How is God glorified?

I'm sure there are many ways but I believe this is one of the main ones.

John 15:8(NKJV)

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Why am I sure this is one of the main ones?  Scripture. 

Scripture tells us many things that fit with this passage.  We are told that our reward in Heaven will be commensurate with the amount of work we do for God.  In other words how much fruit we bare for Him. 

Scripture also tells us that God always gives us what we need to carry out His plan.  Unfortunately not all use those tools.  The ones who do are bearing much fruit once again fulfilling the Scripture above. 

These are just a couple of examples that lead me to believe that how much fruit you bare is one of the best was to glorify God.

A Warning about the Intelligentsia

I think this is a great warning about the influence of the intelligentsia.  There are a lot of people who think they are smarter than God.  These verses warn against listening to them.

Colossians 2:8-10(NKJV)

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 

and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

And remember other parts of Scripture warn that you will be held accountable if you allow yourself to be led astray. 

Now I can hear some saying "That's not fair.  It wasn't my fault".  Well actually it is your fault.  God gave you plenty of warning in Scripture like the verses above.  If you ignore those warnings and allow yourself to be led astray it is indeed your fault! 

Glorified-What does it Mean?

In my continuing study of the words associated with "God is"  I am studying Glorifed.  It occurred to me that I didn't know exactly what it means.  I had a vague idea but wasn't sure if it was correct so I went and looked it up.  I found it helpful.  I thought others might as well.

As a side note all of the dictionary's defaulted to glorify so I went with that. 

glorify

verb (used with object), glorified, glorifying.

1. to cause to be or treat as being more splendid, excellent, etc., than would normally be considered.
2. to honor with praise, admiration, or worship; extol.
3. to make glorious; invest with glory.
4. to praise the glory of (God), especially as an act of worship.

From <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/glorified>

I hope that helps add clarification as you read Scripture.

One of my favorite hymns!

This is one of my favorite old time hymns.  You know my belief that attitude is of paramount importance to God and I have explained why many times.  I just think the words of the song are a great reminder of that.  Just learn to automatically start singing the song when things go wrong and experience how much that truly helps!

The song was inspired by this verse from Philippians.

Philippians 4:4(NKJV)

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Rejoice in the Lord always:

again I say, Rejoice!

Rejoice in the Lord always:

again I say, Rejoice!

Rejoice, rejoice,

and again I say, Rejoice!

Rejoice, rejoice,

and again I say, Rejoice!

Rejoice in the Lord always:

again I say, Rejoice!

Rejoice in the Lord always:

again I say, Rejoice!

From <http://www.hymnary.org/text/rejoice_in_the_lord_always_and_again_i_s>

God is…Spirit

OK. Let's start with this verse. 

John 4:24(NKJV)

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

God is Spirit.  This is the starting point.  But God isn't the only Spirit that we hear from.

1 John 4:1(NKJV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

1st John clearly tells us that there are other spirits and so one of our jobs is to discern good spirits from bad.  We are told to test (judge) the spirits to see whether they are "of God" (good) or not (bad).  Or in other words we are told we need to make a judgement.  (Again just pointing out that the whole 'thou shall not judge" thing isn't a blanket prohibition against judgement)

Now as I have pointed out before, when God tells us to make a judgement He gives us the standard to judge by and this time is no different.

1 John 4:2-3(NKJV)

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 

and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

So let's take a swing at the low hanging fruit and use Muslims for example.  Many people including many Christians say that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.  Really?  Let's use the previous verse to test that theory.

Do Muslims confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?  Now here is where it gets in to semantics and I'll let you be the judge.  Some would say yes they do because they believe Jesus was a prophet.  I don't however believe that is what the verse is asking.  I believe that the phrase "come in the flesh" has a deeper meaning.  I believe it is referring to those who believe that God in the person of Jesus Christ came to earth and in that case Muslims would answer no.

At any rate let the Holy Spirit guide you as you wrestle with that one.

The other thing that I found interesting in the study of God is Spirit is all of the Old Testament references to the Holy Spirit which was referred to as God's Spirit.  I think I have written about this before but I'll cover it again.

In the OT it seems that God bestowed His Spirit on individual people as He wanted to.  Not everybody got God's Spirit and they had no say in whether they got it or not.  That all changes in the NT.  In the NT we can all have the Spirit and it is us, not God who decides whether we get it or not. 

If we want God's Spirit all we have to do is ask Jesus to come in to our lives and guide us.  Have you done that yet?  If not why not do it right now?  Just have a conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

 

How many of us forget the "with thanksgiving" part?

How many of us forget the "with thanksgiving" part?

Monday, October 31, 2016

10:15 AM

As I have written before, it seems to me from Scripture that attitude is very important to God.  In my opinion it is an outward manifestation of the inner faith.  I found a couple verses in Philippians 4 that illustrate this nicely. 

Let's start with this.  Here Paul tells us how to turn to God with our needs. 

Philippians 4:6-7(NKJV)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

OK, the first part we intuitively get.  It is the part highlighted in green that I think we sometimes forget.  "With Thanksgiving"!!!  What does that mean?  Let me illustrate.  Compare these two prayers. 

"O Lord, life has been so hard lately.  Please, please, please, help it get better.  It doesn't seem like things ever get better.  Oh me oh my….."

Compare that to:
 

"O Lord, thank you so much for all the blessing you have given me in life.  Things have been a little tough lately but I take comfort in knowing that "hope does not disappoint" as long as I place that hope in you.  Thank you so much for that. 

Your Word says:

Romans 8:28(NKJV)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 

And I can't wait to see how you work this one out!  You are so awesome, thank you!  Amen"

Now which prayer do you think is more pleasing to God?  It's pretty obvious isn't it?

Now some will say the second prayer isn't realistic.  I say it is.  At least it is if you stand on God's Word. 

Is the second prayer natural?  Probably not.  I think it is human nature to pray like the first prayer.  That is why being in the Word is so important.  You need God's Word to help override human nature and make your life better.  

When you know how God expects you to respond, you have a choice; be obedient to God or continue doing things your own way.  If you truly want your prayers answered by God then wouldn't it make sense to decide to present those prayers to God in the way that He says He wants them presented?   

The dichotomy of strength and weakness.

I think for many people, myself included, this dichotomy is one of the hardest to understand. 

Ephesians 6:10(NKJV)

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 

Matthew 5:5(NKJV)

    Blessed are the meek,      For they shall inherit the earth.

Here is how I view it.  I'll use a phrase to paint a picture.

Powerfully meek

What does that mean?  Maybe this old phrase will help.  "Speak softly but carry a big stick."

A lot of Christians combine the meek verse and turn the other cheek verses to try and persuade people that Christians should be pacifists.  I disagree with that interpretation for several reasons. 

Among those reasons is that we are created in the image of God.  Are God and Jesus pacifists?  Have you read the Old Testament?  God is anything but a pacifist.  But what about Jesus?  Well here is a quote from Jesus.

Matthew 10:34(NKJV)

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 

Does that sound like a pacifist talking to you?

I think the pairing that gives a more accurate interpretation is the pairing above.  We are to be powerfully meek.  We are to be humble, polite, respectful, and we are to serve others and God. 

We aren't however required to be door mats.  We are heirs with Jesus.  We are given power and strength through that relationship.  As long as we always give credit for where that power comes from I think we are to use that power in the service of God. 

Does that make sense?