They Glorified God In Me

 “But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.  And they glorified God in me.”-Galatians 1: 23 & 24

It has been said reputation is what you’re perceived to be, and character is what you really are.  One would hope that his/her reputation and character coincide  However, this is not always the case, and certainly was not for the Apostle Paul.  It took some time from his reputation to catch up with his character.  However, this did not matter, because the end result is what is most important; which was “they glorified God in me.”   

You may have a fantastic reputation, admirable character, and reflect all the desirable qualities that the world would have, but if your life doesn’t glorify God, in the end it will profit nothing.  The whole of humanity is meant for one purpose, to glorify God.  In Genesis, chapter one, the scripture tells us that God created: land and sea, space and sky, plants and animals; then he created man to inhabit his creation and he desired that God himself would inhabit mankind.  All his creation (with the exception of mankind) must glorify God.  They have no choice.  Man does, and for this reason, we bring Him the most glory, because we have a choice to live for ourselves or to live for Him.  You can choose to glorify yourself, or you can glorify God.  The sun will rise each morning to bring light to the earth and people will be in awe of its beauty.  The blue sky and misty mountains will testify to the magnificence and might of the Almighty.  The vastness of space will promote the awesome power of the Alpha and Omega, but in all this; there is no choice or free will.  There is only creation.  We are the inhabitants of his creation and creation itself but we are different in that we can choose to deny God.  We can choose to deny his grace, his mercy, his power; we can even choose to deny his existence.  We have this choice while here on Earth, often it seems without punishment or retribution (however once we die we face judgment).  It was gifted to us just the same as the gift of life.  The sun cannot choose to shine, nor the tide to change, even the angels are subject to his authority, but God in his grace and mercy gave us choice, and loved us enough to subject himself to ridicule and mocking from the very creation which he made out of dust.  He wanted us to experience holiness, he wanted us to know Him, and he wanted this for us so much that he willingly gave his only Son so that we might find redemption and true life.  Think back, what brought you to Christ?  What convinced you that you could be saved?  Was it pictures of the Rocky Mountains or a visit to the Grand Canyon?  Perhaps, but far more likely it was the love of a Christian brother, it was the righteous life lived by a Parent or Grandparent.  It was the preaching (and living) of the cross by a pastor or layman.  They glorified God within themselves and that glory drew you, it drew me; they shined the light of Jesus in their life and it attracted us; it made you want to serve God and glorify Him over yourself.  It drew you to do His will over your own.  God was glorified within them.  Saul the Jew had the reputation and character of a man who persecuted the Christian church.  He believed in what he was doing, and it did a lot for him; but it did not glorify God.  We may believe in what we are doing, and we may have a reputation and character that is acceptable, maybe even exalted; but do you glorify God?  Does your life exalt Christ? 

The power of God through Jesus can dramatically change your life.  You may have bad character and a bad reputation, but that matters little to Him.  If God can command the oceans, he can change your life.  If God can move the mountains, he can change your life.  If God can set the sun in the sky, he can change your life.  These things have to obey him, but you must choose to obey him, and in choosing you can be a vessel unto honor, and your reputation and character can be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that one day you can say: “they glorified God in me.”  Is there better testimony to leave?

Live In Liberty

 

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”-Galatians 5:1

Riding down the road the thought came to me that governments, people, business, and the like, want us to surrender our liberty.  More than that, the devil wants us to surrender our liberty.  Governments can come in and take our civil liberties from us.  However, when we have the spirit of God dwelling on the inside nothing and no one can take the true liberty from us.  It can only be willingly given. It is his business to convince us to despise our liberty and surrender it over willingly.  To trick us into seeing it as bondage, and not the glorious liberty that it is.  This is the devil’s business, but God shows us different. 

