Glory, Honor and Power

Picture a straight line from creation to consummation, from God's intention before the world to the day every knee bows and every tongue confesses. That line is the kingdom: the will and purpose of God. Man walked a little way along it and fell below the line. Calvary was not Plan B; God knew the tree would be eaten. The cross stands at the bottom of the fall, and Jesus is the ladder, Jacob's ladder, rising from the cross back to the line.

Salvation is the first rung, the start of the climb, not the arrival. The climb runs through believing, identifying with His death, burial and resurrection, and receiving His Spirit, until "my soul doth magnify the Lord." Like Jacob at Bethel, this is "the gate of heaven," where heaven and earth meet.

Around the throne, the twenty-four elders (twelve in heaven mirrored by twelve on earth, where heaven and earth meet) cry, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power." Glory means a life that manifests God's purpose, not only words spoken in a service. Everything, including daily work, gives Him glory. Honor is relationship: honoring the spiritual fathers and leaders God places in your life, with heart, time, talent and treasure, not just lips. When glory toward heaven and honor on earth are joined, the result is power: authority and dominion, as God gave Adam in the beginning.

God intends for the earth to be filled with the knowledge of His glory. Glory is the only atmosphere in which He manifests power. Where there is no glory, there is no manifestation. The people who manifest the kingdom in the earth are those who glorify God in all things. If He isn't glorified in what a person is doing, that person won't manifest His purpose.

Requests to "pray that I find God's will" usually mean "tell me what to do about my problems." But the will of God is what God willed: what He determined before the foundation of the world. The real question is how to fulfill His purpose. The greatest glory a person can give God is to learn by the Spirit why they're here and what they're meant to do, not from parents, preachers or professors, but from God. Identity comes from Him: "I am who God says I am."

It's common to blame every crisis on the devil, from pandemics to political upheaval. But "the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord," and every system ultimately pushes God's purpose forward. "All things work together for good to them... who are the called according to his purpose." God keeps nudging and shoving His people through trials, back into line with His purpose. That's why the trial of faith is "more precious than gold": it creates hunger for truth and turns people to the Spirit's direction rather than their own. Even relocations and losses may be God positioning people near those He gave them before the world began.

If God delivered His people from every difficulty, that could be the worst judgment of all, leaving them comfortable and unchanged. A plague or crisis can be God's mercy, waking people up and moving them toward change. Discerning God's purpose in hardship requires looking past the surface of events to what He is accomplishing.

Like the North Star, around which every other heavenly body turns, certain truths never move: the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the cross and redemption. There will never be a substitute. But how these truths are expressed (worship styles, dress, culture, how often believers meet) varies from nation to nation. People in different cultures worship the same Jesus in very different ways, with pure spirits. The error is turning a variable into a constant, as when Mary, chosen for a unique purpose, is elevated into the Godhead. Revelation also comes progressively: Peter didn't grasp Gentile inclusion until long after Pentecost.

Religion often assumes the cross was meant to perfect our humanity, then adds rules: where not to go, what not to wear, what not to do. Thousands of denominations represent competing ideas about how to perfect the flesh, and the result is self-condemnation and hypocrisy, people avoiding things only where the preacher can see. The Holy Spirit is the One who truly convicts of sin and convinces of righteousness. When believers are nurtured in spiritual maturity, the flesh follows the spirit. The Spirit gives a "check" when something isn't right, and that inner voice, not an external rulebook, brings people back into God's intention.