Waiting for the Glory

One of the biggest challenges in working with God is learning how to wait on the Lord. The Lord is Sovereign. So He does things when He gets good and ready. You can't manipulate Him and you can't expedite His schedule. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn the art of Patience and learn to truly wait on Him (Hebrews 6). However, I believe that part of the challenge in waiting on the Lord is knowing what we're waiting for. A lot of times, we put our hope in material things or circumstantial situations, and are looking for God to change what we're going through. There's nothing wrong with this of course; but a lot of times it makes us put our hope in a Natural Manifestation that is Supernaturally Sponsored. I believe the Lord has a better way. At least for this Season, I don't believe that the Lord necessarily wants us waiting on some event or circumstance that's going to change in the Natural. I believe the Lord wants us to learn to Wait for His Glory.

The Glory of God is the Manifest Presence of God. This is the realm that Adam and Eve operated in before the Fall. This is the realm that Jesus operated in when He walked the earth some 2000 years ago. And this is the realm that every born-again believer is called to (2Peter 1). Most Christians understand the concept of Grace as it relates to our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2). But I'm not sure that enough believers have a firm enough understanding of The Glory of God and the role the Glory plays in our relationship with God.

We want to understand that one of the main reasons that Jesus died for the sins of the world was to restore us to the place that we were in God before sin entered the human equation. As a matter of fact, Christianity takes us "beyond" where Adam and Eve were, but that's another lesson. We want to focus on "restoration", because if we can focus on regaining what Adam and Eve possessed in God before the Fall, we'll be in position for the Holy Spirit to take us further.

The scripture says in Romans chapter 5, "by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God". The whole point of Grace is not just to get us to heaven when we die. It's to position us so we can rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God. This is what the Father wants His children to reach for during this hour. Not money, not cars, not houses, not larger ministries but His Glory. Ephesians 5 says that Jesus will present Himself with a glorious church.

So what is the essence of this Glory? What does the Glory of God "look like" if you will? Christ in you, the Hope of Glory (Colossians 1). God the Father wants His Son to be duplicated and replicated in all of His born-again children. Why? Because Christ is the express image of the Father (Hebrews 1), which takes us back to the original plan for which God made humanity in the first place (Genesis 1). God is doing a New Thing saints. And when His Glory is manifested in and through His people with the releasing of the Latter Rain, eye hath not seen nor ear heard what God has in store for those who are indeed Waiting for the Glory.

 

Go Get A Life

If you're a devout believer in Christ, more than likely at some point in your walk with the Lord, someone has made the comment to you, "you need to get a life." You're not on the party scene, going to clubs. You're not dating anybody, no "romantic" interests. It doesn't seem like you do anything that represents "worldly fun." And more than likely you've heard the statement, "why are you always at church?"

Saints, if you've had to endure these comments, and deep down feel like at a certain level your "social critics" are right, be not discouraged. As Disciples of Christ we "do" have a Life. But in order for us to experience it and enjoy it, we have to know what it is.

Let me say very quickly that it was not God's intention for our lives to be consumed by "the ministry." Yes, all of us have a purpose. Yes, all of us have a calling. Yes, all of us have a divine assignment that is to be fulfilled before we leave this planet. But this divine calling is not our life. 

There are too many preachers, pastors and ministers of the Gospel that have operated under the misunderstanding that the ministry was supposed to be their Life. Wrong. That's why you hear of preachers talk about "burn out." That's why you see a lot of committed and dedicated ministers "fall" into some type of scandal or sin. Why? Because they've mistakenly made what God has called them to do their life. This is not the will of God.

Then you have people who have made their family their Life. Their ultimate devotion is to being available and accessible to their spouse and their children. This is noble and admirable, and definitely within the will of God. However, one's family is not supposed to be their life. Jesus made it clear, when asked about His family, that His definition of family was not restricted to the sociological "nuclear family" definition. Jesus said that those who do the will of His Father was His family (Mark 3). It's important to minister to one's family and fulfill the roles God has ordained us to fulfill. But the family cannot be one's life.

