FROM GLORY TO GLORY
Day 1 “… the mother of Jesus
said to Him, they have no wine”. John 2: 3
When we admit our need, then Jesus comes
to our rescue. He cannot enter a self contained, self interested life.
You have to come to an end, admit bankruptcy and know there is no wine.
You have run out of the elixir of life – the joy has gone, the reason for
living is fading fast.
Jesus knew the wedding was coming to a
premature end. He didn’t need Mary to tell him. She began to interfere
and so Jesus replied abruptly and cut himself off from her apron strings.
He would act independently of her, but, dependently upon the Father’s word.
He could do NOTHING OF HIMSELF says John 5: 19.
He was listening to Father, entirely DEPENDENT
on heaven’s direction.
NB John 5: 19 is the KEY VERSE for believers
in John’s gospel
There is no joy when the bread of God’s
word is not mixed with the oil of the Holy Spirit.
Word + Spirit bring expectancy. Fellowship
must have expectancy, so must our Christian meetings. Without expecting
something to happen we gradually enter the rut of the ritual.
Will you pray for the anointing of God
to clothe you? Will you fast and pray in the Spirit? Even charismatic and
Pentecostal churches can get to the place where they have no wine. Perhaps
there is bad management, poor communication and little pastoral care, a
lack of prophetic vision or doctrinal error or inadequacy. God does not
give things to us on a plate. We must obey a living word to get into spiritual
shape in order to enter a new phase of eternal life.
Admit your weakness, your sin today. Confess
you have lost joy and peace in believing. Be willing to come to Jesus Himself.
Do not pray a pack of religious petitions. Just wait on the Lord to show
you why there is no wine anymore. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. With
Him, all things are possible for those who believe, i.e. be and live in
Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 3: 12, 13 warn against departing
from God through unbelief. We are to exhort one another daily to follow
the Lord, in order to avoid a hardened heart through sin.
Unbelief is sin, let us guard our hearts.
Let’s pray,
“Father, I am aware there is no wine,
no joy in my Christian walk. Reveal any sin Lord, and bring me to a new
obedience and a strong faith, in Jesus name.
Amen.”
Day 2
“Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled
them up to the brim.” John 2: 7
The moment of obedience is the moment of
change. The water became wine as the servants obeyed. We become partakers
of the divine nature as we obey the exceedingly great and precious promises.
The IMPLANTED WORD IS ABLE, has a divine ability to SAVE our souls, our
personalities. Mary conceived when
she said, “… be it unto me according to
your word”. Peter on the lake got the catch when he said “… nevertheless
at Your word I will let down the nets”. The word works IN THOSE WHO BELIEVE
(1 Thessalonians 2: 13). Obedience to the word brings Jesus on the scene.
Grace is never the license of doing what I want to do, but the liberty
to do what He tells me to do. The water of ordinary living is transfigured
into the wine of supernatural life by obedience.
That is why Jesus confirms His word by
signs following. The word obeyed will bring results. The seed of the word
has creative power inside it which is released on obedience. We buy the
truth and make it part of our lives by the act of obedience. Proverbs 23:
23 goes on to say “… sell it not”. In other words we sell or lose truth
by disobedience. If the servants at the wedding feast had suddenly decided
to abandon duty and disregard the word of Jesus, there would have been
no wine. We are servants or bond slaves of the Lord Jesus as well as sons.
Our sonship is our legal status on being born again. The vital reality
of sonship is by being continually led of the Spirit.
Once a woman in the crowd praised Mary
(Luke 11: 27, 28), but the reply of the Master was “… blessed are those
who hear the word of God and do it”. To be blessed means you have the power
to communicate the character of God. Those who walk in obedience find they
enter a situation with the answer of Jesus Christ. We are to change water
into wine among those around us. As we obey the promptings of the Spirit,
the people we meet will be glad to have known us.
Knowledge is common but the obedient
life is very rare
Obedience means we save ourselves (our
personalities) and those who hear us. This key, yet neglected, theme of
all Scripture is most needed today. Let Jesus touch you in a
new area of obedience. Do it and on that
point you will never be deceived. He looks upon His word to perform it
for us as we OBEY.
Let’s pray,
“Father, I really want to walk in obedience
to You. Give me ears to hear what You are saying each day and a willing
heart to obey, in Jesus name. Amen.”
