seek
God wants us to have FACE to FACE fellowship with Him.
This is of the very nature of the Godhead:
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word (Jesus-the Son) was with
('pros' = face to face with) God (the Father), and the Word was God' (John1:1).
Eternally the Father and Son are face to face in
loving fellowship. Jesus came that we could join
in that face to face fellowship (John 17:20-23).
The Lord's face is shining in grace and love towards
us (Num 6:25, Psa31:16; 67:1; 80:3,7,19; 119:35). Unbelievers have their hearts covered by a veil so they cannot
see and receive the light of God's love shining from the face of Jesus Christ
(2Cor 4:3-6).
'Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from
glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.'
Christians however often have their face turned away
from the Lord.
They are out of fellowship, looking to natural things
and miss the glory of God. We need to turn our eyes
back on the Lord and seek His face.
'Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those
rejoice who seek the LORD!' (Ps 105:3).
Prayer is the foundation of every successful Christian
endeavour.
It is essential for you to find and fulfil your destiny.
Prayer is to SEEK the Lord both:
(1) to seek His face and
(2) to seek His hands (answers to prayer).
'Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face forevermore!'
(Ps 105:4; 1Chronicles 16:11).
Notice the two parts, both good:
(1) Seek the Lord for Himself
and (2) Seek His strength, power and help.
But then we are told which should come first: 'seek
His face forevermore.' In fact when we find and
know the Lord we find He is our strength, our health victory and life.
God is calling us to seek Him because:
(1) He wants fellowship with us:
'When You said, 'Seek My face' My heart said to
You: 'Your face, LORD, I will seek' (Ps 27:8)
and (2) He want to release His grace to and through
us: 'if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land' (2Chr 7:14).
Seeking the Lord does not just happen by accident,
you have to purpose (commit) to do it: 'Then
they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me'
(Hosea 5:15).
If you don't your life will start going in the
wrong direction: 'He did evil, because he did not prepare his heart
to seek the LORD' (2Chronicles 12:14).
You can seek God in faith knowing that your life will
be changed for the better: 'Without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He
is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.' (Hebrews 11:6)
'The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those
who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing' (Ps 34:10).
God's plans for our life are good: 'For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and
not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.'
But they do not
come to pass automatically. We must seek Him and pray out God's plans and purposes
for our life and ministry:
'Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen
to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with
all your heart. I will be found by you, says
the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity' (Jer 29:11-14).
This is God's absolute promise that those who seek
God and His will and power with a sincere heart will find Him (see Matt 7:7).
If you set your heart to seek God there is no way your life will not
change and move into Divine empowerment, blessing and Destiny!
We must give time to seek the Lord.
'Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: 'My way is hidden
from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God'? (people say, 'God has forgotten me' but they need to seek Him!)
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases
strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall
run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Keep silence
before Me, O coastlands and let the people renew their strength! Let them come near, then let them speak' (Isaiah 39:27-40:1).
'Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.' Seek Him now before it is too late, before your life takes the wrong turn. Your eternal destiny and character depends on your choices now to seek Him or go your own way.
As you seek Him get ready for Him to make changes in
you:
'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts'
(He will reveal attitudes and ways that need changing
if you are to go forward and increase in God) 'let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon' (as we repent and confess our sins He is merciful to forgive and
cleanse us). 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says
the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My
ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'
God's ideas, ways and plans are so much better and
bigger than ours, so we should let go of our small and limited thinking and
let Him renew our minds, so that we think God's thoughts. When we are
in agreement with Him, His power can flow.
'For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth
and bud,
that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall My word be that goes forth from My
mouth...'
When we seek God, our ears become open to hear Him
speaking to us.
His Word comes down like the rain falling on the
soil of our hearts.
His Word and thoughts enter our heart, transforming
us, causing us to be fruitful and blessed with new life.
'.... it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent
it.'
God sends His words down from Heaven like rain, for
a purpose. They are containers of powerful blessing
sent to impart and bring forth life. But to accomplish
this they must first be received into the heart (as rain is received by the
ground). Then they work powerfully and invisibly under
the ground (in the heart) producing good fruit. Then
the water rises to the heaven (evaporation) completing the cycle. Likewise, the process is complete when we return God's Word
to Heaven. He sends it down, we receive it and
then send it back to God by declaring it and speaking it out in our prayers,
praises and confessions. The promise is that when God's Word
is received by a believing heart and returned to Him by a confessing mouth
it will accomplish its purpose and release its power. When it goes full circle, it will not return to God void!
The result will be:'You shall go out
with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall
break forth into singing before you, and all
the trees of the field shall clap their hands' (Isaiah 55:6-11).