A Road Less Traveled: Paying the Price for God’s Glory to be Revealed

image via http://pastorjessen.wordpress.com

Hi Everybody!

For the past couple of days…actually its been a few weeks, I’ve been meditating on the Glory of God and  what it truly takes for it to be revealed.

image via http://www.northside-online.org

When I think of God’s Glory, I think of people like Job who wouldn’t curse God and die like his wife wanted to (Job 2:9), I think of Joseph who had a prophetic destiny to rule over his brothers and his Father in order to save the destiny of the children of Israel Genesis 37-47), I think of Esther who took the risk to reveal the plot of Haman who wanted to kill all the Jews in the kingdom by revealing that she herself was in fact a Jew to King Ahasuerus (Esther 2-9), I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the three Hebrew boys that refused to bow to any other god and were sentenced to burn in the fire only to come out unharmed since the fourth man was in there with them (Daniel 3 ), I think of David, the little shepherd boy that took down a giant Goliath with no fear arresting his heart (1 Samuel 17), I think of all the disciples that became apostles that built the Church of Jesus Christ under many threats of persecution declaring that Jesus Christ is indeed the Way the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

When I thought about these few examples in the Bible, I feel like a tugging is in my heart as the Lord asked me, “What price are you willing to pay to see My Glory be revealed?”. What a difficult and fearful question. At the moment as I contemplate, it would be easy to take the “Christian answer” and say “Yeah, everything”, but knowing me, I’m not into rash and thoughtless answers. The Truth of the matter is, the price that I pay will never compare to that of the one our Lord Jesus Christ paid to save humanity. I know that it will cost me everything to see the Glory of God revealed and that is why I feel very afraid and yet faith beckons me to keep on walking forward and not look back.

People of God, if we want to see things we’ve never seen before in our lives become manifest, it’s going to cost us EVERYTHING. My whole mind is shaking as I’m typing about this….because I see that the road is quite treacherous….but, I know that for what I’m seeking for in this life, it’s going to be “a road less traveled”.  

Christ in you, the hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27)

Ask yourself, how much do you love your Life?

How much do you love your Money?

How much do you love your Job?

How much do you love your Education?

How much do you love your Family?

How much do you love your “Stuff”?

How much do you love your Sanity?

and finally, How much do you LOVE God?

The price one pays to see God’s Glory to be revealed is equivalent to all the things you already care for deeply. Can you be like Job, Esther, David, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego etc? Can you be like the apostles who went through serious persecution for their Faith in Jesus Christ? Can you be like our Lord and Savior, Jesus who laid down His life for all of us that He wants to call His “friends”?

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

 

We need to Love Christ soo much that He is much greater than all the other things or people that you love. The Road is not easy…in fact, I am terrified; however, I feel led to talk about this today, so consider, that God will test our love for HIM FIRST in order for us to see HIS GLORY BE REVEALED.

The Love Test is what Father Abraham went through when he was faced with sacrificing his long awaited and only son Isaac to prove His love for the Lord (Genesis 22). It was indeed a trying and probably the most painful test in his life and yet Abraham loved God enough to go through with it. God saw Abraham’s heart and a miraculous thing happened, God had made provision to spare Isaac as the sacrifice by providing a ram in the thicket to take Isaac’s place (Genesis 22:12-13). The Glory of God revealed in this situation demonstrated that our God is Jehovah Jireh – “God our Provider” (Genesis 22:14). Abraham was completely sold out in mind, heart, body and soul to serve the Lord God Almighty that God’s Glory was revealed as one of Mercy, Kindness, Love and Provision for God’s Vision for Abraham’s life…and so as Christians, we too will all encounter this test in our lives very soon at some point in our journey. I call it “The Love of God Test”.

How much are you willing to sacrifice for the Love of God?

As you search deep within you as you meditate on God’s Word each day, consider that whatever you claim that you will do for the Lord shall be tested by the Lord so don’t answer rashly, don’t answer without carefully out weighing the cost, because whatever you say shall be tested. If you fear Him (reverentially), you will know that He is well able to test a person’s claim for their love of the Lord. I know that in my own life, God has always tested my words…some things I have done according to what I claim, and some things I have said thoughtlessly have also brought upon me some shame and some serious introspection. You’ve always got to be real with yourself, people. I can’t emphasize that enough.

The point is…when God asks you a question….don’t answer by way of presumption. Do not presume you will do something for God when you know in your heart that you will not do it. Instead, think long, think hard, search deep and answer truthfully and by faith once you realize the gravity and the weight of the question being asked of you. You can answer to God’s call on your life by faith even if you are trembling with fear (which is something I typically do, lol 😉 ); however, the most important thing to do is to answer truthfully  before the Lord since the answer that you produce is what God will inevitably test.

Colossians 1:27

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 

We cannot escape this test if you are in Christ because how else will the Glory of God be revealed?

You have Christ in you, the hope of Glory so let the Glory of God be revealed through your life, Amen!

Food for thought.

I have a song here to minister to your Spirit today sung by The Singletons called I’ll Worship you all my Days.

God bless you everybody!