Choosing the Good Portion and Seeing the Glory of God

Introduction

It was the 5th day of fasting and prayer for women, a Friday evening, on the eve of the ICC Montreal women's camp. Sandrine Bialuta takes the microphone and asks a simple question to those arriving, worn out from a long week of work: "Can you say to the Lord: I want to make myself available?"

That evening's "Teach & Pray" message is built around two Bible passages: Mary and Martha receiving Jesus in their home (Luke 10:38-42), then Martha facing the death of her brother Lazarus (John 11). Two moments, two Marthas, one lesson: choose the good portion, then believe to see the glory of God.

If you are caught in a race that never ends, if your heart is torn between a thousand urgent things, this message is for you.

Outline of the message

1. Choosing the good portion like Mary

Sandrine starts from the well-known scene: Martha is busy serving, Mary sits at Jesus's feet. Jesus answers: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

The preacher stresses: it is the last day of the week for those who work Monday through Friday. A busy day, a busy week, full of concerns, questions, burdens. But Jesus says: "We must be anxious about one thing only. Do as Mary did. Choose the good portion."

Concretely, that turns into this prayer: "I want to forget my fatigue. I want to forget my burdens. I want to forget my worries, my appointments, everything crowding my mind. I want to switch off my brain. I just want to make room. I just want to make my heart available tonight."

2. Coming to draw from his presence

From this disposition of the heart comes a second attitude: drawing. Sandrine returns to a song that runs through the whole message, "I come to draw water," and applies it to Mary: "She drew faith. She drew fervor. She drew knowledge. She drew the love of God. She drew the faithfulness of God. She drew holiness, sanctification, a spirit of prayer, a spirit of faith."

Then comes the question that concerns you: "My sister, what do you want to draw? My brother, what do you want to draw tonight?" The sources are abundant, they never run dry. Grace is available. The Spirit is available.

Sandrine sums it up this way: "If you stop praying, what you have runs out. But I cannot stop drawing, because I know that without him, I am nothing."

3. Believing to see the glory of God

The second part of the message opens John 11:40. Lazarus is dead, buried for four days already. Martha believes in the resurrection "on the last day." Jesus answers her: "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

The revelation Martha did not yet have: Jesus is not only the Son of God, he is life. He can give it to whomever he wants, however he wants. And he speaks the same word to each of us tonight. Sandrine puts her own name directly into the text: "Did I not tell you, Sandrine, that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" Put your own name in its place.

4. Calling for the glory, letting the Spirit blow

Sandrine reminds us that glory is tied to the person of God: his holiness, his greatness, his richness, his power, his authority, his radiance, his light. Before, God dwelled in a tent, in the temple, in the ark (Exodus 25:8). Today, he lives in the heart of those who believe. His glory is therefore already in you, you just need to pray for it to be made visible.

The request becomes specific: "I want to see your glory in my life, in my household, in my family, in my children, in my church, in this country." Like Moses who asks to see the glory, like the early church that prays until the place shakes (Acts 4:31).

The last part of the prayer time is a direct invitation to the Holy Spirit: "Breathe in this place. Breathe on your church. Breathe on this camp."

5. The worship of the One who is worthy

The message ends with a long time of worship to Elohim, Yahweh, Adonai, the God who created everything out of nothing, the one who reigns forever, the one whose throne is established forever. Sandrine returns to David's image: "Let my hand be like the pen of a ready writer, so that I may recite to him my most beautiful poems." (Psalm 45:2)

And this closing word: "This is not the end of your presence. We carry it home with us, and we set our families and our houses ablaze too."

Key takeaways

• Only one thing is necessary. Choosing the good portion means refusing to let the world's urgencies smother the one urgency of the soul.
• Prayer is not a performance, it is a source. You come to it to draw: faith, fervor, love, sanctification, a spirit of prayer.
• Seeing the glory of God begins with believing. "If you believe, you will see," the order is never reversed.
• The glory is already in you if Christ dwells in your heart. What you ask for is that it be made visible outwardly: in your life, your family, your church.
• What God gives you in prayer travels with you. You do not leave empty handed; you carry his presence home.

Personal application

Take ten minutes this week to honestly answer these questions:

1. In recent days, do you look more like Martha (busy, scattered) or like Mary (seated, available)? What, very concretely, is keeping you from sitting at Jesus's feet?
2. If you had to come and draw tonight, what would you ask for first? More faith? More love? More perseverance? Name it before God.
3. In what area are you waiting to see the glory of God made visible: your personal life, your household, your family, your church, your country? Write it down, then pray specifically about it.
4. What do you "carry home" when you come out of a time of prayer? How can you set the people around you ablaze with the presence you have just received?
5. Is there a sin you are tolerating in your life that is preventing the glory of God from being made visible there? Decide today to confess it and let it go.

Verses cited

• Luke 10:38-42 · Mary chooses the good portion.
• John 11:25-26 · "I am the resurrection and the life."
• John 11:40 · "If you believed you would see the glory of God."
• John 6:68 · "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
• Exodus 25:8 · "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst."
• Exodus 33:18 · Moses: "Please show me your glory."
• Joshua 10:12-13 · The sun stands still.
• 2 Kings 20:11 · God makes the shadow on Ahaz's dial go back for Hezekiah.
• Isaiah 6:5 · "Woe is me! I am lost."
• Acts 4:31 · The place where they were gathered was shaken.
• Revelation 4:10 · The 24 elders fall down.
• Psalm 16:11 · "In your presence there is fullness of joy."
• Psalm 45:2 · "My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer."

FAQ

What does it mean to "choose the good portion"?

In Luke 10, Jesus commends Mary's attitude of sitting at his feet to listen to him, rather than Martha's attitude of busying herself with serving. "Choosing the good portion" means deciding to put communion with the Lord ahead of the legitimate urgencies of daily life. It is not despising service; it is refusing to let service take the place of his presence.

"If you believe, you will see the glory of God": how do you believe when the situation seems stuck?

The scene in John 11 happens four days after Lazarus's death, when everything seems over. Martha believes in the resurrection "on the last day"; Jesus asks her to believe that he is life now. Believing, here, is not denying the reality of the difficulty; it is recognizing that Christ is greater than it and asking him to act. Faith comes before sight, never the other way around.

Why does Sandrine talk so much about "drawing"?

The image of the sources runs throughout the message. It says two things. First, that God is inexhaustible: his grace does not run dry. Second, that Christian life empties out if you stop coming to the source. What you received yesterday is not enough for today. Prayer is the bucket you lower into the well every day.