Understanding Your Jurisdiction and Timing 2: Keeping from Being a Glory Thief

Exodus 20:23

You shall not make [gods to share] with Me [My glory and your worship]; gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. AMP

This command could be understood as a warning to not engage making statues or amulets, or making rituals or getting potions to help us “succeed and have power.” While that is true because true success and power can only come from our relationship with God, there is also the fact that when we live our life apart from God’s direction, far from showing him our sole dependence on Him, and our faithful willingness to serve Him and give Him a yes to everything He asks us to do in whichever area of our life He’s instructing us to obey Him, we become glory thieves.

Whenever we fail to obey His commands, we are showing Him that we prefer to become our own gods. We have mentioned that this is what happened to Adam and Eve when they decided to obey the prompting of the serpent instead of maintaining with steadfast endurance the command of the Lord no matter what kind of temptation may have come. Also, when we prefer to become out own gods, we are making way for the spirit of self-exaltation to come to influence us.

This spirit wants to get renown and praise from others for the things we get to accomplish. It wants acclamation and honor. But the problem with that is that when God is taking us through a process and we reject the process and His timing for us to be able to accomplish our callings and purpose from Him, we run the chance of becoming a stumbling block to others and this way obstruct what He wants to do not only in our lives, but also through our lives for others to know Him and receive the benefits of coming in contact with a glory carrier.

Elisha understood this about God and His process in the wilderness. We mentioned in the last post that he focused on what God wanted from him during his time of preparation in the wilderness. He was able to receive people who needed his help as they knew that he was God’s voice for the region and he would be able to give them the God solution they needed for their troubles. But even though Elisha could hear God’s voice to bring solutions for others, he still needed to keep the command of the Lord and continue to endure in the wilderness until God brought him out at the time of the end of his process.

After this period was over, Elisha was able to receive offerings that would enable him to fulfill God’s vision for his ministry and for his sustenance. We see in 2 Kings 8:7-10 that after Elisha finished his time in the wilderness of testing and trials, he came to Damascus and learned that another man of renown was ill. This time it was Ben-hadad king of Syria. When the king realized that the man of God had come to the area, he sent his servant with an offering that this time Elisha could receive.

⁷ Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Syria was sick; and he was told, The man of God has come here.

⁸ And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in your hand and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?

⁹ So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a present with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel loads, and came and stood before him and said, Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, asking, Shall I recover from this disease? AMP

Elisha had successfully completed an important process where he endured every temptation to seek self-acclamation and control of his circumstances. We have also seen that Jesus went through the same process and temptations that unfortunately, many in the body of Christ have succumbed to when they do not understand they are going through a process where they are required to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit very closely as they maintain a strong fellowship with Him. And that is all God requires of them at the time.

He will not ask them to seek fortune or fame or success without proper preparation where the issues of their hearts will be dealt with. During this time God does not concern Himself with perfecting their gift, as much as perfecting their heart to make us to be sold out for Him and for the cause of His Kingdom in Spirit and in truth, and not to follow our carnal agendas.

That is why we see in Matthew 4:1-11 that Jesus was also required to spend time in the wilderness of testing and all of the things He endured from the enemy that could not derail Him because He knew his identity as the Son of God and also that God was willing and able to provide for Him, protect Him, lead Him to advance to the place and time to fulfill His calling, and get Him there.

For this reason, He was able to overcome every temptation of the enemy during His time in the wilderness before He entered His time and place appointed to go into ministry on behalf of the people (jurisdiction or metron) appointed to Him. These were the people of Israel. Jesus understood that God alone could turn Him into a glory carrier and He is the only one to receive the glory due His name and not idols. In addition, Jesus did not need to seek self-exaltation because all glory and exaltation belong to God alone. The Scripture says,

¹ Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.

² And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.

³ And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made loaves of] bread.

⁴ But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on a turret (pinnacle, gable) of the temple sanctuary.

⁶ And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

⁷ Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, test thoroughly, or try exceedingly the Lord your God.

⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.

⁹ And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

¹¹ Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. AMP

We can see in the text that every temptation was to question if Jesus knew His identity as God’s Son, and that protection and exaltation come from God, in His way, and in His time. Of course we know that He passed the test and in verse 11 He can observe that as He had finished His time in the wilderness, then He was able to receive help from others.

Not until Jesus had finished His time of preparation to go into ministry, could He also have disciples to pour into them what the Father had poured in to Him by His Spirit because the Word and instructions given to Him and every revelation had an appointed time for their revealing through Him. Had Jesus done so ahead of God’s timing, He would have been giving them spiritual food that would have become tainted and mixed with other doctrines in the hearts of the people because this word had a specific time to be disclosed to the masses and not before then. After He was commissioned to go into ministry, He could also have men and women give for His sustenance and ministry. Luke 8:1-4 exposes this when it says,

¹Soon afterward, [Jesus] went on through towns and villages, preaching and bringing the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom of God. And the Twelve [apostles] were with Him,

² And also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had been expelled;

³ And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager; and Susanna; and many others, who ministered to and provided for Him and them out of their property and personal belongings. AMP

Let me mention that Gehazi, Elisha’s servant and his sons were also restored from their leprosy when they decided to share the spoils they discovered the Assyrians had left behind after God ambushed them in order to end the famine in the land. The men shared the spoils by telling the people that were in a very degrading time of famine where to get the goods they found in abundance. 2 Kings 7 explains this. The leprosy had left them and Gehazi was able to stand before the king of Israel.

The Bible explains that no one who had leprosy could come near crowds and much less near the king. So the fact that Gehazi was standing in front of and talking to the king proves the leprosy had left him. His act of kindness which also demonstrated his repentance for trying to move ahead of God’s timing for him, provoked God to restore him and his sons back to health and right standing with Him. At this point, he was able to serve the Lord and the king on behalf of others. 2 Kings 8-4-5 says,

⁴ The king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me all the great things Elisha has done.

⁵ And as Gehazi was telling the king how [Elisha] had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and land. And Gehazi said, My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life. AMP

So, the same is for us when we ask God to search our hearts and He may find that we had tried to steal His glory for going ahead of His timing and place for us to fulfill our calling. He is a call and repentance away as we seek Him with all our heart to cleanse us from the influence of the spirit of self-exaltation and continue to exalt His name above every name and temptation of the enemy. To God alone be all the glory.▪