The Bible says explicitly that Christ is to be our life (Colossians 3). The reason why this is hard is because Jesus is Invisible. And we're so conditioned by the natural realm and the flesh, that we want something to be our life that we can relate to with our natural senses. This is where we do ourselves a disservice. The mystery is that life was never designed to be lived primarily at the natural level. It was designed to be lived at the supernatural level with the manifestation thereof in the natural realm. That's why God made humanity in His Image (Genesis 1). 

Remember, God is a Spirit (John 4). So the essence of man is spirit, which means the basis of our being rests in the invisible. We have to elevate our faith saints. We have to quit looking for security and reinforcement in the natural realm and begin to look for it strictly and solely in the spirit Realm in and through Christ. When we make this faith transition, then we will live out the words found in Colossians chapter 3: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory." 

It's the glorious life in Christ that the Christian is supposed to have. That's the life that, once we enter it and learn to function in it, the world will envy and long for. So, go ahead child of God, put your trust in the Lord and "go get a life!"

The Sanctification of Time

If there's one thing it seems our society is starved for today is time. No matter how many "to-do lists" you put together, no matter how organized you appear to be, at the end of the day it just doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day. You can wake up early and go to bed late and it still seems like you can't get everything done that "needs" to get done. This is a universal dilemma, but one that has been thrust upon us by cultural society. 

God knew what He was doing when He put 24 hours in a day. He knew what He was doing in allowing the sun to be up for roughly 12 hours a day. I do not believe it is the will of God for society to be "hustle and bustle" 24-7. The God we serve is a God of rest (Genesis 2). And He has structured time in order for His Creation to get the rest we need in order to sufficiently glorify Him. Therefore, we don't need to be pressed about "getting more done in the day." We need to learn the art of "the sanctification of time."

The word, "sanctify," means, "to set apart." In a Christian context, it means, "to set something apart unto God for consecrated and sacred purposes." When we learn the sanctification of time, we learn how to structure our days, our weeks, our months, our years, our decades and our lives so that our time is sanctified unto Him (Psalm 90). This is not natural. If it were, more people who are industrious and successful would've learned how to do it. It's supernatural. And the reason the sanctification of time is supernatural is because it requires the leadership of the Holy Spirit to do it. If you don't submit to the leading of the Spirit in regards to the sanctification of time, you'll operate in the restlessness of the flesh, even if your intentions are good.

One of the first areas of time that we need to sanctify is our mornings. The first part of your day should be sanctified, set apart, unto the Lord. A lot of people go to the gym first thing in the morning, or get a cup of coffee and catch up on the news. Wrong. When you wake up to see another day by the Grace of God, you need to enter your waking hours in communion with the Father. This does not need to be sporadic; this needs to be every day. Let me also add, the earlier the better. The earlier you can wake and "seek His Face," the better you're going to function in your day. Why? Because you've started your day hooked up with Him Who is in control of your day. You're more "plugged in to God," if you will. So we need to be diligent about sanctifying our morning time.

We need to sanctify time to fellowship with the saints (Hebrews 10). You would think this would be basic, but you hear of more and more individuals that don't make it a priority to worship and fellowship with other believers in Christ. Notice I didn't say "go to church." There's a shift taking place in the Body of Christ where the traditional, Sunday morning worship experience will not be sufficient for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. A lot of times we as believers will express more concern about whether a person is going to church as opposed to whether or not they're actually saved! (Trust me, I've done it) No. God is doing a new thing. But whether it's in a traditional setting or not, we can't be "Iso-Christians" – isolated unto ourselves. We have to make sure that we find a place where we can share our faith with other believers in Christ. The Lord is faithful.

