Glory through Grace

In the Gospel according to John chapter 1:14,16,17 he states " Christ became flesh and lived among us for awhile and we actually saw His glory or excellence, as an only begotten Son receives from his father, full of grace (unmerited favor, loving kindness) and truth. For out of His fullness or (abundance) we all received a share and were supplied with (one grace) after another and spiritual blessing and favor upon favor and gift heaped upon gift. For while the (Law was given through Moses), grace unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing and truth (came through Jesus Christ.")

These three verses of scripture have so much to say that we could right books on them. Over many years, I have seen and heard the gospel preached and communicated through every conceivable method. In trucks carrying signs, (repent the day of judgment is at hand.) People passing out tracks on the street. Huge churches with large choirs. Abstract small churches on street corners. Television, radio, books, crusades, tapes and methods upon methods. I could go on and on. I have heard, "Jesus loves me and we do to." There are times I have heard the Holy Spirit talking through the people bringing the message, but I am sorry to say not enough times with simplicity and humility.

The good news of the gospel is not a business of (selling a bill of goods). Do we really understand that Jesus is a person who is alive today and not a story or animated person of fiction. I thank the Lord for His patience and long-suffering and love for His creation that He is showing me daily. Its obvious to me that the whole idea of growing up in Christ is learning how to love unconditionally. Do we really understand that we can have a relationship with a living savior that is passionate, lighthearted, friendly, and personal as well as private and totally possessive.

It is at times offensive at the way the church portrays my Lord and Savior. In too many instances they have become a reproach and have not really preached and portrayed His unconditional love. They give Him lip service, but their hearts are far from Him. I wish the American language could in a better way describe what its like to have a living relationship with a person that loves you unconditionally. But you have to know Jesus on a personal intimate basis to share Him in a very real way with others.

In John1:14 John said, " we actually saw His glory. "  His glory  defined as His grace. (which is a divine influence upon our hearts, that is kind, tenderhearted and totally honest in its evaluation of our thoughts and actions). Us encountering this type of a relationship with someone this loving will totally transform your life. You really have to know the Lord in this way to totally appreciate and have a deep desire down in your soul that wants to just express your gratitude to Him at all times for His friendship.

The perfect example I can give is what took place in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day and they were totally transparent or naked in soul and body. The cool of the day does not mean in the evening cooling temperature of the day. The Greek word is...Ruwack... Meaning a spirit presence, like a strong wind or breath. The Spirit of God would weave Himself in and out of their being and join in a oneness of soul and spirit. This is the relationship that God wants with us today. This can’t even be compared with having a concept of us living by laws and precepts that were handed down by Moses in the Ten Commandments. This symbiosis or intimate coming together of God’s creation (Man) and Himself is what God always intended for His Children. Its the same relationship Jesus has with His father in heaven. Its this kind of relationship in Christ that gives us the power to obey His commandments and walk in His perfect will.

John said, " they actually saw with their physical eye God’s glory." What did they really see? Let’s try to describe it. We see here that God’s glory is distributed by His grace. So if we are going to see a manifestation of God’s glory, it can only come by the power and circulation of His Grace. This being true, the more of God’s grace we possess, the more manifestation of His glory we will see.

In the book of Acts 10:38, Luke said, "God the Father anointed Jesus His Son with the Holy Spirit, with strength and ability and power; and He went about doing good and in particular, curing all that were harassed by the power of the devil, for God was with Him. Isaiah 61:1 Describes it best when it says, "The Spirit of God was on Jesus, because God, His Father, had anointed Him and qualified Him to preach the gospel to the meek. He was sent to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the physical and spiritual captives, and to open the eyes of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound." There is a great need for individual personal ministry in many of these areas in the body of Christ today, if people are going to be set free and live in victory in Christ. I will, in a later news letter describe in detail the conditions described in these verses.

Worshipping God in corporate worship should only be an appetizer and an experience we should carry in our hearts at all times, even when we are sleeping. The manifestation of God’s glory or as we have described it is, His healing and delivering power. It should be in operation in our lives daily and not only in church. If it isn’t to the degree that God wants it to be, we need to have a vision of it first, and know that we can have it before we totally process it. This should be our whole focus and attention in our walk with the Lord. Throughout the New Testament, we see Jesus going and healing all types of disease and demonic oppression and possession.

When we sense the presence of God in corporate and private worship, that this should not satisfy our hunger and thirst after Him. We need to actually see His glory by manifestation of physical evidence. Thank God for that secret place we can escape to where He dwells in our hearts alone. He is sooooo...much more.

