Face to Face Power

-


Scripture:

Psa. 31:14        But I trust in you, O LORD;
        I say, “You are my God.”
15     My times are in your hand;
        deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16     Let your face shine upon your servant;
        save me in your steadfast love.

Observation:

The Psalmist had his moments of difficulty in life and as he struggled he was constantly brought back to his relationship with the LORD. No matter what, he was going to trust in the LORD. No other god would be his salvation — on the true LORD! Too many things were out of his control and so he willingly placed his life in God’s hands. Yes, there were enemies and there were persecutors but he knew that he could trust in God.

David, himself, kept his face turned in the direction of God. He wanted everything that the LORD had for him. As the radiance of God’s glory shone upon him, the very nature of God filled him. This face to face relationship resulted in power infused by holy love. It was an indication of a life to be sanctified to God’s eternal good and in this David found his own salvation.

Application:

It’s easy to get caught up in the situations which surround us and feel as uf they are going to swallow us up. This happens when we take our eyes off of the face of God and onto the things around us. Remember what happened to Peter when he was walking on the water? As long as he looked into the face of Christ the swirling waters could do nothing to him. There was face to face power — that power that radiates from our Lord just when we need him! But when Peter got distracted by the waters and began to look down, he started to sink. There was no power in looking at the rough waters of this world.

Any personal strength which we think we may have will be drained from us when we fixate on everything that is raging around us. We are invited to join with the Psalmist in saying “But I trust in you, O LORD!” In the midst of difficulty we are called to lift our faces to the face of God so that he may shine his face upon us. We don’t have to live in fear of God turning his back on us. He never will! He constantly reaches out to use, welcoming us back toward him and into that powerful face to face relationship. The only reason we lack the power of that relationship is because we turn our back on him — or lower our eyes from his gaze. At that moment our strength becomes sapped.

The beauty of a face to face relationship with God is that it is infused with holy love. This incredible love of the Father is deeper than anything that we can ever begin to imagine and holds us steadfast in the midst of lifes storms and tragedies.

Lift up your eyes. Look into the steadfast and loving gaze of the LORD — and his holy love will pour out like a warm and healing balm. That balm reaches in and brings healing to the deepest wounds of our being and knits us back together with his mighty power, enabling us to be transformed and overflowing with his love out to minister to others. We become agents of his steadfast love through face to face power.

Prayer:

Lord, draw me close to you and strengthen my gaze that I may be empowered by your holy loving presence.  Amen.

If you would like to read more "Reflecting the Image"  click on the image to take you to the NPH bookstore.The book is also available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.


http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/nph/itempage.jsp?itemId=9780834135277

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more