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The Glory of God in His People

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The following is adapted from a class titled, The Attributes of God, available free at the Blue Letter Bible Institute. Sign up today!

One of the ways that the glory of God is revealed is through His people—those who come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We read at the end of 2 Corinthians 3 the words that, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” As Christians, we are able to see the glory of the Lord, to behold it and see who God is. The Bible says, while you are doing that and looking at who the Lord is, in all His glory, you are being transformed. That is the word “metamorphosis”—like the caterpillar becoming a butterfly. “You are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory (the glory that is the Lord’s) to another (the glory you now have). For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Spirit does this work as you look into the Word.

How does one get transformed? How does one change? To put it in our vernacular, how does one go from what looks—spiritually speaking—like a bombed out, “grossville-type” person, into somebody that can be used of the Lord? How does it happen? It happens by the Holy Spirit using the Word of God, changing a person on the inside.

As you study God’s Word today, pray that the Spirit does the work of revealing God’s glory to you, and through you.

Prayer:

Father, You know how we come short of the glory of God. The psalmist said, “Not unto us but unto You give glory.” It seems like we are doing the opposite all the time. You said, “He who glories let him glory in the Lord.” God, help us to see that You are glory. Lord, we do not always reflect it as we should. But one day, we will be revealed that we are truly sons of glory. And we thank You, in Jesus’ wonderful name we pray. Amen.

Comments

  1. The great Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe said (not sure if it was original with him though)When the child of God looks into the word of God he sees the Son of God, then the Child of God is transformed by the Spirit of God into the Son of God for the Glory of God. God placed “a seed” in his children that never goes away and through our tradgedys and triumphs God is constantly at work making us like his Son. Honestly its not about us folks its all about Jesus. We are the love gift to the Son because the Father loveth the Son and the Son loveth the Father.FZ God will present one day all of the redeemed, blameless and spotless(robbed in His righteousness)to his most dear and precious Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

  2. Praise the Lord, Thank you Frank! I am nobody, but I am a child of God. Because Jesus lives in me, and I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I can speak to the Father through His Son. Also through His spirit I can listen to the Father through His Son. When I pray I am confident my prayers are being heard and will be answered. When I was younger I use to pray to move mountains.

    Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

    Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

    As I have grown the Holy Spirit has taught me to pray in the Spirit, for His will, not to tempt Him, and to trust Him, He is the Alpha and the Omega, He knows the beginning from the end, and He knows what is best for me because He is my Abba Father, and He loves me dearly, and gives me more then I need, more then I deserve, and I am so thankful for all (I mean ALL) that I have. (tears) I love my Lord and Savior, because He loved me first.

    • Cheryl, trust me, you are a somebody in Christ! We are kept hidden from the world until the time appointed of the Father. Have you ever noticed how the world honors its own? When a celebrity etc. passes away all the world brings its temporal glory and pronounces him great and acknowledges all of their great achievements. Look. its all passing away! all of it! “all flesh is as grass”. This is not our future reality! This is where the great hope that we have burns in our souls because we know that we are meeting Jesus one day and all our fears and heartaches will be cast into the river of forgetfulness. We in that day will love Jesus with a pure and passionate love unhindered by the sins of this wretched body which is not subject to God’s law. I am getting closer and closer to the day that I will be present with the Lord, these things are just to high for me, I am just a simple man that God came down from heaven as a little boy and abundantly shed his love in my heart when he baptized me in the Holy Spirit. God is most definetly kind and gracious and a very loving God beyond anything that we could ever hope. He is full of mercy and Grace!!

      • Thank You again Frank. I struggle with humility, because I am a Kings kid. I am sadden by the way the world has turned their back on God, and even more sad that the Christians are so silent. I am trying to find a balance so that God can use me most effectively. I want to shout from the mountain tops, Jesus’ love, but I dont feel that the body of Christ is climbing that mountain with me. Thanks Frank are somebody also in Christ and I am thankful to hear from you.

  3. The Christians I know ARE silent. Quietly they are doing powerful works in the name of the Lord and through the power of His Holy Spirit. They just don’t talk about it much.

