I had a dream just before waking on the morning of 03/26/2015. In the dream I saw the inside of a church. I saw the pews and what one would normally see in a church. Then I saw that the pews were filled with skeletons. There were entire families of nothing but skeletons. They were just standing there and did not move because they weren’t alive. The following scriptures come to mind as I am writing this posting. Mat 23:27-28 27 Woe to you, men learned in the scriptures and Pharisees, actors on the stage of life playing the role of that which you are not, for you are like graves whose plastered coverings have been thoroughly whitewashed, which are of such a nature that on the one hand, the outsides appear beautiful, but on the other hand, their insides are full of dead men’s bones and every uncleanness. 28 In the same manner also, as for you, you on the one hand appear to men, righteous men outwardly, but on the other hand, you are full of the acting of an actor playing the role of that which he is not, and of lawlessness. (Wuest) Rev 3:1 1 And to the messenger of the assembly in Sardis write at once:These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. I know with absolute clearness your works, that you have a reputation that you are alive. And yet you are dead. (Wuest) Several things come to mind here the first being that the building looks good on the outside but is nothing but death on the inside. Secondly the churches with the reputation of being alive but in all actuality are dead. I think that the word reputation is the key word here as well as it has a lot to do with outward appearances. Churches are very concerned about their reputation and how they are perceived. It is part of their marketing strategy. Contrast that with what is said of Jesus. Phi 2:5-8 The Humbled and Exalted Christ 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (NKJVS) What does Jesus think of us should be our only concern. Let it be heaven’s opinion of us that guides our actions and not the opinions of men.
This is from the blog Daily Meditation: Jeremiah 20:11: But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. (ESV) The presence of God makes all the difference. Moses told God: if your presence does not go with us, take us not from here (Exodus 33:15). There are two sides of the presence of God: his glory and power. When David talked about encountering God in the temple, he said it is to see his glory and his power (Psalm 63:1-2). And when Jesus taught the lines of prayer, he ended by saying: thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever Amen (Matthew 6:13). Glory When God manifested in the temple in the Old Testament, it was in his glory which make it impossible for the priest to perform their normal duty (1Kings 8:11) as the dedication of the temple built by Solomon, when it was being separated to God’s name, which is the definition of holiness. The manifestation of the glory is based on divine initiative, so all other initiatives, including human and demonic, must move aside, bow down, and bend over. The glory changes the atmosphere. The glory makes people fall down. Angels bear the glory of God and when Daniel saw an angel, he fell down as one dead (Daniel 10:15-17). His self-effort was paralysed. His ability to make an effort was shut down in the face of the overwhelming glory of God. When Jesus said “I am he” when certain soldiers came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane, they fell down, to show that if he does not want to be arrested he will not be arrested (John 18:6). And the miracles are associated with the glory of God. What only God can do is a manifestation of his glory, it is what brings praise to his name. The glory of God creates changes. It changed the water into wine (John 2:1-11). Sin is counter the glory of God, that is why when man sinned in the garden, he was stripped of the glory of God and found himself naked (Genesis 3). And the bible says: all have sinned, falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Therefore, glory of associated with holiness. God asked Jacob to take his family to Bethel. Years before he had an encounter with the glory of God in that place and he named it Bethel which means the house of God, which is where his glory manifests (Genesis 35:1-7). He slept in that place and saw heaven opened and the angels of God moving up and down a ladder that reaches from heaven to the earth (Genesis 28:10-15). All the components of the dreams smack of the glory of God. Heaven is full of the glory, the ladder connects earth to the glory in heaven, where the glory is generated. The earth has no glory of its own to generate, as the moon does not have its light to shine forth. The angels in that dream are conveyers of the glory. And in the real sense, Jesus is the ladder as he himself revealed to Nathanael (John 1:45-51). That means without Jesus the glory of heaven will not come fully to the earth, and full angelic presence will not be experienced. After Jacob returned from the house of Laban and had settled down God said he should go to Bethel, but it is if, and only if, his family will rid themselves of all idols. John wrote in one of his letter that we