God's Face

I strongly desire to see God’s face more and more each day.  Right now…each day…I’m probably up to a few minutes…total…but we need to start somewhere.  Remember that Keith Green song?   “Lord, you’re beautiful, your face is all I see.”  It’s Keith Green, not scripture, but this is my desire.  I am finding myself desiring to see God’s face.    Because it’s way more than just beautiful.

My thought is that by seeking His face and seeing how good and wonderful He is, I will be drawn to him, and from that relationship  I will be filled with the things I need and those will cause me to become more and more like Him, and will overflow from me to those around me.  I am not a paid professional and I am trying this at home.  

Here is what I envision His face to look like, and this is what I’m seeking.  From reading the Bible and making my best guess, God’s face is:
 

Radiant.  Moses never saw God’s face…it would have killed Moses…but when God met with Moses, Moses’ face was radiant with the reflection of his meeting with God.

The A’s: 

Accepting, Affirming, Affectionate.  God has demonstrated throughout scripture His complete desire to relate to us, especially by giving Jesus to bridge the gap separating God from us.

The E’s:

Encouraging, Enthusiastic.  It’s clear to me that God is not relating to me because he’s obligated to…he’s relating because he wants to.  It’s what He loves to do. He likes hanging with me.  It’s His idea.  I don’t have to  remind Him…it’s completely the other way around.  He’s ready to go, 24/7.   Who doesn't want that?

The P’s:

Powerful, Protecting  God is all-powerful.  It’s the title you get when you create the universe.  And he’s my dad…he’s going to be there to protect me.  Sometimes I don’t feel safe, but how I feel isn’t always reality either.  In faith, I am completely secure.

Peaceful and Serene.  When you know what's going to happen and have the resources to handle it easily, there won't be much out there to get you riled up.

Nurturing:  Good relationships grow.  God wants our relationship to grow and he nurtures it.

Wise and Knowing.  God knows everything and has all wisdom to use that knowledge.  Nothing surprises Him.  Nothing confuses Him.

You know how commercials tell you you’re supposed to check with your doctor before starting any exercise or diet plan?  Well, I encourage you to pray about this SLOP.  I’ve come to this through a lot of thought and prayer and I think these are easily defended by scripture.  Yet, I’m not a professional and I don’t want to lead anyone astray.

As always, the proof is in the results and hopefully I’ll start seeing some…good or bad…that I can report.

On The Starting Line...

So, that’s the SLOP…if anything, it’s just praying to God, talking and listening to God and focusing on God.  Sort of thin on details, you say?  I don’t disagree, but I’ve tried thick plans that didn’t work, so if simple works, all the better.  Like the dude on a diet, I’m just looking for results and I'm hoping SLOP will help me.

I think this has possibilities and I definitely think it’s worth a try.  But it’s important that it’s got God's Seal of Approval.

If this plan is of God, there are a couple of tests it needs to pass.   First, any plan that’s of God needs to give Him all the credit and all the glory.  And I think this does.  This plan is initiated by God in sending Jesus to the cross, initiated by his invitation to us to follow Him, and accomplished with His power, not mine.  If this accomplishes a better closeness to God, it’s All Him, and not me.  That’s important.

He initiates.  He draws me closer.  It’s all Him.

But here’s the part that I think is really cool.

Have you ever given a gift to someone that’s beyond excellent, a gift which cost you dearly, yet you’re so happy to give it and you’re Really Genuinely Excited for the recipient to open it and use it or wear it?  The idea here is that you’re excited and you can’t wait for the recipient to accept it and put it to use.  It’s that good.

Now, imagine God giving us Jesus…a gift which cost him dearly…a gift of infinite, humungous, undefinable proportions…a gift so tall and deep and wide and amazing it can’t be measured.  Here’s my point.  I believe this gift from God is so awesome, so huge, so expensive and demonstrates His all-out crazy-amazing love for us that He is Amazingly Absolutely Pumped for us to open his gift of Jesus, and put it on and wear it.  Not pumped just for one day or a few days…but excited for every second we share with him every day.

