 When we first start out on the journey of faith, we are like a baby. We don’t know much and we have a very limited experience of God, if any at all. If we don’t choose to expand our faith, we stay the same and possibly even digress back into unbelief. When we choose to grow, we may start out with a prayer book or a devotional that we read occasionally. Something we read or something we hear at church might stir our spirit and cause us to hunger for a little more. We then begin to read the devotional or prayer book more often, or daily. When this happens we’ve just entered another degree of glory. The daily reading of our devotional sparks an interest in the bible. We begin looking up the suggested scriptures in our devotional. ~ Another degree of glory. Our hunger for the Word of God increases and we join a Bible study. ~ Another degree of glory. We find ourselves studying it like never before and cross referencing the scriptures. We hunger to increase our understanding. ~ Another degree of glory. Revelation begins to open our spiritual eyes, and we find ourselves applying the scriptures to our everyday life. As we go about our day, we connect certain things that happen with certain scriptures. ~ Another degree of glory. While revelation increases, our ears perk up to the voice of wisdom. We take up the scriptures and develop prayers out of them for ourselves and those we love. ~ Another degree of glory. We find ourselves only interested in conversations about God’s Word and His faithfulness. Nothing else holds our attention for very long. ~ Another degree of glory. The scriptures become our common everyday language. Our vocabulary becomes the Word of God. ~ Another degree of glory. While the sequence above isn’t everyone’s experience, it is very close. You may find yourself in one area not having moved forward, or you may find yourself moving in and out of the steps. If you desire more, ask Holy Spirit for it. He will be happy to oblige. Pray with me. Holy Spirit I want the desire to read, study, pray and become God's Word. Give me a hunger for it that will never be satiated. Amen Becoming His Word, Ivonne Read, study and ponder:  Hopefully the Holy Spirit has been stirring inside of you since you prayed the prayer in the last post. The Holy Spirit comes to live within us when we receive Christ and are baptized. It is the “first installment” of our faith (Eph 1:14 & 2 Cor. 1:22). I like to look at it as God deposited into our account. We must choose to acknowledge that he made a deposit and then activate the account. When you open a bank account in the natural, you deposit a base amount. Most bank accounts ask for a certain amount of money to be kept in the account or they charge you a fee. After you open the account, you must activate it. This requires a passcode of four numbers. As you use your account and money gets low, you make another deposit. As you learn the importance of money, you make fewer withdrawals and deposit more often. It’s the same in the spiritual. Our account is opened at our baptism, and the Holy Spirit is our base. We activate our account with the passcode, JESUS. We begin using our account by withdrawing with prayers of petitions. Occasionally, we make a few deposits of thankful prayers. As we grow in our faith and our desire for God increases, we start withdrawing less and making more deposits of time with Him. When we make spending time with God a priority, the realm of glory begins to open to us. Praising and worshiping Him gets us in His presence. Reading, studying, meditating and praying His Word gives us access to His mind and will. Silencing ourselves and listening to His voice gives Him the opportunity to share hidden revelations, insights, and strategies with us. It is in the listening that the Holy Spirit brings the revelation of Who God is. This is where what He is calling us to do is revealed. As we grow in our knowledge of who He is through His Word, spending time in worship and listening to Him, we begin to move from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. In the next few posts I will break this down by using different examples. Until then, read, study and ponder Psalm 100, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 119:105, Matthew 4:4, Heb. 4:12 Pray with me: Holy Spirit give me the desire to spend more time getting to know you. Open the realm of glory to me and share your secrets with me. Amen Worship with me to the song below and let's activate the Spirit together. Ivonne  Taking it a little more in depth. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB) Lately, God has been bringing this scripture to the forefront. Many people have asked me, “what exactly does going from glory to glory mean?” I’d like to give you some insight in the next few posts. Let’s start by defining the word glory. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines glory as: great beauty and splendor; magnificence; something marked by beauty or resplendence; and the splendor of the beatific happiness of heaven. These are words that our culture has, in a sense, lost. And maybe that’s part of the reason the verse is hard to understand. Although the same Greek word is used in this scripture, “glory to glory,” they are each used differently. The first “glory” refers to the Old Covenant (law), and the second refers to the New Covenant (Gospel of Jesus). What Paul is saying is that we are being transformed from the glory of the law, which is holy and righteous (Romans 7:12) but also earthly, to the glory of the Gospel, which offers us grace, forgiveness and life. The glory of the Gospel moves us from earthly glory to spiritual glory. Through the Holy Spirit we have access to the supernatural ways of God. We are no longer bound to the earth. We can fly in the