What is it your faith prompts you to do?

I don't know how you get the topics for your blogs, but I often get inspired while reading the Bible, by sentences jumping off the page. I love it when that happens, it means God's Spirit is talking to me!

One such sentence can be found in John 17:4 where Jesus is speaking:

I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

Jesus brought glory to His Father by finishing/completing the work God gave Him to do. Work on earth, that is. I used that sentence in my blog series 'Glory to the Father'. 

And that blog series resulted in a few more blog posts about calling. Based on the words in Ephesians 2:10, I sincerely believe we are all called to do something particular, here on earth that is. Some people find that hard to believe. Others think the works need to be huge works, earth-shattering stuff... you know, the works famous people do.

Small stuff, big stuff... it doesn't matter, as long as we do what we are called to do! The Bible makes it clear, it is hard to miss it. Let's take a look at 2 Thessalonians 1:11,

So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.

Now, if that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will. Again, we see this sentence (as in Ephesians 4:1) that we should live a life worthy of His call. Our call is also to bring glory to the Father by completing the work He gives us to do. Whatever it is. We cannot do it in our own strength, He will give us the power!

👉... accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. 

What is it your faith prompts you to do? Go for it, do it! Why? Because...

Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:12).

Glory to the Father (5)

To God belongs the glory, which basically means He deserves all honor. And 'He' is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, of course. In this blog series, I highlighted the glory given to the Father.

If you want to learn more about the exchanging of honor and glory, please read chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17 of the Gospel of John over and over again. It will surely bless you.

I would like to end this blog series with the prayer of Jesus as recorded in John 17. Verse one says:

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.

Right until His final hours on earth, Jesus had the desire to give glory to His Father. He did not want to keep it for Himself. There was this constant exchange, which I find fascinating. Desiring to give back to God what we receive from Him in the first place. What if we lived our lives that way?

Jesus lived His life that way, for sure. In verse 4 He says:

I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

Such marvelous words. Let's make them personal. The Lord has works to do for you and me, there is no doubt about it. He planned it that way (read Ephesians 2:10 in as many translations as you can)!

👉What is it He called you to do? I strongly believe we all have something particular to do, apart from the general works we are called to do as believers. If you don't know what it is, pray, seek Him, and ask Him. If you already do know what it is, do it. Stop procrastinating, stop making excuses. Pick it up again if you are discouraged. Let's bring glory to the Father here on earth by completing the work He gave us to do!

Glory to the Father (4)

Thank you for joining me in this new blog series. Isn't it fascinating to see the different ways God the Father gets the glory? And by looking at John 14,15,16, and 17, we are barely scratching the surface!

[By the way, we are looking at the Greek word for glory here: δόξα (dóxa). The Hebrew word as used in the Old Testament is a totally different story.]

So far we have seen that Jesus brings glory to the Father by answering our prayers (John 14:12-14), which is truly the desire of His heart.

We furthermore discovered that we, as children of God, can bring glory to the Father by producing much fruit and being true disciples (John 15:8). Which in short happens when we become more like Him.

And there is more. When we continue to read the gospel of John, we come to chapter 16:13 where Jesus talks about the work of the Holy Spirit:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

So, the Holy Spirit brings glory to Jesus, How? By telling us whatever He receives from Jesus. And everything Jesus entrusts to the Spirit (to forward to us) comes from the Father. He honors the Father in the process. There is simply no way to disconnect the Three-in-One.

Glory to the Father (3)

In my previous post, I wrote that answering our prayers enables Jesus to bring glory to His Father. A wonderful thought and the desire of His heart.

I furthermore reasoned that it would be wonderful for all the sons and daughters of God (us) to bring glory to our heavenly Father. How? By doing His will on earth as it is in heaven.

Now Jesus knew this to be true as well. He told His disciples (John 15:8):

👉When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

We are asked to produce MUCH fruit, not just a little. What does it mean to produce fruit? In my humble opinion, it means that godly character is visible in our lives, in the things we do or say (read Galatians 5:22-25). People will see God through us, just as they saw the Father through Jesus when He walked the earth.

We can do many things, good works even, but only if inspired by Jesus will it count for eternity. He said: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me (John 15:4).

He even goes on (verse 5) to say that apart from Him we can do nothing! Let me put it this way, trying to be fruitful outside of Him, is useless and a waste of time. It does not bring glory to the Father. But being true disciples does!

Glory to the Father (2)

'Jesus wants to bring glory to the Father', I wrote in my previous post. How do we know this? Let's take a look at His words as written down in John 14:12-14,

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

If we ask for anything in the name of Jesus, He will do it. Why? 👉Because that way He can bring glory to the Father. Think about that, answering our prayers enables Jesus to bring glory to His Father.

Some translations say that the Father can be glorified in the Son. I find that a fascinating thought. It must be Jesus' joy to answer our prayers, doing what the Father wants Him to do! Again, you might wonder why. The Bible says it is God's desire that His will is being done on earth, as it is being done in heaven. No difference, just the same.

Oh my goodness, Jesus did the will of the Father, for sure. But what if we would do the will of the Father here on earth? We, as His sons and daughters, would also bring glory to our heavenly Father. What a joy that will be, for all of us 😁

His will is His Word (the Bible). Let me give you His will, the size of a refrigerator magnet:

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Glory to the Father (1)

My very first blog series this year will be about the glory that we can bring to God the Father. A fascinating topic that deserves a closer look.

👉I hope you will join me in the coming weeks.

The word 'glory' as found in the Bible has a wide range of meanings, such as praise, splendor, honor, and brilliance, all from the base meaning of the awesome light that radiates from God's presence and is associated with His acts of power, honor, and praise (source: Strongest Concordance).

Now, within Christianity, we often hear (or utter) the phrase: 'All glory goes to Jesus', and rightly so. But the Bible also speaks about Jesus bringing glory to the Father. It was His desire to bring glory to His Father and I think the same desire should live in the hearts of all the other children of God!

In this blog series, I want to specifically look into the glory that Jesus wants to bring to His Father as it is mentioned in John, chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17. In these chapters it becomes clear how Jesus wants to give glory to His Father and I believe His actions should greatly encourage us in our daily lives.

I will keep my posts short and I hope you will read along!