Seeking the Face of God

You have said to my heart, "Seek My Face!"

Your Face, O Lord, I do seek....(Ps. 27).

**********************************

 

Save your best striving for seeking My Face.  I am constantly communicating with you.  To find Me and hear My voice, you must seek me above all else.  Anything that you desire more than Me becomes an idol.  when you are determined to get your own way, you blot Me out of your consciousness. 

 

 Instead of single-mindedly pursuing some goal, talk with Me about it.  Let the Light of My Presence shine on this pursuit, so that you can see it from My perspective.  If the goal fits into My plans for you, I will help you reach it.  If it is contrary to My will for you, I will gradually change the desire of your heart.  Seek Me first and foremost; then the rest of your life will fall into place, piece by piece (Jesus Calling; March 8).

***************************************************************

 

About a year or so ago, I began to experience in my prayer time the image of Jesus, wearing a white linen alb -- the vestment of a priest.  Every time I would begin to pray, I would see Jesus as my Confessor, in the sense that Augustine's Confessions were written  -- not necessarily always a confession of sin, but an unfolding and an opening of all that was within my heart and mind, whether good or evil or just confused and befuddled.  Furthermore, when I prayed, I had the sense of entering a small room, much like a modern-day confessional room, that had a small table at which we both sat, He on one side and I on another.  And we would converse, "as a man speaks with his friend, face to face"(Exodus 33:11).  Sometimes, I would "confess my sin" to Him; other times, I would seek His advice, His word, His enlightenment, His counsel on my journey of faith.

 

This morning, after about a year of praying in this fashion, I suddenly understood the meaning of the small table in the room.  Although I had not seen it before, I now understand that the Lord is feeding me "my daily bread."  As I sit at the table with Him and converse easily with Him, He is sustaining my spirit, infusing me with His wisdom and truth and understanding, and opening my mind to His Word -- the very thing He said man would live by.  I am eating and being satisfied spiritually by the counsel of the Lord. 

 

What a wonderful, inexpressible gift is the Living and Active Word of God:  the purpose of God, the wisdom of God, the plan of God, the provision of God, the providence of God.  If we want to understand the ways of God, we must set our hearts on pilgrimage; we must leave behind the things (and ways of thinking) of earth and the "empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers," and set out on the journey of faith, knowing that we cannot be disappointed, for God Himself is our Guide -- indeed, He Himself is the Way.  The food He feeds us is Himself: His own Body, His own Mind, His own Spirit.

 

The Jews were the "Chosen" people.  What were they "chosen" for, but to have an experience of God Himself leading them, feeding them, teaching them?  God set them apart to journey with Him through the wilderness to the Promised Land.  He Himself promised to go with them on the way, and they were not disappointed.  Always before we have doctrines, we have the experience.  The doctrines, the beliefs, are only our attempt to put words to the experience.  The church has consistently gone through cycles of emphasizing doctrines over experience, and then the Holy Spirit has to re-visit the church to renew its experience.  But He never fails to do so:

 

Before there was a doctrine of redemption, there was the experience of Christ's death and resurrection.  Long before theologians dissected the operations of spiritual manifestations, there were biblical stories od spiritual manifestations to base the theology upon.  Prior to a theological explanations on demonology, numerous individuals in the New Testament were delivered from evil spirits.  My point is this: there was first an experience before there was a systematic theology taught explaining and dissecting those experiences.

 

With the expansion of knowledge, including biblical history, studies on biblical language (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic), and deep discussions and debates, the emphasis has been upon receiving knowledge instead of receiving an experience [emphasis mine].  In the Bible there is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.  If we have only the letter, then we will become stiff and only emphasize the intellectual reception of the Word.  If we emphasize only the spirit of the law, then we may have manifestations without knowledge.  The letter and the spirit should be the power twins of our spiritual growth.

(Perry Stone: The Code of the Holy Spirit, p. 150) 

 

When we seek the Face of Christ, we seek much more than knowledge, although that is given to us.  Rather, we seek the "Word coming forth from the mouth of the Lord," the Word which speaks to our daily journey of faith.  We seek His wisdom on our current situation; we seek the bread of life which He offers to the world.  We want to know what He has to say to us today, now -- and very often, He does speak through Scripture, through a friend, through a "random" reading which we might pick up.  But He does speak to us "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."+

 

I love entering into a small, private, room where there are just the two of us, where I can freely pour out all that is in my heart and mind to the only One who can truly sort it all out.  I love receiving all the wisdom and knowledge that I am ready to absorb today, much of it that I was not ready to hear yesterday.  I love seeking the Face of God, my "Helper," (the same word in Hebrew that is used to describe Eve as Adam's "helpmeet:"  our constant Companion and Advocate, our Advisor and Counselor:  Your Face, O Lord, I will seek!