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V Indicates Scripture or other reference inserted at the end of this chapter.

 

Chapter 4        God wants to show the world all of His power and glory ... through you!

And the glory which thou gave me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one.
                      John 17:22

Visualize yourself as the son or the daughter of a king. Not just any king; but the mightiest and the most magnificent king who ever lived. A king who knows the best way to bless everyone in his kingdom, and who has said to you, “Go out into every corner of my kingdom and give every one of my people the best I have to offer. Don’t worry about how expensive it is. Just come into my royal treasury, take whatever each person needs, and make sure they get it!”

There is such a King – God. His kingdom is not limited to this earth or to this period we call time – His kingdom is universal and eternal. This is the King who wants you to be His son or daughter. This King is offering you the right to come into His royal treasury, through the gateway of prayer. This King wants to give you the authority to bless other people by sharing His Spiritual riches with them. This mighty King wants to give you power over disease, power over depression and despair, power over demons – power to overcome everything in the world that frightens or hurts or oppresses people. And this magnificent King wants to show forth His glory to every tribe and nation on this earth – and then to the angels in Heaven – through you.

Does all this sound too wonderful to be true? Of course it does – to the un-Spiritual ear. And that is why most people – even most Christian people – fail to take God up on His offer.

If you accept this offer from the King of the universe, you will be following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Here is one way the Bible describes the power and the glory that the Father showed the universe through Jesus:

[God] has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 1:2,3

Yes, Jesus was the Maker of the world. (John 1:1-4 V1) And yes, Jesus did reveal all of the glory of God when He was in this world. But today, Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high. With Jesus in Heaven, how does God intend to reveal His glory here on earth?

The answer is in 1^st John 4:17: “As he (Jesus) is, so are we in this world.”  Jesus is still the brightness of His Father’s glory and the express image of His Person up in Heaven – and that is exactly what every son and daughter of God is called to be in this world!

This promise staggers the imagination – which may be the reason why so many Christian believers fail to grab hold of it. But Jesus prayed that every Christian believer would take God up on His wonderful offer. Just before He went to die on the Cross, Jesus prayed to His Father:  

I pray ... for them also which shall believe on me through their (the disciples’) word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

John 17:20-23

If you have given your Amen to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then it is your Lord and Savior’s prayer that you will be one with Him and the Father, and that you will show forth the power and the glory of God on this earth just as He did.

How was Jesus able to do everything He did on earth? In the power of the Holy Spirit. And that’s the only way we can ever hope to do it. We certainly can’t do it by ourselves. It isn’t something that “just happens” to us as we sit in a church building or watch time go by. No; this is something God must do for us by His Holy Spirit; and He does it when we do what Jesus did – get alone with our Father, and pour out our hearts in praise and worship and love to Him.

When we choose to glorify God in this way, then the Father is in His glory, and He can’t help but put His glory on us.

When we share that glory with others – by letting them see God’s grace and mercy and goodness in our own lives – then the Father’s glory comes back upon Jesus Christ.

And that is when Jesus – reaching down to us by His Holy Spirit – will begin to set us free from selfish habits, and lead us into a lifestyle of love and peace and forgiveness.

That is when Jesus will loose us from the nagging demands of the world, and turn us into disciples who are hungry for His Truth. As we learn more and more about Him and His Father and His world-wide family, Jesus will raise us up to be His Spiritual Bride who will sit at His table of love and blessings in Heaven. And He will bring us into deeper and richer relationships here on earth – with Himself; with His Father; and with every other son and daughter of God who will live with us in the kingdom of God for all eternity

As Jesus opens each of these doors of opportunity for us, He will also give us the grace to walk through that door by faith. As we give our Amen to each opportunity that Jesus sets before  us, we will grow higher and higher into the power and the glory of God – and that is how we will become part of the answer to Jesus’ passionate prayer of John 17:20-23! V2

All of the above is included in a term many Christians use – “the walk of faith.” This walk is open to everyone who places his or her faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus promised His people that every step of this walk would be far more powerful and glorious than anything the world can imagine – but He never said it would be easy. Because the moment we choose to walk in the faith of Jesus, we can expect Satan to oppose us at every step of the way.

But what else would you expect from the arch-enemy of God!

This book will show you some of the steps along this walk of faith, the kinds of opposition you can expect from Satan, and how you can triumph over the enemy at every step.

Our prayer for you is that you will have the courage to take every step of faith that the Holy Spirit of God will lead you to – and that you will never say in fear, “What about the devil?” but you will always say to the mightiest and the most magnificent King who ever lived, “Amen!”

V1  John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 

V2 John 17:1-26 – The complete High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.

1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gave me to do.

5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

6  I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gave me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gave them me; and they have kept thy word.

7  Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.