DawnMc13

Just as the dead rock of the moon is only seen by the reflection of the sun upon it, Christ is seen in us as we die to ourselves and allow Him to shine through us by our faith. As we submit our lives to our Lord we can ask the Holy Spirit in us to transform our behavior to reflect Jesus through us. Our good works (which can only be accomplished by the power of God) show God's workmanship in our lives to this dark world.

The impulse to pursue God comes from God. Knowing that everything is a loss as compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus. To not pursue knowing Him will deplete this hunger. When we fast, we seek God with greater intensity and earnestness, humbling ourselves before Him, This will bring us closer to Him, changing our hearts in the process.

Knowing that our afflictions in this life are temporary, and that God uses all thing to work for good to those who love Him, we can put our trust in His love. As we suffer, we can either be filled with self-pity-which leads to bitterness, or we can fix our eyes on Him, knowing that our reward for trusting Him will be salvation, which is eternal. As we suffer and draw closer to Him for His strength, He helps us in our suffering and changes us from glory to glory...IF we trust Him.

To be continuously exposed to God's presence will transfer his glory onto us, as it happened to Moses...rubbing off onto him. Many believers, who do not spend regular daily time with God do not have His glory change them from glory to glory, but stay stuck in the mud of where they are at. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. -James 4:8 Again, as God comes close to us His glory rubs off on us, changing us so that His light is seen through us by others.

When I experience and see in others lives transformed that can only happen through God's power for His glory, I see Him. When He gives me revelation in His Word that I never saw before, I see God's power and His glory, I see Him. When I look at my life now, as compared to then, I see God's power for His glory, I see Him. These are just a few examples of how I behold His glory. Being close to God through His Word and prayer and through my confession of sin, turning from sin, and staying in an obedient heart, that's when He's closest to me. When I begin to wander away from Him by the concerns of this world I quickly lose this revelation from Him. It's when I repent and return to His word, that is when He is closest to me and shows me His glory.

Jesus glory is displayed in His trial by: - saying to Caiaphas, the High Priest... Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:64 - Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” John 18:33 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. Jesus' glory is displayed during His crucifixion by: 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23 - Jesus' glory is displayed in His resurrection by" - He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Luke 24:6 - Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. - The Thief...The fear of God came upon the thief... But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, Luke 23:40 Then he justified Jesus... But this man has done nothing wrong.” Luke 23:41b He admits his sin and need for punishment... We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. Luke 23:41a Then he displayed his faith... Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Luke 23:43 - The Centurion...When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54 God's glory is often seen in the midst of suffering because... God's glory is displayed when we rely on Him through our suffering... God refines us in our suffering. The testing He does for His sake accrues to our eternal benefit. If cancer or paralysis or a car accident prompts us to draw on God’s strength to become more conformed to Christ, regardless of the human, demonic,or natural forces involved, God will be glorified in it.

As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Luke 9:29 ...and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. John 2:9 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him John 2:11

1. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:5 2. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:6-8 3. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

The Kingdom is present within us by Jesus' Spirit. Jesus was physically present among men for a time as the propitiation for our sin.. This teaches me that Jesus is eternal, true God and true man. His Kingdom was, is and is to come.

The Kingdom is present within us by Jesus' Spirit. Jesus works through those who possess His Spirit. Because Jesus is all powerful, I would not want to put on any limit on what He can or will do through us. When Jesus' returns coming on the clouds in heaven every eye will see Him and every knee will bow to His Majesty. This is when the Kingdom of God will be manifest to all.

For hundreds of years, Jewish people had been looking forward to the descendant of David, THE MESSIAH, who would deliver them from oppression. Jesus was this long expected MESSIAH, the descendant of David, but His Kingdom was not an earthly physical kingdom but the Eternal Spiritual Kingdom. Jesus use of the title Son of Man because it was an ambiguous phrase, a Hebrew way of saying "human being" , however, Jesus uses it in a different, exalted sense for two reasons. 1.) ACCURACY drawn directly from the imagery of Daniel 7:13-14 2.) AMBIGUITY. so that His enemies were not able to accuse Him of blasphemy.

The phrase "son of man" takes on an exalted meaning in Daniel's prophecy. He refers to the "son of man" coming in the clouds. No one else in the Bible "comes in the clouds" but Yahweh Himself. This "son of man" now refers to deity In Daniel the Ancient of Days clearly denotes Yahweh the King, seated in all His glory. The Son of Man appears before the Most High God and was given authority, honor and royal rulership. The Kingdom of God is in His hands. The clues given to His divinity is the eternal nature of His Kingdom. Everlasting, will not pass away, will never be destroyed. This is the Kingdom spoken of in Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. (Daniel 2:44)

God's presence was in the tabernacle in the wilderness. It is clear in Scripture that God is Israel's King and if they obeyed Him fully and keep His covenant... then they will be His Kingdom. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, the cloud had settled upon it no one could enter the Tent of Meeting where the tabernacle was located until later. In this way God was their King that resided in their midst...in their center...to rule His people.

Communicating with God intimately has both a spiritual and physical effect on us. Come close to God and God will come close to you...James 4:8. As we draw close to God through Scripture and prayer and faith His Glory becomes imparted onto us, by the Holy Spirit, changing us from the inside out, giving us love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness and self-control. Our desires change from earthly things which are temporary to heavenly things which are eternal.

