96. Living for God's Glory

What if the purpose behind every decision, every act of service, and every season of your life was not your success, but God's glory?

In this final episode of the Fully Dependent Summer Series, Amanda and Corrine explore the foundational truth that a life fully dependent on God is ultimately a life lived for His glory. As believers, it's easy to become distracted by personal goals, accomplishments, and the desire for recognition. Yet Scripture continually calls us to fix our eyes on something greater: the glory of God.

Amanda and Corrine discuss what God's glory reveals about His character and why understanding who He is changes how we live, serve, and make decisions. They reflect on the beauty of a God who is both infinitely powerful and deeply caring, inviting listeners to trust Him more fully and align their lives with His purposes.

Through biblical encouragement and practical application, this conversation challenges listeners to consider whether their ambitions, priorities, and daily choices are pointing others to themselves or to God. As the series comes to a close, we're reminded that true fulfillment is found not in building our own kingdoms, but in living for the One whose glory will endure forever.

Thank you for joining us for the Fully Dependent Summer Series. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who wants to live with greater purpose, dependence, and passion for God's glory.

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Transcript

Series Wrap And Why Glory Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome back to His Glory Her Good, a podcast for women in student ministry. We are your hosts. I'm Corinne. And I'm Amanda. And we are here to round out week four of our summer series, our fully dependent summer has been the theme. And again, you may be listening out of order, but still, if you're listening in order, it does kind of track. Because now we get to end with our last kind of idea that I think does tie it all together. Um, but even if you're just joining us now, it's gonna be good stuff. You can go whatever order you want to. So you kind of know the drill by now.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

If you've listened any of these, have your Bible ready. Yeah, we're gonna be pretty uh scripture heavy today and walking through it slowly. So feel free to pause, go grab your Bible. Um, we're gonna walk through it together. But um, I wanted to kind of talk a little bit first of this idea of like the glory of God in relation to why we do this podcast. Um, his glory, her good. That we again put it on a t-shirt, wear it on a hat. We love it, we call it out. Yeah. And and the reality is that we often are like, we are seeking out our good, often, but are we seeking out God's glory um in the situation, in the position, um, in the location that He has us. Um, what is it that I'm utmost seeking after with my whole life? And um Romans 11, which again, if you're here listen to the first episode, we talked about this fully dependent series

Romans 11 And The Glory Question

SPEAKER_02 1:35

came out of the Her Good retreat. Um, and this was our key um phrase, our key phrase, our key scripture, key passage. Um, and this was Romans 11, verse 33 through 36. And I want to start us here, and then we're gonna move over to Isaiah 40 if you're the person who likes to know where we're heading. Um, but I want to read this to see where we're going. Um, verse 33, oh the depths of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, and who has ever given to God that he should be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. Um, it's really easy to go about our life and um be the wisest person in the room and to live out of our own strength and to just hustle, um, believe in the hustle culture versus the rest culture that God has invited us into. Um, but when we start doing things out of our own glory and our own um ambitions and our own strength, like our pride completely blinds us from doing anything from the Lord. And um, our challenge this summer, um, as you're finishing out, or maybe it's whatever time of the year you're listening to this podcast, is to really ask yourself, Am I doing this for the glory of God? And that's a hard question to sometimes answer because we're like, of course, doing it for the glory of God. But I'm gonna ask it a little bit differently. Is how you're living, how you're working, how you're treating other people, does it reflect what you believe about God? Does it reflect what you would say is true about him? Because I love that verse 36 didn't come first before 33. Instead, it talks about the character of God, talks about his riches, his wisdom, his counsel, um, the fact that God doesn't need anything, we can't give him anything, and then to him

