Learning to Give God The Glory

³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

 Last week we looked at the definition of the ministry. To refresh your memory, according to Warren Wiersbe, ministry happens when the divine resources meet human needs through loving channels for the Glory of God. These four elements come together whenever the ministry takes place. We have no issue with divine resources as we know some things are beyond our power, and we recognize the hand of God in certain circumstances. Peter healed the lame man from birth, and all who witnessed it knew there was supernatural power at work. We also understand human needs, which are beyond our abilities, such as healing. Most of us are eager to be the loving channels and for God to use us to address human needs. But, the fourth element, giving God the Glory, is not in our DNA. This is a crucial step for Christian growth. Satan knows how to stroke our egos and uses success to draw us away and hinder our growth. If you want to a powerful ministry, and impactful witness, you are going to have to understand what it means to “Give God The Glory.”

The word Glory is unique to the Bible. You will not find it in other religious texts. Throughout the Bible, we read about “GLORY OF GOD” and “Glory to the God.” Glory is firstly used to describe God’s brilliance, radiance, majesty, and splendor. We can not give God this sort of glory. It would be like adding a drop of water in the ocean. The word “GLORY” is secondly used by means of giving credit, honor, respect, reverence, and praise due to God. Learning to give God glory in this respect is so vital in our walk with Him. The old man lusts after the flesh, he seeks to glorify himself, but in Christ, we are new creatures, and we are in such owe of “THE GLORY OF GOD” ( the first kind), we seek to “GIVE GLORY TO GOD” ( second kind) in all we do. Peter says in his first letter, chapter 4, verse 11, in all you do give Glory to God. 

We have numerous examples of such men in the Bible. And, the astounding thing is when you don’t seek your Glory but instead Extol God, He gives you honor beyond your imagination. We see this in the life of Joseph; He was in prison, and before that, a slave in Potipher’s household. He could have boasted about his abilities when he was beckoned to interpret Pharoah’s dream. He could have listed his past accomplishments and success stories, but Joseph simply said: “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” And, as you read the rest of the account, at every opportunity, Joseph removes himself from the equation and gives glory to God. And as he gave God the Glory, Pharoah elevated Joseph in the kingdom. Joseph gave God the glory, and God glorified Joseph. In your life, In your church ministry, do you give God the glory? Or do you attribute your success to your upbringing, education, planning, resources ( money), hard work, intelligence, physical strength? God wants to bless us all in the same manner as Joseph. But we need to learn; it is God who is doing the work, not us. Throughout the Bible, we see, God took those who were weak, fearful, wavering, timid to accomplish mighty tasks, so there was no doubt, He was the reason for success. Look at Gideon, he was the least in his tribe, and God used him, Samson was captured, blinded, and enslaved when he chose not to give glory to God but once he came to the realization the source of his strength, God used him to wipe out Philistines. Joshua, who fought and won many battles, was fearful. If you read Joshua 1, God tells him about 20 times, “FEAR NOT OR DO NOT BE AFRAID,” yet God used him to conquer the promised land. Moses stuttered, David was small in stature, and Daniel was a slave, yet God used all of them for His glory. We are to glorify God through our abilities, and when you do that, God will elevate you.

By the way, when you see a ministry, pastor, preacher who is seeking self-glory, it is a sure sign of the false teacher. Please do not support this kind of ministries and pastor; they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. If they are showing you their qualifications, degrees, medals, past achievements, and how they have worked hard to build a thriving church, ministry, and not giving God the glory, run from them. Job illustrated this so well although he is suffering and has lost everything, he continued to give praise and glory to God, and as we all know, God restored him to his former fame. There is no other story that explains this point more fully than the reunion of Jacob & Esau. Jacob, who represents the spirit and Esau, the flesh, have such a different attitude toward their blessings. Read the following two verses, and you will clearly see that flesh ( Esau) fails to give Glory to God, but Jacob ( spirit) gives all honor to God. Jacob is coming back to Cannan after running away from Esau. As a peace offering, he offers Esau many gifts, and this is how Esau responds in Genesis 33 verse 9, But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” Now Here is Jacob’s response to Esau and notice who Joseph gives credit to for his wealth 11 Please, take my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have [a]enough.” So he urged him, and he took it. 

Do you have the heart of Jacob or Esau? If you are a Christian, you are a new creature, and you must let go of your old self. God wants to use you, elevate you and give you glory, but he can only accomplish great things through you when you learn to give glory to HIM. In John 6, As soon as Jesus fed 5000, the crowd wanted to crown Him a King, As soon as Peter healed the lame beggar, they tried to put him on a pedestal, When Paul just shook off a snake from his hand, those around him thought he was a god. Jesus knew His mission was to Glorify His father. Peter & Paul could have easily been tempted to bask in the glory of their success and bring attention to themselves instead of pointing people to Jesus. Our commission is not to draw attention to ourselves but rather draw people to Christ. Satan can use our pride to draw our focus away from God, where our witness becomes more about achievements rather than what God has done in our life. We must learn to give God the Glory for every breath we take. For a victorious Christian living, learning to give God the glory, and knowing it is not about you is an essential lesson. Don’t seek glory from people, serve God faithfully, and give him the honor and reverence, and God will provide you exceedingly and abundantly. Amen