Day 3 “… but you have kept the good
wine until now”. John 2: 10
John Wesley said, “… the best is yet to
come”. That is not only true on our death but also every day. Confess now
that goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life! The
rewards of obedience are the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 overtaking us.
Obedience means eternal life in the fast lane. The more obedient
we are the quicker we arrive at God’s
destination and purpose for us. The children of Israel could have arrived
in the Promised Land in less than a fortnight but went in circles for forty
years due to murmurings and rank disobedience. Our destination is the New
Jerusalem where Christ and the church will be completely one, in harmony
and security.
We need to be filled with hope, that
eager anticipation of good things to come.
The good wine of being a son of God is
worth waiting for. We wait by standing under the Lordship of Jesus, recognizing
and doing the thing in hand. Praise God, He drank the cup of sin to the
last dregs. Every sin wide as the world, deep as the heart, old as the
race, was in the cup. He drank the curse of death so we may go free from
the power and fear of death. He made death a dead thing for those who repent
and believe. The good wine of tasting that we are a child and son of God,
begins at new birth, and hallelujah, GOES ON and ON and ON!
The Cross is the power of God and the
wisdom of God – the very womb of all blessing
God has remade us new creations to enjoy
Him forever. The best is yet to come because the worst man and the devil
could do has already been done to the sinless man of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every rape, mugging, terrorist outrage, cursing mouth, lying tongue,
every bombing raid, every act of deceit, everything contrary to the truth
of God was in the cup Jesus drank on the Cross. Blessings come out from
Calvary. Our cross is where my will and God’s will cross. If we deny ourselves
and take up OUR CROSS, the flow of eternal life to us and through us will
increase. True obedience knows the cross of, “… yet not my will but Thy
will be done”. God keeps the good wine until the obedience is complete.
The good wine of Pentecost could only flow in the Upper Room after Calvary
and the resurrection. Jesus is bringing many sons to glory via the cross
of obedience. Buy the truth by obeying it then the good wine will be tasted
by you and others. Let’s pray,
“Dear Father, thank you for Jesus bearing
my sin on the Cross. I truly repent of all my sin, and receive Your forgiveness.
I choose to obey and follow. Amen."
DAY 4 “This
beginning of signs Jesus did…and manifested His glory.” John 2: 11
Celebration of marriage was the venue for
the first sign. This sign is significant because human history begins and
ends with a marriage: Adam and Eve – the beginning, the Marriage Supper
of the Lamb, Christ and His bride – the end. To be born again and to believe
is to be married to Jesus in spirit, soul and body, in
covenantal belonging. When the glory appears
it is easy to believe in Jesus, to be and to live in Him. Glory is the
secret ingredient of unity (see John 17: 22).
Where Jesus is in the presence of the
Holy Spirit there is oneness. The evil one wants to split and divide. We
need glory to keep the believers one. Glory is the fuel of the church,
an antidote to all discouragement, defeat and disillusionment.
The glory is to be weighted down with
the character of God.
The manifestation of Christ’s glory is
the deity/divinity of Christ bursting through the house of muscle, blood,
and bone. The deity shining through His humanity. Remember on the Mount
of Transfiguration, even the clothing
contained the outshining of the glory
of God.
The change was the inner character of
Godhead coming through the inner character of Jesus in a physical and outer
expression. Stephen knew the glory on His face when he was being stoned.
The glory is to be weighted down with the character of God. Moses asked
God to reveal the glory. In Exodus 33: 19 the answer contained three aspects
of the eternal character: goodness, grace and great love. So the glory
is all that God has and is. Before the Fall, the bodies of Adam and Eve
had a manifestation of glory. Sin is robbing God of glory. The
beginning of the clothing industry was
a badge of shame – yet over the centuries man has made it a mark of pride.
God launches new things in an atmosphere
of glory. Not only the first sign at Cana, but creation was clothed with
glory
God launches new things in an atmosphere
of glory. Not only the first sign at Cana, but creation was clothed with
glory, the light of Genesis 1: 3 emanating from Jesus Himself. The morning
stars in Job 38: 7 sang with side-splitting hilarious praise! The inauguration
of the Temple saw the glory cloud of God descend so the priests could not
stand to minister (1 Kings 8: 11). The birth of Jesus was heralded by glory
over the fields where shepherds kept watch. The church was birthed in the
glory of tongues of fire. The NEW THING God wants to do with you will be
with glory. Something of the character of God will break through in the
spirit realm and you will recognize it. We know it in certain praise meetings
or surrounding some words preached. Be careful not to lose what God is
showing you in the light. In His glorious light we shall see light and
have the revelation we need.
