THINE IS THE GLORY

In Matthew 6, Jesus says: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our father in heaven…” In
the following verses, we receive the Lord’s prayer which ends with: “For Yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” We have reverenced His name,
requested, His will, and submitted our petitions. Now we are declaring HIS KINGDOM, HIS
POWER, and HIS GLORY. Jesus knew about the glory. It is an appropriate ending and a
powerful bottom line: “His glory, forever. Amen.”
Isaiah 43:5,7 says: “Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the
east, and gather you from the west…. Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have
created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” We were created for His
glory. If glorifying Him is our bottom line, then life might not be easy, but it will be
victorious.
In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made a gold image and commanded that
everyone should bow down and worship it. The decree was: “Whoever does not fall down
and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” The king
was told that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego would not worship the image, so they
were brought before the king.
Daniel 3:14, 16-18: Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I
have set up?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O
Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver
us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve
your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
God is able, but He is sovereign. He will do what He chooses, but regardless of His
choice they would remain faithful to Him. He alone is worthy of their worship. For HIS IS
THE KINGDOM (He is sovereign), and HIS IS THE POWER (He is able), and HIS IS THE
GLORY (He is worthy, no matter what). No one else—not Nebuchadnezzar, not anything in
this world, and not Satan.
Satan spends a lot of time trying to get us to bow down to this world system and to his
idols. Two of his primary weapons are fear and intimidation. Yet here is what the servants
of the Most High say: His is not the kingdom, the power, or the glory we reverence, and his
idols are not what we bow down to. Our God whom we serve has delivered us from the
power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians
1:13). We are clothed in the armor and standing on His word. We will triumph, because we
were created for His glory, and He is with us.

 

As we continue in Daniel, we read that Nebuchadnezzar, full of fury, had them thrown
into the fiery furnace. Daniel 3:24-30: Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he
rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into

the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he
answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and
the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke
saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God (El Elyon:
Sovereign God—HIS IS THE KINGDOM) come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators,
governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose
bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments
affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and AbedNego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have
frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship
any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or
language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and AbedNego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap (HIS IS THE GLORY
and no one will take it from Him); because there is no other God who can deliver this like”
(HIS IS THE POWER). Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the
province of Babylon.
The only things that burned were the ropes that had them bound and the men who
threw them in. They came out whole and free and promoted. God was glorified as God
Almighty, El Elyon —Sovereign King of kings.
In Daniel 6, we read that King Darius of Babylon was manipulated into signing a decree
that anyone who petitions any god or man for thirty days, except King Darius, be cast into
the lion’s den. Daniel 6:10: Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went
home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on
his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his
custom since early days. Daniel completely ignored the decree and was reported. The king
did not want to go through with the sentence, but the decree was irreversible.
Daniel 6:16, 18-28: So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast
him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve
continually, He will deliver you.” Now the king went to his palace and spent the night
fasting….Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of
lions….”Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been
able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My
God sent His angel and shut the lions mouths so that they have not hurt me, because I was
found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”
….So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him,
because he believed in his God. And the king gave the command, and they brought those
men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions.
…Then King Darius wrote: to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the
earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom
men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel (HIS IS THE GLORY). For He is the
living God and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed (HIS
IS THE KINGDOM), and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and
He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the
power of the lions” (HIS IS THE POWER). So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius
and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Daniel was delivered, the enemy was destroyed, and
God was glorified because His is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever.
In both of these stories, fear and intimidation were huge. They did not bow to fear but
stood in God, and God proved faithful. When we surrender to fear, we do not walk in God’s
glory or glorify Him in our walk. Our resistance closes open doors, compromises our
witness, and hinders others from advancing because of our failure to move forward.

We must stand on the word and allow the Lord to stretch our faith and bring us beyond
fear into victory. He will prove Himself faithful in our areas of fear if we allow ourselves to
go there. It is vital for the times that are coming for us to achieve victory over fear and
allow the Lord to manifest His glory in our situations.
Revelation 12:11: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Why didn’t they love their
lives to the death? Jesus was worth more than their lives. Jesus was their eternity. Love
conquers fear.
Isaiah 43:1-3: But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who
formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name;
you are Mine. (This is for us, too. 1 Corinthians 6:20: For you were bought at a price;
therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s). When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego loved their God more than their lives, and
so their lives were a testimony and a glory to God. In the lion’s den and in the fiery
furnace, His was the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory—forever, Amen.
Rev. Barbara Martin