Wednesday, January 16, 2013

HONOUR AND GLORY

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2013, the year of Honour and Glory! For when and where the Lord is Honoured His Glory is revealed! It is the year that the Lord has made and we’ll rejoice and be glad in it. I just want to share some thoughts with you on the subject the Lord is drawing our attention to in this season: The Subject of Honour and Glory. HONOUR Honour is a serious business before God because it deals primarily with the attitude of the heart. What is honour? Honour simply means respect. It is the act of holding someone in high esteem. In 1 Samuel 2:30 we read the very Words of the Lord Himself: “…Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” The Lord makes it so clear that honour is so important to Him and in this matter the way we approach Him will determine His response to us. Again the Lord speaks on this subject in Malachi 1:6 which says “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you,…” I don’t know what you sense when you read this but I sense the seriousness of the matter of honour before God. There are dimensions we can never attain in the things of God without the lifestyle of honour towards God. When we show dishonour for the Lord we put ourselves in a place of disadvantage and we suffer for it. I believe dishonour for the Lord, consciously or unconsciously, is one major reason so many believers never seem to step into certain good places in life (both spiritually and physically). If only they can make this singular adjustment it would affect every area of their lives. True honour for the Lord is based on the principle of the first and the best. Who takes the first place in your life and who gets the best of you? If it’s not the Lord then you’re despising Him. There are no middle grounds. If you’re not honouring the Lord you are despising Him. Honouring the Lord should therefore, be our ultimate pursuit in life. We must work at developing a mindset of honour. When we give the Word of God first place in our lives we honour God. When we walk in love we honour God (Rom 12:9,NIV). When we honour people, we honour God (Rom 12:10,NIV). Honour is the place where love and humility meet (Romans 12:10,NIV). When we honour instituted authorities we honour God (Rom. 13:1). Honour is like every other seed. When we sow honour we reap honour. If we sow dishonour we reap dishonour. When we have honour for God we naturally honour people because that is one of the signs of true honour for God. GLORY However, glory is the sure result of a life of honour towards God. What is Glory? There are many words that describe the term ‘glory’ in the Bible such as splendour, grandeur, radiance, presence, revealing, manifestation etc. but they all point to one key word: Manifestation. When it is said that the glory of the Lord is upon a man it simply means that the Lord is actively manifesting His presence in and through the life of that man and God will only do that with the one He can identify Himself with – the one that honours Him. There are different levels of God’s glory that we experience. 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” There is the level that anyone that is born again can operate in but there are higher levels of glory that we step into as we mature in Christ. There are the greater levels of glory reserved exclusively for those who have come to embrace the life of honour for the Lord. Honouring the Lord is what sustains the glory of the Lord in our lives. We can’t handle the glory without honour for the Lord. If the Lord ever puts on us a level of His glory higher than we can handle, it will only destroy us. The glory is a blessing from the Lord, not to destroy us! Therefore, we, not God, decide the level of glory we function in. What we usually call a higher anointing is actually a greater glory – a greater manifestation of the presence of God. The Lord always desires to share His glory with us – His children (John 17:22; 2 Thess.2:14). When God said He will never share His glory with anyone He was referring to idols (Isa. 42:8, Isa. 48:5,11). We are His trophies! In Isa.46:13 God calls Israel His glory! We belong to a kingdom that needs manifestation on the earth! God wants to manifests Himself to the world through us. As believers, we are the glory of the Lord. We reflect the glory of the Lord. We are carriers of the glory of the Lord. THE LINK BETWEEN HONOUR AND GLORY Honour and Glory, just like grace and glory, work hand in hand. When the Lord is honoured, His glory is revealed. When we walk in honour we automatically walk in glory. Honour for the Lord should then be our priority! To a large extent, Christian maturity can be determined by our level of honour for the Lord. Our honour for the Lord grows as our revelation of God grows. Honour and Glory have reflective effects. As we honour the Lord He honours us and causes men to honour us and the same happens with glory. When God honours a man, He honours him with His presence. The more God honours a man the more His presence is manifested through that man. And the presence of God is all we really need to guarantee success in whatever we do. His presence is everything! The glory of God is tied to the Word of God. He glory follows the spoken Word (Isa. 40:4-5). When you believe the Word of God, taking Him by His Word, you honour Him and the result is a performance (manifestation) of those things spoken (Luke 1:45). Faith honours God (Heb.11:6). Further studies: 2Cor.3:7-18, 2Cor. 4:4b, 6-7; Habak 2:14, Rom 8:30, Col. 1:27, Rom. 5:2, Isa. 60:1-3 Exo. 33:12-23.