Isaiah 40 And A Bigger View

SPEAKER_02 3:45

is the glory. Um, I want us to live and plant ourselves in Isaiah 40 for a little while, um, simply so that you can remember who it is that we are supposed to live for, who we are supposed to work for, who we are supposed to find our strength and our wisdom and our rest from. Um, and so as I read my encouragement to you, if you're a note taker or journaler, maybe like start like highlighting verses or even words that just kind of pop out to you, Corinne. Feel free to um do the same. We'll give you some homework in real life. Love it. Um, because I want us to like really think about like who am I actually living as if I believe that God is all these things. Um, because if I am, then God will get the glory. And if I'm not, I'm believing that I am God. And there is a tricky line that we have to be sure we're walking according to. Um, so let's start in Isaiah 40. And um, I'm actually gonna start down to um verse nine. There's a lot in here. A, I'm just gonna throw out the fact that verse three through five is a reference to the New Testament, and um, and I love that it's John the Baptist's kind of a reference to him about preparing the way of the Lord in the wilderness. And then verse five, it says, and the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it for the mouth of the Lord has spoken, which is like literally referring to the fact that Jesus is the glory of God um put on display in humanity. Um, but past that, I want us to see just like the goodness of God overall. So, verse nine, um, starting there, Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain, Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly, raise it, do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your God. See, the Lord God comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule, his wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him. He protects his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries him in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those who are nursing, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure, or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales? Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or gave him counsel? Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding and taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales. He lifts up the islands like fine dust, Lebanon's cedars are not enough for fuel, or his animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are nothing before him. They can are considered by him as empty nothingness. With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him? An idol? Something that a smelter casts and a metal worker plates with gold and makes silver chains for? A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth? God is enthroned above the circle of the earth. His inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland. They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground. When he blows on them and they wither and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble. To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? asked the Holy One. Look up and see. Who created these? He brings out the stars by number, he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing. Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary. There is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the faint and he strengthens the powerless. Youth may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not become weary. They will walk and not faint. Um, I could just pray us out,

Powerful God Gentle Shepherd

SPEAKER_02 8:25

and um this the scripture would just speak for itself. And I just I am so tired of us working, acting, and I say this to myself um as if these things about God aren't true. Or I say them with my one one part of my mouth, but I don't live as any of them are true, or I forget. This is why spending time in God's word matters. This is why you sitting with other believers matter. Um, this is why sitting under the teaching of God matters, because we are forgetful people and we forget the God that we serve, we forget who he is. We think we can do something impressive. Um, do you see what it said about the grasshoppers or the stars or making princes like nothing? I can't do that. Um, but God can. And if we can finally just reposition our hearts and minds' affections back on God, and I think this is a daily practice and not a one-time situation. If we can continually putting our eyes back onto who God is, we can actually start living different. We can start working different, we can start pulling our strength differently, we can start resting differently. Um, all of all of what we do has to be dependent on who he is and who his glory or what his glory reveals in our life. So, Coran, I would love just to hear from you like some of the words or characteristics of God that maybe stood out to you kind of in this passage.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah, I I love that this gives us just such a right view of that he is God and we are not. Yes. But this is not a like, he's a distant, powerful God. So he's powerful, to be very clear, enthroned over all. I love it that we're getting this picture of he holds it all together. He is the one ruling, reigning, sustaining, and he's personal. So back to the beginning when it talks about of beginning of what you were reading in verse 11, that he's the shepherd who's gently leading, yeah, gently guiding, and that it's both. So I think like, what good news that he is this big, powerful, awesome God overall. Nothing takes him by surprise later on in the passage you're reading that he's everlasting God creator. He never becomes faint or weary, there's no limit to his understanding. Like, this is the God we rest in, we trust in, we see powerfully work. And he's the personal God that gently and tenderly cares for us and is guiding us home to be with him. And I think being able to just stand in awe that he can be all of these things all at once. And I just love the reminder. I think verse 26 is really what stood out to me as far as like I love that twice we get the do you not know? Have you not heard? And then there's this good news. But then in verse 26, to answer God's question of to whom will you compare me or who is my equal? Verse 26, look up and see. And he's calling the attention to the creation to go that it's his great power and strength that has created all these things, but an invitation also for us to look up and see and be reminded of his power, his glory, but also his care. Like he can hold all of this together, and then he still cares about you specifically.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

