Seeking His Face

I, Joel Spencer, will no longer seek God’s presence.

That’s right, you will never again hear me asking for God’s presence! “What? Oh no, he’s abandoned the faith!” you might be thinking. On the contrary, I am moving deeper and deeper into a greater understanding of my Father. I’m not seeking His blessing. I’m not seeking His favor. I’m not running after Him for healing. I’m not even seeking to bask in His glory! (gasp!)

When I look around and see what is growing by leaps and bounds in Christian “movements”, mostly in the scores of “glory conferences”, I see multitudes seeking God’s presence, but not God’s Person. They promote “Come and sit in the glory!” and “Register and we’ll impart our anointing to experience the mighty presence of God!” and my personal favorite, “The Kingdom Finances” conferences where you hear what the “heavenly minister of finance” wants you to do with your millions that “he” is “releasing” to you. And you know what? I believe that God is allowing them to taste His glory, acquire riches and receive anointings. He is a God of His word and freely gives. But I ask you this, what about the other multi-trillion attributes of the Father? How horrible to be under the influence to believe that all I need are glory meetings! I have attended such events that, in and of themselves, are not the problem. But I have with my own ears heard conference hoppers say things like, and I quote, ”This is my 13th conference here at [insert name here]. I just can’t get enough!” My question is, what can you not get enough of? Is it possible that we’ve mistaken feelings, emotions and special occasion experiences for God Himself?

Some Believers say, “I like structure and order. I believe that God is pleased by me being a good person, so I think I’ll be Catholic.” Another says “I like to read and study the Bible and I know God desires me to obey His laws, so I’ll be Baptist”. Someone else believes “I enjoy God’s presence and glory, so I’ll be a spirit-filled charismatic”. Yet another says, “I desire great riches and earthy blessing, all for God’s Kingdom purposes of course, so I’m more into the prosperity gospel myself.” Friends, we have become one-dimensional Christians that fail to grasp the vast ocean that is God! We cannot seek after one attribute that interests us and remain there! We must seek His face and explore ALL that He is!

When I diligently seek Him, His glory comes. When I gaze at His face, His healing comes, signs and wonders follow – all that He is, is mine for the “experiencing” when I seek His beautiful face! I don’t just want His glory and I don’t simply want His favor. I want it ALL! When I seek His face, all is exactly what I get. I will never seek after “warm and fuzzies” – thankfully, I was never interested in emotions alone anyway. Yet I had lived thirty-plus years of my life dictated by emotions, so I want something real. I want true anointing, not emotion. I desire Him to indwell Me with His entire being, not just come for a visit and drop a glory bomb!

Today I turn my gaze from benefits and results of being in God’s presence and I gaze upon His face. I want to be as Stephen, gazing up into the Heavens – seeing my Father and Jesus at His side. Do you think that Stephen was desiring goosebumps and “manifestations” when he was about to give up his life for the sake of the Gospel? He wanted to do one thing and one thing only – see His Heavenly Father.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the presence of God. When the Holy Spirit truly comes on the scene, all else stops. I’ve laid out on the floor in my own study many a time under the mighty hand of God – with absolutely no coercing from myself, music or others. There is absolutely nothing like God reaching down and touching me personally, but my focus, my gaze has got to be upon His face, not the results that arrive when He comes. In the Greek, gazing was defined as “staring at with great intensity”. I want to gaze at the Lord with such great intensity that all else around me begins to fade away. When I see Him, I feel like I’m more than a conqueror. When I see Him, I know that I’m an overcomer. When I seek His face, He is ALWAYS faithful to reveal more and more and more of all that He is and all that I am in Him.

Have you been guilty of seeking God’s presence, gifts or blessings? I have. Let’s lift our eyes and see Him for Who He truly is, in all of His splendor. There all of who He is will be revealed – and ALL of Him is what I’m after. How about you?

“And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14