[FONT="]Prayer is really about a meeting with God. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]What can we do from our side when we want to meet with God? In the OT a term that was often used to refer to what we can do is “seek”.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Now we know that as believers God’s Spirit dwells within us, so we don’t need to try & find God. He has found us & Jesus says He is with us always to the very end of the age. But I think we would all agree there is always more of God for us to discover. So we can seek & keep on seeking as the Amplified bible says [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Jesus tells us to seek first His kingdom & His righteousness (Matt 6:33) That’s essentially about entering into a relationship with God. We enter His kingdom through having our sin forgiven through Christ & we receive His righteousness as a gift. Rom 5:17 says through abundance of grace & the gift of righteousness we reign in Christ.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]So after we have sought first His kingdom & His righteousness, what do we seek?
When we ask God for things, I think we are seeking His hand. God’s hand is about his works, His strength what He can do. The hand is a symbol of ability Jos 4:[/FONT] 23 for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” [FONT="]Acts 11:21 says :[/FONT]And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” It’s good to seek the hand of the Lord.[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]This might sound strange but we can also seek His feet. Mary anointed Jesus feet & wiped his feet with her hair (John 11:2). The same or another Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening (Luke 10:39). John the Baptist said he was not worthy to stoop down & untie Jesus sandals (Mark 1:7) We have to humble ourselves when we sit at Jesus feet. We also can pace ourselves when we keep in stepp with the Spirit of Jesus. Gal 5:[/FONT]22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking (wanting others to move faster) and envying (wanting to move faster) each other.[FONT="][/FONT]
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[FONT="]We can also seek God’s voice when we want to hear from Him. Jesus says the sheep follow Him because they know His voice [/FONT]3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” [FONT="]The more we hear His voice the better we will be able to discern what is of God & what is not.[/FONT] Hebrews 5 talks about people who have not done this: 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.[FONT="]
[/FONT]
So we have looked at seeking God’s hand, feet & voice. There’s just one more I’d like to mention & I would encourage us to focus on this today.
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]1 Chronicles 16:11[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.[/FONT]
[FONT="]2 Chronicles 7:14[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Psalm 24:6[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Psalm 27:8[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Psalm 105:4[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
If we seek God’s feet we are humbled which is a good thing but seeking his feet & even seeking His hand, we don’t see His face. Seeking His voice we can hear the tone of His voice, but it is in the face of a person that we see their countenance towards us. If we only seek the Lord’s hand, how can we know whether He is frowning at us or smiling at us. When we look at a person’s face we see their heart. When the rich young ruler heard that he should sell all He had, give to the poor & follow Jesus, his face fell & he went away sad (Mark 10:21-22). Onlookers could see what was going on in his heart from his face.
Moses was seeking God’s face. This is what the Lord said about Moses:
Num 12:6 When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.
Deut 34:10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
When we behold the face of God, we who with unveiled faces behold the glory of the Lord are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory.
[FONT="]Luke 1:76[/FONT][FONT="] is an interesting verse in the light of the Lord’s face. It says of John the Baptist:[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,[/FONT]
Who is the face of the Lord? – Jesus. Let’s seek Him.
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]What can we do from our side when we want to meet with God? In the OT a term that was often used to refer to what we can do is “seek”.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Now we know that as believers God’s Spirit dwells within us, so we don’t need to try & find God. He has found us & Jesus says He is with us always to the very end of the age. But I think we would all agree there is always more of God for us to discover. So we can seek & keep on seeking as the Amplified bible says [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Jesus tells us to seek first His kingdom & His righteousness (Matt 6:33) That’s essentially about entering into a relationship with God. We enter His kingdom through having our sin forgiven through Christ & we receive His righteousness as a gift. Rom 5:17 says through abundance of grace & the gift of righteousness we reign in Christ.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]So after we have sought first His kingdom & His righteousness, what do we seek?
When we ask God for things, I think we are seeking His hand. God’s hand is about his works, His strength what He can do. The hand is a symbol of ability Jos 4:[/FONT] 23 for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” [FONT="]Acts 11:21 says :[/FONT]And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” It’s good to seek the hand of the Lord.[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]This might sound strange but we can also seek His feet. Mary anointed Jesus feet & wiped his feet with her hair (John 11:2). The same or another Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening (Luke 10:39). John the Baptist said he was not worthy to stoop down & untie Jesus sandals (Mark 1:7) We have to humble ourselves when we sit at Jesus feet. We also can pace ourselves when we keep in stepp with the Spirit of Jesus. Gal 5:[/FONT]22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking (wanting others to move faster) and envying (wanting to move faster) each other.[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]We can also seek God’s voice when we want to hear from Him. Jesus says the sheep follow Him because they know His voice [/FONT]3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” [FONT="]The more we hear His voice the better we will be able to discern what is of God & what is not.[/FONT] Hebrews 5 talks about people who have not done this: 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.[FONT="]
[/FONT]
So we have looked at seeking God’s hand, feet & voice. There’s just one more I’d like to mention & I would encourage us to focus on this today.
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]1 Chronicles 16:11[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.[/FONT]
[FONT="]2 Chronicles 7:14[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Psalm 24:6[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Psalm 27:8[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Psalm 105:4[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
If we seek God’s feet we are humbled which is a good thing but seeking his feet & even seeking His hand, we don’t see His face. Seeking His voice we can hear the tone of His voice, but it is in the face of a person that we see their countenance towards us. If we only seek the Lord’s hand, how can we know whether He is frowning at us or smiling at us. When we look at a person’s face we see their heart. When the rich young ruler heard that he should sell all He had, give to the poor & follow Jesus, his face fell & he went away sad (Mark 10:21-22). Onlookers could see what was going on in his heart from his face.
Moses was seeking God’s face. This is what the Lord said about Moses:
Num 12:6 When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.
Deut 34:10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
When we behold the face of God, we who with unveiled faces behold the glory of the Lord are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory.
[FONT="]Luke 1:76[/FONT][FONT="] is an interesting verse in the light of the Lord’s face. It says of John the Baptist:[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,[/FONT]
Who is the face of the Lord? – Jesus. Let’s seek Him.
