This is the phrase the keeps coming to me as I pray about 2017. We know that Jesus is coming after a glorious church, one without spot, wrinkle or any blemish. I believe the pruning work the Holy Spirit has been doing in His body has prepared us for this next season the church is entering.
Paul wrote these momentary light afflictions work a far greater weight of glory in us. As we have learned, and continue to learn to lay aside self, God is able to more fully manifest Himself to the world we live in. Jesus said he did not seek the glory for himself but His desire was to manifest the Father and do His works. He glorified the Father by finishing the works he was given.
Jesus prays saying the glory that was given to him by the Father he has given to us, his disciples, so that we may be one even as Jesus and the Father are one. “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one. John 17:22-23.
Greater works with greater glory are destined for His church in the days ahead.
When Jesus began his ministry Johns gospel tells us ‘the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
From Acts 2:22 we read Peters message to the crowds, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know,” The word “attested” here from the Greek means to show off, exhibit; figuratively it means to demonstrate or accredit (Strong’s). The ASV and others use the phrase “approved of God“.
The glory that rested upon Jesus was the approval of God. The manifestations brought glory to God. God manifesting His glory through a yielded vessel who would not take the glory for himself.
Our desire can never be to seek the glory that comes from man. This is strength of the pride of life. To promote oneself for the purpose of acquiring validation from man only shows the insecurity of our own hearts. Jesus did not seek his own glory. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. John 8:50. It is only the Fathers glory resting upon us that brings the vessel glory. John 8:54
Humility well be the hallmark of the Christian walking in this greater weight of glory in the days ahead. The Holy Spirit reminds me, “meekness is required and humility is a must "
in order to walk in this greater weight of glory, a glory filled with grace and truth.
C.S. Lewis wrote in his message on Weight of Glory ~ “When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.”
What we long for and what we seek is the approval that rests upon sons, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth, that the Father pronounced upon Jesus, as hewalked in obedience to all He commanded.
As we enter into this New Year may we do so seeking the glory that can only come from the Father on sons and daughters wholly separated to do His will.