Seeking the Face of God
As
I sit here at my desk today, the thoughts the Lord has been giving to me over
the last few days are thoughts concerning prayer. Not just any type of prayer, but seeking the
face of God in prayer.
The Word of God
tells us that revival in our hearts and our communities, and our world will
come when we begin not just to pray our sweet hour of prayer or our quick 30
minute maintenance prayer. Revival comes
when God’s people seek His face.
The
Bible challenges every person to be a diligent seeker (not casual) and to seek
the Lord. In fact, there’s no place for
causal seekers when it comes to pursuing God. “…He rewards those who earnestly
seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6b)
The
Bible has a lot to say about seeking:
1)
It begins with the Priority of Seeking as found in Matthew 6:33: “But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.” Previous to this passage
Jesus talked about not being anxious for clothing, food or even the length of
one’s life. That if the believer would
seek him first, the rest would fall into place.
2)
Then there is the Persistence of Seeking: “Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7)
3)
And finally, there is the range of Seeking. In Deuteronomy 4:29 God reminds His
people, “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you
look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Now
for the big question: What does it “really” mean to seek God? Taking into consideration the above, I am sure
that “I” have never experienced (to any real depth) what it truly means to seek
the Lord. Yes, I read my Bible, pray and
go to church—all those Christian things…but…is that truly seeking the Lord?
When
you began dating someone new, didn’t you desire to be with them; to spend all
your time together? Didn’t you want to talk with them? Remember how it felt not being together? How much did you look for every opportunity
to be together? Now do you understand? You were seeking their face. And that’s how God wants us to seek
Him. Not just a few minutes here and there, but all the time. It’s
not just the searching and looking, but how you search and look. There’s
an effort to it. Not just hit or miss, but steadily.
So,
if any nation wishes to find healing for their land, the church must rediscover
(or maybe better said—discover) what it really means to “seek my face.”
In
2 Chronicles 7:14 we read, “…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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their
land..”
A Christian is never far from joy in
their lives when they have spent regular time looking at God’s face. Take time
now and seek His face.
Would You Like to Have a Relationship with God?
