Glorify God
Psalm 86:9 “All nations whom Thou has made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; And they shall glorify Thy name”.
Psalm 86:12 “I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Thy name forever”.

Introduction
We have been instructed by Jesus to “let our light shine so that others may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
But what does it mean to glorify God?
We will attempt to answer that question.
The word glorify is translated from the Hebrew word: “Kabad” which is pronounced “kawbawd”.
This word has many meanings, but it’s base meaning is “to be heavy” (with honor, glory, respect, etc).
This word appears in the Hebrew text about 376 times.
When used as a “noun” it means: one receiving the honor, blessings, to be esteemed very highly, to be respected, and treated with consideration, of course many other things (good or bad).
About 114 times the word is used as a verb (action).
This is where we are going to concentrate.
We should know from our education that a verb is an action word.
It is something that you do, and not something that you are.
When we speak of “glorifying” God, it means to adore, to honor, to esteem, or to magnify.
God is certainly worthy to receive glory and honor and power (Revelation 4:14).
1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.
1 Peter 4:11 “Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen”.
How do we glorify God:

We Glorify God With Our Good Works
When we become Christians, God expects us to do good works. That is our duty to God.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”
Matthew 5:16—letting your light shine by good works.
Hebrews 10:24 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds
Titus 3:14 “And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful”.
Titus 3:8 “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds(works). These things are good and profitable for men”.
Titus 2:14 “who gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds(works).
Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
We must work the works of God.
What God has commanded us to do is what good works are.

We Glorify God In Our Worship
Revelation 14:7 “and he said in a loud voice, ‘fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters”.
Revelation 15:4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; For all the nations will come and worship before Thee”.
If we plan to worship God properly and orderly, then it must be by what He has commanded us.
We must do what is authorized by the word.
The guideline for how we are to worship God is stated in John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”.
It even tells us in verse 23 that God wants these people to worship Him. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers”.
Spirit and truth means that we worship with the right disposition of heart and by His Divine authority.
Also worship should be directed towards God.
If we are not careful, we might find ourselves as the object of worship, and not God.
Don’t let that happen.
Humble yourself before God in your worship.
When we follow our own way rather than God’s way in worship, God cannot be glorified.

We Glorify God In Our Way Of Life
By doing things in the way God has directed us, we bring our lives in harmony with His will.
It is our duty as we read in Romans 12:1-2 “I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body”.
How do we show that we are trying to glorify God?
1 John 1:7 “but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
When we obey the gospel and are baptized we are raised from the water to walk (live) in the newness of life (Romans 6:4).
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
We are to walk by the spirit (Galatians 5:16)
We are to walk in love (Ephesians 5:2).
We must put away the works of the flesh and start living the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-23).
Even if we suffer for doing right, God must be glorified in our living (1 Peter 4:16).

We Glorify God With Our Words
It is true that as we teach and preach that we must only teach and preach the truth.
2 Timothy 4:2 instructs us to preach the word of God and to reprove, rebuke and exhort as needed.
1 Peter 4:11 tells us that if we are going to speak for God, we had better speak what God wants said.
Anyone who teaches error or false doctrine (no matter how sincere they are, God is never glorified by such.
Ephesians 4:29 “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear”.
What we say is just as important as what we teach because we are going to be judged by our words (Matthew 12:36-37).
James 3:1 tells us that those who choose to teach have a much higher responsibility to make sure the teaching is right and according to God’s word.

Conclusion
Giving God the glory must be done by everything we have to offer Him.
Our works that we do, our worship that we offer, the way we live, and the words we say all indicate that every fiber of our being should be doing those things properly to bring God glory forever and ever.
How do you glorify God?

By Carey Scott from an article by Jerry Joseph

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