Can We Actually See the Face of God?

Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually! 1 Chronicles 16:11

"My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" 

Your face, Lord, I will seek" 

Psalm 27:8

I was reminded this morning to continually seek God's face. Notice the face of God in this photo? 

If you seek God, He will reveal himself. Seeking God's face is a subject like entering God's rest in that there are entire books written on it, yet very few people are familiar with these concepts.

What does it mean to seek God's face? What is in a face? If you pay close attention to someone's face you can see a lot of things. In their eyes you can see if they are at peace. In their countenance you can see if they are happy, sad, mad, scared, or indifferent. You can tell what they think about you. When you are seeking God's face, you are seeking His heart and His mind. What is more important than that? 

David was anointed King because "the Lord sought out a man after His own heart..." (1 Samuel 13:14). God promises you: "You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer 29:13). The problem is most people that are "seeking God" are seeking His hands, not His heart. They are seeking what God can do for them. Their prayers to Him [conversation with Him] consist(s) of please heal, please give, please fix... This is not "seeking God" and this is definitely not "seeking His face." In fact, in order to seek God's face, we need to step way out of our daily routine and comfort zone. We have to be ready to set aside any ideas and thoughts we already have about God. We have to be ready to accept anything that God reveals to us. We need to let go of everything. As long as we are holding on to earthly things we will never ascend to the level of stepping into heavenly things.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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." - 2 Chronicles 7:14

We can't come face to face with God unless we 1.) humble ourselves, 2.) pray and 3.) turn from our wicked ways. Not only do we need to be repentant, we need to be aware of our wickedness. We need to find out from Him what things in our lives are displeasing to Him. We find what is "wicked" to God through prayer and reading His Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal those things to us we need to get rid of. When we do, we see that we fail every day in word, thought and deed, whether we mean to or not, and "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" to Him (Isaiah 64:6). We are nothing without Him. The next step is changing what He shows you in humility and complete dependence on Him, for humility precedes holiness and without holiness, no one can see God. What good is seeking if you cannot see what you are seeking? We can't hang on to things that He hates and expect to meet Him eye to eye. So humility precedes holiness and holiness precedes seeking His face. Holiness also precedes power and God promises to empower that which He first makes holy, but it is a process.

Francis Frangipane describes it this way:

“There are certain times when the Lord calls us out of the routine of our daily lives. These are special seasons where His only command is, “Seek My Face.” He has something precious and vitally important to give us that the familiar pattern of our daily devotions cannot accommodate. During such times people are often delivered of sins that have plagued them for years; others discover a depth in their walk with God that leads to greater effectiveness in ministry and prayer; still others experience breakthroughs in their families and are used by God to see loved ones brought into the Kingdom.”

But we must understand that we are not seeking His hands, we are not looking for results or an experience. We are seeking Him for Himself, to abide with Christ, where we are continually aware of His fullness within us, where His presence dwells in us in glory. "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him" (Romans 6:8).

How do we get to this place? The Bible says, "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." (Exodus 33:11). How did he meet with the Lord? We read that "Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came about, that everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. Did you notice where "everyone" who sought the Lord went? It tells us three times that it was outside the camp. In fact, it even specifies it was "a good distance from the camp." Where we need to go is the same place they needed to go. Jesus was the same way and encouraged His disciples to do it as well (Matt. 19:27, Luke 14:33). 

Lastly, those who truly "seek His face" find the time. It is our utmost desire...