The Glory Of The Lord Is Rising

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I was listening to worship music and adoring God alone at our house. After a while, I knelt on my knees in God’s presence. When the music ended, I decided to wait in silence until I heard God speak. It wasn’t easy to wait, but I pushed aside impatience and lack of focus. Finally I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Arise. Shine.” I knew it was a phrase from the Bible, but I waited a little longer. Not hearing Him speak anymore, I got up and searched for the verse.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. Isaiah 60:1 NIV

A Word of Encouragement

This word from the Lord encouraged me so much! Even though I was pursuing Him the best I knew how, I had felt no change in my life. His quiet and pure voice in that moment of silence reassured me to continue on the path I was on.

God sees what we cannot see. Our determination to seek Him brings us toward Him even if we do not feel a change yet. Do not be discouraged. Seek His presence every day.

Love And Honor The Lord

I found that Isaiah 59, 60 and 61, paint a prophetic picture of a great outpouring of God’s glory upon His people. This outpouring will happen during a spiritually dark time when violence in the streets is not being brought to justice Isaiah 59:7-9. Despite all the increasing turmoil in our world, God’s glory is now rising upon those who seek Him with all of their hearts Isaiah 60:1-3. The Lord will display His splendor to all the nations through His children, and He will receive the honor due His name! Isaiah 60:21-22

Throughout the last few years, Christians of all ages have been on the streets all over the world, sharing the good news of Jesus. Isaiah 61:1-3 They have been healing the sick, driving out demons, and even raising the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus asked us to do.

The Bride of Christ (God’s people) is getting dressed in the beautiful glory of God, just like a bride gets dressed for her groom! Isaiah 61:10-11 The Lord’s glory is being displayed throughout the earth and people are in awe of His majesty and His extravagant love!

There Will Be Opposition

Where God’s goodness and glory rises, there will be spiritual opposition from Satan that will be demonstrated outwardly. This happens in the Body of Christ as a whole and in our personal lives as well.

The moment I told the Lord that I just wanted to get close to Him no matter the cost, two things happened. The Lord began to reveal Himself to me in supernatural ways, and the devil began to harass me fiercely! We must not be dismayed by what is happening around us, no matter how bad the news becomes. Instead, seek the Lord’s presence all the more! He will lift us up above the chaos and give us peace. He has done that for me and He will do it for you!

Wake Up!

The glory of the Lord rises like the morning sun! It is our spiritual daybreak, so let’s wake up and participate in the Light of God’s Presence. Unfortunately, some Christians will keep hitting the spiritual snooze button and slip into more and more darkness, depression, hopelessness and sin. We must rise up in the light of God’s presence, be washed by His grace, and clothe ourselves in Christ!

Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this because we know the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires. Romans 13:10, 11&14 NET

The Kingdom Of Light

There are two spiritual kingdoms. The kingdom of darkness is ruled by Satan. But the Kingdom of God, also called the Kingdom of Light, is ruled by the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:12-13

As we allow God’s Holy Spirit to rule and reign in our lives, anxiety, depression, fear, bitterness, and all forms of sin are driven out. God wants to replace darkness with His light, like the sunrise causes the night to become day.

As Christians, we live in the world, but we are not of it. Philippians 3:18-20 When we follow the Holy Spirit we live from a different spiritual realm, surrounded by God’s love and grace. Anything in our thoughts, words or actions that doesn’t belong in Heaven doesn’t belong in our lives on earth. Those things need to be crucified with Christ Galatians 2:20 so we can display His glory.

For this reason He says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.” Ephesians 5:14 AMP

The Adirondack Chair

Some time before my arise and shine moment, the Lord affirmed His love for me in a very special way. Shortly before dawn, I was sitting alone in an Adirondack chair on the side of our back yard. Concerned that I might be late for work, I set my phone timer for 30 minutes. Then I began my prayer time. After speaking to the Lord for about 5 minutes, I gave Him the last 25 to say whatever He wanted to. This was a fairly new venture in my prayer life at the time.

