From Glory To Glory
In the natural it is said that every cell in the body will be replaced in 7-10 years. The physical body is constantly being renewed. How much more the spiritual ‘body’ – individually and corporately.
Who you are today is different than yesterday, a year, 10 years ago. There is an old gospel song: I’ve seen you in the future and you look much better than you do right now! That’s the truth!
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:17-18)
Glory to glory. What is the current glory you are reflecting right now? We are perfect in Him yet He is perfecting us. Isaiah 9 His government and peace are ever increasing and we are under that glory of increase. So we are different tomorrow because of Him and because of His purposes. We make daily choices to follow Him, taking up our cross = which means just that. My way or His way and for sure My ways are not His ways so I choose.
Think about the angels around the throne – singing glory to God over and over again. I used to think that sounded quite monotonous, like they had a job to do and that was it!! Now I am beginning to see that they are saying the unfolding, changing, increasing glory before them and so we will one day. Heaven will be a magnificently unfolding glorious revelation of God and also His awesome wonders, His ever-increasing purposes.
Rom 8:19 all creation is waiting for the mature sons of God to be revealed.
We are to be that revelation. We are being matured and part of that maturity comes from glorious revelation to us, in us and through us.
2 Cor 3:17-18 Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom. 18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the LORD’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the LORD, who is the Spirit.
As we focus on Him we are changed into His image. We are made in the image of God, not just to look like Him but to do what He would do on earth. As the plan was in the beginning, we have access to that glory of grace and truth to bring to any situation we face.
Col 1:27 – God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery: What mystery? Christ in you – the hope of glory
His glory is all about relationship.Glory must have relationship at the heart of it because glory reflects God in who He is. We have the person of Christ in us, by the Spirit of God and that gives us complete freedom to live above the circumstances of the world around us.
2 Cor 3:17-18 Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom. 18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the LORD’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the LORD, who is the Spirit.
John 17:1-5 is a relational dialogue between the Trinity.
Here Jesus made it clear that His full purpose was to glorify the Father and even the glory Jesus would receive from Him was to be for the Father’s glory.
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE SEASON
Jesus glorified the Father by doing His will and part of that was to be very aware of God’s timing and purposes on earth. We glorify God by doing His will, in the time, season and way He wants to do it!
Jesus was very aware of timing; he spoke about ‘the hour’ coming and His time being ‘not yet’ at the wedding in Cana. The forces of the enemy are also aware of the timing of God’s purposes. . We are in this world, but not of it, as Jesus was, and we face the conflict of the enemy’s action around us. We also, unlike Jesus, havethe conflict of sin within us which needs to be brought to the Cross, by confession to God and one another. (1 John 1:8-10/James 5:16). Time and seasons change in the unfolding of God’s purposes. Isaiah 9 speaks of the ever-increasing government and peace of God. That is the constant that we live in, which flows through times and seasons. We live in two times – the now and not yet – as we live on earth and also in heavenly places. This is clearly a key, interim, time on earth, as the whole world is suspended from a life before Covid and is in a ‘waiting room’ for life beyond isolation and separation. For God, His government and His peace are continuing to increase in this time, not constrained by a viral epidemic. I sense it is like the time when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, having left what they knew behind, yet not seeing life beyond their daily experience of wandering and waiting. The danger for us, as it was for them, is that the desire for what was normal, however bad that was, will overtake the faith and hope for the promises of God, yet to be seen and experienced. It’s time for fresh eyes, new lenses, to see the future in faith, not just the giants in the land.
We need to take care us to examine ourselves rightly, with a focus on God and not ourselves avoiding what Leanne Payne has written extensively about: the ‘disease of introspection’ which she found so often when ministering to people in her healing ministry. She refers to it as a paralysis of self-analysis, unable to see what is real because reality is subject only to ‘self’. This separates people from God, but also from their true selves, their true destiny. She calls it ‘practising the presence of self’, unable to know the mind of Christ. In this state, a person misses out on the joy of the moment, the glory of experiencing the presence of God in the simple things of life, of enjoying creation and the wonder of God all around. The futility of the human mind which limits experience to its own understanding robs a person of joy and delight. The cure? Looking up and out of ourselves, asking the Holy Spirit to search out hearts, just as David did, for it is His job to shine light, convict and cleanse. (Psalm 139:24). She describes how C S Lewis discovered this and once he recognised the sin of introspection and recognised it as pride, his soul never stopped loving the things above and about and all around himself. He learnt to live in the present moment, rather than for a future that never quite arrives.
However and whoever we are today, we are being changed from glory to glory, living in Isaiah 9 increase today and always – an increase of His government and an increase of His peace in our lives, in Him. We can be content, as Paul was, in whatever situation we find ourselves, not needing to analyse or speculate but to be still, wait, look, listen and see what He is doing. Then all we have to do is what we see!
We are all in an unprecedented time and season, personally and corporately, but we take faith in knowing the plans and purposes of God are unfolding constantly. He is always doing a new thing; our job is to perceive it (Isaiah 43:19). Where we see a wilderness we know he will have a path to lead us through it, when we experience desert times we know there are streams coming. Let’s not look at the noise from the ‘news of the world’, but to the Word of revelation, which brings life and peace. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col 3:2)
PRAYER:
Thank you Lord that your Holy Spirit gives gifts and power but please help me to remember that His main purpose is to glorify You. Show me any way my life is not glorifying You and draw me back into yourself. Please give me a spirit of wisdom and discernment to test any spirit to see if it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
Help me to see your paths of righteousness opening up before me as ways in the wilderness, to see streams where there are desert places and to keep my eyes on you, as I journey with you into the place you have prepared for me.
Amen
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