A letter was received last week from a long-standing, dear friend. He recalled how, many years ago, as a zealous, young man hungering for more of God, he then thought he understood the Glory of God from His presence, His majesty, His greatness, and the fear and humility that He engenders in the human heart. But when he understood that God’s Glory is related to mine, in that the measure that His comes to me is related to the measure that my glory leaves, he realised that the Father and the human heart are at war with one another. A wise and God-fearing man will choose to lose the war!
The Lord bestows gifts to each one of us. Do we use the gift He has given us to His Glory? At the Judgement Seat of Christ we will all have to give an account for our stewardship of the gifts He has given us. The measure that Jesus lives in me is related to the measure that I bow, abdicate and get out of the picture.
My independence is related to my pride. God cursed independence from the moment Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus never demonstrated independence, He said, “I and My Father are One.” I am not complete on my own, I am made complete when I am united with someone else. May the Holy Spirit release and expose the areas of independence in our lives in order that He alone, will be the controlling power working with us, that our lives will be conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, for His Glory.
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The two scriptures quoted below regarding “glory” can be seen as an apparent contradiction, (which can be confusing), revealing I need further revelation:
Isaiah 42:8 declares that God will not give His glory to another, “And My glory will I not give to another.”
John 17:22 Jesus declares,”And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them.”
My dependence on anything other than the Holy Spirit of God to impart revelation will take me into confusion. But “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,” 1 Corinthians 14:3. With further revelation I begin to see that the afore-mentioned Isaiah text speaking about the “Glory” God will not give to another is the credit and honour due to His holy name and character. The “Glory” the Lord Jesus spoke of in John 17:22, is the awareness of His presence, enabling power and anointing, which He has given us and endued us with to fulfil His call on our lives. The latter, (John 17:22 “..the glory which You gave me, I have given them,”) will not be my experience unless the former, (Isaiah 42:8 “My glory will I not give to another,”) is the foundation of my believing. The power is for the extension of the kingdom, for the glory of God, and if He cannot trust me to credit Him for the power, enablement and enduement then the “GLORY” is not safe. In actual fact, the Glory, or credit due is quite safe because it never leaves His hand. Thine IS the kingdom, Thine IS the power and Thine IS the glory, forever and ever, Amen. What I am guilty of is attempting to rob God of His glory in my heart. As God looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance, my focus must change from what I do, to why I do it. That is, my motive, and only God sees that. (Romans 2:28 – 29, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
The confusion comes when I attempt to obtain revelation by using my own wisdom to interpret the scriptures, or learn Greek and Hebrew without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Greek and Hebrew can be a great aid but not a substitute for the Holy Spirit of truth, who is given to guide me into all truth , as I humble myself.
