Thursday, September 3, 2009

the Glory of God


I've been hanging with some people over these last couple of weeks who have been studying the glory of God.
Interesting stuff actually.
The theophanies are occasions where God has been seen - notable examples in Scripture are Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Joshua, Isaiah, technically anyone who encountered Christ, and Saul and John on Patmos in revelation.
years ago I started a habit called Praying The Bible which was taking these scriptures and praying them out loud to God - actually using them as ways of training myself to picture God and address Him. It's a powerful way to pray - and if I am honest it also helps to infuse my prayer life with energy - the Word gives life... even to my feeble attempts to pray. I like that.
Tonight we are going to try it in a small group - should be fun! And we are also going to contemplate Christ some more. Christ is the image of the invisible God (John 1) - He is the longest theophany ever... 2 Corinthians 4:6 says it like this, "For God who said, 'let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Ravi Zacharius broke it down not only in scripture but in culture... the romans loved glory, the hebrews loved light and the greeks loved knowledge... all of the hunger of every civilization in the world can be met by the face of Christ.
That's some good news. Why not take some time to contemplate Christ today... I marked a youtube video of Heidi Baker (well worth googling) speaking of having a theophany of the Christ and seeing into His eyes - as she saw Him and all the love He had in His eyes she realised that she could reflect that light to the orphans of Mozambique. Now she is 'the mother' of thousands of unwanted children who have all been touched by His love. Worth a bit of reflection I'd say.

No comments: