Seeing God's Glory - Psalm 63:2

    

    Psalm 63:2

To see Your power and Your glory, just as I have seen You in the sanctuary.

GOD'S POWER

    Exodus 15:6

Your right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.

    Psalm 118:16

The right hand of The LORD is exalted; The right hand of The LORD does valiantly.

    Hebrews 1:3

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the express image of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of The Majesty on high.

    2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, Who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

    John 1:14

And The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of The Father,) full of grace and truth.

GOD'S GLORY IS IN GOD'S SANCTUARY

The House of God

    2 Chronicles 5:13,14

13. The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank The LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to The LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of The LORD, was filled with a cloud 

14. so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of The LORD filled the house of God.

The Habitation of God

    Psalm 22:3

But You are holy, O Thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.

The Temple of God

    1 Corinthians 6:19

What? know you not that your body is the temple of The Holy Spirit Who is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?

The Dwelling Place of God

    Ephesians 2:22

And in Him, you too, are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

    Knowing now that God's power and God's glory are visible in God's residences, we must ask ourselves, "Is God visible in me?" and "Is God visible in my church?" The first question must be answered before one can see God and live. It must be answered before we die and leave the ability to make such a decision behind. In death and after death is too late. 

    And if God is living in me, have I become so complacent in my Christianity that God has taken a backseat in my life, while I determine which direction I go? But what if God is not living in a person? How do I invite God into my heart? 

    I must humble myself when I am made aware of Him. I must recognize that I have sinned against God, admit that I am a sinner, realize that death is my punishment, ask God to forgive me, and turn away from committing the sins that have kept me from the holy presence of God. 

    We must, on an individual basis, come to God and repent of all the awful words we have said, repent of the way we treat each other, repent of the lack of love in our words and actions, repent of sexual misconduct, repent of refusing to adhere to God's Law, repent of our thoughts, repent of everything that we have done and said that kept us from a loving relationship with God. 

    We see Christ Jesus on the cross carrying the weight of our sins across His shoulders and our hearts are broken. And in this brokenness, God creates a new heart within us. The Holy Spirit writes The WORD of God across our hearts and God enters our hearts to take up residence. 

    None of this is something that we can accomplish: Only The Power of God can turn an ugly heart into a fit dwelling place for Himself. 

    Salvation is instantly given us when we believe that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. Holiness is the process by which The Holy Spirit fine-tunes us from impure vessels of dishonor into pure vessels of honor. This is a daily thing for God's people. We are sanctified and set apart for His glory. 

    The second question can only be answered if the first question has. Even if the answer to the first question is "No", the seeker will begin to hunger after God, for now the heart has been made aware that it is lacking and that the thing which it lacks is The Eternal Presence of God. 

    Sadly, not many will seek after God. Not many will pursue a holy relationship in Christ to reach for God. No, not many will even look beyond the question, for the question begs for an answer; yet the answer will not come. 

    Come to Jesus. Come to God through Jesus Christ. Come and be found of Him by Him Who loves you. Come to The Altar. 

    

    

Seeking God Early - Psalm 63:1

 

Psalm 63:1

O God, You are my God;

 Early will I seek You:

  My soul thirsts for You; 

   My flesh longs for You 

In a dry and thirsty land 

 Where there is no water.

    Ever go on a hike without a water container? Tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth. Hard to speak, much less breathe. Sweat drenches your body for a while, but then evaporates leaving you really thirsty. Are our souls that thirsty? 

    After all, we've been in a dry and thirsty land on our hikes, our wanderings, our walks. Just sitting here thinking about it is making me thirsty  

   and I have a cold bottle of water staring me in the face. There, now I'm not physically thirsty for awhile. But I am oh, so thirsty for more of what God wants to share with me! 

    Psalm 63:1 is one of my favorite verses (I have quite a few faves) and I enjoy studying it out, always finding something new to learn, simply because God chooses to share new things about His Word with me. He wants to share Himself with you, too. Take my hand and let's go for a walk in The Word.

 

    SEEK GOD

Amos 5:4

For this is what The LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me so that you may live."

Isaiah 55:6

Seek The LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

Matthew 7:7,8

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

TRUST GOD  

Psalm 31:14

But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

THANK GOD  

Psalm 118:28

You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God, and I will exalt You.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

TASTE THE GOODNESS OF GOD  

Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that The LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.

John 6:35

And Jesus said to them, "I Am The Bread of Life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

DRINK THE WATER OF GOD  

John 7:37,38

On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’ ”

    It is best to seek God early, for He calls out to us early. The devil calls us early, too. Both of them want us, but only One of them Loves us. The devil hates us the moment we are conceived, for we are made in God's triune image, and the devil hates God and everything affiliated with God. 

    Having the strong foundation of Christ upon which to build our lives will only make us stronger as the years go by, as long as we remain faithful to Him. We must fill ourselves with The Word of God on a daily basis. We can start when we wake up from sleep. 

*Thank Him for the new day He has given us wherein we can honor Him and He can accomplish His purpose in us. 

*Sing His praises early in our day.

*Pray with Him at first light or before the sun even rises.

*Praise Him for getting us through the night. Not just for rest, but for being with us in our good dreams and bad dreams. 

*Read our Bibles. We read and study The Scriptures together, when we ask God's Holy Spirit to reveal God's Holy Word to our untrained eyes, and the eyes of our hearts devour what God is giving us. And we want more of The Word, more of God, in us, for He strengthens the weak, and gives life to the dying.

    A daily walk in The Word is a refreshing walk in The Word. I cannot rely on a single bottle of water to quench my daily thirst. If there is any left in it after the first day, then it becomes tepid and flat. Just like us: lukewarm Christianity.

    Lukewarm Christians do not refresh: they repel. Halfhearted Christianity is unfulfilling. Straddling the fence is not choosing sides. In fact to try to attempt to move forward or even backward while straddling a fence is utterly painful. And we look ridiculous. We are fooling no one, not even God. 

    Christianity should be contagious. For the joy of The LORD is risen up within us! We are enthusiastic, bubbling over with gladness and gratitude for such grace as God has shown us! We love to be in His presence! Always radiantly shining His Light into the doom and gloom of someone's life. 

    We love our Lord and Savior and we want you to love Him, too! It is why we can't stop ourselves from talking about Him all the time! We are excited to be Christians--Christ followers--and we want you to be excited, too.