    I believe the true followers of Jesus indeed are climbing that mountain with you, Cheryl. You are not alone. I know that thousands of people read this blog. Some are just learning, some are questioning and some are following Christ and doing what he asks them to do in their jobs, in their neighborhoods, in their schools. We are all shouting from that mountain top the love of Jesus in the way God has gifted us to.

    If I understand scripture correctly, we are all given different gifts and we all manifest those gifts at different times in our lives. Some people are given the gift of administration, some of teaching (think of all the people who play with the two-year olds and hold the babies so their parents can attend the service), some are given gifts of encouragement, some of hospitality, etc.

    Every weekend, the Pastor of our church gives a sermon encouraging and admonishing us in the name of Jesus. Our church body has the most wonderful leader and because of him and the staff that God has blessed with gifts of administration and leadership, our church does many things in the community. We have one of the most ethnically diverse churches in the area. And we all get along. I truly love going to church on Saturday night because I see all sorts of different kinds of people, I know that they are doing all sorts of different kinds of things for the Lord in the community. We are all being taught to continue to follow our Lord and Savior, we are all being corrected for wrong attitudes of heart and mind.

    Cheryl, you are not alone. You CAN shout from the mountain top Jesus’ love. Maybe that is what God is calling YOU to do–to be an outspoken voice for Him. And with you, although not standing right beside you, will be the believers with different gifts doing their jobs and in their way, proclaiming the love of Jesus.

    We are all saddened that “the world” has turned its back on God. But the Lord tells us in His Word that this is happening and that it will continue and what will happen in the future. His Word tells us He is separating the wheat from the chaff: the believers who sit on the fence and the believers who are actually His.

    It sounds to me like the Lord is giving you the same spirit of grief that He has, and it sounds to me like He wants you to shout about His love that he poured out in Jesus, and it sounds to me like He wants you to start doing it right now. I encourage you, Cheryl! Do shout from the mountain tops about Jesus love! You are NOT alone. GO FOR IT! I think that God will find the balance for you, and God will use you effectively. Don’t worry and don’t listen to the enemy telling you you are all alone. You are not alone. 🙂

    Have a lovely day!
    love, Debi C. in Portland, Oregon

    • Thank You Debi, I needed to hear that! I live in a small town about a 1000 people and on a mountain. LOL. I love it here, and the people,But I dont see the fire in the churches up here. So my perspective of the body of Christ is very limited. I will continue to find that balance and serve my community as the Lord leads me. Thank you again for responding and up lifting me, (smile) its good to know the rapture hasn’t happened and left me behind.

      God Bless You,
      love, Cheryl

      • This is Steve from Seattle, WA. Hi. I am lifted up in reading your blog. Just the way you have shared your faith with the world in this blog, has given me encouragement to be the best Christian I can with strength and blessing of the Holy Spirit. We are one church in Jesus the Christ.

        • Amen to that, Steve. We are one church in Jesus the Christ! I am so blessed to be able to comment to other people’s comments on this blog.

          Cheryl, it must be hard to live in a small town where there might be no other Believers on fire for the Lord like you are. But I think God must have ignited you so that perhaps you can ignite everyone else. It might not happen overnight, and it might happen to only one other person. But that is a start.

          God bless you this wonderful Monday morning 6/18/12. I am so glad you wrote back, Cheryl. Thank you!
          –Debi

  4. Glory Be To God!! First I want to say, I’m so glad I came across this website. I would like to say, to Cheryl we are all somebody as Christians, the only time we are nobody…. is when we take “Christ” out of our lives, (Christian – I ain’t nothing without Christ-ian). Believe in oneself because God don’t make mistakes.

    Debi C., you hit the nail on the head. This Christian walk ain’t easy but it surely beat the alternative. We need to understand what out purpose is on this side, study Gods Word and we learn how to use our God given blessings and abilities.

    Remembering that God has a purpose and we need to walk in it for ourselves and not for others. We do our part and God does His.

    Thank you Father God
    Lynette