May 02, 2016
""This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him."" (John 2:11)
What we need (always and especially right now) is to see Christ ""manifest His glory."" To ""manifest"" means that something becomes visible and clear. Undeniably and unmistakably evident.
GOD ON DISPLAY
Theologians speak of the ""manifest presence"" of the Lord in days of great revival. In fact, that is the simplest definition of revival.
There are degrees of His presence. God is present everywhere and all the time. This is His omnipresence. And we can also cultivate His presence (""Draw near to God and He will draw near to you"" James 4:8).
But the manifest presence of God is when God chooses to make Himself very clearly known and seen. When He opens the windows of heaven and comes down to remind us of things we could not possibly see or know otherwise. This is what we observe in the Great Awakenings. Even unbelieving men can recognize in these moments that something is radically different.
Is there anything we can do to open the door for this to occur? Can we cooperate with God in ways that invite His manifest presence?
AGGRESSIVE OBEDIENCE
God is sovereign and He chooses to make Himself known as He desires. He can do this with us or without us. But there is some indication in Scripture that there are things we can do that prepare a highway for God and invite His presence.
Jesus' mother knew Christ and His power. When the wine gave out at a wedding in Cana, she simply told the servants seven life-changing words:
""Whatever He says to you, do it."" (John 2:5)
They promptly and fully followed His leadership and a miracle occurred. It was not done by their obedience, but their willingness opened the way for the manifest presence of God.
“Whatever He says to you, do it” should be the defining sentence of our lives.
MORE FAITH
The result of Jesus' manifesting His glory was more faith. He ""manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him."" In fact, here we are 2,000 years later, and this manifestation is still leading us to deeper belief in our miracle-working God.
If you long to see your faith grow and help others to grow in their belief in Jesus, don’t quench the Spirit today. If you want to see God’s manifested glory in your life, your home, your church, our nation then promptly and fully obey the promptings of His Spirit and the illumination of His Word.
Whatever He says to you, do it...and see what our gracious Lord will do.
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