Well, I waited and waited. I grew impatient and reminded the Lord that I was going to have to get ready for work in 10 minutes– as if He didn’t know! Then I waited some more, listening quietly. I was beginning to feel like a failure in prayer but was determined to give God time to speak. Although there was no beautiful view, just a wall, a fence, and the side of our house, the sun began to rise somewhere behind me bringing color to the sky. Hummingbirds were putting on a show, fighting over the nectar feeder on the fence.

Hummingbird Encounter

Suddenly, one of them flew over to me. It hovered about two feet away from my face, slightly to the right. I slowly turned my head and looked straight at it. It’s long beak was too close for comfort and it’s eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger as we stared at each other! The sound of it’s wings was astounding! I was surprised at how long it stayed there, flying in place like a helicopter, but then it finally flew away. Even though it was an exhilarating experience, I was glad that I could get back to prayer.

Looking at my phone, I saw that in two or three minutes my alarm would begin to sound. Disappointed, I said, “Lord, if you’re going to speak, you’re going to have to do it now.”

Then He said so clearly to my heart, “I just did.” It took me a few seconds to realize that He was referring to the hummingbird. The Lord continued, “You’re sweet.”

I began to cry, feeling the overwhelming love of the Father. He saw me as a beautiful flower, attractive, and full of His sweetness.

Dawn Is Breaking

So, what does that story have to do with the glory of the Lord? Well, not every encounter with the Lord will be that unusual. But every time we push aside our earthly distractions to submissively seek God, His glory rises in us. When we pursue Jesus with all our hearts, He will speak. His words always bring light. They cut like a two edged sword, taking out the lies of the enemy and bringing healing to our hearts.

The truth is that I did not believe I was sweet. Deep down where it mattered, I didn’t feel beautiful and valued inside. Instead, the enemy had convinced me that I was wilted, dried up and had little to offer. I loved the Lord and didn’t want to displease Him, so I tried really hard to be a blessing to others. But inside I was running on empty. My true identity in Christ and my value in His eyes had been shut up in a dark closet of my heart. I wasn’t even aware of it until He spoke. Then the dawn broke and His love illuminated a little part of my soul.

The Truth Will Set You Free

We cannot allow the taunts and lies of the devil, other people, or even our own thoughts, to cause us to forget who we are in Christ! When we were born again, we became perfect in His sight– all things became new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 We must always remind ourselves of the extravagance of God’s grace so that we don’t diminish the inheritance He purchased for us. The Holy Spirit Himself fills us with His sweetness and His beauty! He is glorified when we see ourselves correctly!

If I had not waited, I would have missed a very special supernatural impartation from the Holy Spirit. The sun broke through that morning, not only in my back yard, but deep in my heart. I experienced a little ray of God’s glory bringing me a little closer to His heart.

Be Still… Wait… Listen… Linger…

The day I heard, “Arise. Shine” and the day I encountered God through a hummingbird I waited on God. Much of that time was spent in complete silence. Now I see that the Lord was giving me a clue. Waiting on the Lord is a real-time event that causes His glory to increase.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NIV

Rest In The Grace Of His Presence

There is a time to study the Word, a time to declare the Word in spiritual warfare and a time to do things He has planned for us to do. God wants us to work, spend time with our families, play and do all of life motivated by His love. But when we spend time in His presence, He renews us, transforms us and fills us with Himself so we can live for Him. He saved us so we could be close to Him– in the heavenly realms of His Spirit.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6 NIV

Rise Higher

I believe powerful things take place in the spiritual realm when we linger and wait for God in prayer. The opposition we feel comes not only from our natural habits and distractions, but from the spiritual forces of the kingdom of darkness. As we push these away by waiting on the Lord, we are awakening to a higher place. It may take much practice, but we can encounter Him.

The glory of God is rising upon the earth as the kingdom of darkness flaunts its sin. The Kingdom of Light is about to shine like never before. So wake up and shine! Your Light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you!

To learn how you can experience the power of God’s love and grace, please follow this link: Meet Jesus