Face To Face Communion

Samuel Greene, Ph.D

"And they shall see his face...” - Revelation 22:4

GloryPublishingInc.com

NarrowWayMinistries.org

Digital Book ISBN 978-1-937199-01-2

Printed Book ISBN 978-1-937199-00-5

Copyright © 2009

All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Forewords

Preface

Chapter 1 - The Face Of God

Chapter 2 - Exodus 33:9-11

Chapter 3 - Numbers 14:14

Chapter 4 - Genesis 32:24-30

Chapter 5 - Deuteronomy 5:1-5

Chapter 6 - Deuteronomy 34:10

Chapter 7 - Ezekiel 20:35

Chapter 8 - I Corinthians 13:12

Chapter 9 - Revelation 22:4

Chapter 10 - I John 3:1-3

Chapter 11 - Job 22:26, Numbers 6:22-27

Dedication

I dedicate this book to El Shaddai, the all sufficient One, for it is from Him and to Him that all things are. May our Triune God receive all that He desires as you read these pages.

I also dedicate this book to God’s people everywhere that are hearing this call. May God give you His grace to answer it and may you have the courage to do what others won’t. Let nothing and no one stand in your way of knowing Him face to face. Take heart, you are not alone, you are not rebellious, and you are not crazy. You are only responding to His great heart. May your holy passion for Jesus carry you beyond religion, beyond the normal, beyond the traditions of men and into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. There are thousands just like you all over the earth whose love for the Lord Jesus, His Word, and His presence is everything. Like you, I am tired of church as usual. I’m bored with all the presentations of men. I grow weary of those who will not allow the Holy Spirit to have free reign in their churches and lives. I am weary of style over substance. Like you, I can’t help it. I want more! I want a deeper revelation from the Scripture, more intense and free worship, and more intimate moments with our Master. I want all that He wants me to have and I am willing to pay the price to obtain it.

I leave you with this Scripture and a prayer that you will seek to have face to face communion with Him, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:13-14).

To my wonderful heavenly Father, to my precious bridegroom and friend Jesus Christ, and to the tender and gentle Holy Spirit, be all glory, honor, and praise!

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my precious sons and daughters who have sat and received this Word with joy having a heart to not only have this revelation, but who are actually running after it.

To my children Evan, Emily, and Samuel for allowing me to be shared with God, His Word, and His people while I wrote and shared this away from them in the secret place.

To my faithful, loving, kind, generous, and beautiful wife: God only knows all that you’ve gone through in allowing me to write this book. Your steadfast love for the Lord, His people, our children, and me is an awesome thing to behold. Thank you so much. I am helpless without you.

To my faithful scribe and son in the faith, Andrew Jensen. Thanks so much for your servant’s heart. You always go beyond the call of duty. You never complain and your excitement for this project propelled me onward many times. I pray and know your reward is sure.

To my precious church family, Narrow Way Ministries, both here in Jacksonville and in Bolivia and Africa, and all over this nation. You know who you are and so does the Lord. Thanks for listening, giving, and doing. As your father in the Lord, I could never be more thankful or prouder.

Thanks to all who typed, taped, edited, and helped in the production of this book.

And lastly, to you dear reader, that you heard God calling and answered it by buying this book. To God be all the glory.

Dr. Samuel Neal Greene June 2009

Forewords

“There are so many kinds of voices in the world...” I Corinthians 14:10 and I am continually amazed that those with the most to say are often the least heard. Those who are little known remain minor prophets with major revelation. Their whispered voices are like pure clear springs hidden in lush valleys of inspiration while other more visible scholars tout their spiritual wares amid the cacophony of religious ideas, pouring their streams into the muddy river of religious opinion.

Dr. Samuel Greene is one of those unique and little recognized voices whose veracious appetite for present truth has, for more than thirty years, been satiated by penning thousands of pages in volumes of teaching manuals providing boundless revelation to a few indigenous souls who frequent this yet undiscovered well spring.

Among the dozens of treatises produced by Dr. Greene are ...The God Manual, The Glory of God and Mystery Babylon.

Only recently some of us who have admired his labor for so long have convinced Dr. Greene to make his work public and so here is the first, Face to Face Communion.

You must understand that this is not a spiritual novel and would probably not be interesting to the casual “quick read specialist” looking for sermon material. Face to Face Communion, like Dr. Greene’s other works is for the serious Bible student, those who hunger and thirst for truth.

If you are a seeker, read this book! If you don’t agree with all of its contents then at least allow these pages to deepen your own search. Those who never seek, never find!!!!

— Dr. Mark Hanby

“1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God...” (Psalms 42:1-2)

In these last days, there seems to be a great vacuum and a great complacency of man’s desire to pursue communion with the living God.

It is my heartfelt opinion that Dr. Samuel Greene has heard from the throne room of the Father the manifold wisdom of God pertaining to the believer’s intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus, face to face.

This wonderful and inspirational educator has presented to mankind the depths, heights, and expanse of the principles of the high calling of God that will help us all to realize how deep, how high, and how wide is our communion with Christ, face to face.

The unique method and brilliant maneuvering of Scripture challenges the heart to receive the divine purposes, learn His ways, and be equipped to “show the rest of the earth His great and precious ways” (page 16).

The inspired unfoldings of this book has prompted me to turn my face toward God for He has turned His face toward me, in His manifest presence – Jehovah Shammah, “The LORD is there” (Ezekiel 48:35)!

— Dr. Chuck Flynn

Preface by Sam Greene

This book came out of a revelation from God as I was searching the Scriptures one day. In a moment, the Holy Spirit showed me this wonderful truth. Then the Lord spoke very gently to me and said, “Son, now you see in the Scriptures what my hearts longs for. Please share it with my people, for I long to have face to face communion with them.” This book is a result of that Word proceeding from God, our Father, to me.

As I studied, taught, meditated upon it, and shared it, God’s Presence and Glory rested heavily upon me. In every meeting where this glorious truth was ministered, His Shekinah glory descended in person so that all who heard it would know that this was a true Word from His heart. I know that as you read these pages, you will sense that same Holy Presence drawing you, calling to you, and pleading with you to have face to face communion with Him. I, like you, have always had a deep and intimate love for the Lord and have expressed it through my worship, preaching, teaching, counseling, and by the way I’ve tried to live my life. God gives us the desire of our hearts. I am so humbled that He would ask me to tell you how much He longs for a deeper and far more intimate and holy walk with you. We are all He has.

