January 19, 2010, "The Hope of Glory"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
Written By: Teresa Stevens Criswell

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
~ Colossians 1:27 ~

The mystery? Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Wow! It was an amazing weekend. My daughter and I attended a conference hosted by our church, 'Worship Life' and Patsy Cameneti (Our Pastor's sister) was the vessel God utilized so powerfully this weekend.

I had and continue to have a great heart awakening on the inside of me. My desire to want more of His promises and what could be had of Him was cutting me like a knife...truly destroying my desires. The simplicity of truth revealed that I must be filled up constantly by our God. Not what we think of being 'filled up' as. You know that ever burning question of, "What's in it for me? What can I gain from it?" It's not a one time 'fill up' for selfish reasons, but instead it's a fill up of being consumed by God Himself. Not just the 'feeling' or the 'sense' of His presence; but truly aching for Him; desiring Him and praising Him with our lips.

It was daunting to realize as Patsy taught, she noted something so obvious; yet has been overlooked by so many of us. If we are to get filled up, we know by default that just like water...evaporation also takes place. Life schedules, people, circumstances suck those things out of us, which causes us the great need to be constantly filled up. Many times we attempt to do the filling ourselves with the murky, dirty things which only clouds and does not bring a quenching to the thirst that He can quench. We only lead ourselves to great dissatisfaction.

Sometimes when we go to church, we say, "I got filled up today." "I cried during service, I got filled up." "I fell under the Spirit, I got filled up." "I went to a revival, I got filled up." Or we get the 'Holy Spirit goose bumps' and we think we got the fill up. When we sense His presence, we think, "I got the fill up". The manifestations are great; but truly many times they are only splashes of the true fill up. I am beginning to understand however, it's a constant fill up that needs to take place; individually and as a group of believers. Being submerged in knowing Who dwells within us.

He dwells within us leads me to this truth; we aren't called to 'act' like Christ, we are called to reveal His very nature the Hope of Glory. We become the hope of glory to others because of Christ. Just revealing our goodness is still nothing in comparison to God's goodness. Our goodness, our righteousness revealed still comes up short, it's as filthy rags. Not just rags..but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). God doesn't want us revealing who we 'were' before we became one with Him....He wants us to reveal who we 'are' in Him.

How? As Patsy taught us, reminding us of many scriptures, but one of them was Psalm 81:10..."Open your mouth wide and I will fill it." There is something about the opening of our mouths...not like a bird getting fed...but something comes out from our spirit, praising God. As we praise God and as the praise of our lips unto Him leaves our mouth, there is a reciprocation that takes place...we get filled up. We get filled up with the amazing truth of Who is dwelling within us. The Holy Spirit is not just a 'look alike', or a 'stand in' for the 'real' thing. The Holy Spirit is the SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD. The SAME Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep when God spoke THE WORD. God in the plural form were at work...ALL ONE! God opened His mouth and The Word (Jesus) was poured out and the Spirit hovered over what was declared as He watched over the Word seeing it performed. It is incredibly mind blowing and indescribable of the God who not only loves us with a love we could never truly comprehend; but yet He is in us and we are in Him (John 16).

My focus has been unintentionally diverted. I, like many 'Christians' have taken classes and taken these 'tests' on what gifts I operate in. We belong to denominational meetings or we say, I am of this denomination, or of that denomination (I Corinthians 1:10-18), I am of this church, or of that church. We even place great precedence on that book, and this book to help get to the seven steps of this or that. Some even focus on the afflictions we must suffer to give God greater glory. Is your head spinning yet? I was reminded with great fire and fervency of the Spirit that I truly needed a focus transformation. The focus is not about me and what I can do because of Christ. The focus is truly about Christ and revealing that He must be revealed through you and I for others to see, the Hope of Glory! This world needs hope! But NOT our hope...they NEED GOD'S HOPE OF HIS GLORY! We must have an aching for the heart of God, not only as individuals, but also as a church body. It is so important that we do hook up with a body of believers believing the Word of God as Truth which is Jesus Christ knowing that He promised us The Helper who reveals the Father's heart. There is power when we come together; but the true power comes when we seek after God. It is not about seeking God to get what we desire, but seeking God because He is who we desire. When we desire who He is...all those other gifts, blessings and promises come just because of Who He is not because of who we are or what we have done.

Today I am greatly reminded of Who I must desire, versus what I must desire. I close today's devotional with the following words to an amazing song we sang last night (Colossians 3:16):

'Only Satisfied':
By Chad Cates, Tony Wood, Ronnie Freeman

Living Water, Bread of Life,
My desire, my delight,
I have tasted, I have seen
That all You are is all I'll ever need.
I am only satisfied in You.
In the world of empty answers
You're The Way, The Life, The Truth
And I am only satisfied in You.

We were made by Your design
To thirst and pray
For Love Divine
Nothing here can truly fill

All my life I had panted
For a drink from some cool stream
That I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst
I felt within

I am only satisfied in You.
In the world of empty answers
You're The Way, The Life, The Truth
And I am only satisfied in You.