should keep ourselves from idols (1John 5:21), which are spiritual pollutants that counteract the holiness of God. Paul wrote about being vessels of honour which actually means vessels of his glory, that whoever purges himself from whatever makes impure will be worthy to be a vessel of honour (2Timothy 2:19-22). When we are separated to God we are able to manifest his glory in and through our lives. On Mount Sinai when God wanted to manifest his glory visibly in the eyes of the children of Israel, he said they need to clean up (Exodus 19:9-21). And when the glory of God manifested in the lives of a priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, when they had a child in their old age, the bible recorded that they walked with God blameless (Luke 1:6). And the experience of Enoch is instructive (Genesis 5:21-24). After walking with God for hundreds of years that bible says that he was not, he ceased to be on earth because God took him, he entered fully the glory of God by the strength of his separation to him. Those who are persecuted for the sake of Christ are said to have the spirit of glory resting on them (1Peter 4:14), because of the sacrifice they have made, they have become living sacrifice. Remember the glory is about holiness. Power While we can tap into the glory of God through the path of holiness, the power of God is operationalised through faith. Jesus expended energy teaching the disciples about the need for faith. When he displayed power by casting out devils in the child which some of his disciples found difficult to do, he rebuked them for their lack of faith. He told the boy’s father: everything is possible for him who believes (Mark 9:14-21). Faith turns on the power tap, it is man’s initiative and the glory is something that God initiates. Power is something man initiatives. Jesus said we will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover (Mark 16:15-18). You needed to take the step of faith to lay that hands to see the power of God manifest in healing. Jesus was preaching at a house in the bible says that the power of God was present to heal (Luke 5:17-26). While on earth Jesus walked in the power of God, but the glory of God could not be established in our lives without his holiness established in us as the Holy Spirit comes into us. The glory is more subtle. The bible says God is holy and we should be holy in all manner of conversation; that is about our lifestyle, but Jesus said when we have faith in God we will say to a mountain shift and it would obey us; that is power (Mark 11:22-24). When power was present at that house where Jesus was preaching, not everyone was able to experience it. The friends of a paralysed man who brought him there experienced the power because through faith they initiated an encounter with Jesus. The bible says that Jesus saw their faith through their action of breaking through the roof and they experienced the power as their friends rose up and walked. Many times Jesus will say to people your faith as made you whole. A woman pressed through the crowd to touch Jesus and the twelve years of blood issuing from her ended (Luke 8:43-48). Jesus told her that her faith made her whole. Her life was haemorrhaging away and she took a step of faith at the risk of her own life. She was brave, the four friends of that paralysed men were brave, and their desire for change, desire to experience the power of God was greater than their fear of what people might say. Their faith overcame their fear and they experienced the power of God. Faith is the strong desire in the direction of what God can do. It is an unshifting desire, faith is an ongoing conversation between a man and heaven that constantly takes the goods of heaven available on earth. Conclusion While there are many overlaps between glory and power, they are also distinct. It takes the power of God to manifests gifts, and they can even manifest without holiness, but not so the glory of God. His has confused many people, who see the display of the supernatural in the life of those who are empty of the life of holiness. But reading the first letter of Paul to the Corinthian church, will clear things up. They lacked behind in no gift (1Corinthians 1:6-7), but fornication was rampant (1Corinthians 5:1). The miracles can blind the eyes from the need for introspection and caution and internal transformation. So we can have the power without the glory. We can also have the glory without the power; that is if we do not believe for miracles. Jesus was the personification of the glory of the glory of God, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. However, when he was in his home town he did not do many miracles because of unbelief, though he taught the people (Mark 6:1-6). We need a balance, because the kingdom of God is about his power and glory, not just power or just glory.
Genesis 1: 26-28: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue*it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth."
*Kabash--Hebrew, "subdue, dominate, the earth" (Strong's Concordance)
Romans 1: 24-25: " Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of
their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."
