He preordained us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Today I will continue My instructions on how to know My Will by Life Lesson No. 14: “To the Praise of His Glory.” Your life is to be an expression of My glory in you and through you. Your life is a testimony of My goodness and your works reflect that and give out My goodness to the world. It is all about grace.
I preordained you to adoption as My children through Jesus Christ to Myself, according to the kind intention of My will, to the praise of the glory of My grace, which I freely bestowed on you in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6.
Jesus glorified Me on earth having accomplished the work I gave Him to do. John 17:4. So you see a key here. And Jesus explained to you that when you abide in Him and His Word abides in you, you become His disciples and bear much fruit and I am glorified by this. John 15:7-8.
What is My glory? When Moses asked to see My glory My answer was “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” Exodus 33:19. And I show grace and compassion to you in the glory of My Son. My glory descended when good things came from My compassion. Christ in you, your hope of glory. My goodness, My power, and My presence.
The first time My glory appears in the Bible in a tangible presence seen by all is when I was about to rain down manna from Heaven, a substance unknown to man from Heaven itself. And Jesus is the true bread that comes down from Heaven for a man to eat and never die. The glory of eternal life, even now, working in you.
Jesus is My Word. And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among you, and you saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from Me, the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14. For of His fullness you have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16. Jesus came forth from deep within Me, in My bosom, John 1:18, and that is where the glory lies, and that is where He has drawn you back with Him into that glory. Adam and Eve left that glory and found themselves naked. Jesus told you that He was going to prepare a place for you in Me and that He would come back and take you in with Him, which He has. And this is the testimony of your life, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them you too all formerly lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But I, your Creator and LORD, being rich in mercy, refused to leave you that way because of My great love with which I loved you from before I formed the world, even when you were dead in your transgressions, I made you alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised you up with Him, and seated you with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come I will show the surpassing riches of My grace in kindness toward you in Christ Jesus to the praise of My glory which now rests on you.
Now, by My Holy Spirit, you have access to Me and become a house of God and a gate of Heaven. Jesus prayed for this the night He was betrayed and given over to death for your sins, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:22-24.
And it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And that grace has made you holy, blameless, and without reproach by the blood of My Son, who I gave for you, for in Him you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of your trespasses, according to the riches of My grace which I lavished on you. Ephesians 1:7. And that grace has healed you, has increased you, and made you a new creation in Christ. I have glorified you. Romans 8:30. You are a testimony of My grace for all the world to see. For you, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having believed in Him, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of your inheritance, with a view to the redemption of possession, to the praise of My glory. Ephesians 1:13-14.
Your life is to be a praise to My glory. You are a living praise of My goodness. And how do you live this and then give it out? For what you have freely received, you are to freely give. Let us consider the demoniac of the Gerasene territory and I think you will understand. If you recall, My Son knew from My direction that He and His disciples were to cross to the other side of the lake of Galilee even though they had a day filled with crowds, teachings, and miracle cures taking place, so on that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Mark 5:35. Well, a storm hit the lake as Jesus slept but the disciples woke Him, crying out in fear that they would perish in the strength of the storm. Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 5:39-40. The devil will try to stop you by storms and fear when he is aware what is in the place I am sending you and that he is about to lose territory and lives he has taken captive if you get there. Never let him stop you from what I have told you to do, for if I told you to go to the other side, like when I told Paul he would testify in Rome, you know you are going to get there no matter what comes in your way.
And when they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes, when Jesus had just gotten out of the boat, a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was naked, screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” And now you see why the devil threw up that storm. He did not want to lose this soul in which he had established a stronghold, filled with his demons, and taken the man captive to do his will on the earth. Mark 5:1-8.
Jesus had been saying to the demonic spirit that possessed the man, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” And he began to implore Jesus earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. Mark 5:9-13.
Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. But they had a very strange reaction. When they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; they became frightened. Before he had frightened them and made their roads around that area unsafe but seeing him back in his right mind scared them too, in fact, even more than the possessed state. Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. And they began to implore Him to leave their region. So this region was on that day hardened to My Son and did not rejoice in the miracle of deliverance that had taken place.
As My Son was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. But My Son did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” THIS WAS TO THE PRAISE OF MY GLORY. His life was a testimony of deliverance. And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis (the ten cities) what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed for they had seen him for years in his insanity and demon possession and now they saw him sane, well dressed, and at peace, starting his life anew. He witnessed to My goodness as administered through Jesus. In fact, as he preached the good news so many got excited about Jesus that when Jesus later returned to their territory they did not ask Him to leave but brought all their sick from the surrounding area of the Decapolis to be healed and to hear the wonderful Word of Jesus. And wherever He went in that area—villages, or cities, or countryside—they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured. Mark 6:53-56. The maniac became a missionary and his life became an expression of My glory—in what it did in him and what it did through him—to the praise of My glory. Jesus delivered him from a crazy, naked, evil, unfruitful life to a fruitful life of good deeds filled with peace.
I have made you a new creation in Christ and in you is the Light of the world, Christ in you, your hope of glory. For you are My workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which I prepared beforehand so that you would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10. So let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify Me, your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16.
Whenever My Son healed, delivered, and blessed a person, the crowds glorified Me that I had given such authority to men. And I told you that you who believe in His Name would do the works He did and greater. You have been filled to overflowing with My goodness, Jeremiah 31:14, isn’t it time you shared it to the praise of My glory?
I love you. Be a testimony and cause others to have testimonies. If the maniac of Gennesaret did it at the Word of Jesus, so can you. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17. And that is to the praise of My glory. Arise, shine; for your light has come, and My glory has risen upon you. Isaiah 60:1.