Deuteronomy 32:9 tells us “the LORD’s portion is his people...” He has longed for true habitation with His people as far back as Adam in the garden of Eden where God would walk and talk with Adam “in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8- 9). Also in the building of the Tabernacle of Moses, His desire was for habitation, as seen in Exodus 25:8 when the Lord instructed the children of Israel, “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them”, and then finally with us in the body of Christ “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). He has chosen a special people for this house, “13For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. 15I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.” (Psalms 132:13-16).

Ultimately this will finally take place in the not so distant future as seen in Revelation 21:2-4, “2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

But for now as we await this awesome and great day, we must be preparing Him a habitation (Exodus 15:2 – “The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him” and II Chronicles 6:1-2 – “1Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 2But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.”

We must want this with all of our hearts. (Psalms 26:8 – “LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.”; Psalms 71:3 “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.”; and Psalms 132:1-5 “1LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions: 2How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; 3Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; 4I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, 5Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.”

If we do this, look at the blessings we receive shown in Psalms 91:9-16, “9Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”

Can you hear Him calling to you out of the Word? Song of Solomon 2:10 “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”; Psalms 42:7 “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.”; Revelation 4:1 – “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”; Hosea 11:4 – “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.”; Song of Solomon 7:10-11 – “10I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. 11Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.”; Matthew 11:28-30 – “28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”; and Isaiah 65:1-2 – “1I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. 2I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.”

He so desperately longs for a bride for His Son, a people with whom He can share all that He has and is with them. This book has been written to that end. He is calling all of us to come and have “face to face communion” with Him. My prayer is that as you read these pages, the Holy Spirit will touch, change, and direct your heart to a deeper, more intimate, and closer walk with Him. I trust that this will happen as you read.

I take no credit for anything written here. I am just a humble scribe. All glory and honor and praise should go to our precious Jesus. For truly this is His love letter to you and me.

Jesus is Precious,

Brother Sam

Chapter 1

The Face Of God

Let us start by considering the principle of the face of God. The face of God holds so much more significance than just a face, for in seeing the face of God one sees the character of God. For when God turns His face towards His people that means His manifest presence is upon them. It also means He is offering them His favor, mercy, grace, and help. To see God’s face means to have total communion with Him, face to face, heart to heart. To see His face is to know Him. This is a great and awesome privilege. It was denied men originally because of man’s sin and rebellion (Exodus 33:20, 23), but because of Jesus a door has been opened whereby we can see His face. Every time we are in God’s manifest presence, and He is dwelling among us in a mighty way, it means He has turned His face to us and is beholding us. Even though mankind was told “thou shalt not see my face” because to behold it with sin means that we would perish immediately, God still calls upon us to “seek His face continually”, showing that His great desire is to have face to face communion with us. In the end He has promised that “they shall see His face” (Revelation 22:4). This will happen only when we have been totally redeemed and sanctified. What a day that will be!

When God hides His face from us, it is because of sin or evil or rebellion in our lives. What a shame, for it means His manifest presence has departed from us. Also to the wicked His face brings judgment and a terrible swift response to sin, so much so that the Word declares men will cry to be hidden “from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne” (Revelation 6:16).

So awesome is His face that when men do behold it great change takes place in them, like with Moses whose face shown with the glory of God so much so that he had to put a veil over it just so that men could talk to Him (Exodus 34:29-33). To see and behold His face is the greatest privilege one could ever ask for, because to see Him is to know He is “all together lovely”. Let this revelation stir us to seek His face, to know Him as we are known by Him. We need not fear His face if our hearts are pure and our motives sincere, for the Scripture declares “God spoke with Moses as a man speaketh unto his friend”.

There are three Hebrew words for “face” in the Old Testament. The first word is Paniym which means a “turning of the face towards” or “presence”. This means that when you and I are in the manifest presence of God, God is turning His face or has turned His face towards us and He is looking at us and beholding us. As His people, we can’t ask for anything greater than this. This word for face is also translated “presence” many times when referring to God’s presence. The

second Hebrew word is Ayin which means “an eye, a fountain, as if to behold a landscape (i.e. to see broadly)”. The third Hebrew word is Owr which means “to be luminous, to shine, or to set on fire”. There is only one Greek word in the New Testament for face and that is Prosopon which means “the visage, the countenance, as being towards or looking towards someone or something”. Again we get the inference here that God’s face literally means that He is looking at us.

Proverbs 27:19 says “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” This means that as we behold one another’s countenance or behold one another’s face, everything that is in our heart shows or can be seen (even though people try to mask it) through our face. So when God seeks to have “face to face communion” with us, another phrase would simply mean He wants to have “heart to heart communion” with us. Now many people cannot handle intimacy. It is too much for them and they only want a long distance relationship with God. Someone just told me recently that they were sharing some things with a family member and sharing how God is calling people to a higher level of glory and holiness and this family member looked them straight in the eye and said “I don’t care, I don’t want to know the deep things of God”. What a response, to not have any interest in the deep things of God and just be happy with the life they currently have. Sad to say this response may be true of many if not most in the body of Christ, that they are happy and content with what they have and the level of revelation they are walking in. Now Paul did say in Hebrews 13:5 to “be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” But Paul didn’t mean to become complacent. He was addressing in Hebrews 13:5 about covetousness. We need to be steadfast in our pursuit in knowing God. To be steadfast means you are always continuing to move. Revelation is progressive. As Christians, you and I are either going on with God (Hebrews 6:1 – “let us go on unto perfection”) or are going backwards in God (Hebrews 10:38 – “draw back unto perdition”). Many people believe there is a middle ground, but this simply is not true. We are either pressing on towards the mark or we are falling back into perdition.

