Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 86
TRANSCRIPT
The Glory of God Podcast
What is the glory of God? Ephesians 3:14-15 says, “For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant to you according to the riches of His glory.” I know that is an odd place to stop reading this scripture but in today’s podcast I want to talk about the Glory of God.
I’m Lee Whitman from Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. Today’s verses are some of my favorites, Ephesians 3:14-19. It says, “For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.” This is part one of a two-part series. I want to break this passage of scripture down and look at it through the lens of RTF. We will cover part of this passage today and the rest of it in next week’s podcast.
Jesse was raised with an abusive father who was in and out of the home while Jesse was growing up. When Dad was home, he was very hard on Jesse, inflicting physical, emotional, and verbal abuse on a regular basis. Jesse believed that he could never do enough to get his father’s approval and was told on a regular basis that he would never amount to anything in life. And when Dad was not home Jesse lived with the fear of him coming home at any moment and starting up with the abuse. Jesse came to love Jesus and so he came to RTF for ministry. During the ministry Jesse was ok talking to and hearing from Jesus, but when we asked him if he would talk to Father God, Jesse was so afraid of Father God that he totally shut down. You see his concept of “Father” was so negatively affected by his earthly father, that he could not receive from his Heavenly Father.
In today’s verse we see how important it is for us to have a healthy concept of Father God because every family in heaven and earth derives its name from Him. Humanity was designed to receive their identity and their name from Father God. That is why there is such an intense attack on fatherhood. Fatherlessness is one of the main attacks that has been released on the world by our enemy to destroy the family and in the process to destroy our ability to be able to connect with our Heavenly Father as God intended. The author Jack Frost says that the Bible is the story of a Father who lost his children and the extravagant measures He went to in order to get them back. It was so important for Father God to get His children back that He was willing to trade the life of His son for them. We all know John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him will not parish but have eternal life.” We often make Jesus the main character in the story, when the story is really about Father God going to sacrificial lengths to get His children back. And in John 14:6 it says “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus gave us the ability to regain a relationship with our Father God.
God is a good, good Father. I relate to a small degree with Jesse’s struggle with the concept of God as Father. My struggle came not as much from my earthly father, although he contributed to my concept of God which I will talk about in just a minute, but my concept of God was drastically affected by the church I grew up in. I grew up believing that God is a very hard task master. He had a long list of requirements that you must do in order to receive His approval. He also had a long list of things you better not do, or you will receive His punishment. The way I was raised it was easier to make God angry and disappointed than it was to please Him.
Our concept of God is vitally important to experience the fullness of everything God has for us in the Christian life. Look at these verses in Ephesians 3 again. Everything that is talked about begins with us knowing and trusting our Father God. My concept of God was also affected in a negative way by my earthly father. It is difficult for me to talk honestly about my dad because he really was a great guy. He was steady and consistent. He was always there. He loved my mother and was faithful to their marriage for 65 years. He was not given to anger, so I never feared being hit or yelled at. In fact, he attended every one of my sporting events all the way from Junior High school through my playing football for four years of college. In high school I would often see him standing at the fence around the practice field watching my high school football practices. Hey Lee, that sounds pretty good. What was the problem with your dad, you might be asking. The problem was that he was a very quiet man and did not communicate. More specifically he did not communicate approval only correction. In fact, the only communication I received from him was correction. For example, I remember playing really well in one of my football games in high school and I was thinking this one time I might get a “Good Job” from my dad, right? Instead, he said to me “good game, but in the third quarter if you would not have done this….” What came after the “but” erased anything positive he said before it. That was his way of helping me get better.
The way my dad showed his love was by doing things for you like fixing a broken toilet or painting something at your house.
Can you guess what my concept of God looked like? I believed that God was not going to encourage me when I did things right, but He was definitely going to point out everything I did wrong. And He was going to do things for me or my family, especially by providing for my physical needs. But intimacy and affection were out of the question. This limited my prayer life to only asking God for His provision. I didn’t know that I could talk to Him about the hurts of my heart. This led me into a very shallow relationship with God for many years.
