Category Archives: Kingship

Where is glory found? [part 1]

November 18, 2020 Guy Hayes Leave a comment

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

God’s Glory is not hidden

The glory of God surrounds us and is displayed in dramatic awe in the sky above and throughout the earth. “The Psalmist declares: the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.” [Psalm 19:1] His fingerprints are upon the skies, the world and all that we know as we watch for his trademark touches. His creativity is boundless and He creates a myriad of difference in a single species. Each snowflake, fingerprint, stripe of a tiger or zebra is both the same and unique. Then He built His created masterpiece, man, so many different colors, textures and features with the amazing tri-fold being: Spirit, Soul and Body.

Yikes Stripes! — Zebra stripes, like fingerprints are unique.

Even as we enjoy all that we can see exhibited, we have a chance as all creation to bless and praise Him for what he has done and for who He is. If we are bold enough to recognize how extraordinary it all is, and how awesome it is to experience it: “Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.” [Rom. 1:20a MSG]

God’s Thoughts

His Divine Being is one brief description of His Supreme Godhead. He is Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent (all-knowing, always present everywhere and all-powerful). He then conceals knowledge that we don’t need. He does this likely for our protection, but we really don’t know all that we don’t know. Our greatest minds attempt to explain things whose structure and function they have only an inkling about .

His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. [Isa 55:9] And our highest thoughts He has made absurd: As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent . . .

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.” [I Cor 1:20-21 NLT] How do we respond? Much of the time we don’t respond well . . . The skeptic swore, “There is no God! No God!—I can do anything I want! I’m more animal than human; so-called human intelligence escapes me. “I flunked ‘wisdom.’ I see no evidence of a holy God. Has anyone ever seen Anyone climb into Heaven and take charge? grab the winds and control them? gather the rains in his bucket? stake out the ends of the earth? Just tell me his name, tell me the names of his sons. Come on now—tell me!” [Proverbs 30: 1-4 MSG.]

We all know people who ask, “Why does God do this, Why didn’t he stop that? I would certainly do things differently.” If we understood why God did or didn’t do what he does, he wouldn’t be God would he?

to be continued . . .

Freedom, Kingship, throne, Uzziah

High and Lifted Up

May 10, 2016 Guy Hayes Leave a comment

Illustration by Krail1

I would desire that every believer get a revelation of Isaiah 6:1-7. Isaiah writes that he received a vision. He saw the LORD sitting on a throne high and exalted and the train of his robe filled the most holy place.

He explained that he received the vision after King Uzziah died. King Uzziah began his reign with sincere dedication to the things of God; re-constructing towers and wall and building wells for agriculture and livestock. Overtime, however, things changed. Uzziah became the poster child for being self-serving and self-centered. Shortly thereafter, Uzziah became lifted up with pride and as a result was struck with leprosy.

The death of King Uzziah is a direct reference to coming believers committing themselves completely to God and and divesting from their personal interests. Let me be clear, God wants us to be our own unique selves humble and full of affection for others. He does not want us to let ambition, desire(s), or greed be the motivating factor for our lives. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. [1John 2:16]

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” [NKJV] As we become more in tune with Him, he helps shape our desires so that we learn to appreciate genuine good things and slow our desires for worldly things, He changes us and then we become free.

As long as I am on the throne, king of my realm, un-accountable to any other, I cannot see His glory. He is not revealed, I am blinded to the things of God. If I still sit as King and Dictator of my life and actions, how can Christ be King?.

The degree to which I am able to free myself from my way of thinking, reacting and submerge myself into an urgent dependency upon God in a daily submission process
is the degree to which I become free. Then only am I free to be of service to others.

felicity, Kingship, longsuffering

Live like a King!

August 23, 2013 Guy Hayes Leave a comment

We cannot live like a King until we learn the discipline of the Kingdom (sonship)

Galatians 4:1-7 [focused on verses 1-2 and 7] from The Voice

1 Listen. I am going to explain how this all works: When a minor inherits an estate from his parents, although he is the owner of everything, he is the same as a slave. 2 Until the day set by his father, the minor is subject to the authorities or guardians whom his father put in charge. 3 It is like that with us; there was a time when we were like children held under the elemental powers of this world. 4 When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) 5 to free those who, just like Him,were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters.6 Because you are now part of God’s family, He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts;and the Spirit calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 You no longer have to live as a slave because you are a child of God. And since you are His child, God guarantees an inheritance is waiting for you.

A king who is a child cannot rule. He must learn the discipline it takes to rule: diplomacy, justice [law], compassion, obedience, longsuffering, patience, and faith. Until these lessons are learned, [s]he cannot inherit the rightful place of leadership she was born to. Christ had to learn obedience also and the Bible says he learned obedience by the things he suffered. [Hebrews 5:8]

We have a difficult time inheriting our place in the Kingdom because we have no discipline – we stay up too late, watch too much TV, don’t want to fast, hate missing out on pleasure, have no desire to profit from exercise, fail to read the Word, etc. The book of Proverbs chastises us for being lazy (vs. 19:24 and many more). Yet we remain undisciplined and the will to be more disciplined is absent.

Interestingly, from the book of Job, we find a passage that describes what God wants from us and how he will help move us in this direction. Chapter 36

5 Look! God has great strength, but He does not detest human beings; He is mighty indeed, and His heart swells with understanding.

6     He does not preserve the life of the wicked,
        but He grants justice to those who are weak and humble.
7     He does not divert His gaze from the righteous;
        He enthrones them with monarchs,
        lifts them up to positions of power forever.
8     And if the people are restrained in chains,
        caught in the cords of their misery,
9     Then He explains to them their exploits,
        their errors, and how they have lived in arrogance.
10     He uncovers their ears so as to hear His teaching
        and commands them to abandon their sinful path.
11     If they hear and choose to serve Him,
        then they end their days in prosperity and their years in felicity.
12     But if they refuse to listen,  then they will pass over to the land of death by the sword
        and will arrive, lacking any wisdom, at their death.

vs. 10 in the King James says: “He openeth their ear to discipline . . . ” which explains the definition in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia ” . . . refers to moral discipline, the strenuous cultivation of the righteous life” He helps us come to gather the discipline, the hunger and thirst after His word, the need to be in His presence, the realization of how ghastly and desolate life is without Him!

To that end I rejoice in Phillipians 2:13 which reads: 13 [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while [a]effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and [b]delight. [Amplified]

He is working to give us the discipline to seek him and to will and work to fulfill His purpose for us!! Praise Him for His marvelous acts!!

God is so good that he will establish us on thrones [In His throne Rev. 3:21] and the places where we need to learn and do better will He show to us including the iniquities and transgressions we have done.

He has no greater pleasure than to act as our father. Gracious and good yet firm and demanding the best of us. Interested in getting from us our best and being a rewarded of those who want to reach the mark. More about that later . . .

Grace and peace!