Saturday, March 29, 2014

Let's Start Praying More (Part 10)

(2)  Seek My Face: To seek the Face of God is to have a personal relationship with God. When Adam and Eve "hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God" (Gen 3:8, NASB), they literally hid themselves from the "face or faces" of the LORD God. 
 
 
Moses is unique among all the prophets because "the LORD used to speak face to face, as a man speaks to his friend," (Ex 33:11). Just as Moses beheld "the form of the LORD" (Num 12:6-7), "The One who is from God; He (Jesus) has seen the Father," (John 6:46)(John 1:18). Just as the face of Moses shone because he had stood in the presence of God, so the face of Jesus shone as He stood in the presence of the Father on the Mount of Transfiguration. 
 
Seeking the LORD runs the entire length of scripture from the Garden of Eden to the end of this world, "Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually," (1 Chron 16:11). In the words of Rabbi Heshy Kleinman,
 
"A person’s ultimate mission is to continuously seek Hashem through prayer and Torah." (Praying With Fire, page 85).
 
 Jesus said it this way, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you," (Matt 6:33). When speaking to the people of Athens, Paul said,
 
 
"And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth…that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each of us." (Acts 17:26-27, ESV)
 
Seeking the LORD in an intimate act of faith, as it is written, "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 seek Him," (Heb 11:6). Seeking the LORD, is a desire to know the LORD (Phil 3:10), moving from seeing in a mirror dimly, "but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known," (1 Cor 13:12)(Rev 22:3)
 
Often the tribulations brought into a person’s life will elevate their level of prayer. Since the LORD desires a "face to face" relationship with each person, He often permits tribulation in life to bring us into His presence like the parable of the prodigal son who returned to his father because he was impoverished and starving. The wives of the Patriarchs were infertile because the LORD desires the prayers of the righteous.
 
(Just this morning I read these words, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended," (Psa 72:20).  Two OBVIOUS insights I never noticed before: (1) All of David's psalms are in the beginning of the book running through Psalm 72.  I had thought that they were scattered throughout.  (2) All the psalms of David are considered "prayers."  David had many prayers to lift up and it should be the same in our lives.) - Scott





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