Then saints, we need to sanctify time during the Holy Days. I don't have time to fully elaborate on this now, but God has certain Appointed Feasts according to the Jewish Calendar, that are to be set apart and sanctified unto Him. The primary appointments are in the Spring and in the Fall. I can assure you, when we enter the New Hebrew Calendar Year in September of 2015, that is a time that you want to make sure is sanctified unto the Lord. Let us be mindful saints. Let's not just be busy around the clock trying to get secular tasks accomplished. Let's make sure that we're vigilant to execute by faith the sanctification of time.

Circumcision of the Heart

As we prepare for the greatest move of God in the history of the earth, 2 things are key: Preparation and Position. Servants of God are constantly receiving words from the Lord for His people to remain focused. 

With this in mind, one of the areas for which we must remain focused is the condition of our heart. As much as we are pressing into His Kingdom, I suspect for many of us (at least for me), there are still areas that need to be circumcised. This is significant, because there are just some things that are not allowed into the Kingdom of God. Yes, you can be saved, but that doesn't guarantee you an inheritance in the Kingdom (Galatians 5). For this reason, we must embrace the principle of circumcision of the heart.

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God established with the Jews through the patriarch, Abraham (Genesis 17). The God we serve is a God of Covenant. This is the basis for how He has chosen to relate to His human creation. Even though the covenant people of God are no longer under the covenant of circumcision (we are now under the New Covenant established by the Blood of Jesus Christ, Matthew 26), the principle of circumcision is still applicable. 

Circumcision was the sign for all Hebrew males that they had submitted to the covenant terms that God had ordained for the recognition of His people. Circumcision was the cutting of the foreskin of the penis. Therefore, in order for circumcision to be executed, something had to be cut off. What is it in our lives that God is calling us to cut off before we can receive the Blessings and Inheritance that He has ordained for us in the Kingdom? Is it a relationship? Is it a habit? Is it a particular attitude or mentality? There's something that God wants to "cut off and cut out" to establish what He has ordained for our lives. The scripture says that circumcision is not external, but a matter of the heart and the spirit (Romans 2).

We also want to recognize a very important phenomenon as the children of Israel crossed over into the Promised Land. After God had miraculously parted the waters of the Jordan River and allowed the children of Israel to cross over on dry land (Joshua 4), before they fought the Battle of Jericho, God commanded that all the males be circumcised "again...the second time" (Joshua 5). This is very interesting, because even after entering the Promised Land, the people still had to be circumcised "again." Why? Because Saints, entering the Promised Land is about taking possession from the enemy. It's about warfare! And if there are dynamics in your soul and spirit that are kin to the agenda of the enemy, the Evil One will exploit you and ultimately defeat you. That's why the Father is giving us time to prepare NOW. There won't be time for circumcision once the fighting starts. And if you notice in the text, after the men were circumcised, they were immobilized. They couldn't move. They had to remain stationary "till they were whole." 

Let's not become immobilized, Saints, by delaying the cutting off of that for which God wants to remove. Let's be submissive to the Circumcision of the Heart.

Dealing with the Darkness

...(W)e must summon our courage and
our faith to deal with the darkness."

One of the things that we want to recognize in regards to the judgment of God is that there is an aspect of division that takes place when God decides to execute His divine judgment. 

We see this specifically when God was releasing the various plagues upon Egypt before delivering the children of Israel. During one of the plagues, God distinguished between the Egyptians and the children of Israel (Exodus 10). The distinction was marked by light and darkness. Saints, we are preparing to enter a season where God is prepared to distinctly distinguish between that which is "light" and that which is "darkness." This is significant, because if we don't deal with the darkness, we could actually find ourselves on the wrong side of the judgment of God.

We see this principle of distinction and division from God, "In the beginning" (Genesis 1). There are scholars that contend that when God was speaking to the earth while the earth was still void and dark (Genesis 1), that divine judgment had already been executed to make the earth in this condition. Be that as it may, we notice that the first thing the Bible records Jehovah as saying is, "Let there be Light". As we continue to read the narrative, we find that God proceeds to distinguish and divide the light from the darkness. The light is not designed to eliminate the darkness, but rather to illuminate it. As we move into this season of judgment, our job as the "children of Light" (Ephesians 5) is to expose the darkness, not necessarily extinguish it.

