SUSTAINED GLORY

I was privileged to speak on Sustained Glory in a powerful event themed "Sustaining Glory in Worship." convened by a powerful gospel artist Pastor Olusegun Obaleye on the 27th of October 2019 and it was great time in God's presence.

 

Talking about glory is vast and challenging yet a beautiful and interesting thing to talk about. 

 

It's definition is not one to easily define as it is complex. God's glory encompasses everything that we can ever think of, talk of or imagine. 

It is like a diamond with its many shiny and mesmerizing facets which reflects the beauty of God. It is not just something that we feel or see but of a heavy weight too of the one to whom all glory belongs. 

It is the heaviest, biggest or greatest thing about God. The weight of God's glory indicates all that He is  and is reflected in all that we see and behold When we understand what God's glory is all about then we would see that our lives also reflect the beauty of God's glory and in all that we do.

So many times we speak of God's glory or say all glory to Him but how well do we know what glory is really all about? or the weight of His glory. 

For so many, God's glory is untouchable, unseen, unreachable and unfelt yet is is available to us all 24/7 because He designed us that way. 

Being His creation, we reflect the beauty of His glory therefore His glory is inbuilt in us meaning, God's glory is not so far fetched but within our grasp yet defining the glory of God is not an easy one because of its wide ranged, vast and complex nature but studying it as a subject or topic has been an interesting one for me and eye opening

So then,  what is glory? Glory is the physical or external manifestation of who God is. When we talk about glory, we are talking about God's power, His beauty, His Holiness, His greatness, His perfection, His excellency, His majesty and His worth in display. Glory talks about who God is in entirety.

Psalm 19:1 says " The heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the skies proclaim the works of His hands." What this is simply saying is that, the cloud, the galaxies, the skies, the moon, the stars, the sun and how they function, all reflect the glory of God. For instance, who tells the sun to rule at day, who tells the moon and the stars to rule at night and who tells the rain it's time to pour down and water the earth. They all operate reflecting God' glory.

And then Isaiah 6:3 says " Holy Holy is the Lord, the whole earth is full of His glory." In Genesis 1, after God created every other thing on earth, He decided to create man in His own image and likeness and then gave man the dominion over every other thing He created. 

Now, being created in God's image is having the nature of God in you which means having His loving nature, His merciful nature, His Holy nature, His creative nature, His forgiving nature as well as His fierce nature towards the things of the devil. 

When God created you, He deposited part of Himself in you and that is why you can exhibit His nature ,therefore If God is creative, you are creative, if He is powerful then you are powerful, if He is a beautiful God, then you are a beautiful sight to behold and if He is a wise God so are you. 

He is the only wise God who has bestowed His divine wisdom on you. And being created in the likeness of God is being able to function as God functions - Same way He speaks and things happen so are we to speak, same way He turns impossible situations around, so are we to turn impossible situations around and that's why when we speak the devil trembles, through our words, we have been able to turn unfavourable situations around for our good, when we lay hands on the sick they are healed and through us, miracles, signs and wonders are performed here on earth. When we do all these, we function as God functions and then reflect His glory here on earth.

What is sustain? Sustain simply means to bear up, to support, to strengthen, to keep going on etc.  In other words, God's glory supports you, God's glory strengthens you, God's glory keeps you going on in life and God's glory bears you up. In essence, it is God's sustained glory in your life that makes you relevant. That you don't beg or struggle for relevance, that's God's sustained glory. 

It's God's sustained glory that makes you have a voice that when you speak where you least expect, people listen. That you've not fallen out of your ministry, career, vision or dream, it is God's sustained glory. 

It's God's sustained glory that makes you stand strong irrespective of life's challenges or the attacks of the enemy. It is God's sustained glory that makes you say, there is a lifting up even when others are crying there is a casting down. 

When it seems like nothing positive is happening around you and people tend to mock or criticise you behind and before you, it is God's sustained glory in you life that enables you to commanize the issue because you know that your waiting and trying period is a a breeding ground for the manifestation of God's glory in your life. At that point where it seems like nothing is happening, God has not forgotten you. 

He is preparing you for the manifestation of His glory. These light afflictions are but for a moment but working in us an internal weight of glory (2nd Corinthians 4:17).

SO HOW THEN DO WE SUSTAIN GOD'S GLORY IN OUR LIVES?

1. THROUGH CONSTANT FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD : In our constant fellowship with God, He reveals Himself to us, we get to know Him more and more and we begin to see ourselves as God sees us. 1st John 1:3 says " Our fellowship is with God the father and with His son Jesus Christ". 

The only way we can exercise the dominion God has given to us and then reflect His glory here on earth is when we see ourselves as God sees and seeing ourselves as God sees us is only made possible in constant fellowship with Him. 

We must endeavour to have constant fellowship with God either in our private moments or with fellow brethren. The bible admonishes we never forsake the gathering of fellow believers (Hebrews 10:25). 

Talking about fellowship with God, Adam enjoyed this constant fellowship with Him not until in Genesis 3:8-10 when he fell out and went contrary to God's will and when God came down in the cool of day to have His fellowship with Adam, Adam was nowhere to be found and when God called out to Adam, he replied saying, he realised he was naked and so hid himself. 

