The Glory of the Lord


Milburnie Dam IV, originally uploaded by bitzcelt.

Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of servitude is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will appear, and all humanity will see [it] together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 40:1-5

The glory of the LORD will appear! What a promise! What does the glory of God look like I wonder? This passage is talking about the coming of the Messiah, the One we know as Jesus Christ. He has come already. The glory of God has 'appeared to all men'. John says, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14).

There is a buzz going around the world with what is being called 'revival' in the Lakeland Florida Outpouring, led by Todd Bentley of Freshfire Ministries. I happened upon it by chance when I switched on to God TV who are stopping most of their regular coverage to follow this extraordinary event that is growing by the thousands every day. They have had to move now from a church to an 9,000 seat stadium. It seems that 100's are being healed every night from blind eyes and deaf ears to more amazing regenerative miracles and bizarre gold teeth appearing in people's mouths! Morning Star Ministries led by Rick Joyner also seems to experiencing powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit that we have seen before in previous moves.

I personally long for a fresh move of God such as we had from Toronto in 1994 when I received great blessing from God, but I note there is great deal of disagreement amongst Christians on the web about this current move, not least because of Todd Bentley's controversial teachings. What do you think? Is this the glory of God, or might we find the glory of God in a rather more down to earth man; like Jesus?

Comments

Wanda said…
I'll take "Jesus" the One and Only!!

The photo is breathtaking Mike...so glad to be back in the blogging world...missed your posts while I was moving.

LOL:)
Susan said…
I want no one but Jesus. I am not aware of this move. Do you have a link about it? We did attend the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, FL twic in 1984 and were changed by it. It and Toronto were going on about the same time period. We never made it to Toronto.
Susan
Jesus only!! No one else needed nor can they do it.
imac said…
Great photo Mike.
zakscloset said…
that is very interesting and controversial indeed! it sounds almost like a new type of cult story. how crazy!!!
Jean said…
I just heard about it for the first time this past Sunday. An older friend of mine, who has always been on the forefront of the moves of the Spirit, told me about it. She was very excited about it. I want to hear more about it.
retha said…
My connection is too slow, to see. But that not too important.
I agree JESUS and Him as the CHRIST-to repeat these-is all there is for me/us.
I do believe the gospel brought is watered down, that is why many believers seek revival upon revival instead living revival.As the word say, 'to live again' And we are only alive in the places where the LORD has total control over.
Sorry I was going on and on.
Came here via penless thoughts
I love Isaiah! Accepting the call when he'd rather not. Speaking what people did not want to hear. John the Baptist spoke what people did not want to hear and died for the love of God. Jesus died because those would rather not change, and erase the Truth. From the Truth comes our salvation and only He can save us. I believe that when the Spirit moves he moves in many ways. Perhaps revival is genuine. I know in my life though there have been no large crowds only quite intimate moments when I finally "get it." Crying over the words of Scripture proclaimed at Mass or being touched to the heart by the music sung causes me to appreciate his presence even more in the reception of the Eucharist. God is Good!! And when we least expect it he will come and touch us all. Be READY! Thanks for this reflection, Mike! It was wonderful...Caused me to THINK!! Cathy
Gudl said…
I hadn't heard of this church movement.
Your bible verses are very comforting.
TMM said…
I haven't heard much about this movement, but if they are doing the works of the Lord, Glory to God!

God is pouring out His Spirit in our day and I believe a greater wave of the Spirit to hit various parts of the world, but most importantly in our personal lives so that Jesus might be praised and glorified.

The glory of the Lord is the love of God expressed in different ways. The gifts of the Spirit, signs, wonders and miracles are His expressions of love.

Sidharth
Anonymous said…
As I see it, Jesus is not an option - not in the flesh anyway. Acts 3:21 says, "he must remain in heaven until..."

God's way of manifesting his glory today is through filling the corporate body of Christ with his Holy Spirit, just as he filled the earthly body of Christ during Jesus' earthly ministry.

If we can try to see through the American cultural aspects of this current move in Florida (and it isn't that hard) we can clearly see the glory of God.

Todd Bentley is a man who clearly has an anointing of the Holy Spirit to restore a dimension of the manifest presence of God to the Church: praise God, and let the river flow!

This refreshing of God will sweep those churches in the UK who long for and pursue the presence of God: God really wants his glory to be seen in his Church.
Barbara said…
It is easy to 'miss the message'because we don't like the messenger. By their fruits ye shall know them.

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