Isaiah 21:11: The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” The watchman has certain role to play. In the focus verse, certain questions were being asked that the watchman should know about. That means that the watchman is a man of unusual insight, understanding and vision. A watchman is known by the ability to see beyond the natural, beyond the obvious. God told Ezekiel that he is making him a watchman, which means he will have insight into the future and he will be sent to people to warn them against going on routes that will lead to destruction (Ezekiel 3:17), when it comes to their behaviours. The bible says there is a way that seems right to Man, but the end is destruction (Proverbs 16:25). The higher insight is the divine one. It keeps us safe and the watchman gets to be the voice of God. The watchman role is attached to the prophetic gift. It is being able to peer beyond the veil of time and natural sight. Jesus manifested as a watchman on the earth, he is the greatest of all watchmen because he is God. All true watchmen derive their function from him. John wrote: no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten of the father who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him (John 1:18). He has the ultimate insight into who the Father is. He is the word of God. Someone in the bible prayed: open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law, your word (Psalm 119:18). With that, we can see from God’s point of view about the situations in which we find ourselves. When we see the word as we should, we also see ourselves as we should because the word is mirror (James 1:23-25). If we do not see ourselves correctly and want to be watchmen for others, it will be like seeing the speck in the eyes of others when you have a plank in your own eyes (Matthew 7:3-5). The watchman applies the word, first to himself, then to others (1Timothy 4:16). A watchman does not only know what will happen, but also what God wants to get done and so is able to get the people ready to fall in line with the plan of God. Moses came to rescue the children of Israel from the house of bondage by the word of God to him (Exodus 3). God told him I have now come down having heard the cries of the people the children of Israel. Later on, the bible says that by a prophet, God led the people of Israel from Egypt and through a prophet he preserved them (Hosea 12:13). Moses was watchman for the nation of Israel at that time. He connected the whole nation to the desire and demand of God for them because he was enabled to know them. They followed God’s timing, walked on God’s path; and were guaranteed the very presence of God, they were granted safe journey. When they rejected the word of God through Moses, they suffered for it. Jesus said he must work the work of him who sent him while it is day because the night comes when no man can work (John 9:1-5). The day is when the sight is active. That shows that we need divine insight, the light of God, to do his work. This is because it is not the work of God if it is not directed by him. That is why Jesus said that certain people will call to him on the last day that they have done many things in his name, but he will tell them: depart from me you workers of iniquity, I know you not (Matthew 7:21-23). Whatever they did was a manifestation of self-will, and not God’s will. The watchman is careful about the will of God since he moves, and leads others to move, according to what God is showing. The watchman needs his eyes, and David prayed that God should open his eyes. Elisha was a watchman at a time in Israel, and gave so much insight about the plans of the enemy that he became more important to that enemy than the king, and was number one on their most wanted list (2Kings 6:8-18). He frustrated their plans time and again. By the sheer force of his role as the watchman, he kept the nation safe. He was Israel’s edge against a more formidable army, and no weapon fashioned against Israel prospered. He was watchman indeed. He saw traps before they are even set and helps the people of Israel to escape. He was the eyes and ears of Israel in the camp of the enemy. Before he died, one king called him my father my father the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. He was a one-man army. That was how important spiritual sight, the watchman is (2Kings 13:14). Some sons of Issachar were once described in the bible as those who understood the times knowing what Israel should do to get the right results (1Chronicles 12:32). They helped others with their insight, helping them navigate through difficult situations. And Daniel wrote that those who are wise will instruct many (Daniel 11:33). The teaching process is about impartation of insight, i.e. the right sight, the right understanding, to others. Jesus came from heaven to impart the right understanding of God to us. He came to call us to repent and embrace the kingdom of God; to repent because of the coming of the kingdom of God; repent, because of the need for us to align to the ways and knowledge of God (Mark 1:15). We do not stumble into ways of God by wishful thinking, we need to be taught. The bible says: we will hear a voice behind us saying: this is the way walk in it (Isaiah 30:21). Without this kind of guidance, we are susceptible to deception, to come to the wrong conclusion, to embrace lies which look like truth. Jesus does not just tell us the truth, he is the truth. That distinction is important because if Jesus merely told the truth, people who say things similar to what Jesus said might pass for truth speakers and deceive people. But since Jesus is the truth that means he is the only custodian of the truth. If the truth you are espousing is not his truth then it is no truth, you are not seeing well. You can depend on him no matter what. If it is not him, then it is nothing. If it is not coming from him, then it is deception. The bible says: to the law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word it means there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20). When God called Jeremiah to the prophetic office he asked him: what do you see? To which he answered: I see the branch of an almond tree (Jeremiah 1:11-12). And God said to him: you see rightly. So, because you see something does not means it is right thing, because you have come to certain conclusions does not make them right conclusions. There are delusions and illusions. John said that we should test all spirits and confirm if they are from God (1John 4:1). Because demonic spirits comes with deceptive agenda, create false revelations for the gullible to swallow, create false impression for the spiritually weak to embrace. This is the call to be strengthened in the area of spiritual sight, become true watchmen.
