“Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” (Isaiah 33:17 KJV)
The Lord has ministered this scripture to me this morning – He first ministered it to me a number of years ago and has reminded me again that this is our call as Children of the Living God to behold the King in His Beauty…
Psalm 40 tells us,
“Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:6-8 NASB)
How do we come to that place where we delight to do the Lord’s will and His Law is within – alive like a fire – our hearts – like a flame leading us into His Presence to be ignited again when we see His Face?
Psalm 27 tells us,
“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4 NASB)
Regarding Jesus we read in Psalm 16,
“I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8 NASB)
Peter quotes from this Psalm in Acts 2,
“”For David says of Him, ‘I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.'”” (Acts 2:25 NASB)
and Jesus Himself says,
“”Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”” (John 5:19 NASB)
When Jesus was on earth this was the way He lived – beholding the King in His Beauty, seeing the land that is very far off – and as He ministered to the people this was not His focus but His Father was…
He discharged every responsibility that His Father gave Him in joy beholding His Father in Heaven as He gazed upon Him who is Life Eternal…
He saw Him and His Love and His Love enabled Jesus to complete the task for which He was sent – to save those who call upon the Name of the Lord out of a pure heart – He saved them, He provided salvation to the entire world – whosoever will may come – and then He sat down at the Right Hand of His Father in Heaven…
We who follow Jesus and imitate Him as Paul did will do the same…
“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17 NASB)
Our greatest joy is to know Him whom to know is Life Eternal and as we know Him our ears will be opened to hear His Voice…
“Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:6-8 NASB)
We will go and do whatever He tells us to do looking to Him and gazing on His Beauty,
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3 NASB)
We are human beings not human doings – I once heard or read this quote and it is very appropriate…
As we see Him we will do whatever our hand finds to do and it will be done for His Glory as our eyes remain focused on Him and it will be effortless in that sense that our focus is still on Him, discharging our responsibilities but our focus is still on Him…
Remember Jesus as He was separated from His Father cried out, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?” while He was carrying our sin for those three hours of darkness on the cross?
What must that have meant to Him?
May we live in Your Presence Lord, the Presence of God which we have been brought into by the Blood of Jesus applied to our lives, May we complete the work which You have given us to do, remembering that You are the Lord of the work and that our “one thing” which “is needful” is to seek Your Face continually…
“Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.” (1 Chronicles 16:11 NASB)
Thank You Jesus, Glorify Your Name in all the earth… 🙂
a house of prayer for the nations 
Beautiful Andrew…truly from Him, His message to us, what joy it brings!
In His Great and Glorious Love,
Cindy
I’ve been thinking about this a bit recently…
About the Divine Exchange…
My Dad used to talk about the “Divine Exchange” and I knew what he meant on one level but it was a bit of a mystery to me on another level…
I just saw tonight that as we come before the Lord and admit that we can’t say with Jesus, “I delight to do Your Will O my God, Your Law is within – living and abiding within – my heart” that He, Jesus, will meet us here – He will meet us at our place of emptiness and honesty…
He will meet us when we admit we can’t do it and we don’t have it…
I can’t do it Lord and I don’t have it…
I have “moments” where You’re in control and I have those “feelings” those “experiences” those “carried along moments” where it is all You and none of me but this is not my “life” this is not “9 to 5” for me it is not “unbroken” it is sporadic and not continuous – there is so much more of me left to die than I ever realised when I started this journey towards You…
I am grateful for Your patience and I realise that You are the One Refining me and not me myself…
You are making all the moves – I am receiving as You provide…
You are the Provider I am the receiver…
It will never be any different…
You Love me and I need You – I love You too as You give me the Love but I don’t have any love for You on my own without You creating it, giving it to me…
Thank You for who You are Lord, You are a great Lord, You are a great God and as we stand there “undone” admitting our need admitting our uselessness You come through and clothe us with Your Goodness…
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble…
We rise up on wings as eagles and run and not grow weary and walk and not faint…
Praise You Jesus…
You are a great God…
Worship You Lord…
Thank You Father…
Blessed Holy Spirit, I surrender to You, Live through me…
Have Your Way in me…
Take over…
I have nothing to offer You…
Take over…
Glorify Your Name Father in all the earth…
The Lord was showing me yesterday as I tidied up our rental property garden for a house inspection on Tuesday that I’d spent a lot of time seeking His will but not actually seeking Him…
“You’ve spent a lot of time seeking My Will but what about Me, what about Me?” were His words to me…
I was convicted…
What about Him?
