The Glory Realm

by Barbara Yoder

Ringing in my ears are the words of multiple prophets saying get ready, the world is going to change fast and so is the church. Some share it from a more positive standpoint, others less so. The first kind cause me to anticipate what is coming, the second make me nervous. I don't always like to think or know what the future holds from a natural standpoint; particularly when its not pleasant and I can't change it. What if I knew I would be in the middle of a disaster tomorrow? What would I do differently?

Who expected their kitchen, living room, bedrooms to be flooded in Nashville? If they had, how would they have responded? Would it have helped to know? What could they have done to prepare-pile up sandbags around their homes, move to a neighboring town or city? What about Haiti, Chile, China-nations whose people have experienced devastating earthquakes? Homes are sitting in a pile of rubble, hopes are dashed, devastation remains and corresponding disasters mount up.

Will you and I be immune? Will something strike the base, the security of our existence, our home, family, neighbors, friends, job-our future?

Confidence in God

The other day I was reading Paul's words to the Philippians. He said something very provoking. First of all he expressed that he was confident that God, who had begun to work in them would finish it, complete it, keep at it until it was done-until they were either dead or Jesus had returned. (Phil 1:6) I had not remembered that this confidence, this great encouragement was being sent to the people while he himself was imprisoned.

Paul went on to say: "It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus." (Phil 1:7-8)

Here is Paul in this seemingly God forsaken situation, yet he was filled with the very presence and heart of God, speaking encouragingly to the Philippians. He was in prison, there was the possibility he could die. Yet later on in that same chapter, Paul said, "Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.   I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phil 1:18-21 NIV)

Paul wasn't pontificating. We can only do that when we are not in the midst of a dark, dirty, bug and rat infested prison. I can get "carried away in grandeur" when I imagine how I would respond in such situations; yet in reality I am lying on a beach chair imagining such things while listening to the waves hypnotically wash up on the sand.

In reality, I have lived in the midst of devastating circumstances and I could only come to say what Paul said for two reasons.

Trust and God's Love

The first is that I knew God and trusted Him. When you know someone, you either trust them or you don't based on real life experience with them. Trust is built, it doesn't suddenly appear. It is different than faith. Yet faith rests on trust.

In other words, I trusted that my situation was well known to God and it was His absolute best for me at that point in my history. I didn't say it was like a vacation in Bali, or the Islands. It was God's absolute best for me because of what He was working in me. I had that perspective because I trusted Him. There was purpose and intention in it. I was not a victim of the chance clashing of interplanetary astrological signs. My life and all of its details including each day are written in God's scheduling book. He knew I was there, He knew before I got there I would be there.

Second, I knew God loved me. When I doubt someone loves me and my life experience with them becomes difficult, I begin to believe they do not have my best in mind. In fact I become suspicious that they may just not care at all and worse, are trying to do me in. Yet if I have confidence in their love for me, the way with them can get extremely difficult but I stick it out. I know that something greater is going to emerge out of the current challenge.

Paul was in prison, yet he was encouraging the Philippians. Someone fundamentally different determined Paul's response. How can you do that when you are in the midst of a flood in Nashville, TN; or an oil spill on the Gulf Coast; or an earthquake or tornado aftermath? At the end of this book, Paul spells it out. He had learned to be content no matter what his circumstances were. Note that he didn't say it was an impartation that suddenly he came into, it was something he learned.

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. (Phil 4:11-14 New Living Translation)

The Process of Learning

Learning is a process and involves a particular type of education that enhances our lives in some way. Here Paul is referring to spiritual understanding that comes through living a life of knowing God both in the highs of life and its lows. Paul KNEW God, he had intimate knowledge of and experience with Him that created an attitude of trust and confidence in being loved.

So Paul became consistent in his life, not believing one day and doubting the next depending on circumstances, but reliable, steady, dependable, constant, unswerving. Why? He had learned He could do anything, go through anything, survive anything that came His way because of Christ within Him giving Him strength.

Paul also said, "Christ in us the hope of glory!" Our lives are about more than miracles, than flashes in the plan. Your life, my life is about a glory being released in us and through us. It's about the glory realm. In the Greek it means dignity, honor, praise, worship; its root word is to be of reputation. We are people who because Christ indwells us, lives in us; others are led to someone to something greater than us. There is a reputation of someone that is being heralded through our lives. It is as Paul said Christ Himself, that we become the very fragrance of Christ.

It's in the midst of trouble that people find out who you and I really are. It's in the midst of trouble that His glory is manifested. If not, then it is the next step in our educational process, learning a new lesson about who God really is when the chips are down. He will then work a new glory in us. At the end of the "new day," I believe the bottom line is the manifestation of His glory in and through us. What are people saying about you and I? Do they see "the glory?"

Barbara Yoder