glory to your innermost being you must belong to Him. When you become one of his own and are made alive again in Christ you are still a jar of clay, an earthen vessel; but you now are filled with the glory of God.

2 Cor. 4:5-7 - For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone 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 jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

2. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit you are not able come to God - Neither are you able to see the things of God or realize the presence of God

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:9-10).

You must be filled with the Spirit in order to truly experience the glory of God. Otherwise you will only feel with your emotions what others are experiencing around you. If you want to know the glory of God you must be directed by the Spirit of God.

3. Obedience. You must be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you and willing to do exactly what He directs. `

WE SHOW OUR GOD TO BE TOO PASSIVE. THERE IS NO SENSE OF REVERENCE BECAUSE WE DO NOT CARRY HIS GLORY INTO THE WORLD. HOW IS HIS GLORY HIDDEN IN US?

1. QUENCHING THE SPIRIT

2. DISOBEDIENCE

3. SELF-SEEKING

4. SELF-RELIANCE

Don’t let His glory be hidden in you and let us not try to douse the movement of God in our livesss. Rather let’s give way to the glory of God in our lives and wait on Him to reveal Himself

© Carol Hudler, July 2011