DAY 5 “Jesus said to her, “Did I
not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?”
John 11: 40
The sickness was not unto death, but for
the glory of God. All disease, sickness and plague is for the glory of
God in this sense: that your minus, through grace and faith, can become
His glorious plus. The Sovereign Lord works for us to obtain glory. Glory
needs faith to be manifest. The will of Jesus is to heal us all, but faith
must be operative. Abraham was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.
Check Romans 4: 19 – 21. A great faith key is found here, he WAVERED NOT
at the promise because he CONSIDERED NOT the circumstance of the
deadness of his own body and Sarah’s womb.
To believe God’s word means we refuse to consider the world’s data. Faith
nearly always has to go through a test or trial in order that blessing
is manifest.
God wants to make the RHEMA WORD strong
in us in order to overcome contrary considerations!
Martha had to hold faith in the revelation
that Jesus declared, I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. God wants to make
the RHEMA WORD strong in us in order to overcome contrary considerations!
A WORD
FROM HEAVEN MAKES YOU A KING ON EARTH!
In her distress, Martha found it hard to hold onto the revelation.
There are three steps to the glory of the
Lord Jesus meeting the dead situation –
1. The disciples were told to take away
the stone. Often there is a “stone” of sin, unforgiveness, or resentment
between Jesus and the problem of spiritual death. Sin always produces death
or spiritual separation from God. Now God has done His part to put away
sin in sending His Son to cleanse, purge all sin by His blood. We now have
to do our part.
REPENT. CONFESS. FORGIVE. Turn to Jesus
with honesty about your wrongdoing. Ask forgiveness. Receive cleansing
in the royal blood of Jesus Christ. Offer forgiveness to others, the only
condition for receiving
forgiveness ourselves. We have to take
away the stone of sin and unforgiveness.
2. Hear the living command of Jesus. He
spoke, “Lazarus, come forth”. God’s living word calls into being what is
not. We need ears, inner spirit-attuned ears, to hear the creative word.
“So shall MY word be… it SHALL NOT return unto me empty, but WILL accomplish
that for which I sent it…” (Isaiah 55: 11). When the Word, the Lord Jesus,
went to Calvary and hell, He didn’t return empty-handed. He sent His word
to heal and deliver. Obedience to the word of command has the outcome of
glory. Check Leviticus 9: 6, a great principle of old and new covenants.
If we fail to take off the bandages,
the church is weighed in the balances and found wanting
3. Take off the bandages. The glory of
God could only rest on the smile of Lazarus once the bandages had been
taken off by the disciples. Many see this as a type of healing and deliverance
ministry that brings wholeness to the child of God. It is wonderful to
no longer be dead in sins and trespasses… but there is a greater glory
for
the redeemed soul who knows deliverance
and healing from past hurts and traumas.
Do we believe in these essential clean
up ministries? Will we submit to the rubbish being taken away from the
temple of our bodies? The Lord Jesus never ordained a preacher or teacher
who didn’t move in deliverance
ministry. If we fail to take off the bandages,
the church is weighed in the balances and found wanting. There are many
people bleeding and dying, asleep in the pews!
A WORD FROM HEAVEN MAKES YOU A KING ON
EARTH!
Let’s pray,
“Lord Jesus Christ, I come to open
up my heart to the searchlight of Your holy love. Reveal the rubbish and
show me where I allow sin and idols to hinder Your glory. Sensitize my
heart to hear Your rhemas from heaven and make Your word strong in me so
I can receive what You want to give me. In Your
name Jesus. Amen.”
[NB. There are two Greek words for the
word of God. The logos is the expression of God’s will forever settled
in heaven which is the entire written word of God. The rhema is the specific
spoken word for a specific situation. Jesus used it in the open contest
with Satan when He took the bit that He needed from Deuteronomy, and said,
“… man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God.” Rhema is the proceeding word… it creates faith (Romans
10: 17) … it is a sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6: 17). We
need the rhema to break through in spiritual
warfare. Much prayer is waiting on God with a sensitive heart to hear the
particular sword of the Spirit that we need. When one has received a rhema
one needs to declare it in the authority of the name of Jesus and in the
anointing of the Holy Spirit. Then we will see the glory of God.]
Much prayer is waiting on God with a
sensitive heart to hear the particular sword of the Spirit that we need
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