He is right – I have been obsessed with His will – what is He going to do, what does He want me to do? – but not with Him, Himself…
I was pierced with this and as I walked down to the shop to get a milkshake later on after finishing the gardening I asked Him to show me His Face…
He responded that He would on my way home from getting my milkshake…
I got excited but doubted that He would…
Anyway, as I started walking back home He showed me that He would show me His Face through the Person of the Holy Spirit as He lived through me…
He promised me that like Paul, “When it pleased the Lord to reveal His Son in me”, that He would reveal His Spirit in me and then as I got home and started having a shower He reminded me of that scripture, “beholding as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord we are transformed from Glory to Glory as of by the Lord who is the Spirit” that same chapter commencing, “Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is libery” the Lord showed me that the way He will reveal His Face to me – and He told me straight on my walk home that I would not physically see His Face until I was with Him in Glory – was by beholding in my own life the Holy Spirit living more and more and more through me – that was how I would behold Him…
The Holy Spirit is in us to show us the Father in Jesus’ place as Jesus is now in heaven – He both shows us the Father and He shows us Jesus…
He is our Comforter and He is our Encourager, He does the living through us – We see Jesus as we see Him living – operating – through us…
Not an esoteric experience – although the Lord could give us those – but a concrete, undeniable, personal experience of the Holy Spirit – we know it is Him because it couldn’t be us – living through us and showing us that our salvation is real – but more importantly showing us the Father and showing us Jesus – encouragement for us that He is in us – but more importantly encouragement to see His Face…
He also reminded me of the verse, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”…
What a Mighty God we serve…
All Praise to His Holy Name…
Lord, I want to see You…
I want to see You…
I don’t want to see me and I don’t want to see anyone else…
I want to see You…
No one else on this planet has anything to offer me but You…
Only You have anything to offer me, only You have the Words of Eternal Life as the song says…
You are Jesus Christ the Lord as the song says…
Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna to the Prince of Peace, Glory in the Highest Heaven for Jesus the Messiah Reigns…
As the song says…
Praise You Jesus…
“You are the King of Glory
You are the Prince of Peace
You are the Lord of heaven and earth
You are the Son of righteousness
Angels bow down before You
They worship and adore You
For You have the words of eternal life
You are Jesus Christ the Lord
Hosanna to the Son of David
Hosanna to the King of Kings
Glory in the highest heavens
Jesus the Messiah reigns”
Awesome is Your Name Lord Jesus, Awesome is Your Name…
You are the Creator of the Universe the Sustainer of all life on earth – You are the Lord and You are the delight of my heart…
I do not delight in anything else but You…
You are the Lord…
I seek You and I seek You alone…
I do not have interest in anything else in this world but You…
You have given me so much – a wife and children and grandchildren and a job and a qualification and health and strength and all good things but I do not delight in these things…
These things can be – as Job found out – taken in an instant but You remain…
No one can take You away from me…
Praise You Jesus…
I may be lonely, I may be destitute, I may be cold and wet and miserable but I still have You, I may be sick but I still have You – You are my Rock in this life…
You are all I have to rely on…
There is no one else who I can rely on in this life…
You are my sustenance in this life…
There is nothing else but You…
You are my Rock alone…
There is no one else but You…
O how I love You Lord…
You are my delight and You are my very great reward…
My heart longs after You, You are the desire of my soul…
My soul longs after You to be filled with You and to let You live through me to the world…
Whether I be right, wrong or somewhere in between my heart longs after You…
Even in my confusion my heart longs after You…
Even when You don’t “make sense” to me my heart longs after You, You have created this desire in my heart, it is Your doing and it is beautiful in my eyes…
I praise You Lord for You are worthy of my praise no matter what happens to me in life – whether it be pleasant or whether it be painful – You are the delight of my soul…
My soul longs after You and I am satisfied only by You…
Food cannot satisfy me, neither can sleep, neither can relationships with other human beings, neither can any other thing on earth or in heaven or in hell satisfy me but You Yourself…
I am empty Lord and I am asking You to fill me – fill me Jesus with Yourself and live through me all the days of my bodies life on this earth…
Let this body be Yours and express Yourself through me in Your fullness all the days of my life…
Your Life in me…
In the Mighty Name of Jesus I pray,
Amen and Amen…
Even in sharing this Lord there is still pride in my heart, remove this pride from my heart so that I don’t care what people think of me…
I have pride in my heart at what people think of me – this is not Your Image being revealed through me – remove this Lord for it is not pleasing to You – it does not belong in this body which belongs to You – remove it Lord so that I can be unaffected by pride in the Mighty Name of Jesus…
Thank You Lord – pride is the opposite of Your Kingdom – remove it from me I pray in the Mighty Name of Jesus…
I also wonder Lord, “Who’s reading what I’m writing?” please take this “self obsession” away from me – I confess it as sin – why should I care who’s reading what I’m writing if it is You I am writing to?
