PURSUING GOD’S GLORY (7)

“I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer” (Psalm 63:4 NLT).

Pursuit of God is a lifelong commitment to cultivate an increasingly intimate relationship with Him. Building a strong and deep relationship with any person is usually a tasking job that demands earnestness, exertion and endurance. The feebleminded cannot seek God. They would lack the patience and fortitude to study the ways of God and understand His operational models.  God does not work with our time frame but with His. He is neither slow nor fast in the ways we understand those terms, but is always on time and in time for what He plans to do. Seeking God demands unflinching dedication to the lifestyle of praise –a habit of praising God at all times, when situations are praise-worthy and when they are not. This is not the way human beings naturally respond to situations but it’s God’s chosen way.  

Praise attracts God and confers on humans the privilege of hosting His Presence.  David underscores this unique power of praise when he declared, “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3 NKJV). The Hebrew word interpreted “enthroned” means “to sit down, to dwell, to remain or to settle.” God does not just come when you praise Him; He comes to sit down with you and to settle as He enjoys the sweet aroma of your praise and worship.  Praising God draws Him to us and causes Him to remain with us affording us a unique opportunity to develop intimate relationship with Him. In a nutshell, praise occasions a habitation of God among His worshiping community.

The mystery of praise is demonstrated in the manifold ways God blessed Judah, the son of Jacob.  Judah means praise. “Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the LORD!...” (Genesis 29:35 NLT). Judah was the most favoured son of Jacob by divine election. Left to Jacob, Joseph would have gotten everything but God chose Judah.  Jacob prophesied over Judah with these words:

“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you.  Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down; he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. (Genesis 49:8-10 NKJV)

The mantle for leadership was upon Judah. He was the one his brothers shall praise. Accordingly, the greatest kings of the ancient Israel were descendants of Judah.  David, a grandson of Judah was outstanding as a worshiper of God. He wrote the majority of the psalms and elevated the worship of God to a national status in Israel. Our Lord Jesus was a descendant of Judah, therefore the sceptre did not depart from him or the lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh (Jesus) came. Praise was perfected in Christ. Another descendant of Judah, Solomon had the awesome privilege of building for God a place of habitation (2 Chronicles 6:2), where praises were offered continually to Him.

God’s attraction to praise has not changed. Until today, He still communicates Himself to those who praise Him in every circumstance. God shows up anywhere He is praised.  When Jehoshaphat praised Him in the battlefield, He showed up and granted Him victory without a fight.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.” Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. (2 Chronicles 20:21-22 NKJV)

If you are hungry for the manifest Presence of God, praise will bring Him. He enjoys hanging out with people who praise Him. When you lift Him up in praise, He comes in glory to honour you and to bless you. Praise magnifies God and unleashes our faith to trust Him more. Praise emboldens us to pray more effectively. Praise draws His power to meet our need. Stay on your track in pursuit of God but remember that a lifestyle of praise will get you there faster than any other means.   

PURSUING GOD’S GLORY (6)

“So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory” (Psalm 63:2 NKJV).

One of the places people expect to find God is in His sanctuary.  The sanctuary is a place of worship –a place where people gather routinely to worship God. The tabernacles of Moses and David, the temple of Solomon, as well as the Jewish Synagogues are examples of sanctuaries mentioned in the Bible.  In those days, people who were hungry for fellowship with God usually go to the sanctuary to do so. “Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp” (Exodus 33:7 NKJV). Thus, it was a biblical tradition for people to go to the sanctuary to seek God.  God honoured those who came to look for Him with His manifest Presence. Here was the testimony of Moses: “And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. Therefore, the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle” (Exodus 33:9, 11 NKJV). What glorious encounters Moses and Joshua must have enjoyed as they sought God in the sanctuary!

 Did you realise that while Moses and Joshua enjoyed a face-to-face encounter with God, the rest of the people were satisfied worshiping at a distance from the comfort of their tent doors. “All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door” (Exodus 33:10 NKJV).Here was God, available to all the people, but only two could step out of their comfort zones to seek God in the sanctuary. The mere fact of leaving your shop, office, or house to go to church to spend some personal time with God is a strong enough a signal to yourself  as well as to God that you mean business. While it is okay to pray at your tent doors, it will help greatly to go to church when there is no service going on just to hang out with God in His house.