spirit. Here is my personal revelation on the scripture. When we receive Christ and are baptized, we receive the first installment in our faith (Eph. 1:13-14 & 2 Cor. 1:22). It is the first installment because our faith is supposed to continue growing. Our faith is not supposed to stand still. It is meant to be active and lead us from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). In other words, the Holy Spirit that came to us at baptism invites us to get to know the Godhead deeper and deeper. He desires to take us from one revelation to another revelation of who He is. Even though we will not experience Him in His fulness until we are face to face with Him in heaven (Rev. 22:4), we can choose to open ourselves up to who He is and to the magnitude of His love here and now. In Eph. 1:17-19 Paul offers up a prayer that we too can pray. “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power” (emphasis added). We need His SUPER on our NATURAL to become SUPERNATURAL! We need Holy Spirit knowledge to be able to comprehend His love for us. We need supernatural revelation to comprehend the mysteries of heaven. All of this is available to us through the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:12 tells us, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.” Notice the last few words, “interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.” God will not reveal the understanding of our gifts to those who do not choose to rise above the things of the world. If we are only interested in the things of this world, God will respect that choice. But, if we want more, He is excited to reveal it to us one step at a time. The more we want the more we search. The more we search, the more He reveals. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” (emphasis added) When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized prophets, priests, and kings (*CCC 783-786). The glory belongs to us (kings) to search out the hidden things of God. We have the Holy Spirit alive within us, therefore with Him, we can search even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10). No human being can know the mind of God. Only the Holy Spirit can. The good news is, that through the Holy Spirit, we can now have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). Do I hear a Whoo Hoo and an AMEN! That is awesome news! So back to the original question, “How do I go from glory to glory?” Well, the answer is easy, really. We simply activate the Holy Spirit within us. We’ll discuss this in the next blog. For now, read and ponder Ephesians chapters 1 & 3 and 1 Corinthians 2. Pray with me. Living from glory to glory,
Ivonne All scripture is from the NRSVC translation unless otherwise noted. *CCC - Catechism of the Catholic Church  We can build an altar out of every circumstance in our life. Will you stand before those broken dreams and build an altar with your arms outstretched in worship and dare to prophecy to the wind? How about the broken marriage bed? Will you build an altar by laying prostrate on it and become the sacrifice for its salvation? Will you be the one that dies to the desires of your will so that His can overcome and bring it back to life? What about the broken body lying in that hospital bed? Will you make that place an altar and dare to proclaim healing, in the name of Jesus? Say yes, Christian, say yes! For the promises of God are brought forth through valiant heroes that dare to be different. Heroes that use the superpower of the Holy Spirit to die to self and let God arise. Salvation was bought for us through blood and death. Death on the altar of the cross. When all seemed hopeless, the instrument of destruction became the key to life. It unlocked Resurrection. The veil was torn in two, giving us full access to the impossible. Dare to be different, oh Christian, and build an altar in every situation. Call forth into this world what seems to be hidden behind the veil. Dare to ask Holy Spirit to make it part with His breath so that you can reach into the realm of glory and bring forth the miracle that is needed. Do I hear an AMEN?! AMEN!!! Now worship with me to the two songs below. Reaching through the veil, Ivonne Ephesians 6:18 (RSVCE)  I hunger for all people to come to know the Father’s love, fall madly in love with Jesus, and become free in the Holy Spirit. I hunger to see all people set free of all bondage, and to be completely alive in the Spirit. I hunger to see husbands and wives loving and encouraging each other to become who they were created to be. I hunger to see children raised and loved by parents that are selfless and whole. I hunger for souls to understand that the body, the mind, and the spirit are equally important. I hunger to see religions reach across the lines of separation. I ache for unity. I hunger for revival to burst through the veil and sets God’s children on fire. I hunger for the colors of God’s creativity to flow through me and through all Christians, so that we might color the world with His glory. I hunger to see souls entangled in the beauty of heaven’s wonder. I hunger to see an untethered dance break out among God’s people; a dance sacred and wild. I hunger to leave a legacy that will capture the generations, taking each of them to a higher degree of glory. Prayer Holy Spirit, I want to follow Your wind! As the Spirit Wind rustles through the trees, I want to hear Your voice in the rustling. Where Your Spirit Wind goes, I want to follow. God’s Response I blow and breathe on those moving in the expansion of the territory I have given them. Thoughts to Ponder What do you hunger for? What is the territory God has given you? Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 Hungry, Ivonne |
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