That's why I love um verse 27 through 28 of this idea of, you know, Jacob, why do you say in Israel, why do you assert my way is hidden from the Lord and my claim is ignored by God? Do you know how often I go and I just like, God doesn't care? God doesn't, you know, he doesn't want me to have X, Y, and Z or achieve X, Y, and Z. And I sit with so many women who believe those lies too. And they're like, why, why would you say that? Um, the creator, this is down verse 28. He's the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary. And here's what I love there is no limit to his understanding. Yep. God gets it, he understands exactly what you're going through, what you need, why you need it. Our limit of understanding is so tiny in comparison. Yeah. And yet we still try to do things for our own good and for our own glory. And and it, I watched a video this past week of like seeking the things that we seek out are often the end of themselves. So if we're seeking out happiness, like that's gonna be the end. We okay, you get what you want, and that's the end of your happiness, that's the end of your joy. But if we seek God, then all of these things come with it. We we we seek God and not our own glory and not our own promotion and not our own X, Y, and Z. All of these things will be added to us. We will have a God who has limitless understanding. We have a God who um gently leads us, we have a God who can remove princes. I'm some of you probably are praying that God would remove a prince or two, right? In your own life. Um, like that is what we have to kind of reacquaint our hearts with. Yeah. Um, we want to be people here on this podcast, people behind the scenes in our own personal day-to-day lives who are living and saying, I don't just want to live for my good and my glory. Yeah. I want to live for the glory of God and knowing that God's glory is where my good lies, that it's not apart from each other. That it's only when God's glory is the most prominent thing on display in my life, then that is where the good lies. Even when it

Seeking Glory Then Prayer And Closing

SPEAKER_02 13:55

doesn't feel good to me, it is where the good is. Um and I we preach it, we talk about it, we say it. Are we gonna actually live it? Yeah. Does what you believe about God impact the way you live? Um, because if you don't believe in the glory of God, it's gonna be really hard to live for it. Yeah. So I'd love to pray for us um as we close out this series and in um that God's glory would be on display in your life. Not because, you know, he will God will be glorified no matter whether or not you let him or not. But my question is hey, if you want God's goodness in your life, not a cheap version of good, not a cheap pleasure, but if you want the full goodness of God in your life, are you seeking out his glory in your life? And what does that look like? So I would love to pray us out. Please do. God, you are you are good, you are glorious, King of Kings, gentle shepherd, um, holy creator, mighty, strong, all the things that I can list that I'm not. And um, God, it is so tempting to do this life without you, to do ministry without you. Um, but God, maybe continually reminded and put face to face with who you are. I think about Job and everything that he was going through, Lord, and how he um, you know, just started questioning God, where are you? What are you doing? And you you spend um so many chapters trying to prove to Job, hey, uh well, who are you to ask questions? Um I'm the God who stretched out um all of creation and the oceans, and I tell the waves where to stop and I put the stars in the sky. God, would you remind us that in our own lives, Lord? When we start wrestling and doubting and trying to do things that are out of our own strength and are out of our own knowledge, God, that we would come back to the God who is over it all. And the God who isn't far off in a distance, but who God who is close and near and loves us as his children. May we not work out of a place to earn your goodness in our life, but we would work out of a place to honor you and put you in the right throne and that we don't even have to put you on, Lord. You're already there. Um, but God, that we would remember and be um to live in such a way that we know that God, you are altogether glorious. And all things are for you and from you and to you. We love you, God. In your son's name. Amen. Amen. His Glory Her Good is a production of the Life Way Podcast Network.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

We're your hosts Corinne Allen and Amanda Mejis. We are so grateful that you joined us, and we'll see you next time.