Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining in prayer for our prodigals and for revival today. The Lord continues to hear the heart cries of His people.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among the nations” (Ps. 67:1-2).
The words of verse one are a wonderful reminder of the wondrous character of our God. He is a gracious God with the desire to bless His people and be among them. God does not want distance between us and Him. He wants closeness. The expression, “Make His face to shine upon us,” is especially precious, and carries the thought of giving us His full attention. When you turn your face towards someone and look into their eyes, you showing that you are ready to listen, ready to pay attention, ready to receive. Our God is always ready to pay attention to the needs of His people. Always!
One of the big struggles that we have is to give Him our attention. To stop in our busy days to meditate on His Word, to feed our souls with His truth, to worship Him in the quietness of our hearts, to allow His truth to flood our minds, and to reflect on the fullness of His person. God desires face-to-face with us. He wants us to see in His eyes and be filled with wonder and worship. How important it is to give God daily time in our hectic schedules.
But spending time with God is not an end in itself. While it feeds and fills us, verse two reminds us of one of the outcomes. “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among the nations.” He wants us to represent Him here on earth. He wants us to be the recipients of His presence, so that His way may be known in the earth. He wants us to be a channel, a conduit, a means of showing the beautiful wonders of who He is so that we can be a blessing to others. How incredible! A God you don’t enjoy is a God you will not share with anyone. If He fills your heart, and mind, and life, you cannot help but share Him.
While I have not been to Israel, I am told that the area around the Sea of Galilee is stunningly beautiful, with lush trees and greenery. One of the main reasons for this is that the Jordon river flows into it on one side out of it on the other. The sea has irrigation and supply. A little further south is the Dead Sea, named so because of its lack of life. The Jordon flows into it but then has no outlet. The water is very still and stagnate. The result is that the terrain around the Dead Sea is dry, brown, and barren.
I hope we will be Sea of Galilee Christians and not Dead Sea Christians!
May God use you mightily today,
Love in Christ,
Bryan and Rachel
