Don’t abort the glory!

Text: Psalms 115

Introduction

Even when we are trying to please God by serving Him faithfully, we experience difficult seasons and we wonder…. Why me? God, do I deserve what is happening to me?                                                                     Why do we go through difficult times even when we are doing His will?

1.         For His Glory

We believe that because we are serving God everything should be fine. Why? Because ‘the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want’. While that is true, the Lord is always working in our lives. Even Jesus endured the cross for the glory of the Father. Luke 22:42b –“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” If Jesus could have let the cup pass from Him, He would have…but He humbled Himself for the glory of the Father.                                                                                John 9:1-3relates the healing of the blind man and the disciples asking Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”Jesus responded (v.3b) “ Neither… but that the works of God should be made manifest in him”, that is, so that God would be glorified.     

We see God only for what we can receive from Him, only for His blessings. We do not see Him as the God who sent His Son to restore a broken relationship so that we can have communication with Him. He is the God of Relationships. He is the God of Communication.               

Jesus healed the blind man and this resulted in                                              i.        others coming to Him  and  

ii.       the man receiving a revelation of who God is                               

Isaiah 61:3  How we live now will affect our eternity. When we are experiencing trials, hard times and testing, we must persevere because in the end, God will receive the glory. “For your glory, I will do anything.”

2.         For Your Story

Rev. 12:11  ^“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” Never get tired of telling your story. One way to defeat the devil in the present is to remind him of how he was defeated in the past. Some of things that we are going through right now will help us in our next season. If we don’t go through them now, when we reach our next season, we will not be able to stand. When Jesus sees us fighting, He wants to help us but He lets us push through until we get the breakthrough. If we give up, we will not see the glory (Romans 8:18) and our testimony will be aborted. Our testimony is an essential weapon in the battle against Satan and is vital in winning others to Christ.

3.         To Strengthen Others

Luke 22:31-32 “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” We must ensure that our faith remains steadfast. When our faith fails, the devil wins but when we allow our faith to stand, we will overcome. When we are converted; when we have overcome; when we are finished fighting and wrestling and going through difficult times then, we will be able to strengthen others. However, we cannot strengthen anyone if we do not have a story.

Conclusion

2 Cor. 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”                                                      Through our pain, suffering, sickness and trials, the Lord is teaching us some priceless lessons that would help us in our new season. The Lord is forming us into the persons He wants us to be. We will gain strength that would help us in our future. So do NOT abort the glory! We have a testimony and there is power in our testimony. That’s how we fight; that’s how we live.