Encouragement
“Your Face, Lord I Will Seek” (Psalm 27:6-9)
“And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When You said, “Seek My face”, my heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.”
Last week’s message ended with verse 5, where David said: “He shall set me high upon a rock”. His enemies were still around, and surrounding him, but God had lifted him to a higher place, which made it possible for him to say “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me”. Today you may be feeling as though many things are going wrong around you, or that people are against you, but the Lord wants to lift you up to another level. He wants to give you a Heaven based focus so that you will see all these problems from His point of view. If you saw your difficulties through the Lord’s eyes, they would not seem to be as big and as threatening. We serve a God who is mighty and omnipotent. There is nothing impossible with Him. He is high and exalted, and He wants to lift us up, so that we can experience life from where He is. In Revelations 4:1, John saw a door standing open in heaven, and a voice said to him “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this”. The Lord is calling us to higher ground, to take our place at His side. He is calling us to rule and reign in heavenly places with Him (Ephesians 1:20). Whatever difficulty you may be facing today, see your problems as an open door to higher ground in the Spirit, and allow the Holy Spirit to take you to your rightful place at the right hand of Jesus. We can step up beyond our challenges by focusing on the greatness of Jesus, His omnipotence and love. He wants to lift us up above all the enemies and the issues surrounding us. He wants to fill our lives with His victory. In Him we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). In Him we are always triumphant (2 Corinthians 2:14), hallelujah. Begin to pray from Heaven’s perspective instead of from your earthly eye view. It will transform your life!
David’s worship and sacrifices to God were joyful experiences for him because he had ceased focusing on his problems and his enemies, and focused instead on the greatness and the glory of the Lord. He knew that whatever he focused on became big and powerful in His life. So many of God’s children are weighed down and living lives devoid of joy because of how much they dwell on the negative, and the works of the enemy. These things naturally become dominant in their lives. If we looked instead at the greatness of God and His awesome power and reality, this is what will fill our hearts, and we will walk in the joy which resonates from the throne of God. We serve a Lord who loves to laugh (Psalm 2:4), and who emanates joy. I grew up with a religious perception of a somber, serious God, who was looking to knock me into ‘shape’, but I know now that He is all love and overflowing joy, and this is what He wants to fill my heart with. Let us bring our joyful worship to the King of kings. He is worthy of our love and adoration!
David sang to the Lord. Music and song are one of the powerful languages of worship. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that “God rejoices over us with singing.” Our joyful God sings, and He loves when we sing to Him! He does not look to see what our voices sound like, or how well we can hold a tune. He just loves us singing to Him. Singing to the Lord always lifts me up when I am feeling discouraged. I find that when I lift up my voice and sing to Jesus, my heart follows, and in a short time, I feel on top of things again, as the Holy Spirit takes me back to the higher place I should be with Jesus. Friend, sing a new song to the Lord today. The Word of God is filled with invitations to sing new songs to the Lord. Psalm 96:1, Psalm 98:1, & Isaiah 42:10, are just a few examples. If you have never sung your own song to the Lord, you could try now! As you think of all the wonderful things that the Father has done for you, and how He has loved you and provided for you, you will feel the joy and the praise rising up from within you. Let it take expression. Singing our worship to God is powerful because when we sing to Him, we align ourselves with Heaven, where angels are singing praises to Him around the throne eternally. Try asking the Holy Spirit to stir up new songs in your heart for Jesus!
David loved the Lord and sought His face through good times and through bad. The heart of the Father yearns for His kids to come to Him and fellowship with Him not for what they want but for who He is; those who will seek His face and not His hand. David had many needs and said “Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy upon me and answer me.” But he also said “When You said, “Seek My face”, My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord I will seek.”. He resolved that he would know God for the amazing, awesome and wonderful Person He is, and not only for the blessings or help he could know from Him. He cried out for the face of the Lord to be ever turned towards him. He longed for the presence of the Lord to always be upon him. Whatever the difficulties you are dealing with right now, resolve to seek the Lord in worship. Purpose to seek His face, to love and long for Him regardless of the needs in your life. He is love and light, and when He turns His face to us, our lives are filled with the sweetness of His powerful light, as it disperses any darkness and confusion. God’s face upon us is His favor and His goodness. It is the release of His love in our lives. The words of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24 are a potent release of the light of God’s face upon all who will seek and receive: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace.” Hallelujah! This is our portion and our inheritance. This is our blessing and our reward!
Precious friend, from these verses of Psalm 27, we can receive the instruction of the Lord. He is calling us to:
1)Have a Heaven based focus
2)Live in His joy
3)Sing (and worship) unto the Lord
4)Seek His face.
You have a Father and He loves you. He longs to fill you with His powerful light. He longs to see you rejoice in Him always(Philippians 3:1) and walk in victory. He loves to hear you sing to (and with) Him with the freedom of a child. He longs for you to seek His face and love Him for who He is – the awesome and wonderful ruler and Lord of all the universe! I pray that this word transforms your life and walk with God, and that the blessed Holy Spirit will take your hand and lift you up to higher heights to live above the present circumstances and live the abundant life that Jesus died to give you. You are blessed and precious and cherished by the Lord!
Minoli Haththotuwa, 10 September 2012
www.risingonwings.org
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