But for you and I that love God with all of our hearts and desire even greater levels of intimacy and greater revelation, then this book on the face to face communion with God is vital for you. The Bible exhorts us to “Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually” (I Chronicles 16:11). God wants us, even though He told us that we couldn’t look upon Him and live (Exodus 33:20), to still seek Him. In Exodus 33:20 He says, “no man” can see Him and live. So the truth is this that no man in his human nature beholding God in all of His glory can live. If we were to look upon God in all of His glory, everything in us would be exposed. Face to face communion requires vulnerability from both parties. It means everything in us is exposed as well as everything in God’s heart is exposed. So can you imagine standing before the face of God in a human way, being full of human frailties, weaknesses, and so on? We would perish because of the purity of God’s presence and His heart. Habakkuk 1:13 says of God, “Thou art of purer

eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity...” God cannot dwell and look upon evil, but He leaves open a crack of hope by telling us to seek His face. Why would God say in one place that we can’t look upon His face and then in many others call us throughout Scripture to seek Him and His face? Because God’s face cannot be seen by human nature, but man with the divine nature can behold God! I like to put it this way, no man can see God and live, but a god-man can. By a god-man I mean a man walking in and living as God originally intended for Adam in the garden. Adam was originally given complete dominion over the earth. Man was the ruler of the earth and this was his destiny, to be like God. Adam was created in the image of God and there is no heresy or error in saying that we desire to be like God or as I just put, “god-men. So as we stand in God’s manifest presence and partake in His divine nature, and as God beholds us, and if we are walking in true holiness, striving to have a “conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16), if we are a lover of His Word, a lover of His presence, and a true worshipper, then we can see His face because we are able to handle the degrees of glory that emanate from His person without dying.

Paul put it clearly in I Corinthians 3:11-14, “11For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” Another aspect of the Lord’s presence is that He is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Isaiah 33:14 asks “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Now if I stand before the Lord with wood, hay, and stubble in my life, I will be burnt up. Flesh cannot stand in the manifest presence of God. But we can be “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4) and “partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10) by allowing the “incorruptible seed” (I Peter 1:23) of God that was placed in us when we were born again to grow. Paul was praying to the Galatians “of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). So as Christ is formed in us (which is gold, silver, and precious stones), we can abide and handle being in God’s presence. Gold, silver, and precious stones all abide the fire. Fire doesn’t burn them, but actually makes them better. So on one hand, “no man” can see God’s face, but on the other hand we’re told to seek His face. Human nature or the Adamic nature cannot behold God in all of His glory, but those that have been a partaker of the divine nature and His holiness can stand in the face of God without fearing that their life will be destroyed.

Face to face communion is everything God is after. It would please God more than anything else if every one of us would spend some point of everyday alone with Him in face to face (heart to heart) communion. In face to face communion there is a deep and intimate knowing of the other person. When true intimacy is

taking place, most of the time words don’t even need to be said. There is no need for words because the intimacy and emotion passing between the two parties is so great and deep. Words are unnecessary. God desires us to see His face and we shouldn’t fear it. On the contrary, we should seek it with all of our hearts.

To begin to understand looking at the face of God, we will examine encounters in the Bible where people saw the face of God. Many of these stories will be looked at in greater detail in other chapters. The first encounter I want to look at is Jacob in Genesis 32. To understand this encounter in context, Jacob had deceived his brother Esau about twenty years before. Jacob had deceived his father Isaac into giving him the first born blessing instead of him giving it to his older brother Esau. Because of this Jacob had to flee for fear of what Esau would do to him. Now Jacob is coming home twenty years later and still thinks Esau wants to kill him. As Jacob is approaching home, the fear in Jacob begins to rise. Now Jacob’s name means “deceiver or supplanter”, which means Jacob was a trickster or a manipulator. So as Jacob is approaching Esau, Jacob divides his household (which was large by this time in his life) into three companies and sends each company ahead of him. Each company’s plan was to meet Esau and bring great gifts to him. Jacob was hoping by the time he met Esau in person, Esau will be overwhelmed by what he had done for him. This is nothing more than manipulation. Jacob is still in this place of manipulation. His circumstances have now caused him to become desperate. Sad to say it is only when we become desperate that we truly seek the Lord. Many times we seek Him out of fear of what may happen to us. So this is the case as Jacob now beholds God’s face.

Let us read in Genesis 32 starting in verse 24, “24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day...” Now it is interesting that the word “wrestled” in Hebrew means “to float away as dust or vapor”. Dust represents flesh in Scripture. So this wrestling is about the flesh in Jacob’s nature. “25And when he saw (this is God) that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.” A name represents somebody’s character. Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” If you believe if you are a deceiver or are a supplanter, than that is who you are. You and I cannot receive God’s blessings until our character has been changed and as our character is changed, the opinion of us will change as well.

So God responds to Jacob, “28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed...” “Israel” means “prince of God or champion of God”. Jacob goes from being a deceiver or supplanter to prince and champion. As Jacob wrestled with God the dust was removed from his life. When we stand in the manifest presence of God and God’s face is turned towards us we are changed. This is

why so many cannot handle divine and free worship because it is too intense and requires too much of them. You cannot remain in a place of glory when you are full of dust. The goal for us is to be free from our Adamic nature little by little so we can therefore stand in His presence more and more. Jacob experienced a name change representing a character change when seeing God’s face. Remember “face” in Hebrew means “God’s presence” and a “turning of His face” towards something. The more you and I stay in God’s presence, the more our character will change. This was evidenced by Moses, by spending time going in and out of the glory and having to wear a veil over his face because he was being changed from glory to glory. This happened naturally to Moses whereas you and I are soulishly changed from glory to glory as we see God’s face. When we do, our souls are reaching a place where we can stand in the divine manifest presence of glory and not be consumed.

Continuing in verse 29, “29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for

I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Peniel in Hebrew means “the face of God”. Unlike when God told Moses in Exodus 33:20 “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” we see Jacob sees God’s face

and his life is preserved. Why was this? Because Jacob’s nature was changed.

So in this great encounter for Jacob, he first finds himself wrestling with “the angel of the Lord” which is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. It is called in theological terms a “Theophane” meaning a divine appearance! In this great encounter with God, Jacob’s life is transformed. The last two verses of the story read, “31And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.” Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life showing his utter dependence upon God to be able to walk with Him. This limp was God given. No longer can he do it by himself. He has seen his own mortality. Jacob will forever remember with his limp the moment in time when he stood face to face with God and found that he wasn’t all that he thought he was and God changed him forever. Forever now Jacob is reminded he lives by the grace of God. He now lives because of what God did to him during his face to face encounter with the Lord.

All of us walk with limps of some sort or another. There is no shame in this. I would rather see God face to face and limp then to never see God’s face and walk perfectly because that limp is a reminder to me of my utter dependence on Jesus to walk with Him in perfection.

For a person to behold the face of God there must be in them vulnerability and a hunger and desperation to know God intimately and the blessing that comes out of it is your character is changed every time you or I behold that face like Jacob. This is why I strive in every meeting to see God’s face. I am not interested in have a good song service or being religious. As the people of God, we should aspire in every meeting to go to Mount Zion where the Shekinah glory of God is dwelling between the Cherubims. Psalms 80:1 says of God, “thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” Psalms 50:2 says “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.”

