Glorifying Jesus

Glorifying Jesus

"He will glorify me, for He will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you." Jn 16:14

Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit in this passage of scripture. The Spirit of Truth who would take of what belonged to Jesus and reveal it to the disciples, leading them into all truth and declaring things to them that were coming.  This scripture really struck me this morning that the word the Holy Spirit heard from Jesus, He would declare the same, and by it Jesus would be glorified.

We all have a desire to glorify Jesus and if I get this passage right, we do so by declaring the word.  God declared in Isaiah 55:11 about the word of His mouth: "so shall my word be that goes forth out of mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it."

When we declare God's word, we are agreeing with Truth and this glorifies Him and His word.  Confession of the word is a large part of our faith and in declaring His word, we actually prophesy His word into the atmosphere.  God's word is eternal and He honours His word even above His Name for He is a covenant keeping God who never breaks His word.  It is His bond with us and inherent with His creative power. We only release that power, when by faith we receive the word and declare it.  When it comes to pass, as God has declared, it brings Him glory and praise.

We have a choice.  We either speak God's word and agree or we go against truth and agree with our enemy.  satan is a legalist and when we agree with him, he has a legal claim to bring our words to pass in our life.  For example, if we declare lack in our lives instead of speaking the truth, "and my God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (PHIL 4:19), satan can bring lack into our lives.

The other way we can glorify God is to do His works on earth.  Jesus said, "I have glorified you on earth.  I have accomplished the work you have given me to do."  When God directs us to pray for someone and we are bold enough to lay hands on them and release His healing into their body, for by His stripes we are healed, their healing will bring glory and thanksgiving to God.

Let us follow Jesus and take what is His, all the promises, and release them on earth, so that glory can rise from hearts to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

The Seed

The word of God is powerful and likened to a seed in the parable of the sower.  In the natural, there is potential for growth in the life of a seed but it has to be activated. The seed can be left in the garage on a shelf for a long time and it will remain as it is, but when it is brought into the right environment, planted and watered, the potential is released and the seed begins to grow.

When we were saved, The Seed, Jesus Christ, came to dwell in us.  All the potential for growth and fruit is in us from that moment on.  However, we can have all that potential in us yet not activate the power in that seed.  The anointing abides in us but we need to activate it and release it so that the inherent power brings about all it was created to do.

The question is how?  I believe it can be activated by our faith.  Jesus said, "all things are possible to him who believes." Mark 9:23

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, BELIEVE that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." Mark 11:24

The word, that powerfully packed, creative, faith building seed, has the life and power to change, equip, teach and guide us. The huge, over and above, exceedingly and abundant power is available to us all, though our believing that what God says, God means and brings it to fruition.  "So it is my word that goes out of my mouth it will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Is 55:11

Notice that God declares His word and will as a package in this declaration and we have opportunities to speak His word into our situations until we "get it".

In the natural, a seed needs to be watered to grow.  So too, we need to constantly water and nature that seed in us with the words of our mouth.  If we are choosing to speak God's word and not continually speaking against it by negative, dark words, or choosing to believe the negative circumstances surrounding us, we will release the potential of that seed and fruit and harvest will be the reward.

 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? Num 23:19  His word is eternal and even angels harken to the voice of the Lord to do His bidding.  Our basic problem is that we don't approach the word with childlike faith, full convinced that if God said it, He will bring it about.

I see so many Christians passively allowing sickness to come upon them.  They seem to accept it as their lot or the season in life, yet God said "I am the Lord who heals you." Ex 15:26 and "by His stripes we are healed." Is 53:5. The apostle Peter in quoting this scripture used the past tense, "you were healed." 1 Pet 2:24.  Yes, we were healed, two thousand years ago on the cross.  He bore our sicknesses as the same time as He bore our sins.  I do get amazed at how passive we are.  Flu season comes around, and everything in our media advertises it and we agree, "flu season, I hope I don't get it." My husband and i actively speak against flu all the time by declaring, "we don't do coughs and colds, for even though a thousand my fall at our side and ten thousand at out right hand, the plague shall not come nigh our dwelling." Ps 91:7. Have we had colds, yes, but the day will come when our confession (agreeing with the seed) is going to make the connection between head and heart and the faith seed in our hearts will override the analytical thoughts and we will BELIEVE God's word over and above sight-feeling.  As Jesus said, "be it unto you as you have believed," and "your faith has made you well." The main point I am trying to make here, is that we are actively proactive in speaking God's word over our lives, for the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence (there is an enemy seeking to kill, steal and destroy) and the violent (our proactive fight against him) take it by force. Anyone passive in a war looses.  Yet God has given us keys for victory.