God is Holy. Holy and Sin cannot co-exist in the same way that light and dark cannot co-exist. Our sovereign God demands our righteousness. Where sin exists there will be judgement. The judgement of God is the consuming fire of hell. Only belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice (payment of our sins) will wash away our sin, thus now imparting His righteousness onto us. This faith now will give us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who leads us into truth, so we can no longer live in willful sin. We lose our desire to sin and now desire to draw close to God.

REPUTATION GLORY: *When we give credit to God. *When we witness our faith. *Giving God glory for who He is and what He has done. DERIVED GLORY: *Glory that we absorb by being with God that is observed by our changed heart by our words and actions. * A heart that is warmed by God that now radiates His glory outward. INHERENT GLORY: *Glory inherently in and of itself. Not dependent on any recognition of it by others. When I praise God it is REPUTATION GLORY. Glory that resides in me is DERIVED GLORY. *

The process of surrender (sanctification) is gradual but continually growing as we first invite Jesus into our homes. As He is there we begin to see how unclean our lives are room by room. Our minds, our appetites and desires, our time we actually spend with the Lord in fellowship, our work our recreation and even our hidden places are not fit for His presence.. As we gradually try to clean up our lives, we see how daunting it can be until we let Jesus to clean it up for us...knowing that He wants to. We hand over the deed of our homes to Him and now we can live with our friend in peace. As our lives become clean, and managed by the Lord, we can now live openly and closely with him...doing his will where peace can now settle into our souls.

In our lives, like the land of Canaan, they continue to be inhabited by old habits and thought patterns that don't easily submit to the new occupier of the land, which is Christ. They no longer have a right to the land (our lives) but they persistently stay. The danger is that we will learn to coexist with the sinful habits rather than let God root them out...resulting in a lack of spiritual victory. We will be in a constant war with our old selves. We need to submit our lives to Gods control and let God root the sin out of our lives so that we can then live in victory over sin and at peace with God.

God led Israel out of Egypt and brought them to the promised land...the land that God had made His covenant with, with their fathers. God would not break His covenant. As long as Israel obeyed God, He was with them, giving them His supernatural power to overcome their enemies..When Israel failed to obey God His power was no longer available to them, weakening them to the culture around them. The long term effect was that Israel would eventually lose this promised land.

In the battle of the five kings God assured Joshua that He was with Him and not to fear. First, the Lord threw the enemy into a panic so they were easily defeated. Next the Lord destroyed many with a terrible hailstorm - the hail killed more men than who were killed by the sword. When Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still until Israel had defeated their enemies - the fact that the Lord listened proved that the Lord had fought for Israel. God fights for us also by providing us with His armor to fight our enemies - the devil and his army. The body armor of God's righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the shoes of peace, the sword of the spirit.

To take God's name in vain is to use His name in anyway that does not honor or glorify Him- the Almighty God. It is His will that we keep His name holy - set apart above all other names. Satan's goal is to mock God. When we in our sinful nature use God's name in vain - we mock Him. Sin has so permeated our society in such a way that man's eyes are closed to God's truths and laws so misuse of God's name is common - not even noticed by most people today. Promises no longer hold any value because they are so easily and often broken. We can no longer take man's word as anything we can rely on. This broke down man's trust and the concept of what a promise was truly meant to be...unbreakable. When we devalue God's attributes we are devaluing God Himself. We need of fully understand what His character is in order to see Him a little more clearly.

When Joshua failed to consult God, the men in the army were soundly defeated, showing that God's protection was not on them. In the Bible it spoke often of Jesus going off to Himself to speak with His Father in order to know and do His Fathers will and not His own. Likewise, in order to truly live or lives for Him, we too need alone time with our Father to know His will for our life. We do this through prayer, meditating of His Word and at times, fasting, for clarity.

Greed demonstrates our sin condition. Wanting for ourselves over others can infect rich and poor alike. The rich suffer from self-reliance, not seeing their need for God and that all things come from Him and the poor suffer from covetousness...wanting what they see their neighbors have...not just what they need. Their focus oftentimes is also on themselves. When we in the church give out of obligation, or guilt we are not giving freely from our hearts in response to God's love and blessings. God looks at our hearts. Our motives. The American Dream is one of success as it relates to money, possessions and our own comfort. It's message is ever-present all around us from birth on to the point where it's a normal condition in us. Until we see sin as sin, we can't confess it and turn from it so it's vital to be in the word, spend time with God and let His truths teach us His ways.

Thank God that we no longer live under the old covenant of Law but the New Covenant of Grace. We personally have a circle of influence of all who are around us and our behavior and decisions affect others, not just ourselves, for good or for evil. When a fellow believer is living in unrepentant sin we realize the all sin hurts the sinner and out of love for that person, we gently step in to help and guide them back into repentance. Blatant sin (unconfessed sin) needs to be dealt with by the church as to not have others influenced by that sin. God desires peace and unity among His family and divisions break that unity. Our goal is to have many of God's blessings on our congregation, family and nation. The more faithful followers there are, the more blessing will be bestowed on them.

God's people (Israel) were set aside by God to live in purity unto the Lord. Outsiders would influence the Israelite's to live in ways that God forbade, such as worshiping idols. Due to sin - God destroyed Jericho. We are to die to ourselves and live in submission - set apart for God. We are to let Him who lives in us to take over our lives. Get out of His way so that His work can be accomplished through us - following in trust by His power. The struggle and buffetings we experience in life are ours alone until we surrender our lives to the Lord.