God wants intimacy with His people, face to face communion. God wants our face to be beholding His face as we tell Him we love Him and He tells us He loves us. God wants us to look into His eyes when He tells us He cares deeply for us. The bride says in Song of Solomon 1:2 “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.” God desires intimacy as a husband and a wife. This is a mystery to most people but Paul says in Ephesians 5:31- 32, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” As intimacy takes place between us and God, supernaturally and unbeknownst to us (while we are caught up in the glory), God in His presence is little by little removing the dust and the Adamic nature from us. So the more we spend time in His presence, the more dust we lose until the day comes like Enoch where is says “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). The word “walked” here means “to rest comfortably with”. Do most Christians simply rest comfortably with God? I don’t think so. Many just spend time with God to pray and tell God all of their needs or cares. Very little time is set aside for just total communion and focus on being with God. Enoch just kept spending time with God, resting comfortably with Him, until the day came that God must’ve said to him, “Enoch, you’ve come too far this time and you are now closer to me than you are to them. Stay here with me.” I want this to happen to me. I would love for the day to come where I am in the presence of God and He just takes me. God wants us to become so accustomed to Him and His presence that the supernatural becomes natural for us.

The next encounter with the face of God is Moses in Exodus 33:9-11, “And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.” All of the Israelites in their tents saw Moses go in, but they stayed at their own tent doors. Moses was at the Tabernacle door which symbolizes he was in the place where God was. How many people today are content to stay at

their tent door and watch somebody else go into the glory? Not me! So in this place God speaks to Moses face to face because Moses was willing to go into the Tabernacle. We see this principle as well in Exodus 20:18-21 when God appeared on the mount and the people saw the “thunderings, and the lightnings...” it says “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” Moses was a man just like you and me. His name means “drawn out” in Hebrew. He was drawn out from many and was the only one who decided to go into the presence of God.

In this encounter Moses is forever changed. He now becomes a friend of God. When you or I spend time in the face of God, we get to know Him. God will speak to you. You will not just know His acts anymore, but you get to know and understand His ways. You understand the workings of God’s heart. Now this takes time, dedication, and desperation. You have to be desperate enough not to let anything get between you and His face every day. Every day we should be enveloped in God’s manifest presence. It isn’t hard hearing from God in this place.

God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. Do you speak to God as you speak to your friends? God wants us to be ourselves in His presence. God the Father loves us and wants to be close to us as friends. He wants to share with us the deep and secret things of His heart. Deuteronomy 29:29 says “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever...” God will reveal the secret things of His heart if we seek Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

Even though God knows everything about you and me, He still wants communion. You see, something happens when things are shared between two friends or two lovers. A trust is formed as two people share the deeper things of their heart with one another. This is what walking with the Lord is all about. This is a high standard, but anything less than this is just religion. The goal of our lives should be for God to be our closest friend. I don’t mean anything spooky or weird, but that He would be there in His overshadowing presence everywhere you and I go, meaning that His face is always turned towards us beholding and looking directly at us.

So Moses has face to face communion with God, an encounter that brings him into a new place of knowing God. He is now on a talking basis with God. He also encounters the glory cloud. This same glory cloud that invites Moses in, blocks the rest of Israel from entering in. This certainly speaks to us of a remnant that God receives just for Himself while the rest of God’s people merely watch. When we behold God’s lovely face it means His manifest presence, or if you will, the glory, and the divine nature is imparted to you like it was imparted to Moses alone. Seeing His face is worth it if for nothing else just for this purpose alone.

The next encounter of Moses is found as we keep reading in Exodus 33 in verses 13-23. Moses is praying, “13Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14And he said, My presence (same word translated “face”) shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” This is what separates us and makes us different than anybody on the face of the earth and that is God’s face or presence is with us and turned towards us. “17And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.” Name again represents character. God knew Moses’ character. Consider what the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 18:17 when He wanted to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” Friends do not hide things. So the Lord told Abraham and gave him a chance to deliver Sodom and Gomorrah. God gave Abraham a say in Sodom and Gomorrah. We see in the story that God was trusting Abraham with the judgment of two cities. But God can do this when He knows you, like He knew Moses and Abraham, by name, by your character.

Moses continues, “18And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”

So here in this glorious encounter Moses shows us his true heart of desperation – he must see, he has to see, God’s glory. God’s response is to say “I will make all my goodness (all the great and holy compassion and majesty of Himself) pass before thee”. He then says, “I will proclaim the name (or my character) of the LORD before thee”. Up to this point in Biblical history, no one has experienced this kind of an encounter with God. He then explains to Moses the all too obvious of truths, “for there shall no man see me, and live”. Ah, but yet because of Moses’ heart and his great relationship with God, he still gets to see the “back parts” of God. In the Hebrew this means “the afterglow of God’s glory”. God tells Moses “there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock”. This lets us know God has reserved a special place beside Him for a special kind of people (the remnant - Psalms 45:9 – “Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.”; Matthew 20:23 – “And he saith

unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”). To do this, God says to Moses, “thou shalt stand upon a rock”. This rock is the Word of God meaning a true deep foundation in the Word. We must know the Word of God if we are going to see God. Because God loved and respected Moses so much, He was willing to let Moses come closer than any other man up to this point in history. There is no greater invitation than this. Not since Adam had man gotten this close to God. To let it happen God puts him in a cleft of the rock and covers Moses’ face with His hand. Still Moses saw God’s glory and just the afterglow of God is enough to change his physical appearance. Can you imagine what the result will be when man gets to, as Revelation 22:4 says, “And they shall see his face”. This will bring about our own personal transfiguration, “who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). When we see His face fully and have true face to face communion, we will be changed forever, but for now we must be content to just have His face looking at us, or to bask in His glorious manifest presence. Whatever we do, we must determine that we will do our best to always be in this great and holy glory. To always be aware that His face, His presence, is turned to us. Oh how wonderful it is just to have His presence!

Another encounter with the face of God is found in Judges 6:12-23 which reads, “12And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 15And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 16And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. 17And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. 18Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. 19And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. 20And the angel of God (Jesus) said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 22And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said,

Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. 23And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.”

