Step Into God’s Greater Glory (Part 1/3)

Do you know that God wants you to step into a greater measure of His blessings and breakthroughs? Find out how you can shine with God’s greater glory upon your life and be a testimony of His grace, even when the world seems to get more uncertain.

I’m incredibly excited about what God is doing and wants to do in your life. If there is one desire that God has for you, it is that His glory, in a measure greater than you have ever experienced, be seen upon you and your loved ones!

Beloved, experiencing God’s greater glory 
means that you will experience more of His favor, healing, protection, and supply than you have ever experienced before. If you have a bad habit you would like to break, believe that this year, it will be broken once and for all. If you are trusting God for a place to live, expect not just an apartment or house, but a home that’s filled with His love, peace, and joy. Maybe you need a job. Well, expect to be blessed with one that is beyond your expectations!

Make room for even more of God’s goodness!

Whatever you’ve been praying and hoping for, believe that it will indeed come to pass. Even if you’re already experiencing an abundance of God’s favor and blessings, can I ask that you stretch your tents? Enlarge your heart, my friend, and make room for even more of God’s goodness!

GREATER GLORY UPON OUR FAMILIES

Let me encourage you to believe big—beyond your wildest dreams—with a testimony from Laura. This parent from Maryland endured much heartache over her wayward child for four years. She had spent thousands of dollars on lawyers, bail, doctors, therapists, counselors, and rehabilitation programs to get her 23-year-old son off drugs, but without success.

However, after watching my daily television broadcasts and listening to one of my messages, she began praying, believing, and applying the principles of God’s restoration in her life. She listened to the message over and over again on her iPod. Whenever she felt frustrated and discouraged by her son’s behavior and lifestyle, she would recall what she heard in my sermons and mutter them to herself. She refused to give up on her son, but believed that God’s greater glory would indeed manifest in her son’s life. Amazingly, her son began to change before her eyes.

When you encounter God’s grace, you experience an undeniable glory.

“All praise and glory to God the Father!” Laura shared with me joyfully. “My son has been restored beyond my wildest dreams! He is now loving Jesus, reading the Bible, clean, sober, healthy, happy, and making plans to go back to school. He is even running his first five-kilometer race. Every time I look at him now, he shines and I see God’s glory on his face.”

Hallelujah! What an amazing testimony of God’s manifested goodness! For four years, this young man was steeped in drugs and nothing in the natural could free him. But once he encountered and received God’s grace through his praying mother, he was not only delivered from drugs, but he also experienced a glory that was undeniable.

My friend, if you are dealing with an addiction you can’t seem to break, or if you have been believing God for your wayward child or a derailed relationship to get back on track, don’t give up. Don’t try to figure out how it will happen and remain stressed and anxious. Simply trust in the grace of God. Keep speaking His promises over your situation and expect to see His greater glory manifest in that situation. I am standing in faith with you that it will indeed happen!

ARISE, SHINE!

Whatever the challenge or fear you are facing today, let me share with you a powerful scripture passage the Lord gave me:

Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. (Isaiah 60:1-2)

We may be living in the last days when things around us are looking less and less promising. Crises may be mounting around the world. Countries may be struggling with increased lawlessness. The headlines may carry news of increasing confusion, economic and financial instability, and all kinds of challenges. But don’t be afraid. You are God’s beloved child and nothing takes your heavenly Father by surprise.

God promises that His greater glory will shine upon you.

If you are worried by all the bad news in the world, I want you to read the scriptures above again and let His Word put your heart at rest. Your heavenly Father has already seen the dark days you are living in and has promised that during this time, His greater glory will shine on you. You don’t need to fear or fight the darkness. God’s way is for you to shine in the midst of it and He Himself will deliver you!

Just look in the Bible and you will see various accounts 
of how God delivered His people out of the darkest situations when they looked wholly to Him for help. One such account is recorded in Exodus 12 for our benefit. The angel of death had struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to all the firstborn of all their livestock. It was a night of great despair and much wailing, an extremely dark time for the people in the land.

Yet, the children of Israel were untouched by the plague because the Lord had protected them through the blood of the lamb He had commanded them to prepare. Their firstborn were protected from the angel of death and 
the next morning the Israelites—not one feeble among them—left Egypt with silver and gold. God turned their situation around and even made sure they had ample health and provision for their journey to the promised land. Talk about shining with greater glory in a time of deep darkness!

Believe that your Daddy God is affectionately watching over you.

Beloved, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), what He did for the Israelites, 
He can do for you today. You don’t have to fear the deep darkness that plagues the present world. Your friends and colleagues may fear news of wars, terrorist attacks, crazy weather patterns, job losses, rising costs of living, and how more and more people are succumbing to diseases. But you are not without a God. You have a heavenly Father who loves you deeply, cares for you completely, and watches over you daily. You are the apple of His eye. So don’t be fearful. Cast your cares upon the Lord. Believe that your Daddy God is affectionately watching over 
and providing for you and your loved ones (1 Peter 5:7, AMP), so that you can’t help but shine brightly for all 
to see.

WHY YOU CAN SHINE

Pastor Prince, how is this possible? I haven’t done anything to deserve God’s glory.

My friend, this glory I’m taking about—the evidence of God’s goodness and grace—comes from your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s a gift from Him to you purchased with His blood. Jesus told the Father just hours before His crucifixion, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:22).

Because He bore the shame, you can now receive His glory.

In other words, you can’t deserve or merit this glory. It has simply been given to you through His grace. Despite your failings and mistakes, this glory is yours only because Jesus bore the shame and punishment for all your sins at the cross. Because of His sacrifice, the glory that Jesus has is now yours. God’s glory that man forfeited because of sin has been restored through Christ. And with God’s glory—His splendor, majesty, and brightness—upon your life, the darkness affecting the world will not prevail against you. All it will do is cause God’s glory upon you to be more evident to all!

When God had me study the word “glory,” I discovered that it comes from the Greek word doxa, which also means an appearance that commands respect. This means that besides God’s tangible blessings manifesting in your life, there will also be a kingly and majestic quality about you such that “Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3). When God’s glory is seen upon you, there will be such
a charisma and weightiness about you that unbelievers, even VIPs, will be drawn to you. The favor, presence, and power of Jesus in your life will be undeniable. They will see God’s wisdom, robust peace, and mental soundness in you where others are confused and fearful.

Expect His glory to turn your situation around!

Beloved, all this glory is possible only because of what Jesus has done for you. When you know how Jesus’ sacrifice has restored God’s glory to you, you can look forward to experiencing God’s greater glory this year. So arise, shake off the dust of depression and hopelessness, and rest in the power of Jesus’ finished work and faithfulness to bring His promises to pass this year. Have a good opinion of God. Expect Him to come through in your situation no matter how dark it may look. Expect His glory to turn your situation around!

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>> Read Part 2/3 of Step Into God’s Greater Glory

>> Read Part 3/3 of Step Into God’s Greater Glory

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Step Into God’s Greater Glory