In thinking this through, I’m convinced, God is jazzed, primed, juiced, and electrically charged to Be With Us Every Moment.  And this is a big change of heart for me.  Previously I saw God as accepting, certainly, and hanging with me, yes, but sort of like He’s in the room, reading a book in the corner, while I’m playing on the floor.  In other words, He’s here, he’s keeping an eye on me, but He’s sort of not that into it.

I don’t believe that at all now.  I believe that He has the capacity to not only be paying complete and total attention to every one of us every moment, but that He is completely excited, energized, electrified, eager, thrilled, animated, amped, jazzed, pumped, etc., etc., etc., in every moment of my life in every situation, watching me put on Jesus and encouraging me forward, just like the dad encouraging his child across the kitchen floor.  

Maybe when I look at Him, that’s where the power comes from?  If so, I’m on His power supply and not mine and that’s a relief because I Ain’t Got No Power.  Again, look at the title of the blog.  Spiritual Loser.  Whatever I’ve been doing before hasn’t been working.

So when I’m looking him in His face, day after day, time after time,  He is genuinely excited, energetic, enthusiastic, engaged, eager, and ready to go, as we make our way through the day together.  He’s excited for me when I wake up.  He’s pumped as I stumble to the bathroom.  He’s amped as I fix lunch.  He’s enthused to drive in to work with me, all the while encouraging me closer to Him.

He’s engaged and passionate to go through work with me…and all day long.  He’s waiting for me to look to Him, to walk to Him.  Can this be true?  I think so. I think it’s worth a run to see if it’s right.

So what am I going to do to respond?  I’m going to pray that He fills me up with faith and His Spirit as often as I can.  I’m going to converse with him and listen and share with him as much as I can.  And I’m going to imagine his face, his excited, enthusiastic, encouraging face and look into it as often as I can and let it draw me to Him as he says “Follow Me” and see what difference, if any, that makes in my life. 

Will it work?  Hope so.  Details coming soon.

Here's the Plan, Part 2

Independence Day.   In a country which prides itself on independence…it’s pretty easy to see the United States continue to attempt to become more and more independent from God, become its own boss and chart a new course.  Some celebrate that change.  Others, like me, are saddened by it.

If God is our father, we are his children.  Children are wired to be…dependent.  In thinking about this…I think when he says we’re his children…I don’t think God is meaning 12 year olds…or even 10 year olds.  I think the most mature Christian will never pass the “toddler” stage in God's family. 

So,we will never achieve “independence” from God and I Thank God for this.  I Love Being His Child.  I Love the fact that he’s happy to establish that kind of relationship with me, and announce to all creation that I’m part of His family...that He's committed himself to me.

If I consider carefully the words of the song…"Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the Children of God"…that God gladly signed and sealed  my adoption papers, bringing me into His Family…not as servant or slave, but as a true child with all the full rights and privileges as if I was born as his own.   He sealed that deal at the cross and on His word which He Never breaks, we have been given this new committed family relationship with Him and it can Never Ever be revoked. 

He says He wants to be my Dad for eternity.  It’s the Best Deal I’ll ever get.  I’m taking it.  I’m real real glad to be his toddler, since He not only knows How To Love…but He IS Love.

So when God says “Follow me,” I’m not thinking about straining behind that big ranger dude, I’m thinking about my powerful Dad with the wonderful, loving, encouraging, nurturing, excited, happy expression, backing up slowly across the kitchen floor…and all I have to do is follow Him, knowing that when I slip…and I will slip a lot…that He’ll catch me and put me back up and we’ll repeat the routine.

It’s the safest environment ever.  Who wouldn’t want to follow that kind of a dad?  I would follow that father anywhere.  Why not?

The trick is…isn’t it…that I get distracted, and get my eyes off God and start to focus on the problems of life.  And just like the disciple Peter on the Lake, he found that as he took his eyes off his God, Peter began to sink.  Is that not exactly what happens in life?  If I start considering the problem and dealing with the “what if” scenarios…I’m scared, I’m intimidated, I lose hope, I lose perseverance, I lose peace, I lose joy.  I lose.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times this has happened to me.  It’s the story of my fear-based life.  I can run through “what if” scenarios…and they’re all pretty much worst-case…and I stop and my heart races and I lose hope.  Maybe this is why I can’t get my spiritual sports car out of first gear…I forget about God and quit on God.  F & Q…forgit and quit.  I should get the tattoo.

