The Glory of God is something God wishes to give to humanity, not that the glory can be sourced from man, but rather, that God is the source and wants His glory to work through us, however, there are conditions in which God allows His Glory to work through us, and that is to know Him and to follow Him obediently, and by surrendering our desires to God’s will, which is what God asked of me in the vision he gave me.
There are varied commentators on how God gives His Glory to mankind, as follows:
- God will under no circumstances give His glory to anyone, except Jesus, Who is God incarnate in the flesh, see Isaiah 42:8.
- The dispensation of God’s glory working through man is over with the end of the first church.
- God will only give His glory to those who do not sin by fulfilling the law.
- God will give His glory to those who practice grace.
- But I say that God will allow His glory to work through those who practice grace, but they must not preach a different Jesus or gospel and not have a different spirit that controls them, because even people who practice grace may be demonically oppressed, and therefore, God will not allow His Glory to work through that person.
Obedience and surrender are imperative for God to work His glory through us
When God says that he will not give His glory to another, He means that His glory belongs to Him alone and will thus only use individuals to display His Glory to others only if they are walking in obedience to God, and if the person is free from any demonic oppression, or the worship of other graven images. From John 7:18 it is clear that people should not glorify themselves, even if God used them mightily, because they are unrighteous in so doing, but those who glorify God are true and there is no unrighteousness in them. Paul also states in 2 Corinthians 12:1-7 that it is not expedient for him to glory but continued with his story when he was caught up in heaven, however, he was only trying to dissuade his followers in Christ from following people who were glorifying themselves, by showing that his experiences were more glorious than theirs, but he had no real desire to glorify himself because God had given him a thorn in the flesh to curb his pride.
God does not use oppressed Christians for His glory
Christians cannot be possessed if they are born-again and will thus only need deliverance if they are oppressed. Being oppressed means that there is demonic influence in the believer and God will not allow His glory to be used through them. Deliverance is required before God can use them for His glory. Of course, understanding and practicing grace and mercy is God’s way of dealing with sin and forgiveness because His goodness and kindness lead us to repentance (change of mind from sinful acts to righteous living), which is imperative. The willingness of the individual to renew his mind to the obedience of God and His Word means that the individual will not open doors to evil spirits and thus the Glory of God can work through the individual, assuming that the person also submits to God. Oppressed individuals will first need to either, be delivered by someone anointed by God, or repent and renounce the demonic issue in their lives to be set free, and then they can be used by God in power. Sin due to weakness does not affect our ability to be used by God, however, confessed sin is necessary to maintain the walk with God in righteousness and to be effective for service to God, not becaue God takes the gift away, but because sin can bring guilt and therefore hamper faith.
Legalism is a curse and God will not allow His glory to be used by them
Laws, however, create a different spirit in the believer as it is the belief in a different Jesus, which Paul refers to in Galatians 1:8 when he says, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”. Jesus died for everyone who believes in Him, through faith, which is a gift of God’s grace, however, when we think we can fulfill the law by our efforts/works and look righteous in man or God’s eyes, we are cursed because that is a different gospel. The problem is that legalists usurp the glory of Christ for themselves and do not understand that, in this situation, they do not need Jesus, or Jesus died in vain because they can do it by themselves, and thus they put themselves under a curse because, by implication, they do not accept that Jesus took the curse away for them when He hung on a tree. I fell into the same trap as a young Christian when I attended legalistic churches until I realized that I could also be in the same situation, see Galatians 3:10.
Some think that they must fulfill all the laws so that no curse comes their way but they forget that Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness because mankind failed miserably at fulfilling all the laws, and if we fail in one aspect of the law, we fail outright James 2:10. Some ask, “Then why were Mary and Elizabeth considered righteous through the law?”. Surely, they fulfilled the law? No, they were considered righteous because when they did sin, they did what God instructed by doing the required rituals, i.e.: they made sacrifices for forgiveness of sin because even under the law God gave grace through ritual. Today, we do no rituals but we ask for forgiveness because we have a high priest in Jesus Christ Who forgives all our sins, unless it is the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Even Abraham could not glory in his own works because it was God Who blessed him because of his faith in God, and not what good deeds he did for God or society, see Romans 4:2, In other words, thinking we are goody-two-shoes to be respected and admired by others, means are fooling ourselves and therefore cursed. After all, legalists have a long slog on the road to righteousness which is impossible to achieve without the Holy Spirit, because when we think we can do it by ourselves there is no support from the Holy Spirit.