I have heard for years a teaching that says, "Only Jesus was the only begotten Son of God." We know that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and became pregnant with Jesus. This made it possible for Him to take on a physical body. In that aspect, He was begotten by God the Father. Along with this physical aspect, He had the inward nature of His father. You might say, with all respect, that He was a chip off the old block. Or, like father like son.

John goes on to say that, "out of Jesus fullness or this abundance of grace of His fathers glory, we all have received a share and were supplied with one grace, favor and gifts piled up one upon another. In John 14: 6 Jesus says, " I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me; If you know Me, you will know My Father."

Paul, in Romans chapter 8-9 which is the most revealing chapter of describing the Christian walk, has much to say. Just to point out a few things going along with the theme of this letter. Verse 9 states that if the Holy Spirit lives in us, then truly we are a child of God. Now this being true in our lives, we are being transformed into the image of His Son Jesus and share inwardly His likeness. Jesus was the first born of many brothers and sisters. Jesus became a human being in the flesh through his mother Mary. Why? So He could relate to His creation and walk among us for a while, so we could see God on the earth and His glory. God’s attributes or His grace and love was Jesus’s inheritance from His heavenly Father. He lived His entire life on the planet with one goal in mind, that being, to fulfill His calling and please His Daddy. His priorities were in order.

Every man and woman born on the planet has a mother and father. This gave us a body to live in and exist on this planet for a while. When we made a commitment to Christ, we were born from above and impregnated by the Holy Spirit. We were adopted into God’s family, Jesus becoming our brother and God in heaven became Our Father, just as God is His father. It’s my first and most earnest prayer that we all come to realize what I have just said. The potential I perceive in my spirit is beyond definition to the wonderment and favor we walk in as a child of God. If you have ever gotten lost in worship at any time, corporately or in your alone time with Him and tasted of the mighty powers of the age and world to come, then you will be able to relate. I am not talking about emotion, but the anointing of God that constantly lives within us. That anointing that was given to us by our Heavenly Father when we became His child.

I can’t help realizing as I am sitting here writing this letter, how important it is to be a father to our own children and a husband to our wives. It’s like a domino effect. What a loving and simple way for God to show His love then by using the family example of our own family relationships. I believe children receive their glory from their fathers, just as the wife is the glory of her husband. The question is what type of glory are they receiving? Jesus said, "The good man from his inner good treasure flings good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings evil things." As we begin and continue to interact with our Heavenly Father, His example will empower us and give us the ability to show our children and wives the glory Jesus shared while He walked on the earth for a while.

The book of Acts is a testimony of the early Christians walk with the Lord. Acts 4:33 sums it up when it says, how we are to accomplish what we have been talking about. It says, " With great strength and ability and power, the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with Great Grace and, loving kindness and favor richly rested upon them all."

The word glory, as I defined it earlier has a profound look and feeling of well being. Something that I believe is noticed by people in our every day travels. What it represents is the anointing of God operating in our life. This well being can and will be noticed in the market place by people who just need God so badly, not even talking about the kind of fellowship we need with one another. I believe they will turn aside when we show up and they will notice our difference. In the book of Acts, it says that even as the apostles went walking through the streets, the non-saved people of the world knew the power that the apostles had and would put the sick people on the curb, and as the apostles passed by, their mere shadow would heal them.

When was the last time you had a conversation with somebody in the check out line sharing Jesus or found out somebody in their family was sick and held hands with them and prayed on the spot? If this is going to take place, we must know our position in the family of God and not be ashamed of the Gospel.

These things of operating as a servant of God, must be with a liberty and motivation by the Holy Spirit which happens spontaneously like a second nature. Sharing God’s glory with others can only happen as an overflow and abundance of grace operating in our own lives. This is why it is so important to understand that the law of God came through Moses and grace came through Jesus Christ. There is no sense of well being if we are living an every day struggle of having a mentality that says, "I’m going to obey God’s law if it kills me."

Romans 8:2 says, "The law of the Spirit of life which came through Christ Jesus, this law of our new being, has freed me from the law of sin and death.  For God accomplished what the Ten Commandments could not do, because we were too weak to obey His laws without Him." By us accepting Jesus and by His life now living on the inside of us. We now have the power to fulfill the requirements of obeying the law. Trying to obey God in our own strength without the operation of grace working in our lives, is like committing suicide. There is no joy in it, only frustration and doubt. The more grace in operation, the more freedom and power we have to live the life God always intended.