With this charge upon us, it is incumbent upon every believer to start to take serious inventory and examine the darkness that is within each and every one of us. All of us have, in the words of Star Wars, a "dark side." That's the whole issue of the sinful nature and the carnal mind. It is enmity with God (Romans 8). The challenge with the darkness within us, even as Christians, is that it is so subtle. But remember, that's how Satan works. We want to take the time to examine ourselves (1Corinthians 11) and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those hidden pockets of darkness that still reside in our heart, mind and soul. We don't have time to ignore the darkness, we must be proactive in dealing with the darkness.

The last area that we want to address in dealing with the darkness is our fellowship with the darkness. The scripture clearly states that light has no communion with darkness (2 Corinthians 6). There are some associations, some relationships, some affiliations, that we have established that do not represent the Light of God but the darkness of the Enemy. Now is not the time for compromise! Now is not the time to "go along to get along." Now is the time to expose the darkness by standing in the light! Will you lose some friends over it? Yes. Will you be called out and persecuted as a result of it? More than likely. But will your Heavenly Father be pleased? Absolutely! Will you be rewarded? You better believe it! 

Christians and saints of God can no longer sit by and tolerate blasphemous and idolatrous behavior before our God! We've GOT to call the darkness out. God has our back (Isaiah 58). He will go before us (Joshua 5). But we must summon our courage and our faith to deal with the darkness.

The Divine Hook-Up

One of the preoccupations of our society these days, including for people in the church, is finding companionship. I don't meet too many people that "desire" to be alone. For this reason, you have different dating sites and singles clubs, all designed to "match you" with someone that is supposedly "compatible" for you. There's nothing inherently wrong with this if you will, but these types of things can serve more as a distraction than a blessing. What we want to realize is that if we are desiring companionship, particularly someone that we can ultimately marry, then we need to believe that God still majors in what I describe as The Divine Hook-Up.

I believe that God has given most people a desire to interact significantly with the opposite sex. To want to be with someone, I believe, is of God. The problem is not the desire, the problem is the approach. God does not want us spending energy trying to "find our spouse." Believe it or not, that's His job. Our job is to seek His Face and do His will (Psalm 27). However, it's hard to do this if we don't really believe that while we're seeking His Face, He's actually "hooking us up"

Let's look at some scriptures. When we look at the first marriage in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2), there's nothing that suggests that Adam "requested" a wife. The Bible suggests that Adam was simply being about His Father's Business. Yet it was the Father who declared that it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2). It was at this point that God proceeded to "hook him up" and make for Adam a wife. Did you know that God is still in the "spouse making" business? The Bible clearly states "ask and it shall be given..."(Matthew 7). You can get what you want. Not necessarily "who" you want, but what you want. God is still making husbands and wives that are tailor-made to fit the needs and purpose of His people.

Then we see in Genesis how God uses Abraham to find a wife for his son Isaac (Genesis 24). In this narrative Abraham is a type of God the Father, and Isaac is actually a type of Christ. However, the methodology utilized in this text is still consistent with how God goes about providing a marital partner for His people. Abraham sends his servant to go to his homeland amongst his kinspeople, to find a wife for his son. The servant is led by an angel to complete this assignment. 

The Father already has people stationed to bring your spouse to you at His Appointed Time. He doesn't need your help! God has already ordained who He has identified to help you fulfill His Purpose for your life. If you follow the story, you'll notice that Isaac had absolutely nothing to do with the securing of his bride. That was his "father's" job. Just as it is our Heavenly Father's job. 