I want to challenge you to take a hard look at your concept of God. It is essential to have an accurate concept of God. The best way to know what you believe about God is to ask Father God to reveal any beliefs you have that are not an accurate representation of who He is. When we are believing what RTF calls Ungodly Beliefs (lies) about God, those lies are going to hinder us from knowing and experiencing all that God has for us in our relationship with Him. I quoted John 3:16 a minute ago, but then you can get a clearer picture of God when you include John 3:17 that says” For God did not send the Son into the world to judge or condemn the world, but so the world might be saved through Him.” It was God’s love that caused Him to send Jesus to that cross so we can have a relationship with Him. He never wanted to condemn us but to lavish His love on us. And it is His love that continues to motivate His heart towards us today. Do you know this God? Do you know this God of love and grace and mercy? You can get to know Him by getting rid of the lies that might be distorting your understanding of Him. Then ask Him to reveal the truth to you. I guarantee it will change your relationship with Him.
As we clear away any misunderstanding of who God is from our concept of Him then we are able to receive according to this verse, “to strengthen you with power through His Spirit in the inner self”. It says that He will grant this power and strength to you according to the riches of His glory.
What are the riches of His glory that are talked about in this passage? When we talk about the glory of God, what are we talking about? I believe the glory of God is the manifestation of all His attributes. It is everything that God is. It is something that humans can not totally comprehend. On a human level when we try and describe another human being, we usually describe them by what they do. We will say things like Jim is a good father, or Sally is such a gifted intercessor. These are wonderful qualities, but they are really things that these people do. The attributes of God are not ways that He acts but they are inherent in His nature and His character. They are a state of being. That is who He is. The glory of God is the demonstration of His nature and attributes.
There is a wonderful story in Exodus 33:18-23 showing the extravagance and the absolute power of the Glory of God. Moses said in verse 18, “Please show me Your glory.” God responded to this by saying to Moses that He will cause all of His goodness to pass in front of Moses, but because the power of the Glory of God is so intense, God is going to cover Moses’ face so that he cannot see God’s face. God said in verse 20, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me (see My Face) and live.” God covered Moses’ face with His hand until the goodness of God had passed by. Then He allowed Moses to only see His back and not His face.
That was then but this is now! Today we have the opportunity to be strengthened with power in our inner self according to the riches of God’s glory. That is amazing. The glory of God was so awesome that God had to cover Moses’ face, or the glory of God would kill him. Today the fullness of the attributes of God which is His glory is now available to us through our relationship with God. We have the privilege of beholding the Glory of God. This is mind boggling to me. There are times during worship when the Glory of God fills the room and all I can do is weep. It is on the one hand so comforting and affectionate and intimate, but at the same time it is so awesome that it is almost terrifying. When that happens, all I can say is I want to experience more of His glory.
I remember being in a bible study and the study leader wanted us to study the attributes of God. I thought it was a “nice” idea to study His attributes, but I really didn’t understand at that time in my life the real significance of knowing God’s attributes. In my mind I felt like we were studying theology so we can learn more about God. What we were actually doing was learning who God really is. We were learning to know His character and nature by studying His attributes. Those are not things that God does, but they are who He is. To know Him we must know what HE is like, to know His character and His attributes.
The fruit of having an accurate concept of God according to these verses is that Christ will dwell in our hearts through faith. If you recognize that you are struggling with some lies or misconceptions about Father God, please contact RTF and schedule ministry to remove anything hindering your view of God. It will change your life. Go to www.restoringthefoundations.org and click on the “Get Ministry” tab at the top of the page and find a trained RTF minister in your area.
Prayer
God we desire to experience you as our Father. Thank you that you are a Good Good Father and you have made a way for us to know You. And it is out of your goodness that you give good gifts to your children. Yet Lord many of us have ideas and thoughts about you that are not accurate. Would you out of your grace and mercy reveal to us any places where we are believing things about you that are not true so that we can have our minds renewed to your truth. Help us to experience your Glory. Help us not just have an intellectual understanding of who you are but to really experience your glory.
In Jesus Name!
