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Steep in His glory!
January 24, 2014 – Steep in His glory! Part 1 of 2
One day, I was having a conversation with a little girlfriend,
(who happens to be turning
11 today!) while we sipped
over tea together. Intending
to teach her what it meant to
steep in the Lord just as we
were steeping our tea bags,
I asked her what she thought
the word steep meant. Before
I could teach her, she taught
me and said, “Steeping is like
when you spend time with
Jesus.” What a smile that
brought to my face that day!
Since I love to throw tea
parties centered around the
learning about God’s character
and finding Scripture verses to
tuck away in pink homemade
teabags for each participant,
I began to look for a verse
that conveyed the concept of
steeping in God.
I closed my eyes and scanned
the different areas of Scripture
in my mind. Ah yes! There
was John 15 about abiding
in God. Knowing that Jesus is
in me and I in Him is a truth
more wonderful than I can
ever imagine and necessary to
ponder. But uniting my branch
into His vine for the source of
life is a different concept than
steeping.
Steeping is soaking until His
best comes out of you.
Then I remembered Psalm
46:10 - “Be still and know that
I am God” (i.e., stop scattering
about and just sit still and
remember Who is God). This
is a great truth and one to be
abided by for sure!... but it still
did not convey the concept of
steeping.
I prayed and let my mind go
through the pages of Scripture
again. I remembered those
beautiful words in John 17: 2223 from my old New American
Standard Bible - “And the glory
which Thou hast given Me,
I have given to them; that they
may be one just as We are
one; I in them and Thou in Me
that they may be perfected
in unity.” SO WONDERFUL!
But this conveyed more of an
impartation than steeping.
I decided to give up the
pursuit for a while of finding
the concept of steeping in the
Bible. And then, all of
a sudden, there it was 2 Corinthians 3:18!
Here is a brief background to
this verse:
Moses spent 40 days and 40
nights in the Lord’s presence at
the top of Mount Sinai. When
He came down, his face shone
so brightly that the people
were afraid to come near.
Moses put a veil over his face
and took it off only when He
was in God’s presence again.
The Apostle Paul explained
in 2 Corinthians 3:15-18 that
we cannot see God’s glorious
beauty, because a veil lies
over our hearts. But, when
we turn to the Lord Jesus,
the veil is taken away; then
we behold Him, and we are
transformed into His image by
the Holy Spirit. Just being in His
presence and really seeing Him
changes us.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “So
then with unveiled faces, we
behold the glory of the Lord as
in a mirror, and we are being
transformed into the same
image from glory to glory; this
is from the Lord Who is the
Spirit.”
My prayer is: Lord, as I encourage others to steep in your
glory, I don’t want to neglect
this myself. Teach me what it
means to steep, to bask, to
behold your beautiful glory!
The words Gold Strands were inspired by Psalm 45:13 - "The King's daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold." May His transforming
love, truth and beauty be interwoven into our souls! This lovesong is a picture of us and God. He is our Creator King full of splendor and we are His chosen bride.
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