So, am I supposed to do nothing in the receiving of my spouse? Once again, let's look at scripture. When the servant of Abraham returns with Rebekkah, Isaac's wife, the scripture says that he "went out to meditate in the field" (Genesis 24). In other words, he wasn't focused on finding his spouse, he was focused on seeking God! And because he was focused on seeking God, God brought him his wife (Matthew 19). 

Quit focusing on finding your husband, quit focusing on finding your wife. Focus on God and His Will and Purpose for your life. And as you meditate on Him, you'll look up like Isaac did and discover that God is still in the Divine Hook-Up business.

The Temple of God

"At the risk of sounding legalistic and judgmental,
 if you are a Christian, you don't need to be
smoking, period." 

As I talk to more and more believers, I'm finding that several Christians are having what I would describe as "health issues" or health concerns. It's not so much that they are "unhealthy" per se; but that there are issues concerning their health that require immediate attention. Not necessarily "medical" attention, but personal attention. The reason I believe this is the case is because there's a fundamental truth to Christianity that oftentimes the church "conveniently" overlooks; we are The Body of Christ. 

The church is the Body of Christ. Body, not signifying organization, but body as in physical organism. Yes, the church is a spiritual entity of course, but we represent the physical manifestation of Jesus in the earth. And the only way we can do that is if we have a "physical" body, an anatomical structure.

The reason this is important is because for too long, many Christians have chosen to "neglect" their physical health, sometimes in the name of spiritual pursuits. This is not the will of God. The Father wants us to be whole (holy) in body, soul and spirit (1Thessalonians 5). Therefore saints, it's imperative that we understand that as believers in Christ, our bodies represent The Temple of God.

The fact that our bodies represent the Temple of God means that God actually "dwells" within us (1Corinthians 6). Not just the Holy Spirit, but also the Father and the Son (2Corinthians 6, John 14). But if you know the character of God, He's not going to dwell, or abide in an unclean Temple. We don't have time to elaborate, but there is a difference between the residence of the Holy Spirit within the believer because of the redemptive Blood of Jesus Christ and the dwelling of the Father (Romans 8). That being said, we have to do a better job of taking care of the Temple.

One of the ways we need to do this is by watching our diet. Saints, the days of just eating whatever we want to eat are over! There are too many Christians dying prematurely because they have refused to modify their eating habits. What I ate in my twenties, I can't eat in my forties. And guess what, neither can you! I believe this is one of the main areas that Jesus was referring to when He talked about "denying yourself" (Matthew 16). The word Disciple comes from the word discipline. If you're going to be a Disciple of Christ, there must be a degree of discipline in the area of what you consume in regards to what you eat. As The Temple of God, it's not God's will for us to be overweight and sickly; particularly if there's something we can do to address it. Let's become more diligent in watching what we eat in regards to the Temple of God.

Next we need to look at certain vices that we place upon our bodies. At the risk of sounding legalistic and judgmental, if you are a Christian, you don't need to be smoking, period. That includes cigarettes, cigars and of course, anything else that has been deemed "illegal" or addictive. Yes, you can be a Christian and still smoke and what not; but the question is, "What are you doing to the Temple of God?" Do you really think it's God's will for you to "puff up" His House? Really? I don't think so. We'd be more apt to cease this behavior if we took into stronger account our status as the Temple of God.

And lastly Saints, we have to put an end to sexual immorality. Let me state for the record, any sexual activity outside the boundaries of marriage is against the Divine Will of God. That includes pre-marital sex, oral sex and masturbation. This type of uncleanness is not pleasing to God (1Thessalonians 4, 2Corinthians 6). The church has skirted over this issue for years and our witness in this area has become deplorable. We must re-establish the standard. We will not attract the Presence of God indulging in sexual immorality. Is it easy to abstain? No it is not, particularly if you've already become sexually active. But God's Grace is sufficient. Not just for forgiveness, but for empowerment in righteousness to execute the Divine Will of God for our lives. 

Saints, as we move forward, let us be cognizant in our attitudes and behavior that we are in fact The Temple of God.