THoughts that laed me to Jesus, and to the Cross

8 First I want to say that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart by telling the Good News about his Son, knows that I always mention you 10 every time I pray. I pray that I will be allowed to come to you, and this will happen if God wants it. 11 I want very much to see you, to give you some spiritual gift to make you strong. 12 I mean that I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.  Rom 1:8–12.  NCV

O SWEET and beloved Jesus, dear and lovely is Thy name. I pray Thee, fill my heart with Thy love, that, as a consuming fire, I may entirely glow with love to Thee. Lord, let my love for Thee be such that for very love I will resign the great burdens which oppress my soul, and all the fleshly lusts and passions of this earthly life, and, by Thy guidance, follow after Thee, without hinderance, into eternal glory. Amen.

780    Deo omnis gloria—“All glory to God.” It is an emphatic confession of our nothingness. He, Jesus, is everything. We, without him, are worth nothing: Nothing. Our vainglory would be just that: vain glory; it would be sacrilegious theft; the “I” should not appear anywhere.

What does it mean to glorify God? How do I do it? How do I facilitate the people of my church and their giving God glory?

I know God deserves all the glory and honor and praise, but I need to remember why this is so. It is not because of His might, or His wisdom, it is not because of the marvels that He has created,

It has to do with His love, and the mercy that originates and pours out because He loves us.

Tyrants can have power, the rich and might can be self-centered, and as I look at the pantheons of gods created by the mind, most resemble their counterparts. They have tempers, they are self-serving, they are combative, they are devious they lust for pleasure, more power, more control, and they treat mankind with agendas based on what they enjoy. They reflect the worst of humanity,

Whereas the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the Son of God Jesus, is far different. He came to minsiter, to serve, to heal, redeem and restore. He came to love.

Even one like me. Even someone worth nothing, except in His sight.

And that is glorious… FOr someone worth so much to care for someone so insignificant, it is mind boggling.

That is why I have to pray with Loehe, that God strengthen my ability to love, that He simply take over and fills me again with that love, that I may adore Him. Because on my own – the love is too incredible,, to overwhelming, to intimate to be able to respond to…

The response is to share that love with those whoso desperately need it, to follow Him as he looks for the wounded to heal the broken to reconcile and restore–to be His partner in this ministry, even as so many have before.

This is His glory, to love those whom He makes His own, to exalt those who have been humbled by life and by sin.

This is our God…

Lœhe, William. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Translated by H. A. Weller, Wartburg Publishing House, 1914, p. 378.

Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 136). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.