Even grace on its own does not qualify for God’s glory working through us because even people under grace who continuously sin can attract evil spirits, and this is a no-no for healing and being used powerfully by God. Am I saying that God only heals those that do not sin? No, He heals all people who need healing, however, a person who is oppressed by demons needs to get delivered from them first. In Luke 13:11-13 we see a woman bent over for 18 years and Jesus had to remove the spirit that caused the infirmity for her to be healed. In Mark 9:17-27 Jesus delivers a boy from a dumb and deaf spirit that tears him and throws him in fire and water, and thus he must have had scars, and when the boy appears dead, he lifts him and he is healed/well. In Matthew 12:22-23 Jesus Heals a man possessed by a devil and he healed Him so that he could see and speak.
God wants to work His glory through man
The Word of God is clear in that Jesus is our hope of glory, see Colossians 1:27. Now, this is referring to when believers are caught up in glorious bodies at the next age at the reappearing of Jesus Christ, just as Jesus was glorified when He died and was resurrected in a glorious body and sat at the right hand of the Father in the Kingdom of Heaven John 7:39. From this scripture we see that the glorification of Jesus took place when He was resurrected into a glorious body because, by implication, it was only then that He could send the Holy Spirit to us. This does not mean that Jesus was not glorified by those he healed and delivered when He lived as the son of man in Israel because many scriptures prove this, such as John 11:4. We, therefore, see that to be glorified can refer to two situations:
- When our bodies are raised into glorious bodies at the reappearing of Jesus in His Kingdom.
- When people are healed/delivered and glorify the healer, however, it is imperative that the healed get told to glorify God instead, because the glory always belongs to God as we are earthen vessels made of dust that have no real power, (2 Corinthians 4:7).
As an example concerning point 2 above, Ephesians 3:20-21 states clearly that the glory belongs to the person that can abundantly do all that is asked of him/her. I hear preachers saying that this refers to Jesus’s glory, not man’s, but that is not what the scripture says, although true at the same time. The scripture is clear in that the glory will be man’s in the church throughout all ages but it is through or by Jesus Christ. In other words, the glory always belongs to God but we see the glory manifest through people who have surrendered their lives to Christ, which is why Paul says in Galatians 2:19-20 that he has died to himself but lives for Christ because he has the spirit of Christ in him, which is the reason He performed many miracles as God could use Him in his surrendered state, meaning that God’s Spirit flowed through him unhindered because He had no desires of himself but to do the things of God. Therefore man appears to have the glory but it is always God working through man. Ephesians 3:20-21 points to the glory for those in the church and also throughout all ages, meaning that the glory applies not only to this age but also to the age to come when we get caught up in glorious bodies.
I have heard many people sternly correct others by saying that it’s God who healed the sick person, not the person who administered the healing. Although that is true, most of the time I discern that they want to downplay the “healer” mainly because they do not have any healing in their own church. The point is that we must always glorify God, but we must also be grateful that there are people who give up their personal desires by surrendering to God to gain the ability to help others. Believe me, it is not easy to die to yourself and give your life to God because of pride, I therefore respect those who do, and I believe that those who “castigate” them verbally are merely jealous. In other words, if it is God that does the healing then why doesn’t God use those critics? After all, if God does it, then it should be simple, but they don’t seem to understand that there is more to it than merely asking or praying. The potential to become like Jesus is therefore possible through complete surrender, but very difficult for people who live in our current corrupt society, unless of course, they are totally dedicated to the truth of the Word of God.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 proves that God wants to allow His Glory to work through man even though we are currently earthen vessels (bodies made from the elements of the earth) without any form of ability to manifest God’s Glory. However, the infilling of the Holy Spirit in human beings is what gives us the ability to know and work with God, and therefore allowing His Glory to work through us.
In John 17:22-24 we see that Jesus gave His disciples the glory, however, once again we should understand that it comes from Jesus because our bodies have no power of their own and thus it is the Holy Spirit working through us.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Essentially, human beings are vessels that carry God’s Glory but the vessel itself is rather useless on its own. Nevertheless, we need to honor and respect those who are selfless so that God can use them for service to others.