The Glory Of God

The Glory of God March 30 2003

Those of you who receive Richard Long’s Together news letter via email would know that he and Michael Lafluer are just back from England. They visited Leeds where they met with a multiple number of key leaders in the emerging city-wide church. They call this movement "Building Together"

The stated vision of "Building Together" is the "re-evangelization and transformation of England, so that England itself may be a blessing to other nations." Though I heard them say with a smile that it is intended to be a invisible subversive force, the mission statement goes like this - "To encourage, enable and support the body of Christ in towns, cities, and regions to stand together in unity, in prayer, in prophetic insight and wisdom and to be agents of the kingdom of God in every sphere of society."

Encapsulated in that mission statement are the four elements that Mike Love (a regional leader) described as being vital in the process.

1. Relational Unity among church leaders and the people of God in any given geography.

2. Prophetic Insight and Revelation

3. Informed Intercession

4. Permission and equipping for the people of God in the context of their life and work.

I think that we are getting better are the 1st point, in Toronto, but we are weak in the other three. Although I would love to talk more about all the points, I want to deal with the last point “Permission and equipping for the people of God in the context of their life and work.”

Permission to use your spiritual gifts in all areas of your life, not just in what we call church life – giving the freedom to be more involved in other areas rather than only serving the church community and institution.

Equipping – training our people to be the church in every sphere of our lives.

Let’s pray….

A few years ago, the a video came out called “Transformations” – the transforming power of the glory of God not just on individuals, and families, but on communities, cities, and whole countries. I know that some of you have seen it. One of the things that that video did for many people was to give us a desire to see God’s glory manifest in my neighbourhood, and in our city.

There are amazing stories in the scripture about the glory of God, and the power of his glory

Incidents of his glory

Moses hid in the cleft of the rock In Exodus 33:12f Moses ask God to see his glory, but

God’s Glory filling the tabernacle – In Exodus 40:34 God had told the people to build a big tent or tabernacle where he would come and meet with them – sort of a portable temple. When they had built it to God’s specifications, and set it up, God’s Glory came and filled the tent in such a way that not even Moses could enter the tent.

God’s Glory filling the temple – in 1 Kings 8:10-11 and again in 2 Chronicles 5:14 When the temple has finally been completed by Solomon, God’s Glory came and filled the temple to such a degree that it says that the Priests could not even stand to do their duties

The promises of His glory

Prayer for his Glory

Psalm 72:18-19

Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,

who alone does marvelous deeds.

Praise be to his glorious name forever;

may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and Amen.

Promise of God’s Glory

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD ,

as the waters cover the sea.

My Desire to see God’s Glory now:

David Ruis wrote a song that echoes what many of us desire. The chorus goes like this

Let your glory fall

in this room

Let it go forth

from here to the nations

Let your fragrance rest

in this place

As we gather

to seek your face

God’s Glory in our time

The Transformations II video tells the story of people praying in Scotland in the night. There were a number of people who felt called to spend the night in prayer, and you could see the warm glow of the coal oil lamps in the windows of a few houses as peopled prayed. The story goes that as the night wore on, you could see more and more lights coming on, as people were awakened by God to pray. People reported that you could actually see shimmering lights above the houses as the people prayed. It wasn’t just that people prayed, or that strange lights were seen, the people of the town and in the region got right with God, and with each other in droves…