GOD Morning! Glorification

GOD Morning! April 22, 2018 / Glorification



“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” John 17

Do I want to pray this prayer?

“Glorify Your Daughter. Glorify me in your presence.”

All I can think of is ouch. The worst pain ever. After Jesus prayed this prayer, he was dragged through the most horrifying and humiliating trial of His short life.

Not just intense, unbearable pain, but very public pain. Public pain is the worst. He hung on a criminal’s cross, naked and disgraced, while the whole world gawked.

“The process of glorification is where God removes all spiritual defects of the redeemed. It first involves the believer's sanctification, where they are made and are being made holy, it is a continual process where the Holy Spirit works to mold believers to the image of Christ.” Glorification (theology) – Wikipedia

There you have it. And I can tell you that this is a painful process. I have been through a teeny, hardly worth mentioning flash of glorification. I believe that most of us have.

I’m thinking of a beautiful young lady who is about Jesus’ age when He was crucified. She lost her mother just a few years ago. And now, suddenly, she has lost her dad as well. She is being glorified in His presence.

I’m thinking of a young man who was raised by an alcoholic father. His childhood was filled with pain and rejection. He is now a father, trying as best as he knows how to honor his wife and love his children. That’s glorification.

I’m thinking of a dear friend who never had a mother or a father in her life. She was raised in a string of foster homes. Her childhood was filled with abuse. Love was absent. Little did she know. She was being glorified.

I’m thinking of the woman in the Bible with the issue of blood. Twelve years of shame, pain and humiliation because of her embarrassing situation. That’s glorification.

I notice that most of the time, humans are involved in our glorification process. Wouldn’t it be great if we could be glorified in God’s presence in our secret prayer time? But that’s not how it works.

“Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30

He calls us. He justifies us. Then He glorifies us.

This is not a fun subject. At all.

I am thinking of the potter’s wheel.

“But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

“The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.” Jeremiah 18:1-4

I am thinking of the refiner’s fire.

“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.” Job 23:10

“Dear Jesus, this is the heaviest subject that I can ever remember studying. There is so much more. This subject just goes on and on. I must pray, Father, glorify Your daughter, that Your daughter may glorify You. Glorified in Your presence. That sounds so nice, but in reality, it’s excruciating pain. But necessary. I must submit myself to Your glorification process. I will come forth as gold. How I love You, my precious Jesus. Amen.”