We should ask God to show us his glory every day, and we should not let things get in the way of our relationship with Him, but in all ways give Him the glory. 

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We should give God glory

Herod made life miserable for Christians. He persecuted the early church. He was a builder of culture and art. He was very rich and he loved to do public speaking. He could move the crowd, and in Acts, the crowd believed it was a voice of a god that spoke.

When we don’t live our lives to give God glory, we have consequences. We should always give God glory in every situation and circumstance.

God did not mind Harold having talent and gifts and influence. God’s issue with Harod was that he did not give God the glory.

Acts 12:21-24
“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.”

The Fall of Lucifer

The issue of who gets the glory started in Heaven sometime in eternity past.

We hear about three angels in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer.

Lucifer decided that he wanted the glory. He said that he would exalt himself. He did not give God the glory, so he was kicked out of Heaven.

Isaiah 14:11-15
“Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”

When he did not fill his role, the role was taken away, and he suffered the consequences.

Jesus was tempted

Satan tried to stop Jesus’ ministry before it ever started. He came to Jesus in the wildness and tried to tempt him to turn the stones into bread.

When he tried to get Jesus to worship him, he took Jesus to a high place, and Satan pointed out the glory of the kingdoms of the world (v. 8)

Satan tries to keep you from missing your blessing or your calling by distracting you by placing things in your way. This could be keeping you from going to church or even placing and argument or an attitude in your head so that you focus on your trouble instead of God.

Matthew 4:1-11
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

It is written

Jesus responded to Satan, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” And Satan fled from him. There is no better antidote to make the devil flee than to quote the word of God to him.

When we give God the glory, our troubles just go away.

You can be rich and poor

In Luke 12, Jesus tells his disciples a parable of the rich man that was plentiful and had laid up his treasures for himself and Jesus told his disciples that he was not rich toward God.

Luke 12:15-21
“ And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”  Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

 

We should not let things get in the way of our relationship with God, but in all ways give God the glory. We should give God the glory with every breath that comes out of our mouth. When we give God the glory, our fear and doubt leave. But we need to remember, when we don’t give God the glory, we will suffer consequences just like the people in the Bible did.