Cypress And Myrtle

Tag: Holy Spirit

  • Show Me Your Glory

    Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory.” (Exodus 33:18)

    I have been dwelling on this verse for some time.

    Not because I compare myself to Moses, but because I want to pursue God, all of Him, with all my being. And seeing His glory is, perhaps, the deepest longing of every heart that truly seeks Him.

    So I asked Him.

    With fear, wonder, and curiosity, I prayed, “Lord, please show me Your glory.”

    It became an ongoing conversation between God and me. Almost daily, I sensed Him asking, “Do you want to see My glory?” And I would answer, “Yes.”

    One night, I pushed a little further.

    “What would it take to see Your glory?”

    Two verses came to mind:

    “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
    Matthew 5:3

    And,

    “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
    Matthew 5:8

    From where I was, I knew this was not possible. I am neither poor in spirit nor pure in heart by God’s standard.

    But perhaps that is part of the point.

    When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount and spoke the Beatitudes, He was not giving us a ladder by which we could climb our way to God. He was revealing the holiness of God and the impossibility of attaining it by our own efforts. Left to ourselves, none of us are pure in heart.

    That is why Jesus said,“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

    He fulfilled what we never could. In Christ, we receive what we cannot earn; His forgiveness, His righteousness, His grace.

    Then, Sunday came.

    I was teaching a Sunday school class of nine-year-olds. It was an ordinary day, and yet it was not ordinary at all.

    The children were exceedingly joyful. They played together, laughed together, welcomed one another, cared for each other, and an overwhelming peace; quiet and indescribable, rested among them.

    There was no striving. No drama. Just love, joy, kindness, and peace.

    I went home thinking about how perfect, and yet how strange, the day had been.

    Then a thought suddenly struck me.

    The glory of God is seen among His people.

    Yes, that was it!

    I finally understood.

    I had been looking for God’s glory in the way He appeared in the Old Testament; in fire, cloud, thunder, and overwhelming displays of His presence.

    But in Christ, under the New Covenant, God’s glory is revealed in another way.

    Jesus prayed to the Father, “The glory that You have given Me, I have given to them” John 17:22

    And Paul wrote that Christ will be “glorified in His saints” 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

    The glory of God is seen when Christ is reflected in His people.

    In the following days, I saw more and more of God’s glory in His people.

    In a child who welcomes another child. In forgiveness freely given. In quiet acts of kindness. In love that does not seek its own way.

    In people who bear the likeness of Jesus.

    Moses longed to see God’s glory, and God revealed His goodness to him.

    Today, we behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, and as we behold Him, we are being transformed into His image.

    That Sunday, in a room full of laughing children and a peace that words cannot fully describe, God answered my prayer.

    “Do you want to see My glory?”

    Yes, Lord.

    And by His grace, I did.

  • Not Always About Efficiency

    In marketing, our thought process is always geared towards making things better; improving systems, automating what we can, and increasing efficiency. And unknowingly, I have often carried this thinking into ministry.

    Recently, I wanted to start a Bible group study for women. My automatic thinking went straight into efficiency. If I were to teach for an hour, it would be best if it’s a small group of women coming together – best use of time and energy.

    But I felt the Lord telling me to go back to basics: one-on-one Bible study.

    He reminded me that Kingdom value is not always about efficiency.

    If God’s Kingdom is driven by efficiency, the cross would never make sense.

    The cross is, by every human measure, deeply “inefficient.” Thirty years of hidden life for a public ministry of only three. A slow journey toward suffering, betrayal, humiliation, and death. No apparent productivity model that makes sense to human systems thinking.

    But the cross is not inefficient. It is necessary.

    Because redemption is about sacrifice. It is love satisfying justice. It is about God Himself entering human brokenness to heal it from within.

    “Efficient salvation” would have been impossible, because sin is not a systems problem. It is a heart problem. And it requires not a process, but a Person. Not optimization, but incarnation. Not delegation, but self-giving.

    We had our first one-on-one session, and it was nothing short of amazing. Simple. Two women sharing life, reading the Word, and letting the Spirit lead.

    I’m excited to be reminded that the Kingdom is not built on efficiency. It is built on love that is willing to go the long way, the costly way, the cross-shaped way.

  • He Speaks

    In my life, I’ve heard God roar and I’ve heard Him whisper. Two very different moments. Two very different needs. Yet both, unmistakably Him.

    As a child, He spoke in ways I could understand through graffiti on a wall, chapel songs, and Sunday School stories.
    As I grew older, He spoke through Scripture, alive and powerful.

    The God we serve is not silent. He never has been. It’s His nature to speak and He’s been speaking since the beginning.

    In Genesis 1:3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
    From the very first moment of creation, His voice brought life.

    Then, in John 1:1, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
    Jesus wasn’t just a messenger. He is the message. Every word He spoke revealed the heart of God.

    His voice didn’t go silent after the resurrection. He still speaks through Scripture, through the Holy Spirit, through moments quiet and loud.
    His words bring life, clarity and peace.

    A.W. Tozer wrote, “The second person of the Holy Trinity is called the Word. The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind for us, put into familiar human words.”

    God has always spoken and He still does.
    From creation to this very moment, His voice calls out with power and love.
    Jesus, the Living Word, continues to speak light into our darkness.
    May we listen with hearts ready to hear.

  • The Holy Spirit Visits

    He appeared suddenly, unannounced.
    It wasn’t entirely quiet because the children were sleeping.

    Yet the stillness was overwhelming.
    He hovered over me over my lying body.
    My entire being sensed a presence: majestic, magnificent, beyond description.

    My eyes were open. I could see the ceiling, and everything in the room.
    I could hear the children breathing, the air conditioner humming.
    Everything was still, not quiet, but still.
    As if all of creation had paused in awe and wonder.

    He did not speak.
    He was simply there.

    What struck me most was His weight, not crushing, not suffocating, but like a substance so completely saturated with presence it became heavy.
    I told Him so.

    I don’t remember when He left.
    But I will never forget what it felt to be in the presence of One so holy, so majestic, and infinite.