However, God says perfect love casts out fear.  I don’t have perfect love, but…News Flash…He does!  So now I come to a spiritual fork in the road. 

When I come to a Problem….(Smart people call them “issues.”  But I never seem to have issues, only “problems.”)…here’s the deal.  I need to figure out which is more real…the problem, or God.  I need to figure out which is closer to me, the problem…or God.  I need to figure out which is more powerful…the problem or God. 

If the problem is more real than God, closer than God and stronger than God, then I need to ignore God and focus on the problem since He can’t help me anyway.  And I look in my little anti-problem toolbox and it’s pretty much empty and now this Problem becomes a BIG Problem and it’s a steam roller and I prepare to get flattened.  Again.

But…and this is a Big But…(can Christians say “Big But?”) If God is closer to me than the problem, and if God is more real than the problem and if God is more powerful than the problem, I’m free to acknowledge the problem and then thank God for handling it, and then just focus on God and not the problem.

Chelsie Smith of City Church, Kirkland, WA (those Smiths just seem to keep elbowing their way into this blog) encourages us to acknowledge the problem for what it is, and then turn to God to solve it.  In her words, give the problem a Glance…and then return your Stare to God.  Let God “work the problem out” as He “works Himself In.”

The key question is “How?”  Honestly, I don’t know for sure.   May I remind you of the title of this blog?  If I knew, I wouldn't be trying to figure it out on the fly.

But (finally) here’s my plan.  I call it the Spiritual Loser's Operations Plan.  (That's S.L.O.P. for short.)  This is what I plan to put into effect in my life as best as I can....and I’ll report back to you faithfully (unless I forget or quit) from time to time and let you know how or if it’s working.

THE PLAN

     

1.     Every time I think of it, I will pray to God as sincerely as I can for faith…that God will fill me with as much faith as He would and that I could stand firmly in that faith.

2.      Then I will pray as much as I can that He would fill me with his Holy Spirit abundantly as much as He can and that His Spirit would grow me and guide me.

OK, here are my thoughts on 1 & 2.  First, no “rules” here.  No metrics.  I’m going to ask as much as I remember to ask.  I’ll stick a note on my computer at work and will try to put one in my car as well.  We can't relate to God by formulas and strategies.  I mean, I’ve tried.  But we relate to God just like you’d relate with anyone else.  Talking, doing things together, etc.
 

Will God answer these prayers?  I think so.   I think these prayers will bless His heart…that his child wants a better and closer relationship with him?  In the book of Matthew, Jesus told us that if a child asked his parent for bread or a fish, a good parent wouldn’t serve up a rock or a snake instead.  And God the father is a much much better parent than any one of us could aspire to. So yes, I think He will respond positively to this.

3.      I want to put myself into that kitchen scene…with me being a toddler and looking up into God’s face, the best I can, and see his love, affection, affirmation, excitement, kindness and patience, etc, God saying “Follow me,” and let myself be drawn to him, not focusing on other things, but just his face. 

4.      Then, I’m just going to interact with God as best I can. I don’t see him, and I don’t feel him or hear him…but I’m going to use the faith and the Holy Spirit He just gave me to talk to him, to listen to him, to plan with him, to get a sense of where he is and try to understand where he wants me to go and what he wants me to do.

That's the whole S.L.O.P.  And with this plan, I'll just try it and evaluate it using the format of Testing Real Outcomes Using God's Help.  (That's T.R.O.U.G.H. for short.)  Of course we'll need to use the formal "Progression In God" (P.I.G.) scale for final endorsement. 

Really, I'm aiming for the Heart Of God.  I'd call that the H.O.G., but while aiming for a cute punchline...I'm dead serious about the message.  I want to be close to his heart...it's the best thing in life.

I want to try this and see if I've got it right...or wrong.

I’ve got a few more thoughts on the “whys,” but I’ll leave it at that for now and fill in a few blanks next time.  But on Independence Day, I’ll run this much up the flagpole and see if any angels salute.