Category: thoughtful

The Intensity of God’s Glory

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it.16 The glory of the Lord came down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud.17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain.18 Then Moses went into the cloud and went higher up the mountain. He was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 24:15-18

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When we think real hard about ‘glory’ we end up gravitating to something that is invisible.  We work it out and it becomes something like honor, prestige, fame or respect.  This is a good start for us, and we do benefit from this sort of mental gymnastics.

Moses gets an invite from God to join Him on top of Sinai.  I can see Moses trembling with excitement as he climbs up into the Glory of God.  I’m willing to guess that the concept of just mere ‘invisible’ attributes was about to go through a major overhaul.  Moses entered the glory.  And nothing would ever be the same again.

Glory is a repeated experience that touched the children of Israel. 

  • First of all, during the Exodus they were led by a pillar of cloud and fire.  It protected and provided all that they needed.  All they had to do is look up.
  • Secondly, God’s glory took residence on Mt. Sinai.  There was much to do.  The Israelites commented that this glory altered the mountain top to ‘a consuming fire’.  I have been in a forest fire and it was quite intimidating; frightening is a very good description.
  • Thirdly, we see the glory of God is at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple.  We are told that the presence of God was so powerful that it temporary incapacitated the priests that were present.  It totally undid them and it laid them out on the floor (1 Kings 8:11).
  • The fourth time we see the Glory of God was at the Transfiguration in Luke 9:29-31.  Three disciples were present, and inexplicably Moses and Elijah.  But it was Jesus that took center-stage.  He seems to be the ‘focal point’ of lots and lots of glory.

I’m coming to see that glory is a whole lot more than esteem or honor.  Glory has a bolder and more intense quality about it.  Yes, it is respect and honor.  But it goes beyond this–it seems to be turbocharged with the supernatural.  I have been in revival meetings that were quite glorious. Perhaps we need to seriously look for or anticipate more of these “disturbances of glory.” (I’ve been saving this verse for the end.)

Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Cor. 3:18, NCV

We are simply ‘display cases’ that take in His glory and magnify it through our humanity.  It changes us to become more Christlike, and this verse seems to suggest that this keeps increasing, it doesn’t fizzle out.  And I’m thinking that this is tremendous!

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“The Serenity Prayer” (the Full Version)

GOD, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.

——————————-Complete addition——————————

Living ONE DAY AT A TIME; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen.

By Reinhold Neibuhr

Many of us have come across this prayer before, but this is the full unedited version. The poem, read in its full version is truly an inspiration. I find my heart echoing each line, and hoping it would be true for myself. Read it:

  • slowly,
  • carefully,
  • intensely,
  • and purposefully.

It is good to read the full prayer vs. the one that our culture seems to have adapted and adopted as their own, I suspect this this full version has a little more panache and a whole lot more authority to it. I welome it and the light to bring to us.

More info on this particular prayer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer

 

The Pruning Knife

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”

John 15:2, NLT

In order to become fruitful we must accept the knife. 

It takes a sharp eye and a sharper knife to do the Father’s work of cutting.  He slices to the quick, and all that is not useful falls to the ground.  The vine will produce grapes, and every bit of “grape-energy” will be used productively. Fruitlessness will be cursed, and sterility is condemned.  It takes a decisive heart, as well as a wise hand to prune God’s own vineyard.

Fruitless believers may become fruitful ones.  Understand, the vine dresser does not attack the vine.  He is not malicious or vengeful.  All that He does is for the good of the vine.  He is motivated to produce fruit.  That is what He thinks about; you could say that He is preoccupied with that singular end.

Pruning and fruit are concepts that we vacillate over, some days we understand and other days we blow it off.  After over 30 years, I’ve heard every “John 15 sermon”.  And most of the time I turn down my spiritual hearing aid. That is tragic, and shows my heart has become hardened.

I need to come on board with this particular imagery.  For years I have asked God to “show me His ways”.  I’d like to believe that this understanding of pruning has changed me.  I would like to think that I have attained a clearer view of wisdom.  This pruning business is all well and good.  But being sanctified by the knife is decidedly unattractive and uncomfortable.

You must be pruned; pieces of your life are earmarked to be lopped off.  (I always wonder if the trees that are spray painted are curious over the why and the when they are to be cut?)  In regards to being fruitful we must accept the knife.  If we want to be holy and conform to the image of Christ we will be cut.  There is simply no other way.

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Putting It Simply

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“But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:41-42, ESV

I tend to over-think things a lot. Everything gets so darn complicated. Often there is ‘a paralysis of analysis’ that gels into something stagnant and murky. I am definitely not the decisive person I admire from a distance. My illness is such that I can easily become “immobilized” in making simple decisions.

But I am aware of my desperate need of Christ Himself. My many issues demand a ‘heavy duty’ Savior, one who is capable of handling them. I guess I have tried many ‘gods’ and I haven’t found any of them who can take the load like Jesus can.

All that He has done in the Gospels, and all that He does presently declares to me his trustworthiness and power. My admiration for Christ as my Savior and Deliverer is written on the pages of the Bible. His present day ministry to me (and many others) is consistent with what I read about him in the Word.

And it is amazingly simple, when you think it through. He lived, died, and rose again for those ‘rebels’ who deserve death. The simplicity is profound. I do not have to be a Nobel Prize winner to understand. Without cheapening ‘redemption’ He has reduced things to a straightforward idea. He dies in my place, and now gives me his life to live.

I want to listen to Him. I want to come so close that I can hear the very inflection of his voice when he does speak to me. You see, we are built as communicators, and that is the part that ‘small gods’ can’t provide. They’re merely ‘dead idols.’

I so want to please him, even if he corrects me.

I want to learn at his feet, just as Mary did at her home in Bethany. Often I feel like I will probably be ‘the least of all the disciples’, but I’m okay with that. After all, it’s all about Him.

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“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Revelation 3:20

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