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Posts Tagged ‘glorify Christ’

Day 139, “Fully Walking Out Your Purpose… to the Glory of God”

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , on March 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Westminster Short Catechism: “A man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

“…walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Eph 4:1

“…walk in wisdom, redeeming the time, not being unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is…” Eph 5:15-17

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You Have a Call

Every believer has a call, and the biggest questions are do you know what it is and do you know how to achieve it?

While there are many ways that the call of our life in God is manifested according to our giftings (e.g. preaching, teaching, etc.), I believe there is a call which we all have which is overarching every other call and is central to our life in Jesus Christ! This call and its fulfillment is what I want to explore here.

I believe the Westminster Short Catechism above is probably one of the most succinct yet undervalued insights to that most central of calls!

Your chief end in this life is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever!

You can find that purpose stated in various ways in 1Cor 10:31, Rom 11:36, and Ps 73:25-28.

Now ask yourself, does the world situation, its challenges and difficulties and conditions, or that of your personal life change that call in any appreciable way?  I would say no.  God’s call on your life is steady state regardless of things temporal and external.

But there is a key here that we often overlook to entering into a deeper understanding of that call…

Let us look at that:

To Glorify God

I found the most profound understanding of what it means to glorify God through Kay Arthur’s book, Lord I want to Know You, A Devotional Study of the Names of God.

In it she clarifies that to glorify God means to give an accurate estimate of Who God is and how He is.  In a sense we are, ourselves, mirrors which are reflecting the truth of God to the world.  The more we are moved to a greater understanding of Him by the word, the bigger and more clear is the image we carry and share of Him.

But really interesting is the fact that you and I can lean heavily on the Holy Spirit here, because it is the Holy Spirit Who lives to glorify Jesus.

You see, according to Scripture, we are all being transformed into the same image (of Christlikeness) from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. (2Cor 3:18)

And through the agency of the Holy Spirit, He takes what is Jesus’ and He declares and reveals and transmits it to us!!! (Jn 16:14-15AMP) It is the Holy Spirit’s primary function to glorify Jesus, and we can be His living chalkboards to carry that message to the world!!!

Now think about this further!

When I set my heart to know Jesus in truth and in Spirit, when I worship Him and wait on Him and have encounters with Jesus my Lord through the Holy Spirit, when I have been Baptized in power in the Holy Spirit and have the gifts of the Holy Spirit animated in me and the character of Christ being built within me continuously by my most holy faith…

Then I begin to fulfill the call on my life to glorify God and enjoy Him forever…

I submit to you, that without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in power, I cannot really begin to glorify God in truth, nor can I enjoy Him…

And so that is what I share with you today…

Have you hit a wall, or impase, or dead end in your Christian walk???

Then you need to things to both glorify Him and enjoy Him. You need His Holy Spirit to fill you and increase you in Him so that the image on your life mirror is expanded and clear, and you need the enduement of the power that comes with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that you can overcome your self-interest and self-focus, and be moved by love in ministry to others…

This is the Way!

“For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face!  Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have fully and clearly known and understood [by God].”  1Cor 13:12

Let all the perfection of Jesus Christ that can be revealed and transmitted to us by the Holy Spirit be ours even today, that we will fully glorify God in this moment and will enjoy Him forever, without delay!!!

and we will share this with the world…

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Day 106, Hidden Truth … What Are You Showing Forth?

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , on April 15, 2017| 1 Comment »

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“…For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap.” Gal 6:8

A lot of insights I receive are first played out on the playing field of my life, through mistakes I am making.  I am indeed a rich source of fodder for the Lord to paint with, so to speak… to wit:

I am at various times impatient, or easily exasperated over what I perceive to be the insensibility or lack of consideration that people can demonstrate for others.  It registers in my thinking as general oblivion to the fact that other people exist. Of course ‘’”for others” is often code for “towards me” in particular.

It is true. I am unveiled here. I have been exposed, my true nature laid bare.  The latest exploit took place in the Wal-mart parking lot. The last TWO TIMES! (While the Wal-Mart parking lot may seem inconsequential to some, let me assure you it is rich with high drama and spiritual insight!)

First situation: I am parked in my normal location which allows for both car safety and built in life-exercise as it is roughly located in west green acres and I have to hoof it to the front door roughly 3/4 mi. When I return to the car a “foreign” (meaning not supposed to be there) car is parked perpendicular to me and right in front of me. Did I also mention I endeavor to NOT ever have to BACK UP in the said Wal-Mart parking lot because it is dangerous? There is an elderly couple siting in the car, the motor is running, they are talking on their phone. This is actually quite good because you don’t want them actually driving while holding their phone, but nevertheless as I look around I am annoyed. I survey the parking lot and there are at least 30 other acceptable options to park in similar ease and safety to discourse on their phone. But, it is my honor to have them before me. I back up, drive around them … but my thoughts are not profitable.

Second situation: Again at Wal-Mart, parked in same place actually. Return to car after shopping with granddaughter and have to unload cart and her.  An older, well-used car is parked right next to me but at an odd angle so that opening my door is nearly impossible, opening the passenger door behind me where I have to place my granddaughter in her booster seat and load the groceries will be challenging to say the least. I glance at the driver intently but say nothing. I get the groceries unloaded and close the door and again look to the driver. They are still talking but now looking up. I gesture ( not what you are thinking) quizzically, “Really?”

Instead of trying to shoe horn myself into the driver’s seat I opt instead to roll the cart back to the cart storage kiosk.  The driver takes that opportunity to drive away.

The Lord queries me, “What did you show forth Sandra?” I pull up out of my impatient musings, and I hear what He is asking.

“My flesh…,” my regret is sincere.  Immediately the words of a previous reading come back to me about, “to the merciful He will show mercy.” I realize something that has not been processed this same way previously.

At any given time there stand before me two choices: to show forth the Kingdom of God; or to show forth my flesh. To sow to the Spirit, or to sow to my flesh. To exercise the Kingdom, or to exercise my flesh. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

The Lord is exceedingly patient with Me, but in the time He is expecting to see change in Me He is very clear, and He is always working in a deeper swath pattern, making greater and greater inroads into me. I am being overturned. My old nature plowed under, like a field that has laid fallow and is being prepared for new planting.

But it is clear, what was acceptable for me in the last season is no longer tolerable today. The days of sowing decay and ruin can no longer stand! The Lord is calling for change in me, and His Body!

You see it is that clear a choice. It is not that these situations have had explicit interactions. Words were not exchanged in either situation, but communication did take place … and I fell short of His glory in both.

I have had to repent and renounce this attitude of my heart. In those moments I thought I was free to exercise my natural personality and consequential opinion.

But you see as saints of God, none of us are free to do that for we have been purchased with a price – we have been made His own! We are thus called to honor Him and bring glory to Him in our body, which is His Body (1Cor 6: 19-20).

Over two-thousand years ago He paid that price for us, and we celebrate that this coming Sunday, Resurrection Sunday!  Death had no hold on Him and neither death nor its attitudes or patterns of sowing should have a hold on us today … no longer! Are you ready for that?

Perfect Peace, Happy Easter,

Is 26:3

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