Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You...
I have glorified You on the earth.
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."
( John 17:1, 4, NKJV)
MORNING DEVOTION- "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." (Psalm 63:1)
Scripture Reading: John 14:12-13
If we have ever wondered what the purpose of prayer is - the answer is found in these ten words:
"...so that the Son may bring glory to the Father" (v.13b, NIV). The very reason Jesus hears and answers our prayer is to this end alone (v.13a). "...I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me" (John 5:30b). Jesus' entire ministry on earth was to bring glory to the Father by being obedient to His will. "For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me"(John 6:38). His work did not end when He ascended to the right hand of the Father; on the contrary, He continues to bring glory to the Father by making intercession for us. It glorifies the Father when Jesus hears and answers our prayers. Because of this we can rest, with confidence, that if Jesus' great purpose is to bring glory to the Father, then He will do whatever is necessary to see that His glory is our highest aim as well.
During the first part of His-story, the glory of the Lord was associated with the tabernacle and with the temple in Jerusalem (reference Exodus 29:43; 40:34). The prophet Ezekiel was given a VIP view of God's glory apart from the temple (reference Ezekiel 1:28), and again when the glory of God returned to the temple. "..and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with His glory" (Ezekiel 43:2). The Scriptures tell us that all of creation shows forth the glory of God (reference Psalm 19:1-6); but it was when Jesus was born into the world that man was invited to get up close and personal with His glory. "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). God's creative and redemptive work shows His glory, and He continues to show forth His glory as He works through the lives of His obedient and praying children. It glorifies the Father to do what we ask. May we keep the prayer altar aflame with our fervent God-glorifying prayers until the whole earth is filled with the glory of God (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).
Heavenly Father,
You are the Majestic Glory.
Just as Your servant Moses asked of You,
I make this same request, "Show me Your glory."
For Your glory is all that I want to see and know.
Teach me today how to pray and live for Your glory.
I know You won't deny my request,
because it is for
Your glory to answer Your child when I call.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The glory of the Father must be the aim and object of all our prayers. This is what one saint called, "the chief end of prayer." We will experience the power of prevailing prayer if this is the priority of our petitions. If this was (and continues to be) Jesus' duty before the throne, then it should be our main objective as well. As we pray this morning, let us ask ourselves if the glory of the Father is the true motivation of our prayers, or if our self-interests are our main concern as we begin our day? How dearly we need to learn the proper way to pray. Every step of this journey only reveals how much more we have to learn about prayer. May we submit our times of prayer to learning from our Teacher, Who alone knows how to bring glory to the Father. "Who is He, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty - He is the King of glory" (Psalm 24:10).
AFTERNOON DEVOTION -"Evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, KJV).
Scripture Reading: Romans 3:23
God displayed His glory in His crowning creative work: mankind. "You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:5). God created man for His glory; however, because of sin, we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). To restore glory to His creation, the Lord sent His only begotten Son to accomplish the great work of redemption (reference John 3:16). Through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, and His subsequent resurrection from the grave, we have once again been crowned with glory. "...everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made" (Isaiah 43:7). It is His work that reveals His glory. But we must believe and not doubt. "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40).
Because Jesus' high and holy purpose is to bring glory to the Father, He will do whatever is necessary to see that His glory is our highest motivation also. When we take up His cross we must first deny ourselves (Matthew 16:24). The Holy Spirit of God at work in us uses the "living and active" Word of God to divide and cut to the core of our motives to see if we truly desire to bring glory to God (reference Hebrews 4:12). He works diligently to remove any part of us that is self-glorifying, and replaces it instead with His own glory. "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30). This cannot be accomplished by our own self-effort. Jesus came to give us His life so we could glorify the Father. We all fall short of the glory of God, and only in Christ Jesus is the God-glorifying life even possible.
Our entire purpose and motivation for praying should be to glorify the Father - to make Him more glorious. This requires a life of full surrender. Ours is meant to be a life fully yielded to the Father, so that in all that we do, we "do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). Too often, however, our motivation for praying is for our own peace and comfort rather than a deep desire for God's glory. The death of self so that Christ can live in us is what is necessary to produce prayers that the Lord will answer. Let us be willing to give up our glory so that God alone gets the glory in all that we do and pray!
Heavenly Father,
I praise You that You did not
allow my shortcomings and sin
to keep me from Your glory.
Instead, You took it upon Yourself to fill that gap
so that I can live abundantly through the life of Your Son
to the glory
and praise of Your name.
For Yours alone is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever.
In Jesus' Name. Amen
This afternoon let us take time for confession. Let us confess that we have not prayed as we ought. Let us confess that we have sought more fervently for the answer to our prayers rather than for God to be glorified in and through our prayers. Thank the Father that He has provided us the path of deliverance through His Son Jesus Christ when we confess our sin. In this prayer, He is glorified! Everything that stands in the way of our perfect union with the Father must be removed so He can be glorified in our lives. Let His glory be the sole object of our prayers today and always! "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen" (Romans 11:36).
EVENING MEDITATION -"...and on His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2)
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:18
Moses had to put a veil over his face to conceal the fading glory of God (reference Exodus 34:29-30; 2 Corinthians 3:8). Because of God's revelation of His glory through His Son, the Church today has become the visible representation of Christ in the world. We do not hide His fading glory behind a veil; on the contrary, that veil has been torn wide open, giving us full access to His glory. As believers, we reflect His ever-increasing glory as we are continually being transformed into His image; the glorified image we were first created in; that glorious image that had originally been distorted by sin. With our every word and deed we have an opportunity to reveal the glory of God to this world. God desires to use His children to give the world a glimpse of His glory as we live obediently for His will and pray fervently for His Kingdom purposes to prevail. May we live, as Jesus did (and does), for the glory of God; and may every prayer we pray be to that end alone. "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth" (Psalm 108:5).
Heavenly Father,
My one desire,
my only hope,
is to bask in Your glory.
Take full possession of me
and let the life of Christ be lived through me
so that all I do and ask
will be for the glory of God alone.
For You are worthy,
our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
When the glory of God is the motivation and object of our prayers we will have greater confidence that our prayers will be answered; because the glory of God is Jesus' highest goal in responding to our prayers. This evening, let us take a good, long look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we see the likeness of Jesus Christ staring back at us. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us through His Word with an ever-growing glory? Do our lives reflect His glory? Are we fully surrendered, as Jesus was, to the will of the Father? Are our prayers in agreement with His to bring glory to the Father alone? May we find that our prayers are being answered because the heart and soul of our every petition is in alignment with God's purpose: to bring glory to the Father. "Praise be to His glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen" (Psalm 72:19).]