In this great encounter we have another Theophane, an appearance by the Lord. In most cases when the angel of the Lord appeared to people in the Old Testament, it was really Jesus. Out of His “face to face” encounter, Gideon is told by the Lord He will be with him and he is being sent by God to deliver Israel. He receives his calling from God in this encounter. Also, God speaks to him, gives him peace, and removes fear from Gideon’s heart. Gideon is also promised that “thou shalt not die”. All of these things came to Gideon to prepare him for his ministry. I believe that true ministry and our holy, high, and heavenly calling comes only as we have truly seen God’s face.

The next thing I would like to look at is what happens as a result of seeing God’s face? Why do we want to be in the manifest presence of God? We’ll begin with, II Corinthians 4:6 – “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” First of all, God has said that the Godhead or the triune God has put all of their being resting in the one, the Son. Jesus is the expressed image of the eternal God. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. If we want to see God, we see Jesus. He is the earthly representative of God to us. Jesus said to Phillip in the Gospel of John, “...He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). He is of the Father, but the Triune God, the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit have unity and oneness in their redemptive acts towards men, their strengths and their calling.

Most people have no recognition of the Holy Spirit until they receive Jesus as their Savior. Moreover, they don’t know there is such a thing as the glory of God until they have seen the face of Jesus. When you and I behold Jesus we then begin our journey in understanding the glory of God. To see God is to see Jesus. In Exodus 34:29-35 it reads “29And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.” When Moses went into the presence of God, he beheld the face of

God. While God is talking with him Moses experiences a change. Moses changes so much that when he comes out of this encounter with God that Israel, the elders, and Aaron cannot talk with him because of the radiance of his shining face.

Let us consider the face of a man. Proverbs 27:19 says “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man”. That means your face reveals what is going on in your heart. Many times you can look into someone’s eyes and discern what is happening with them, but your countenance reveals what is happening in the heart. Your face, your countenance, reveals who and what you are on the inside.

When God spoke to Moses, Moses had no need of a veil. He always took it off when he spoke to God. Paul brings this out in Corinthians and uses it in another way when he says the children of Israel have a veil over their face when it comes to reading the scriptures. They can’t see through the veil to see what the Word is really saying to them. They are blinded. When God speaks to us face to face, and I like to use the term face to face communion, it is a place of intimacy and interaction between two people, you and God. When God spoke two things happened to Moses. When he saw God’s face, he received the Word of the Lord, the commandments of God. The second thing was the longer he stayed in the presence of God, the more he was being changed on the inside and it was radiating on the outside. Eventually Philippians 3:21 tells us that our vial bodies will be “fashioned like unto His glorious body”. Our physical change at the resurrection will be determined by the inward change that we experience everyday in our lives.

Throughout the ages to come, the glory that will shine through us will be determined by how in this life we have allowed God to sanctify, cleanse and purify us from all the defiling things this world brings. Two things we see in this place. The first is to give knowledge of the glory of God and the face of Jesus Christ. The second is that Moses received the commandments from God. When we sit in God’s presence his face is towards us. His voice is very near.

You remember in Exodus 3 when Moses approached the bush that burned, but was not consumed, a voice spoke out of that fire and said in verse 5, “... put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground”. Wherever God’s face is, wherever God is looking towards you, his presence can be felt. It is holy ground and no flesh, no sin, no defilement of any kind will be able to abide in that place. That’s why God said “no man can look upon My face and live.” The irony is that on one hand he says, no man can look upon my face and live, but throughout the scriptures he says we are to seek God’s face. In Revelation 22:4, he says “And they shall see his face”.

When it says that no man can look upon the face of God and live, it means in other words that the human nature, Adamic nature, cannot behold God because of its impurity and sinfulness; however, as we allow God to change and purify us, we are changed into that same image. Then what happens is that God sees us in a different light. We are no longer the sons of Adam; we are the sons of God. God then can look at us and we can look at Him in perfect harmony and behold Him. Our nature has been changed. You see no man can look upon God and live, but a Godman can or a man who bears the image of Christ Jesus in his soul, who is committed and devoted to the Lord and has allowed God to change him. These things happen as we stand and behold the precious face of God.

Numbers 6:23-26 is a consecration prayer that is prayed in many churches at the end of their services, “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” As we behold God’s beautiful face, God’s glory shines upon and in us. We can then see and know how gracious He is and because of it receive great and lasting inward peace and come to stand in awe of God’s gracious heart. It is only in this face to face communion that we receive God’s manifest presence and behold Him intimately.

So as this priestly blessing is prayed over us, we can see that God’s face is turned to look at us and His grace is released towards us. The second thing is the peace of God is released to us. When we are troubled as Psalm 42:11 declares “...why art thou disquieted within me?” we feel commotion, turmoil and great upheaval in our soulish man. Then we come into the presence of God. What is the first thing that happens? Immediately the presence of God begins to settle upon you and peace begins to fall on you. Jesus said “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you...” (John 14:27). God’s peace is a peace that passes our understanding (Phillipians 4:7). It goes beyond the things that we have been tormented about. We seek the face of God and in that face to face communion what happens is we realize that God is gracious. His grace is greater than our inability. We also receive the peace that God is living in constantly and it emanates from His person and touches us. Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee”. How can you and I stay in a realm of peace? How can we stay in the realm of the grace of God? The answer is to always be conscience of the face of God. For instance this morning when you got up, what did you do? Did you turn to the Lord? I’m not speaking of praying a little prayer and thanking Jesus. I’m talking about communion. Not eating bread and wine, but face to face communion. Take just a moment and set aside everything else and behold that face. I tell you that what radiates from that glorious face is grace, mercy, divine peace and an intimate knowing that “Deep calleth unto deep” (Psalm 42:7). That’s what God is after in our life. The more time you spend like Moses in that presence, the more you will

change. For him it was physical, for us it will be physical at glorification or at resurrection, but right now for us it is all soulish. So in our soul, mind and intellect as we behold God, what radiates from Him changes our very nature.