The interesting thing is that, before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they never knew they were naked. They went about the garden freely in their nakedness, had their fellowship with God freely in their nakedness not until they ate the forbidden fruit, realised they were naked and then shame came on them. 

God's sustained glory covers our nakedness and takes away every shame and reproach in our lives. With Adam, man's glory was lost but with Jesus, the glory of man was restored. 

One prayer my mum of blessed memory never failed to pray either during the family devotion or in her quiet time was "God, cover our nakedness with your glory." and that prayer was made manifest in our lives and still is till date while she is no more.

2. PRAY FOR GOD'S GLORY :  God's glory is not far fetched neither is it unseen, unreachable or unavailable. If you wanna see His glory and behold it, then pray that it be revealed in and through you. 

Romans 8:18 says "For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us." 

You might be experiencing some difficult times or challenges in your life right now, rather than giving up or giving in to those challenges, pray that God's glory is revealed and sustained in you, because it is God's sustained glory in your life that will enable you to withstand and overcome those challenges. 

Moses, in Exodus 33:12-22 even after God promised to be with him as he leads the children of Israel to the promised land, still requested that God reveals His glory to him and God did. 

The Bible also records in 2nd Corinthians 3:7  that when he came out of God's presence, the Israelites saw the glory of God reflected on Moses. 

Moses knew the challenge ahead of him as he leads the children of Israel to the promised land and so he needed God's sustained glory in his life to enable him overcome whatever challenge that he will encounter as he leads the children of Israel to the promised land. 

You see, we all have the ability to manifest God's glory if only we believe. Jesus in John 11:40 told Martha that she would see the glory of God if only she believes. So do you believe that you can manifest God's glory in your life? if yes, then this takes us to the next point.

3. WALK IN GOD'S GLORY: If You constantly have fellowship with God and pray for His glory to be revealed in your life and then believe that you have God's glory in you, then it's time to walk in that glory. 

2nd Corinthians 3:18 says "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord." 

In the times of old, God's glory was mostly made manifest in temples and tabernacles but in the new testament, God's glory is not just made manifest in churches that we might consider as temples but it is also made manifest in walking and talking temples which is you and I. 

1st Corinthians 3:16 says we are the temple of God and being God's temple, His glory is deposited in us. God's Glory is not far fetched but available to us 24/7 because it is in us but is left for us to walk in the glory of God. The disciples in Acts of the apostles, after they experience God's glory at pentecost, did not just leave it at an experience but they decided walk in that glory. 

They went about preaching the gospel, performing miracles, signs and wonders and then drew so many to Christ and as result, God added to the church daily. 

That is walking in God's glory. Psalm 8:4-5 says "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? For you have made him a little lower than Elohim and you have crowned him with your glory and honour." 

When you read further, it states how God gave man dominion over every other thing God created. He has crowned us with His glory and honour so we ought to walk in that glory.

4. INTEGRITY : Irrespective of the season of your life, the circumstance or situation you find yourself in, be a man or a woman of integrity. Integrity is being honest. It is being able to maintain your values irrespective of the circumstance you find yourself in. 

Proverbs 2:21 says " For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain it." God could boast of Job to satan to the point that He called him a perfect and an upright man. 

He was so confident of Job that he left Job in the hands of satan but with the condition that he (satan) should not touch the life of Job and  satan did all he could to bring Job down ; he afflicted his body, taking away his health, crumbled his businesses taking away his wealth and killed his children making him childless but in all these Job's integrity was intact. 

Even when his wife asked him to curse God and die, he refused maintaining his values and God's sustained glory in the life of Job as a result of His integrity saw him through  the heavy trials and temptations he faced and God blessed his later days much more than his former days. 

Joseph, was betrayed and sold into slavery by his brothers, seduced by potiphar's wife but refused giving in to her seductions, accused falsely and thrown into prison for something he did not do, yet his integrity and values were intact and God saw him through it all, brought him out of the prison, made him the prime minister and then placed him in charge of the economic affairs of the land. 

Daniel's praying values were threatened by a group of people who were envious of him. They conspired against him and made the king to pronounce a decree stating anyone who prays to his god  other than the king will be thrown into the lions den.  

Daniel, despite the threat, refused trading his values and kept on praying to his God, and when he was thrown into the lions den, God shut the mouths of the lions. 

Yet when same people who plotted against Daniel were thrown into the lions den, same lions that could not eat up Daniel ate these people up and the God of Daniel was placed above every other god in the land. Integrity will take you to the top and keep you there. 

You might encounter difficulties or challenges as a result of your integrity, still, maintain it. People might say all sorts of things against you, criticise you, mock you, call you a jew girl or a jew boy, people might might set you up, plot against you and the enemy might throw fiery darts at you but in all these maintain your integrity because God said in Proverbs 2:7 that He forms a shield around those with integrity. 

So irrespective of the challenge as a result your integrity, God forms a shield around you and will see you through it all.

God's sustained glory in our lives enables us overcome the challenges of this life if only we recognize that God's glory in our lives and not take it for granted. We are God's glory, His glory is sustained in us and we reflect His glory.

Quote for the day - "By grasping the greatness of His glory, we will be moved to reverence and faithfulness." - Anonymous

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