Some might say, Jesus touched those who He healed, If He touched me I would be healed too!  Remember Jesus is the Word and as the bible teaches, this word is in our hearts, "we also believe and therefore we speak." 2 Cor 4:13. This is not "blab and grab".  We speak because we are saying what God is telling us to say (our confession) and our faith comes from hearing the word.  
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8).  He hasn't changed.  He willed to heal when He walked the earth, and paid for it by his stripes and now lives to intercede as our High Priest for eternity.  Healing is just one aspect of the redemptive cross for us today.  We only have to believe, put our faith into action, believing the atonement will have full effect in our lives and agree with God, (which is our confession as we voice His words back to Him in prayer.)

  

From the Written to the Spoken Word

Mat 4:4  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "

The word has great power to change and this is attested to by many who have heard the Word and been saved and changed.  Jesus said to His disciples, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (Joh 15:3)   He prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (Joh 17:17)  Jesus also said that the word must abide in our hearts and if it abides in us we can ask anything and it will be done for us. (Jn 15:7)

I was thinking about the written and the spoken Word of God.  We are completely blessed to have the written Word (the logos) in our hands today but it is the spoken (rhema) word to our hearts that only has the ability to produce the sanctification process in us as Jesus said.  God sent prophets in the Old Testament to tell the people what was on His heart, and often to employ them to return to Him. 
 
Deu 18:18  I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
 
Heb 1:1  God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
 
So In the New Testament Gospels, we see Jesus speaking and often He would use “Verily, verily I say unto you” when He addressed crowds to teach spiritual principles.  And so it is that He speaks to us today.
 
God spoke and worlds were brought into being.  Such is the power of His spoken Word.  His spoken Word (that which proceeds from His mouth) is the rhema (enlightened) word to us.  It’s this word that has inherent truth and power to set us free.  The word that God speaks to us enlightens us with His truth that remains unshakeable in our lives no matter whom or what opposes it.

Joh 8:31  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

Joh 8:32  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
 
When contemplating about the Word of God, I thought about the temptation episode and how Jesus, when tempted by satan in the wilderness said, “It is written” rather than “Truly, truly I say unto you” as He is the Word of God. satan is a legalist (much like the Pharisees and Sadducees were), hanging on every dot and tittle.  satan knows the word and can twist it and use it to condemn or confuse (much like many of the cults today) but satan does not have the rhema, the spoken Word in his heart. 
 
This was true of the religious leaders of the day who as Jesus said:-
 
Mat 23:2  ... "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
Mat 23:3  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
 
They learnt the scriptures and discussed them thoroughly but the Word did not bring them eternal life as they were hung up on every law yet the revelation of the Messiah was hidden from them.  The truth was reasoned but the truth did not become “flesh” in their hearts.
 
Joh 5:39  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
 
The written Word has to become the spoken Word to our hearts.  It can only do this as we mediate and ponder the Word so that it becomes animate through the life-giving Spirit to our hearts instead of inanimate and remaining in our reasoning.  It becomes God-breathed and living, powerful and sharp, “piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)
 
Joh 6:63  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
 
The Word becomes living to those who are willing to hear.  Spoken by God to touch our hearts and bring forth change.  We need to attune our ears to hear what the Spirit would say when we come to the Word.  Just like a mother who is so attuned to the smallest moan or cry of her new born that she would awaken out of a deep sleep.  We need to be awakened in our spirits too, to respond to every word that God brings to us. 
 
Let us come humbly to the Word of God and ask Him to speak to our hearts so that understanding comes and by it our hearts will be softened and pliable.  We need those “light bulb” moments with Him so that we can grow in the grace and knowledge of our Glorious God.  The Word He speaks to us is personal and relevant to each one of us, so that “.. we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2Co 3:18