Most people spend time with the people they like the most. For me in every church I’ve pastored since 1977, I’ve always been very close to the members of my congregation because I purposely told the Lord that I did not want to be a Shepard that did not know his sheep. I take full responsibility when it says, “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you” (1 Thess 5:12). In the many churches I’ve pastored, I’ve had many friends within the congregation. When I moved to my current post the Lord spoke to me and said it would be different from now on. My entire life I’ve always had dear friends, people that I felt were blood brothers, both men and women. I had just as many female friends as male friends, but now because of the late hour in which we live God said that is a sacrifice I had to make. I would not be able to know my sheep so intimately. The change was because of the level and degree of anointing that God was beginning to poor out and the need for so many disciples. We love to be around the people that make us comfortable, people like us. Why do some people not want to go to church? They don’t like God? I would never dream about not going and being in the presence of God. I’ve never taken a Sunday off because my best friend would be deprived of my presence. Every day that we wake up we spend time with the things that we want to spend time with. Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. What is your treasure? What is the thing in your heart that you desire more than anything? Shouldn’t it be loved ones, family? Sure, but they must take their place amongst the order that God has established. God is first, then your family, and then your fellowship. Everyone says God is first in their life, but is He really? How much of our day is actually spent with Jesus? The rest is spent with selfish pursuits. We all can’t live the life of a monk, even though I have longed to do that. To go to Ireland and walk around in a big woolen robe, have a big cross around my neck, take a vow of silence and have a little garden.

We take time for the things we want the most. I’m saying if you will make beholding the face of God a priority, the more you will change inwardly. That will ultimately affect you physically for the ages to come. We see also in Numbers 14:14 what happens when we come in contact with the face of God, “And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” The nations will know that you have the relationship with God. It used to be said of Israel that the nations feared them. Why? Because of the ark. When the nations saw this box, that box represented God Himself. They were deathly afraid. When the ark came into the camp it meant God was with them while the ark was there. All the other Gentile nations were afraid because they

knew God was with Israel. Even in the New Testament, it says that people began to fear joining themselves to the church because God was reigning supremely amongst them. We want it to be said of us that the Lord speaks to us face to face. How can we prove that? By walking in the glory, they say He speaks to him face to face and then the cloudy pillar is among them. When the glory is there, the face of God is there looking at you. Now in Matthew 17:1-2 – “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” The word “transfigured” in the Greek means “to change into another form”. It means to transform. The Greek word is metamorphoo which the word “metamorphosis” is derived from. Consider that after six days, the seventh day comes, which is the day of the Lord. This is a last day prophesy in a sense. Notice Jesus took Peter, James and John, not all of the twelve disciples, but three of the twelve. He is going to take a remnant on the seventh day; He will bring them up on a high mountain apart from the rest of them and be transfigured before them. In this case, Jesus was transfigured, but in the last days this remnant will be transfigured. What will happen to them? As it says, “... and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light”. Your face reveals what is on the inside of you. Holiness is not a matter of putting your hair in a bun, wearing long skirts and not wearing makeup or any other foolish restrictions religion tries to put on us. Holiness is a way of life. Holiness stems from a heart that adores and is devoted to Jesus and never would want to offend Him at all. If anything we do would offend God then we don’t do it, not because of a religious restriction, but because it is the desire of our hearts to always do that which pleases the Father.

As Jesus went up this mountain standing there in the presence of God, He was transfigured, metamorphosed, changed into another form. This could happen to Jesus because Jesus was without sin. At any moment He could be changed into His glorified state. For us, however, we are going up that mountain. Peter, James, and John constitute three. The Bible says there were about seventy people that followed Jesus normally wherever He went. There were about seventy who were basically the Lord’s congregation. I like to remind people about this that have churches of five thousand people. It is pretty hard to remember the names of five thousand people, let alone minister to them. These seventy people were left at the bottom of the mountain and Jesus only took Peter, James and John. I call that a remnant. He takes them up the mountain. Not everyone is willing to go up the mountain. When I was in Jamaica years ago, the Jamaican saints loved to sing the hymn, “Backside of the Mountain” and I used to love to hear them sing it because there was a sense of the weight of their soul and the struggle and the chains that they have been through going up the backside of the mountain. For us, going up the mountain is very difficult. Sometimes it is very hard climbing upward. It is easy going down a mountain, but going up is another story.

When you are in that place, even people in the remnant, Peter, James and John, who are there with you, are not experiencing the same thing that you are experiencing. And they don’t know what to do. I have been in many situations where I was having a sacred experience (and what I mean by that is that God has either transported me somewhere else or I am beholding or seeing something in the realm of the spirit) and all the people around me knew that something was going on, but were not experiencing what I was experiencing. Like Paul’s Damascus experience when those around him only heard a voice but didn’t see anything. But Paul fell down blind and the others knew that something happened. Therefore, when you stand and behold the face of God in that intimate face to face communion, there will be people around you who will not know and cannot relate to what is happening with you.

Look at Peter’s response to what was happening. What Peter should have done was to fall on his face and start worshipping Jesus. Instead, he says to Jesus in Matthew 17:4, “Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles: one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” That is one of the most ridiculous things a man could ever dream of saying at that moment. Don’t ever say anything when you don’t know what to say. Always take a breath and just stop before you answer somebody. Give yourself that little respite so that whatever comes out of your mouth is not foolish, stupid or retaliatory. But here is Peter, like many people I know who say to me, “That is just who I am. I’m just speaking my mind.” As Proverbs 29:11 states, “A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” So we could call Peter acting as a fool here without violating Scripture.

Then Matthew 17:5-6 states, “5 While he [Peter] yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.” They should have been sore afraid and falling on their face a long time before that. People don’t know how to react to people who have face to face communion with God. They don’t understand it nor can they relate to it. They are not seeing what you are seeing. They don’t have that kind of intimacy with God and they are willing to build a temple to Moses and Elias. But God basically says to them, “Look, that is ridiculous. This is about my Son. Hear Him.” Moses represented here in this verse speaks of the law and the Word of God while Elijah represents the power and the anointing of the Spirit of God. They were discussing things that had to do with Jesus’ death. So face to face communion brings misunderstanding with other people. They can’t relate to it. However, we should never let the experience or unbelief of some prevent us from having communion with God.

Jesus didn’t get mad at Peter here. When they eventually fell on the ground, it says in Matthew 17:6, “Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not

afraid.” If you have committed to yourself to running after the Lord (or as David says in Psalms 63:8, “My soul followeth hard after thee...” and in Psalms 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may swell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in is temple.”) you must understand that it separates you from others. You become a remnant of people whose true treasure is Jesus himself. You have sold everything because you have found and ultimately have gained the pearl of great price. Jesus must become to everyone of us that pearl of great price. He must be the reason we are alive. He must have the exalted place of the throne of your life. According to Psalms 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years...” The days that we are alive on Earth compared to all of eternity isn’t even a particle of sand of time. This is nothing. When we are young we can’t wait to be old. Then when we are old, we wish we could be young again. Looking back on my fifty-three years, the years went by just like that. I feel the length of those days, but as I look back, it seems to pass very quickly. You don’t see that, though, in your youth. That is why it says in Lamentations 3:27, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” When you are young, you feel immortal, that you are going to live forever. You have all the time in the world to do whatever you want. Just like in school, there are those who play around and there are those who spend their time studying and preparing. When it comes time to go to college, those who have prepared themselves are ready and pass with flying colors, getting scholarships to universities.

