“I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another,”  Isaiah 42:8

God will not share His glory with another.  Often we go from humbly waiting on our prayer to be answered to stubborn rebellion and then, out of frustration, to  just doing it ourselves.  I’m not the only one guilty of this am I?  I’ve never been a good “boss” because it’s easier for me to do something myself than try to show someone else how to do it.  Anyone else ever do this with God also?  We humbly pray then try to show God how to answer our prayer.  Then we get aggravated, cross our arms and stick our lip out and declare and decree we aren’t doing anything, or we “can’t” do anything, until God answers this certain prayer.  In the meantime, He is still answering our prayers.  You know, the prayers we forgot about.  The ones like “guide and direct us”, “please protect my child” and so on and so forth.  Those prayers that have now become ungrateful expectations fade to white when we are faced with that one unanswered prayer.

Then we pick up our Bible and read James 1:23 -24, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ”  As our ultimatum is declared and our faith becomes paralyzed because of this unanswered prayer, we open up the Bible and again see our reflection in the mirror.  We see our imperfections and blemishes when compared to God’s mercy and righteousness.  We are once again humbled at the Cross of Jesus….and we once again receive God’s mercy.

As a child of God we are given promises.  We are given an inheritance as part of the family of God.  We never have to pray “if its in Your will” if it is something already promised by God in His Word,  “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,  by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4. 

We are given promises of God but sometimes only receive the ones we are comfortable with ourselves.  We receive His mercy because we need His mercy for our sins but we won’t receive His forgiveness because our sins are too great, we must pay for our sins before receiving His forgiveness.  We negate Jesus’ payment in an attempt to pay for our own. 

There are so many scenarios of Christian’s faith, mine included, falling short.  Our faith falls short without our realization.  In our attempts to please God, we are in fact at enmity with Him.  Instead of the Word of God being our mirror, we attempt to reflect it onto others for their sanctification instead of our own.  We cannot sanctify ourselves or others.  The Holy Spirit sanctifies through His leading and our learning.

The New Covenant granted to us is because of Jesus Christ.  His finished work on the Cross is where our faith lies.  Jesus came to defeat evil; so the sin nature would no longer have dominion over us.  Jesus came so we could receive the promises of God…all of them.  Jesus came to break the curse of death and hell given by the law and to write the laws on our heart which by default purifies our affections, passions and appetites.  The Lord came so God’s mercy could be applied to our unrighteousness instead of His wrath.  God’s throne has always been a throne of mercy.  It was Adam’s fall that broke man’s covenant with God.  God did not break His covenant with man.  It is because of man’s fall that God sent His Son, Jesus.  God’s mercy on us  is the reason Jesus was sent; to bring life to His creation and not death.  The Holy Spirit cannot convict when the Gospel of Jesus is misrepresented by the religion of man.

Our faith is in Jesus and “all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. ” 2 Corinthians 1:20.  It is God’s mercy and long suffering that brings our rebellion and stubbornness to repentance.  It is our faith in Jesus’ work, His reconciliation to God’s Providence for us,  that will allow God to glorify Himself.  He cannot do this with our guidance, by following our plan;  God will not share His glory.

“And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen” Mark 16:20.  God will confirm His Word through accompanying signs when our faith meets His plan, the Gospel of Jesus, and His glory is reflected back to Him.  – Donna Warren