Complete in Him

One year ago, December 23, 2016, I sat down at the feet of Jesus to study His word.  I chose to be Mary instead of Martha on this day(Luke 10:38-42).  I had several devotions that I usually read.  The devotions gave me a focus for the day or lead me in a direction of study. The Holy Spirit Brought me to:

John 17:22-26

 22 And the glory which thou gave 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 loved me before the foundation of the world

 I wrote in my journal:   WOW!!! Merry Christmas to me! God has given me His Glory! What?!  I still need more revelation on your glory in verse 23 and what that means exactly.

This scripture, this question and the God-answer that followed has forever changed my life. God took me on a year long journey teaching me about His Glory.  I began to study the Greek definition of the word glory:

doxa: opinion, judgment, view, opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone

1. in the NT always, a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honor, and glory

2. splendor, brightness
   1. of the moon, sun, stars
   2. magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
   3. majesty
      1. a thing belonging to God
         1. the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
      2. a thing belonging to Christ
         1. the kingly majesty of the Messiah
         2. the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ; the majesty
      3. of the angels
         1. as apparent in their exterior brightness
      4. a most glorious condition, most exalted state
         1. of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth
         2. the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Savior’s return from heaven

I looked for all the glory scriptures I could find.  If God had given me His glory, I wanted to know exactly what that meant.

Psalm 8:4-5 KJV

 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visit him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned (encompassed) him with glory and honor.

Not only had God given me His glory, he crowned me with His glory or at least he did in the beginning.  The glory of God was Adam’s clothing.  Adam’s whole being was glorious and radiated. Sadly,

 Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Adam chose to take off God’s glory and put on Satan’s lying rags.  BUT GOD, he had a different plan.  God himself stepped out of heaven, removed His Glory coat and put on man. Jesus came as a baby but a man, at the cross he bought back our right to don the glory.  I realized that  I got a new coat for Christmas this year;  it had been mine since salvation.  However, I did not know the full story.  Now because of Jesus,  God only sees me through Jesus in all His glory.

Why did he give us His glory? John 17:23 tells us…so that we may be perfect, complete,

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.

We become like our father.  People call it a “spitting image.” We reflect the very image of our Father, His glory.  He also gives us His glory so that we will KNOW how very loved we are.

Next verse from the Holy Spirit on December 23, 2016:

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

Praise God.  He was all over me.  Let’s look at how very powerful this verse is. In the Greek, arise is quwm.  It means to rise, stand up, become powerful, come on the scene, to stand: maintain oneself, to be established, to be fixed, to be set; to endure.  Shine is owr (v) in Greek.  It means to be or become light; to be illuminated, to give light, make shine, lighten, like the break of day, set on fire.  Light, ‘owr (n) in Greek means light of day, light of heavenly luminaries (moon, sun, stars), day-break, dawn, morning light, lightning, light of lamp, light of life, light of prosperity, light of instruction, light of face (fig.), Jehovah as Israel’s light  Risen is zârach; a properly, to irradiate (or shoot forth beams), i.e. to rise (as the sun);

Glory! Glory! Glory! Can you see what a gift He has given us?

Man, separated from God for four thousand years, could now gaze upon God’s glory again, could now see God, could know God as He is and be reunited with Him.  “And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, and we gazed upon his glory-A glory full of favor and truth.”  John 1:14  from Faith Food Devotions, Kenneth E. Hagin 12/24

I continued studying that early December morning and at 6:47 AM,  I raised my head just to meditate on this verse and everything the Holy Spirit was sharing with me about His glory.  I caught the faintest pink reflecting in the glass of my china cabinet.  I looked out my lunette window to see what looked like a cloudy day, but in fact, I glimpsed the faintest smear of vibrant, fiery pink painted in the eastern sky.  I could not really see the full sky, so I ran outside to capture this moment in a photo.  This was the Masterpiece that God handed me.

Amazing, all of it! God’s timing! His revelation of His Glory.

Psalm 72:19, And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.

Then Isaiah 60:2, For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And, Isaiah 60:19, The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

Psalm 143:8,  Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

This morning brought me the word of His unfailing love and His glory!   I was so overwhelmed with His presence, His Glory.  My Lord had just illuminated and flooded me with light about His Glory.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. – 2 Corinthians 4:6 KJV

And then I read, “shine” is like sunrise or break of day.  Sunrise is one of my very favorite times of day particularly at the beach.

This is just the beginning of the story.  What happened next is what we call, living amazed.  I suddenly remembered a picture that I had just hung over my bed on December 9, 2016.  I had felt an urgency to blow up this picture from earlier in the year, frame it and hang it.  I didn’t really like where I hung it, but now I know why the urgency and why it hangs over our bed. This is the picture.  It was taken August 17, 2016.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handy work. – Psalm 19:1

Thine, O LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. – 1 Chronicles 29:11

O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. – Psalm 8:1

We were blessed to vacation the week of August 14-19, 2016 at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.  Scott Wells graciously allowed us to use her adorable condo. I love seeing the sunrise at the beach.  Where we were vacationing, the beach ran east to west.  I could not see the sunrise in the east over the ocean.  However, if I walked about 1.5 miles from Tar Landing Villas to the point, Fort Macon State Park, I would be facing east and in position to catch daybreak.  I was determined to catch the break of  day.  I checked the time for sunrise and made my plans to pursue.  Here is an excerpt from my journal:

August 17, 2016:

…I know my theme this week is hear, listen.  I keep finding ear shells on the beach.

