His Heart, My Home

☆ WE WERE CREATED, DESTINED, AND MADE FOR GOD’S GLORY!

Glorious… honorable… wealthy… majestic… radiant… Most Christians would never use those words to describe themselves.

But that’s because we don’t see ourselves as God sees us. Through our new birth, we have become the supernatural children of a supernatural God, or as the Amplified Bible says in John 3:3 we have been “reborn from above”!

So those words, used to describe our heavenly Father’s glory, now apply to us as well, since we have been re-created in the image and likeness of God.

Simply put, we were created, formed, and made to experience and exhibit God’s glory!

“…Bring me my sons from far away, my daughters from the ends of the earth! Bring me everyone who is called by my name, the ones I created to experience my glory. I myself formed them to be who they are, and made them for my glory.”
(Isaiah 43:6-7, The Passion Translation)

We get it wrong because we appraise ourselves with only a superficial, natural understanding of who we are. We devalue ourselves because we only look at the outward appearance.

☆ GOD SEES THE INSIDE

Let’s consider an example. You are a real estate appraiser. I ask you to appraise my house, but when you arrive, you are stunned. It appears to be a broken down mess. Entire rows of shingles are missing from the roof. Two of the front steps are broken. The front door is hanging on one hinge. Some of the glass window panes are broken, and all the exterior paint is chipped and peeling. You are appalled and you haven’t even gone inside yet! An apparent appraisal disaster!

But when you enter the house you are blown away. Because inside you see an opulent, extraordinarily luxurious mansion, with LuxTouch marble floors; walls and ceilings made of exotic hardwoods, like teak and mahogany, and a chandelier made of solid gold. Would your appraisal then be radically revised upward?

God has “x-ray vision” thst is much better than Superman’s! He can see right through the frail, failure-prone exteriors we call our flesh nature to look into our hearts. (1 Samuel 16:7)

He sees our spirit, our reborn “inner-man” and knows our eternal value is not based on our actions, but upon the life of His Son! He appraises us as being in-Christ!

☆ EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESS HIS GLORY

God says we were made to experience and to express his glory! But we can only experience and express what we can see. And we can only see ourselves spiritually, as He sees us, when we look into the mirror of His Word. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

God’s Word says we are:
His masterpiece
His work of art
His own prized possession
His chosen treasure

But even beyond God’s assessment of us is the reality of what we have been given by His grace.

In John 17:1 Jesus prays: “Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you.”

Then, in that same prayer, in verse 22, He says, ” And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one.”

☆ WE SHARE HIS GLORY!

Wow! Wow! And Triple-Wow!

Just let that soak in! As it does, it should fill you, and flood you, with wave after wave of love, gratitude, and worship for our Savior!

Jesus shared His glory with you, so that you may glorify the Father, glorify His Son, and glorify His Spirit here in this world!

Don’t shrink back from that! Don’t let religion talk you out of that! Don’t let sin diminish that! Never let go of that!

If anything, let it spur you to press on, to passionately pursue the manifestation of His glory in and through your life!

☆ MOSES WAS A GLORY-ADDICT

Moses definitely knew God more than any other person on earth at that time. After all, he wrote the first five books of the Bible.

He first encountered God in a supernatural setting at the burning bush in the desolation of Midian.

Later, he was an instrument of God’s power, bringing plague after plague upon Egypt, until Pharoah, the most powerful ruler on earth, submitted to One more powerful.

He lifted His staff and parted the Red Sea.

He brought forth water from a boulder and bread from heaven.

He saw the finger of God engraving the Ten Commandents on tablets of stone.

And now Moses had just experienced the glorious presence of God on Mount Sinai for forty days. He had been so caught up in the glory of God that he had forgotten to eat. But he hungered for something more than food!

That’s the thing about the glory of God. You become addicted. You develop a continual craving to see and experience more, and more, and more of Him.

Moses was absolutely addicted to God’s presence. So he unashamedly asked God for more. The Passion Translation says Moses “made a passionate plea to God.” He said: “Please, I ask you, let me see your magnificent glory.” (Exodus 33:18, TPT)

☆ THE GREAT “I AM” WILL!

God’s response to Moses’ request blows me away! Moses asked God to let him see more of His glory, and God answered…

“I WILL…”  (Exodus 33:19)

“I WILL make my goodness pass before you

“I WILL proclaim my name of before you

“I WILL be gracious to you

“I WILL have compassion on you

God is pleased and honored when we make
His goodness, His name, His grace, and His loving compassion known through our lives!

Because whenever we MANIFEST God’s glory, we MAGNIFY His glory!

¹ This is what Jesus prayed as He looked up into heaven, “Father, the time has come. Unveil the glorious splendor of your Son so that I will magnify your glory!” (John 17:1, TPT)

☆ HELPING THE WORLD SEE HIS GLORY

There are two kinds of magnifying:

● microscope magnifying – makes a small thing look bigger than it really is

● telescope magnifying – makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is

David said: “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” (Psalm 69:30)

Obviously, when David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving,” he does not mean,
“I will make a small God look bigger than He is.”

He means, “I will make our big God begin to look as big as He really is. I will help you begin to see His awesomeness, His mighty power, and His vastness.”

We are to live as “telescopes” for the world to see God through us. We are to reveal His excellencies, and reflect His greatness and His glory through our transformed lives.

We have been saved, chosen as His very own, our lives repurposed to bring glory to Him!

In closing, Iet’s all consider our answer to this vitally important question:

“Do I truly crave a greater knowledge of God and a deeper experience of His glory?“

If you were able to answer “YES” to that question, Abba-Father is ready to give you more!

JUST PRAY: “God, I want to experience your goodness, your grace, and your mercy in greater measure than ever before! I want to experience and express your glory! I ask you to fill my heart with your glory! Fill my family and my home with your glory! Fill my future with your glory! Only you are big enough to fill my eternity with your glory!
So be it, in Jesus’ name!”

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Once again, Grace and I would like to ask all of you to please pray and give generously to
Student Life Organization, Inc to help them reach the precious people of the Philippines with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

SLOI provides educational opportunities to the many physically disabled and financially disadvantaged children of Cebu City, both declaring and demonstrating God’s to them and their families.

Would you please give today? If so, please use this link: paypal.me/anaferuiz

Thank you! We pray that each one of you will experience God’s richest blessings as you give generously in Jesus’ name!