To God Be The Glory
Doxazo
To testify as to the infinite greatness and goodness of God in order to influence the opinion of another; to be a witness to His attributes in our attitudes and actions.
1 Chronicles 16:28-30a (ESV)
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness...
Nehemiah 9:5-6a
Blessed by your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD...
Psalm 50:23
(KJV) He that offereth praise glorifieth me...
(ESV) The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me...
Psalm 63:3-4
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Psalm 96:12
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, and I will glorify thy name.
Psalm 115:1 (NKJV)
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
Romans 11:36
From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!
2 Peter 3:18b
To him be glory both now and forever!
1 Corinthians 10:31b
Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Charles Wesley
Glory be to God on high,
God Whose glory fills the skies;
Peace on earth to man forgiv’n,
Man, the well beloved of Heav’n.
Sovereign Father, heavenly King,
Thee we now presume to sing;
Glad, Thine attributes confess,
Glorious all, and numberless.
Hail, by all Thy works adored!
Hail, the everlasting Lord!
Thee with thankful hearts we prove
God of power, and God of love.
J.I. Packer Rediscovering Holiness
Ephesians 1:3 paraphrased "Give glory to God for showing his glory in the blessings he has now given us in Christ."
"Glory" means God's display to his creatures of the perfections that are His - the wisdom, power, uprightness, and love that make Him praiseworthy. He is "glorified" when by word and deed He shows these qualities to his rational creatures. "Glory" also means the praise that our thanks, trust, adoration, submission, and devotion give to God, for the praiseworthiness we see in Him.
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God (Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; I Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev. 4:11)
and to (delight in) him forever. (Ps. 16:5-11; 144:15; Isa. 12:2; Luke 2:10; Phil. 4:4; Rev. 21:3-4)
Izaac Watts
The more Thy glories strike mine eyes,
The humbler I shall lie:
Thus while I sink, my joys shall rise
Unmeasurably high.
C.H. Spurgeon
We endeavour to glorify him now by our actions, but He will be glorified in our own persons, and character, and condition. He is glorified by what we do, but He is to be glorified in what we are.
William Cooper in Voices From The Past, Puritan Devotional Readings
The Lord by his unlimited power, can so master sin; and by his infinitely wise providence permit, dispose of, and bind sin; and by his free grace, pardon sin, yea, he can make grace super-abound where sin did abound; calling light out of darkness, and making great sinners to become great saints. Since the Lord demonstrates his glory in overruling and pardoning sin, to the salvation of poor sinners, there is good reason to magnify him to the highest.
Ezekiel Hopkins
An Exposition on the Lord's Prayer 1692
We may pray for other things with limitations and restrictions; but for the glory of God, absolutely and simply. 'Father, glorify your name; and if, in the counsel of your will and the course of your providence, it cannot be otherwise that by my suffering or sorrow, or death itself; yet, Father, even in this, glorify your name. Out of my very ruins, erect a trophy and monument to your praise. Be hallowed and sanctified, although at my cost, and with the loss of all.'
"On Glorifying God in His Attributes"
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZPgCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA292&source
We ought to glorify God, by declaring his attributes in our Words and Discourses; setting forth his holiness, wisdom, power, justice, in the most serious and affecting manner that we are able, so as to beget a high and honourable esteem of them in those that hear us. Our discourses should be like Jacob's ladder; though the bottom of them stand upon the earth, yet the top of them should reach into heaven. Every true Christian should be piously ingenious; to take his advantage from earthly occurrences, to transfer his thoughts and discourse to those attributes of God, which appear most conspicuous and illustrious in them.
Thomas Manton A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer
"Hallowed be your name"
Many times we must be content, not only to be active instruments but passive objects of his glory. If God will glorify himself by our poverty, or our disgrace, our pain and sickness, we must be content. We need to leave the means to God's own choosing; that he may be glorified in our condition, whatever it is. If he wills for us to be rich and full, that he might be glorified in our bounty; if he wills for us to be poor and low, that he may be glorified in our patience; if he will have us healthy, that he may be glorified in our labour; if he will have us sick, that he may be glorified in our pain; if he will have us live, that he maybe glorified in our lives; if he will have us die, that he may be glorified in our deaths ("For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's." Romans 14:8).
"Thine is the Glory"
This life is not to be valued but as it yields opportunities to glorify God. Every morning we should revive the sense of this upon our hearts. This day I am going to live with God.
Do we prefer the glory of God? Consider these marks:
1. Are we content with loss, provided the name of God may gain respect in the world; so that he may be magnified no matter what becomes of us and our interests and desires?
2.Do we pray absolutely for God's glory with sweet submission to his will in all other things? When we pray for strength and quickening, what is it that runs in our minds? Are we entertaining our spirits with dreams of applause, and feeding our minds with the sweetness of popular acclamation? When we are praying for a public mercy against an enemy, what runs in our thoughts? Is it revenge, safety, and our own personal happiness, or God's glory? Do we seek God with this purpose: that he might provide for his own glorious name, and that his name must not lie under reproach? The children of God should desire only God's glory, and in all other things leave themselves to his disposal.
3. What is the disposition of our hearts when our prayers are answered and God has given us the blessing we prayed for? We do not ask it for God's glory, if we do not use it for God's glory.
A.B Simpson
The truest way to glorify God is to let the world see what He is and what He can do. God does not so much want us to do things as to let people see what He can do. God is not looking for extraordinary characters as His instruments, but He is looking for humble instruments through whom He can be honored throughout the ages.
The true way to glorify God is for God to show His glory through us, to shine through us as empty vessels, reflecting His fullness of grace and power.There is nothing that glorifies God so much as for a weak and helpless man or woman to be able to triumph through His strength in places where the highest human qualities will fail us and to carry on in divine power through every form of toll and suffering. A spirit naturally weak, irresolute, selfish, and sinful, transformed into sweetness, purity and power and standing victorious amid circumstances from which its natural qualities must utterly unfit it brings glory to God. A mind not naturally wise or strong, yet directed by a divine wisdom and carried along the path of a great and mighty plan, being used to accomplish stupendous results for God and man-this glorifies God.
A.W. Tozer Jesus, Our Man in Glory
God is not glorified until men and women think gloriously of Him.
Lord, use me so that Thou shalt be glorified and I shall be hidden from myself and others.
George Herbert “King of Glory, King of Peace” 1633
King of glory, King of peace,
I will love Thee;
And that love may never cease,
I will move Thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
Thou hast heard me;
Thou didst note my working breast,
Thou hast spared me.
Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing Thee,
And the cream of all my heart
I will bring Thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
Thou alone didst clear me;
And alone, when they replied,
Thou didst hear me.
Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise Thee;
In my heart, though not in Heaven,
I can raise Thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
To enroll Thee:
E’en eternity’s too short
To extol Thee.
Horatius Bonar “Fill Thou My Life, O Lord My God”, 1866
Fill thou my life, O Lord my God,
in every part with praise,
that my whole being may proclaim
thy being and thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
nor e'en the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
of praise in every part!
Praise in the common things of life,
its goings our and in;
praise in each duty and deed,
however small and mean.
Fill every part of me with praise;
let all my being speak
of thee and of thy love, O Lord,
poor though I be, and weak.
So shalt thou, Lord, from me, e'en me,
receive the glory due;
and so shall I begin on earth
the song forever new.
So shall each fear, each fret, each care
be turned into a song,
and every winding of the way
the echo shall prolong;
So shall no part of day or night
from sacredness be free;
but all my life, in every step
be fellowship with thee.