    

I left the house at 5:45 AM. The sky was so beautiful by 6AM. I was determined to walk to the point at Fort Macon to see the sunrise over the ocean.  Not a soul was on the beach and suddenly one man appeared and passed me.  I eventually caught up and passed him because his back was obstructing the clear view in all my pictures.  As I began to photograph, where the sun was breaking the horizon, a cross shape formed. As the sun began its journey to takes its place in the clear, blue sky, the cross shape became crisper.  It was beautiful.  I could not take a picture of the sun where the cross was not present.

 I sat not only at the feet of Jesus, but at the foot of the cross.  A group of rocks jutted out into the sea, I took my place on one of the rocks to see the performance in the sky that I believe God had orchestrated just for me.  I turned on Oceans by Hillsong. I wept, I sang loud and prayed to our Father.  I sang the song over and over as I took in the masterpiece God had painted for me on this special day.  And, I meant every word of that song.  On the way back to the condo, I found three of the most perfect little shells.  Special, Special time!

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

Oh, Jesus, you’re my God!

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

This picture captured a defining moment in my life.  I had a divine appoint with my heavenly Father on that day.  He demonstrated His Glory to me on August 17 and again on December 23 with glorious displays in the sky and an overwhelming sense of His presence.  He would use this picture to illustrate His Glory, His Presence in my life every day because it still hangs over our bed.  However, wait, there is more. This is where you need to buckle your seat belt.

On August 10, 2016, I wrote this in my journal:

Holy Spirit Break*:   You are going to experience something /revelation at the beach and your life will never be the same.  There will be no turning back.

*Holy Spirit Breaks happen in the middle of my studies.  The Holy Spirit interjects and tells me something.  I treat it like a commercial break on TV.  However, when the H.S., intersects the flow of study, I know it is important and that I better pay attention.  I did not remember writing this until I went back to my journal to read about my time at the beach to write this story.

Now, let’s return to December 2016.

On December 21, 2016, I wrote this in my journal:

LASER FOCUS!!! JP: FIX YOUR EYES ON GOD’S UNSHAKABLE WORD –Don’t look at all the moving waves around you, look at the stable horizon far way.  Look at the stationary line and you will feel better.  Look to Jesus.

 Remember my revelation about God’s Gory happened on December 23.  He was connecting the dots and preparing to teach me about His glory in advance.

 December 25, 2016, Christmas Day:

Kris, my husband, likes for me to open his best gift for me last.  This year my best gift came in a small, neatly wrapped package.  When I unwrapped the square little present, the box read, Elliott’s Jewelers.  I immediately knew there was something special inside.  Elliott is a dear friend who just happens to be a custom jeweler, too.  I had no idea as to the contents of my perfect little package.   I opened it and I was surprised.  Even after I opened it, I really didn’t know what it was.  Kris went on to explain that he had found this heart shaped shell on the beach, Atlantic Beach, when he was running during our vacation back in August.  How very thoughtful. The tears began to flow like a river.  I love hearts and that was such a precious time with my God.  I loved it!  It was my Glory gift.

It was later Christmas Day that I started asking questions about when Kris found the shell.  We narrowed the day down to August 17, 2017!  How?  On the very same day that I walked to the point, Kris ran to the point and picked up the shell.  (He got a huge blister on his foot and couldn’t run anymore that week. He knew that he picked it up the last day that he ran.)  He picked up that one tiny shell of all the shells on the beach.  Usually, he would immediately give me the shell, but he tucked it in his pocket, brought it home and had a pendant made for me. The Holy Spirit led me back to my journal and this is the Holy Spirit woven together story that unfolded. Remember my earlier journal excerpt from August 17?

Look at the picture I drew on that day.  It is to the right of my shell pendant.  It is my shell.Remember? I said that I kept finding ear shells.  I stopped t and looked through all of the shells I picked up.  They all looked like ears,  but none looked like a heart and an ear.

The Holy Spirit led Kris to pick up my shell on the same exact day that I had my experience with my Heavenly Father. It was a gift of love from Kris because he knew that I loved hearts, but more than that it was a gift of love from my Daddy!  What a plan!  Once again, God showed me how much he loves ME!  He cared enough to deliver this priceless treasure to me. Who [is] like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who [is] like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful [in] praises, doing wonders? – Exodus 15:11   This is my Glory Story! God presence overwhelmed me on August 17, December 23 and December 25!  Jesus is the most precious gift God could give me, then Kris and the boys to follow and of course my family and friends.  However, on August 17 after my experience at the point with my God, I had looked for the one perfect shell on my return to the condo.  I found three little shells, however, God delivered me the perfect shell a few months later on Christmas Day.  It is a constant reminder of His Love, His Glory, and His Presence with me always.  I also wear it and it is an icebreaker with many people. It allows me to share my Glory Story and the true Glory Story of Jesus with others.

This Christmas was not about presents, but about presence.  It was about God’s presence, His Glory with and on us and our presence with our family and friends.

This is another picture from August 17, 2016. I felt like the rays were God just reaching down and bathing me in His presence.  One time, when Brayden was a very small boy, after observing the sun rays touching the mountain tops of east Tennessee, he said, “Mommy, that is how God slides down to earth.”

The voice of the LORD [is] upon the waters: the God of glory thunders: the LORD [is] upon many waters. – Psalm 29:3

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. – Psalm 57:5

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 3 For the LORD [is] a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand [are] the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills [is] his also. 5 The sea [is] his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry [land]. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. – Psalm 95:1-6

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14 KJV

It took me almost a year to write this story because there is more, the story continues…