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We are truly blessed! God freely gave us the gift of life and through Christ the only passage into His kingdom. The Lord’s strength is more powerful than evil. The Bible contains many testimonies of those truths and points out His only request is for us to place Him first and follow the Messiah’s teachings.
Once Christ accepts us into salvation through the Holy Spirit, then it becomes our responsibility to praise, thank and glorify Him. Failure to do this brings an unrelenting suffering and exclusion from eternal life. Until we come into agreement with God, His grace is out of reach.
When we study the Bible in regards to glory, there are two distinct ways we are to understand it. First is God’s glory and the other is our glorification of Him. The Lord’s glory is powerful and will always bring us His grace. When we glorify Him, we are in accordance with the First Commandment by demonstrating our commitment in placing Him above anything else in our lives.
The separation of the two Testaments was designed by God because He never gives up on calling His Children to know the truth. They both contain valuable lessons in living a glorious life. Their merit has held true throughout all centuries. The only difference between them is the New Testament has the only road to the Father’ mansion, and that is through Christ Jesus.
Old Testament
Before the coming of Christ and in the days of the Old Testament the Lord worked through men and women to communicate the manner in which to glorify Him. He also demonstrated the power of His glory. In those days, there were plenty of clear and precise scriptures attesting to His words of praising and glorifying Him.
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In Noah’ generation man’ lack of praising, the Father was their undoing. In God’s grievance over the wickedness of mankind, He decided to destroy all living creatures. It was no accident that God chose Noah to provide the strength to right the wrongs of humanity. Noah was righteous and obedient to our Creator, and God experienced his glory. In return, the One who presides over us all, gave Noah the keys to His kingdom with the responsibility of repopulating the earth. This cleansing of the earth was God’ covenant with Noah. (Genesis 6-9)
Another excellent example in the Old Testament of God’ glory is Moses. The Lord’ compassion for His people was set in motion when He got Moses attention with the burning bush. The Creator had decided to answer the prayers of Israel and designed a plan for their freedom. The Lord used him to lead the Israelites out of captivity and into the promise land.
Moses with Aaron’ aid took on the difficult task of confronting Pharaoh about freeing God’s people. This challenging feat required Moses to act in faith and follow the Lord’s direction regardless of the circumstances. Pharaoh’s failure to acknowledge God’s glory was catastrophic to Egypt. This display of the Lord’ power placed fear in the people of Egypt and devastated Pharaoh.
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Every time Pharaoh refused to adhere to God’ request the severity of the consequence intensified. The first nine plagues was not enough to convince Pharaoh to allow the departure of the children of Israel. The price Pharaoh paid was the death of his son before he would set free the Israelites. (Exodus 5-12)
In Psalm 86:12 David left us this: “I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forever.”(NKJV) Here he revealed the proper approach needed in order to glorify God. Paying homage to the Lord without any reservations opens the door to His eternal dwelling place. This honoring of our Creator is not a one time deal, but a lifetime commitment. The more we worship Him the difference He makes in our life radiates to those around us. This attraction or rejection from others is the Lord’ way of exposing the truth of His word.
The experience that Noah, Moses and David had with God’ glory are the same. They heard the Lord’s calling, acted in faith and trusted Him to carry out the will of the Father. The resolution to those situations was a direct result of God’s mighty strength. We too will find the same truths. The only requirement is our undivided attention to our Father.
New Testament
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The message of the coming of Christ came through the Prophet Isaiah. God used Isaiah to reveal a new path to heaven. God promised never to destroy the living species roaming the earth (Genesis 8:21). Many of God’ people still did not live according to His instructions and the Ten Commandments were not enough to soften the human heart. So it was time for the Lord to implement an up close and personal involvement with humanity. God delivered the world with His only begotten Son and this new covenant with the world is still in place today. There is no doubt that the only way to the Father is through Christ and in order to glorify the Lord, we must pick up our cross and follow Jesus.
In the Gospel of John, the Messiah left us this (John 11:40) “….Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (NKJV) Here Christ was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Martha his sister was grieving and doubtful. This powerful message from Christ reinforces that faith in action always brings God’s glory. Faith is the cornerstone in building an unshakable personal relationship with God. It is only by applying faith that we can trust Christ and find a spiritual courage, strong enough to withstand the worst cards life has to offer.
Let us look at a verse that explains the essence of Christ’ death, resurrection and ascension. In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, he shared this: (Romans 3:23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NKJV). When Jesus rose from the dead, this gave birth to salvation. His selfless sacrifice removed the debris blocking the way to God’ kingdom. Christ’ death was for the remission of sin. Salvation did not abolish sin, but provided a way for repentance and God’s forgiveness to penetrate the soul and purify the heart.
Every time we act out and misbehave, our ability to glorify God ceases. Our Father loves us so much that He has given us a daily opportunity to seek forgiveness and live in Christ footprints. We have to be a willing participant by taking action and continue building Christian character. All the Messiah is waiting for is our desire to rely upon Him in all our affairs.
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The Bible says, defines and provides the steps needed to give and experience God’s glory. We have only discussed a few of the many Bible references about the importance God emphasizes about worshipping Him. The focal point of praising God is that it is not a noun but a verb. In other words, we have to be active in expressing it because knowledge is limited, but wisdom is powerful.
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