I recall how I used to go to the church as a small boy to pray.  What motivated me then was the understanding that God was present in the Blessed Sacrament and would readily hear me when I pray.  Granted that I was not born again then, but most of the prayers I prayed then were answered.  Anytime someone takes time out of a busy day to seek God in His sanctuary, great blessings always accrues to such a person. When I came into Owerri newly, I used to go to the Holiness Evangelistic Church auditorium to pray in the afternoons when the noise would be at its peak at my office then at 197 Wetheral Road. Such personal times in the Presence of God in His sanctuary were most invaluable in my spiritual development.  The Psalmist therefore modelled a habit worthy of our emulation –making time to go to the sanctuary for a personal encounter with God’s Presence.

What was the dominant desire of David as he sought God in His sanctuary?  “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory” (Psalm 63:2 NKJV). He desired to experience the power and the glory of God. He did not only want to have a right concept of God, but also to experience an encounter with His Person.  He did not want to be counted among those whom Paul described to Timothy as “having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5 KJV).  To experience the power and glory of God in our lives as individuals in our time together in church for corporate worship would demand the manifest Presence of God. Power and glory flows from His Presence and not merely from having accurate principles about God.  Whenever God shows up, power explodes and glory is revealed.  Don’t come to church just for a rehearsal of the principles of God but to experience His manifest Presence. It is only as we encounter His Presence that we will see His power and glory. O God we need more of Your Presence at any cost in Jesus Name. 

PURSUING GOD’S GLORY (5)

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me” (Psalm 63:8 KJV).

As the prophet Elijah began his last journey on earth, his servant Elisha resolved to inherit his legacy. He determined to cling to Elijah with undivided attention and unclouded focus. On three different occasions, Elijah tried to discourage Elisha from following him, but on those three occasions, his suggestions hit a stone wall in Elisha –“As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you...”(2 Kings 2:4,6,9 NKJV). The younger prophet was resolute in his determination to inherit the legacy of his master.

Finally, the day came when Elijah was to be translated to heaven by a fiery chariot. He called Elisha to make one final request from him before he was taken up. Elisha, who had been amazed at the intensity of the power of God upon Elijah, asked for a double portion of the anointing on Elijah. By asking for a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit, Elisha was simply asking to become the heir of Elijah and therefore be favoured to step into his prophetic office and gifts. This request was beyond the powers of Elijah to grant because only God determines who serves as His prophet. Elijah responded that Elisha’s request would be granted on one condition –“if you see me when I am taken up from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so” (2 Kings 2:10 NKJV). On hearing the condition for his request to be met, Elisha clung to Elijah with even firmer determination so as not to miss what God is about to do with him. He followed hard after Elijah! 

To follow hard after a thing is to pursue it with such a resolve as if your whole life depends on getting that thing. In our context, to follow hard after God means to seek and yearn after His intimacy with an ever-increasing intensity. It is to do everything within your power once you find God, to keep Him with you at all cost. For many of us, our quest for God ends with our conversion.  The new birth experience signals the beginning of spiritual relationship with God, which is nurtured for as long as the person has the breath of life. There is so much growing in God that will last forever. Several years ago, I was much troubled by the insatiable desire to know more of God that I asked God about it. He gave me an answer that settles it for me forever. He said, “Maturity in Christ is always a goal for those who are not fools.”  In our relationship with God, the moment you begin to feel that you have arrived, you know you are only beginning. Anytime you feel you are on top, it indicates you are right at the bottom.

Following hard after God means, to pursue Him closely through the thick and thin of life with all the energy at our disposal.  It is being full and being hungry at the same time. In the physical world, the more food we eat, the less hungry we feel. It is the opposite in the spiritual. The more of God we have, the hungrier for Him we become.  God is an infinite mystery, which will forever remain unexplored by our finite mind. Genuine hunger for God drives us to His Presence resulting in increasing waves of encounter as we yearn for more and more of Him. God invites us to dive deeper and deeper into the knowledge of His glory. His invitation is also His assurance that we will never be disappointed.

Our souls follow hard after God simply because He upholds us with His right hand.  None can pursue God unless He bids him to come.  As A.W. Tozer observed in his ever-refreshing classic, The Pursuit of God, “The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him. All the time we are pursuing Him, we are already in His hand: “Thy right hand upholdeth me.” What a truth! The desire to follow hard after God is a proof that we are already firmly secure in His hand. At no other time is following hard after God more needful than now. Many are following after mere mirage, which will end in avoidable heart aches. Only God is worthy of our pursuits because only Him truly satisfies. Resolve with the Psalmist to follow hard after Him even as He upholds you in His right hand in Jesus Name.