Some people will never understand face to face communion because they waste so much time. At the end of their lives, they try to make up for lost time and they find that God, who is the Ancient of Days, is not interested in quickness or size. He is interested in quality, substance and sort. He is interested in who we are, not in what we have accomplished.

Here, with Jesus standing upon the Mount of Transfiguration, God rained down upon Him the face of God. Though the disciples see it, they cannot relate to it, saying to build three tabernacles. God has to shut them up. There will always be people around you who will try to give you wisdom about things they don’t even know about. Hosea 8:14 states, “For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples.” Religions always want to build a building. But in doing so, God is forgotten. I don’t want some building, I want the glory. I want the presence of God. I want to know Him intimately and understand His great heart.

What happens when we have face to face communion? Well, it says that Jesus’ face shone as the sun. This reminds us of what happened to Moses. A change took place.

Psalms 119:135 states, “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.” When you read the Word of God, you should always stop first and honor the Lord. As I read, meditate, and search the Scriptures, I want the face, the

presence of God to be watching me while I am doing it. The face of God means the presence of God. But it also means “a turning of the face towards.” I wait until that face turns to me before I get into the Word of God. Then when I read or am writing, I am assured and know that the glory of God is hovering over me as I do it. David prayed that the Lord would teach him His statutes. When you have face to face communion, revelation is one of the great benefits. We will begin to understand the deep things of God. Light will break out upon our hearts and we will know what the Scriptures have hidden deep within them all because of a “face to face” encounter.

Deuteronomy 34:10 states, “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” Moses was known as the man whom God spoke to face to face. What does that mean? Proverbs 27:19, “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” When you behold your own face in the mirror, you see yourself. When you look at another person, they see you. When you have communion, when God is speaking to you face to face, you have revelation. When He is speaking and He is not looking at you, then you have no revelation or any anointing upon that Word. But when you have face to face communion, His face is turned towards you.

Most of the time, we wear masks. We have a mask for every situation. We have one for church, one for our jobs, and one for our families. What God is after when He means face to face communion, it is on a level far above Him just talking to us, but He is speaking with us. This is the great thing about God. God, who is the Creator of the ends of the earth, who sits upon the circle of the earth, who owns everything, who is commander and chief of the universe, who is King of kings, Lord of lords, and God of gods, allows Himself to become vulnerable with you and me. What a privilege this is! On a much smaller scale, this would be like the president of the United States calling you on your cell phone just to talk to you and get the chance to know you and even wanting to come to your house for dinner to fellowship. We hold the president of the United States in such high regard and I am trying to tell you, God Himself wants to talk with you too! God is so impersonal to most people. He’s God way up in the sky to most people, too far away to get close to. Not to me dear reader. My dearest, my closest, and my most precious friend in life is the Lord Himself. I can’t imagine a day without beholding Him.

When we are face to face, we become vulnerable. When you and I are vulnerable, all of our imperfections can be seen. God can look right through us. Consider Jesus meeting the rich young man in Mark 10:17-25. He asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life and told Jesus he kept all the commandments and Jesus told him to sell all he had and follow him. It says then that the rich man went away sorrowful. But as Jesus was talking to him it says a beautiful phrase “Then Jesus beholding him loved him” (Mark 10:21). You see this man was trying to tell Jesus all the commandments he kept, but Jesus was able to see right through him.

Jesus always sees right through you and me. Nobody really wants to be seen right through. This is why we wear masks so we can cover our hidden issues. But if you and I are going to have face to face communion with God, we have to learn to be transparent before God because God is seeking a relationship with you and I of great and deep intimacy, so much so that when you look at Him and He looks at you, you share everything in that moment together. Everybody knew God spoke to Moses face to face. Wouldn’t it be great to be said of you that everyone knew you spoke to God face to face as a friend. They would know because your face would be shining. Once our inside has been transformed by personally being in the glory, our faces will shine. Now many people may not want to be in our presence as this happens because everything in them will be exposed by just looking at us. This is why the children of Israel told Moses to put a veil over his face.

God’s face is so beautiful. I remember a time when I was very young in the Lord and had just moved into a new city and decided to live with several brothers. Well after a little bit of time, one of the brothers confessed to the rest of us that he would fall from time to time into the homosexual lifestyle. Well, I was very immature at the time and it made me furious. I was so upset at him and so upset at God. It was at a time in my life where I still smoked from time to time and I decided to go on a walk and smoke a pack of cigarettes. When I got home later that day all of the brothers of the house were there. I was so angry and upset and full of bitterness and full of Satan’s thoughts. They asked if we could pray and it made me even madder. So we began to pray and the glory fell and all of us fell on our faces. Now consider, I was full of anger, full of demons, I was cursing and had just smoked a pack of cigarettes and the glory falls. Moreover Jesus appeared to me in the room. He was dressed in white apparel and picked me up in His arms and I looked into His face. Here I was full of so many issues, but when I looked into His face, listen to me, I saw nothing but wisdom, understanding, compassion, and even a little twinkle in His eye inferring to me that what was going on with me was a little comical. He talked to me for about twenty minutes. Now what the other brothers in the room told me was they felt the glory fall, they hit the floor, and they were afraid to look up. They told me that I was prophesying to myself. What they didn’t know was that Jesus was talking to me and He wanted them to hear it so He had me prophesy to myself. The Lord began to speak to me about sin and about my own self and my own wretchedness (how I was so condemning and judgmental to someone who was struggling with an issue in their life when I had so many other issues I was struggling with). As Jesus was holding me in His arms and as He talked with me, my heart softened. Job 23:16 says “For God maketh my heart soft...” By the time the Lord finished speaking with me, my entire attitude and thinking about sin and homosexuality vanished completely and I was so cleansed I cannot put it into words. Also there was this unique fragrance that remained in our house for days. Then Jesus put me down and went back up where He came from. I then got up and the first thing I did was put my arms around the brother I had the issue with and begged his forgiveness and promised him I would be his friend for

life and that I would never judge him again. When I looked into the face of Jesus, what I saw there changed my heart, delivered me of hatred, especially my hatred towards homosexuals. All of my bitterness and pettiness left me and the Lord never even rebuked me. He just talked with me with a little twinkle in His eye, and as I look back on it now, He knew I would later share this story. I have told this story for the last thirty-six years. I realized homosexuality was a sin and all sin is wrong. God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. My life was transformed. I no longer would judge so harshly.