Is it really You I am writing to Lord?
I believe it is but please take out of me the portion of me which still focuses on itself – the portion of me which has not yet died and which is not my new self created in all holiness and righteousness of the truth but is still my old self…
Remove this Lord – the fascination in who is reading what I’m writing – and let me write whatever You place on my heart to write and not care who reads it or for that matter if no one reads it at all…
Set me free from every earthly tie and let me only have a tie to You in heaven…
Do this Lord, for Your own Glory, Do this, for the Glory of Your Name, End my life and let me live for You, End it Lord for the Glory of Your Name, End it in the Mighty Name of Jesus…
Heal me Lord as I confess my sin to You, Thank You Jesus…
Amen…
The greatest thing that any human being alive on the face of planet earth can do at any point in time is to seek the Lord – to seek the Lord while He may be found…
Today if you hear His Voice do not harden your hearts…
Today if you hear His Voice do not harden your hearts…
Today if you hear His Voice do not harden your hearts…
Have mercy on us Lord – all of us who inhabit planet earth at this point in time – to be able to turn away from useless pursuits and turn towards You who are the Way the Truth and the Life – You are the Way the Truth and the Life – You have the words of Eternal Life and You are Jesus Christ the Lord – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – Three in One (as the song says) You are the Way, the Truth and the Life – Jesus, You are the Way, the Truth and the Life – the Father is in You and You are in the Father, the Lord is the Spirit and Jesus is Lord – “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” (Matthew 10:20 NASB) – “the Spirit of your Father” – Three in One – You are Lord and we praise You…
“You are God and we praise You
You are Lord we acclaim You
You are eternal Father
All creation worships You
All creation worships You
All creation worships You
Amen”
Hallelujah Lord!!!
You are Eternal Father, All creation worships You…
Hallelujah, Praise You Jesus!!!
Amen
But there is more…
There is a response that this Greatness must emulate in our hearts, must emit from our hearts, You are so Great that we must respond to Your Greatness to not respond would be to harden our hearts…
If there is not a response to Your Greatness, to the outpouring of Your Greatness then we have hardened our hearts…
Our hearts must be continually opened to respond to Your Greatness as it pours out and down over us as You release it to us through Your Holy Spirit who inhabits us…
We are inhabited by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and if He inhabits us then from our inner most being will flow Rivers of Living Waters…
Rivers of Living Water will flow through us and all around us will be touched by the Rivers of Living Water which are flowing out through us to the world…
We must forgive others who sin against us and not harden our hearts against them…
I am convicted of this as I’ve just seen in myself an example of starting to harden my heart with the way a certain person was treating me and speaking about me to others which I didn’t like…
I have to forgive and to remember that its what the Lord thinks of me that matters and not what other people think of me or how they speak to others about me…
If there are no blockages with our communication with the Lord – through there being no blockages in us hardening our hearts but continuing to forgive and also to trust the Lord even when He makes no sense – then we will have the Holy Spirit flowing out through us in our lives, no matter what we do – whether in action or word or thought or creativity – then He will be flowing out and He will be a blessing to the world…
He will be a blessing to all whom we come in contact with – we must forgive others and have no expectations on them to do or be anything – and then the Holy Spirit can be free to do His work in us and through us to all we come in contact with…
He will do this more and more and we will see less and less of ourselves as this process continues…
Praise You Jesus, Thank You Lord, Thank You Father, Thank You Holy Spirit, Love You Lord for all You do in my life – please help me to be submissive to You and let You do what You want to do in my life, in Jesus Name, Amen…