The yoke of bondage that Paul is referring to here in Galatians is directly connected to the false doctrines of that day which were creeping into the Galatian church.  Some were still clinging to the Mosaic law and pressuring others in the Christian church to do the same.  Paul would enumerate in other letters that the strength of the law is sin.  That the law made sin exceeding sinful, and never brought perfect deliverance or freedom.  That nothing outside of the grace of God and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ can bring deliverance from sin, and true freedom from sin.vvThis freedom is available to every believer, by faith, is what the Apostle Paul was contending for, and that once obtained we are kept by the power of God through faith.  He says in Romans: Who can separate us from the love of Christ?  The devil and all of his demons cannot come in and destroy this “keeping power” that resides in us (through the Holy Ghost).  Therefore, if our liberty is surrendered, we must do the surrendering.  We must be the ones to give it over to Satan.  I remember as a young man (before smart phones) we would go outside and play in the neighborhood.  At times we would be miles from the house with no way to contact our mom.  This was a liberty that was given to me, I assume because I had an older brother to look after me.  There was a bond of faith and trust that tethered this liberty to myself and my parents.  In today's world, many children don't play outside anymore.  If they do, parents use apps like Life360 or Findmyfriends to track in real time where their kids are at all times.  That trust and liberty has been willingly surrendered in the name of surveillance.  I can remember a day when you would show up at a friend's house and just knock on the door.  No call, certainly no text, just unannounced, knock on the door and they let you in.  This is a liberty that has been willingly surrendered at the altar of seclusion.  This is how the devil works, he doesn’t come in by force and take your liberty from you.  He  offers you something that you want, that seems to make your life better, easier, safer.  He wins through compromise.  He woos with complacency.  “A little sleep, a little slumber.”  His subtlety and deceitfulness is always working to undermine your convictions and get you to surrender your liberty.  

Paul exhorts the Galatians to “stand fast” in liberty.  Take a firm stand against Satan devices, by recognizing he is at work.  By attending to the voice of God: through reading, study, prayer and worship.  As an oak that sinks roots deep into the ground to draw strength from the earth, so the sanctified believer must dig down deep in order to grow tall and strong; never tossed about with every “wind of doctrine” but wholly given to the liberty in Christ; completely and consistently resolved to live in liberty.

Abraham Drew Near

“And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?-Genesis 18:23

      There was never a man who prayed as Christ prayed.  Christ’s prayers and time of prayer were a force of nature.  The supernatural and natural met together as the horizon, and the veil of the physical merged with the spiritual.  The effects were so evident and the reality of his prayers so clearly manifest that it caused his disciples to covet an understanding of his prayer saying to him: “Lord, teach us to pray.”  The relationship between Christ and His Father was so intimate and close that His prayers flowed through unobstructed, and accomplished in minutes what men aspired to do in lifetimes.  He was near the heart of God, and wholly given to the will of God.    

In the twelfth chapter of Genesis, God called Abraham with a special calling.  That day, Abraham entered into a covenant with God, as well as a relationship with God.  Abraham devoted his life to God.  His faith, his trust, and the way he chose to walk with God each day set this man apart from everyone else.  This brought Abraham into confidence and fellowship with God so that by the time you reach Genesis chapter eighteen we find Abraham meeting with the Lord when the men (or angels, or both) of God appear.  Abraham immediately recognizes their character and moves with haste to make them feel welcome.  He entreats them to come in and in so doing they decide to share with him their plans to judge Sodom and Gomorah. This causes Abraham to plead with them and intercede on behalf of Sodom and Gomorah for just ten righteous men.  No doubt thinking of his nephew Lot who is living just outside the gate.  Abraham's intercession did not save Sodom but it did save Lot.  This is the confidence that God has in Abraham and Abraham in God.  This is the relationship that he has, and closeness it affords him.  Giving him the resolve to ask of God things that other men would not.  Other men cannot.  They cannot because they are not abiding in the Lord.  They are not in a living and active relationship with the Father.  They are given to this world, and its treasures, and without the promise of God in their lives.  When you think of the relationship between a man and wife, there is no relationship that comes to its equal.  It will produce such an intimate knowledge of the other person, and such a close confidence.  A profound and enduring establishment of trust.  You will share things with your spouse that you wouldn't with anyone else.  You will know things about one another that only you will know.  It brings an assurance in each other that you do not have with anyone else.  Therefore you can ask of them things that you cannot or would not of anyone else.  This relationship is built on a sacred covenant.  Which allows you to intercede and help in areas of life where others are not equipped to.  Not the least of which is birthing and raising children.  So individually, abiding in Christ, making up a church abiding in Christ, is fit to birth and raise converts.  Not through carnal means, or comfortable methods, but in prayers, supplications, and intercessions.  By living in the covenant, drawing near, and asking.    

        John fifteen tells us that when we abide in Christ and he in us we can ask what we will, and it will be done.  We can approach God in intercession, in need, in supplication.  When our ministry is in need, ask.  When our loved ones are lost, ask.  When our church is dying, ask.  When our homes are broken, ask.  Ask, because God cares.  The outcome of our prayer has much to do with the reality of our life before the Lord.  Our devotion to the covenant, our walking in righteousness, our faith in the promises of God.  Live in the covenant and plead for the lost.  Draw near as Abraham did.