Into Glory - Part One
Good Morning, I pray that you will be blessed in Christ and experience victory today and every day. You are not ordinary because you have been born from above. You are His child and that means you are more than an overcomer through Jesus!
Do you know any parents who have desires and goals for their children?
Do you think it is odd or dysfunctional for a parent to have desires that establish goals for their child, so long as it is for the good of the child?
Do you know any parents that have greatly sacrificed to do all they can to help their child reach the goal they have set for them?
Did you know that the desire Jesus has for you causes him to have a certain goal when it comes to you?
Did you know that the same is true when it comes to the Father concerning you?
A root of strong desire can be diverse. It can be a love for a child that seeks their success and good in life. It can be a sincere desire to foster a deeper relationship with the child. It can be insecurities in a parent that influence them to live vicariously through a child’s accomplishments as though they were their own. It can be bragging rights based on comparisons made with other children. It can be a way to fill a void in the parents own life, an escape of sorts. I am not here today to discern parental motives. I am simply seeking to make us aware that they exist and, unlike how God’s desires are always perfect, parents are not.
That is what Jesus was pointing out when He asked, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:13
The Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit all have a desire for you that resulted in making a plan that Jesus come to this earth. Jesus sacrificed based on a desire that He, the Father and Holy Spirit shared regarding you in eternity past. It is wonderful to think about. I find it to be the greatest privilege ever offered to mankind.
When the first man and woman were created, they dwelled in a beautiful garden called Eden. They had everything they could ever ask for. They tended the garden without breaking a sweat or feeling anxiety of any kind. They walked daily with God in the cool of that garden, and enjoying the beauty of it while fellowshipping with God. They did not need clothing then because they were clothed with the very glory of God. His glory encompassed them and He enjoyed fellowship with them. But something happened. Eve was deceived by the serpent and she ate the fruit forbidden by God. When she handed it to Adam he knowingly ate it and sin entered mankind. Sin brought with it spiritual death which destroyed man’s ability to see the glory of God and caused a shame of being unclothed. It caused Adam and Eve to hide from God as opposed to longing for time with Him.
Adam and Eve forfeited the glory of God they had been privileged to live in when they sinned that day in the garden. God in His mercy drove them out of the garden to keep them from eating from the tree of life because He did not desire that they live forever without His glory. His desire was that at an appointed time He would restore the glory they had forfeited. He gave to Israel glimpses of glory, and we read about it in the Old Testament where the Temple was dedicated and the glory of God came down like a thick cloud. Or, when we read of how at the mount of transfiguration Peter, James and John witnessed the cloud of glory and Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah. It was such a special holy moment that they desired to build something there to mark it forever in time. Of course they were told to listen to Jesus. The glory of God is such a privilege that it provokes those who experience it, to never forget it.
Always remember that you are loved with an everlasting love by a faithful God who cannot lie and you have everything you need in Christ. Go and enjoy the adventure that is yours when you live submitted to the Holy Spirit each day!
