Wheels of Glory! Blog

Growing in the Image of Jesus – VOTD.08.22.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | August 22nd, 2016 | by

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Romans 8:29

There are a lot of reasons why Christians listen to one teacher or another. Some Christian authors appeal to some groups of people better than others. Some of us like humor, others want exciting stories or erudite language.

But by-and-large, the purpose of our reading or listening to Christian teaching is so that our eyes will be opened—that we’ll discover the truth more clearly—that we’ll be changed by the information imparted. God’s truth never changes, but our understanding of it does change and should change as we grow closer to Him, and the Spirit conforms us more and more to His image.

As the Holy Spirit enlarges us as Christians to receive more of what God has for us, we become ready for deeper teaching. Truths that might have just passed over us with a nod five years ago now go off like fireworks in our spirits. The eyes of our hearts are further opened and we see spiritual things more clearly. (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Seeing Clearly – VOTD.08.16.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | August 16th, 2016 | by

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light you think you have is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22,23

Last time we talked about casting down and defeating every imagination that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:5). That means that our beliefs and views can and do fall short of the truth and God is out to change that. In fact, God has every intention of tossing out what is wrong and refining the seedlings of real truth that He’s planted in us.

It could be our interpretation of a Bible passage, or our view of What He is like which can cause us to remain a prisoner of our past untruth. When this happens we only hear God in line with our upbringing and what we’ve been taught, what we’ve picked up on TV…

So God comes along and introduces something from outside of our understanding of the truth and right away we want to shut Him down and say, “This is what I’m comfortable with; this is what I believe; this is what my tradition is.” (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Walking Among the Giants – VOTD.08.14.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | August 14th, 2016 | by

We cast down and defeat every imagination and sophisticated argument that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and plan in order to make them obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

I was recently walking through a grove of tall trees in Redwood National Park. Trees of amazing stature were everywhere. At times the canopy was so thick and so high that I had no idea what the weather was like outside the forest. It brought home the idea of walking among the giants.

In the Old Testament, God sent His people to the Promised Land. It was a great place to live but it also was inhabited by giants which they would have to face and defeat. We too live in a land of giants which we must face if we are to have the capacity to know God’s presence in our lives—if we are to be united with Him in an ever-deepening relationship. (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Lifestyle Glory – VOTD.08.09.16

Posted in Glory, Verse of the Day | August 9th, 2016 | by

Be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:17-21

Last time we were looking at what being filled with the Spirit looks like: First of all, it looks like worship, Public Worship, Private Worship, Experiential (thankful) Worship and Lifestyle Worship.

We saw that lifestyle worship is treating our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they were Jesus. If we are involved with sins against our brothers and sisters in Christ and we have not made things right with them the Holy Spirit’s filling is still available but we won’t experience it.

How do I know that? In introducing the passage in Eph 5 that we are looking at, Paul says “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Eph. 4:30,31) (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Resulting Glory – VOTD.08.08.16

Posted in Glory, Verse of the Day | August 8th, 2016 | by

Understand what the Lord’s will is: Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:17-21

The result of the continual presence of God in our lives (what we’ve been calling Remaining Glory) is that it makes us different people. It is not the other way around. I want to look at a few areas in which the growing presence of God in our lives changes us as believers: Here are 3 areas we will look at; as the presence of God fills us day by day:
1) God is worshipped
2) The Word of God is revered
3) The characteristics of God are manifested in our lives (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Remaining Glory – VOTD.08.02.16

Posted in Glory, Verse of the Day | August 2nd, 2016 | by

To the faithful you (God) show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure
but to the unfaithful you show yourself a wrestler. 2 Sam 22:26,27

In some ways today’s verse divides us as Christians into two categories: those who bask in God’s presence and those who wrestle in it.

Last time we saw how tempting it is to think that people who seem to have a greater degree of the presence of God in their lives are just particularly pure, but that’s not the case. Not one of us is particularly pure, but some are more aware of God’s presence than others.

God shows Himself to those who fix their eyes on Him. His glory (presence) is on them. The picture they see of Him is of a faithful, righteous and pure God. This God of ours comforts us with words like “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never drop you.” God is Loyalty itself. (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Remaining Glory – VOTD.08.01.16

Posted in Glory, Verse of the Day | August 1st, 2016 | by

For if what is fading was came with Glory, what remains is even more glorious!
2 Corinthians 3:11

Last week we talked about the temporary experience of God’s presence that happens to Christians from time to time. Although this temporary experience of the overwhelming presence of Jesus is wonderful, Paul declares that even greater than this is the glorious presence of God that can be with us always.

Part of the New Covenant that Jesus provides for us is the indwelling Holy Spirit. All Christians have the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit has greater affect in some of us than in others of us. The reason might have less to do with how “spiritual” we are as much as how much we know and understand we are useless without God’s presence. Only those who know they can do nothing seek the Spirit of God earnestly. (more…)

Wheels of Glory! Blog

Fading Glory Examples – VOTD.07.26.16

Posted in Glory, Verse of the Day | July 26th, 2016 | by

The sweet, satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning. Psalm 25:14

Last time we saw some common circumstances when God draws us near and His presence becomes overwhelming. Today we’ll look at some common results of this type of experiencing God?

1) The first result of the presence of God is that He increases and we decrease. When you and I come into contact with God our focus is on Him not on ourselves. The more clearly we see Him the more we are so overcome with the glory of Christ we don’t think we’re big, we know we’re small. When someone testifies to an experience with God, listen for who is getting the glory. That’s how you can know how real this experience is. When you and I experience God for real, we don’t walk away with a bloated idea of our own importance. We are seriously humbled. (more…)

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Fading Glory – VOTD.07.25.16

Posted in Glory, Verse of the Day | July 25th, 2016 | by

For if what is fading was came with Glory, what remains is even more glorious! 2 Corinthians 3:11

How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9

The Glory, or presence of God, comes from Him to us. There are two kinds of glory mentioned that Paul talks about: Fading Glory and Remaining Glory. Simply put, Fading Glory is temporarily and passes away. It it can refer to being temporarily overwhelmed with a sense of God’s nearness. Remaining Glory is more permanent, day in, day out, walking through life in the very presence of God.

Today we’ll look at the first of these two types of experiencing God’s presence. So many times when the glory of Jesus is described it is radiant – a “high” that comes forcefully into our lives and may last hours, or even weeks. Usually, but not always, these experiences of God’s presence take place during certain earthly circumstances: (more…)

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The Holiness Measure: Maturity (pt 2) – VOTD.07.19.16

Posted in Christian Maturity, Verse of the Day | July 19th, 2016 | by

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3)

Last time we concluded that in Jesus we can walk in freedom, not because we can’t sin anymore, but because we now CAN walk in holiness. Freedom is another way of saying we have been separated from (hate) our sin.

In the same way, “hating sin” (being separated from sin) is not a matter of will. When we encounter the cross of Jesus and we find that we are are crucified with Him we find we are now living at this moment by the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. This cannot be accomplished through human effort. Hating sin (being separated from sin) is a natural consequence of knowing and loving God.

When I talk about this with other Christians, some know exactly what I’m saying and others have this look of incredulity or “whatever works for you…”. They don’t seem to be able to relate to it in their personal experience. (more…)

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