You see, you can’t hide anything when His face is looking at you. You can’t cover anything up. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). It is life changing to behold His face. It brings His Word. It brings peace and His grace. It lets you see the deep things of God.

It begins with spending a little time each day cultivating the presence of God in your life. Start with five minutes a day and see where it takes you. Five will turn into ten, ten into twenty, and eventually you can spend hours in the presence of God. Now I seek His face to be with me every day. I can’t imagine living without it now. So just start with five minutes a day worshipping the Lord. Don’t come with your list of things you need. Just come to be with Him, your friend, and as you worship and He comes, He will turn His face towards you. Then, don’t be ashamed, but lift up your face to behold your God and as you do, inwardly you will begin to change and your life will become completely different!

In this book we are going to exclusively examine face to face communion. What does it mean to know God “face to face”? It means He can look right through us and know everything about us, but it will also mean we can behold all the glories of His divine person and purpose and then we shall be able to do as Jesus promised, “greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). We can never understand or begin to do the true work of the Lord unless we have “face to face” communion with Him. There must be in every one of us an all consuming desire to know Him intimately. As our relationship with Him grows day by day, we will begin to come ever so much closer to understanding Him, His heart, His great purpose for us, and all mankind. The Scriptures declare:

In Job 33:26 – “He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.” What joy comes in seeing God’s face! Also as we behold Him, God gives us His righteousness.

In Psalms 31:16 – “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.” When God’s face is shining upon us, we can rest assured that He will save us no matter what the situation might be. We will also come to know and understand His great mercy towards us.

In Psalms 80:3, 7, 19 – “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” Even if we have a time when we have backslidden, if we pray in earnest for “face to face” communion with Him, He will revive us again and save us. All we need to do is seek His face and as He looks towards us, we will find His salvation.

In Psalms 67:1-2 – “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” As His face shines upon us we are blessed and will experience His mercy. Because of the intimacy of seeing His face, we will learn His ways and then show the rest of the earth His great and precious ways. Also we will share His saving health to all nations.

In Psalms 89:14 – “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” In having “face to face” communion with Him, we find that His mercy and truth will come to us and then be shown through us to the world. We also see that justice and judgment are the place of His throne. We then see with awestruck eyes and share what we see with the rest of the world.

In Ezekiel 20:35-38 – “35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. 37And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” God pleads with us as we behold His face as when our fathers sought Him and found Him, we will also. By doing this we enter into the covenant He has given to us more completely.

In Daniel 9:17 – “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.” When we have been a long time without His manifest presence, we must earnestly pray and intercede to Him, so that His face will not only shine upon us but also the entire sanctuary.

Lastly when concerning ourselves with God’s face, the Scriptures boldly declare that we are called to seek His face. In spite of everything we’ve seen, God still calls upon us to seek His face because His heart’s desire is to have face to face communion with us. The Scriptures are full of admonition to seek His face:

II Chronicles 7:14 – “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.”

Psalms 17:15 – “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” This should be the earnest prayer of every child of God. We must long to behold His face in righteousness and not be satisfied until we have His likeness, His image in our souls.

Psalms 24:6 – “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” There is a people, a generation, that will only seek His face. All over the world today God is raising up a people who hunger and thirst after Him. He is their chief joy and desire. God will hear and see and then bless them by turning His precious face, His manifest presence, to them.

Psalms 27:8 – “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”

Psalms 105:4 – “Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.”

Lamentations 2:19 – “Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.”

Hosea 5:15 – “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”

I Corinthians 13:12 – “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Revelation 22:4 – “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”

Chapter 2

Exodus 33:9-11

As I was going about my duties as a pastor and teacher recently, these words kept coming up in my spirit, “face to face.” Solomon said in Proverbs 27:19, “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” But I do not want to talk about a face to face relationship between two people. As I searched the scriptures, God unfolded to me His desire to be “face to face” with His people. Seven times those words are used in relation to God and to a person. Seven is the number of perfection. Therefore this word is a perfected living word from God. He wants a revelation birthed in our hearts today about beholding Him face to face. The word “face” is the same word translated “presence” throughout the Old Testament. The Hebrew word literally means, “a turning of the face towards.” When God’s manifest presence is in a place, He has turned His face towards you.

Man has been able to peer into the magnificence of God’s universe. This past week, as I’m writing this, astronauts have gone to the Hubble Space Craft to restore it. The increase that is going to come from this ability to look at the universe is beyond anything that they have ever known before. The universe is still expanding. When God said, “Let there be light,” that word is still reverberating throughout the universe. The reason I bring that up is we forget how infinitesimally small we really are compared to the vastness of the universe. Isaiah says “the nations are just a drop in the bucket, a single drop is an entire nation.” What is a city then or a country or a town or a street or a house or a person? We need to understand who we are and what we are in the greater scheme of things. But yet we don’t live with a heavenly perspective. We live in a selfish world that revolves around our little lives. We can never get beyond our own lives. I pray that as you read this you might have your eyes opened and that you might see the hope of your calling. I pray that God would enlarge you so that you could see that this thing called life is not just about you or me, but that we could see that this whole universe and that the whole world we are involved in is authored and controlled by a sovereign, loving God who has a great purpose He is working out. What seems so hard to us and long is really just one little moment in time. The day you and I step into eternity you and I will realize that all the things that we were so upset over in this life were absolutely foolish. I pray that God helps all of us to see something big today and to behold a higher plan and purpose and to behold the One who is the author and creator of it.

You were not born to be famous. You were not called to be a great minister. You were not saved to go to heaven. God has been waiting for a people. He tried it with spirit beings (angels) and they rebelled against Him. He created man and

man rebelled against Him. He created a nation and they rebelled against Him. He chose a tribe and they rebelled against Him. Every time He thought maybe one or two would hear Him, He would come to his own and His own would not receive Him. How bitter a pill that must be for God to swallow when His people treat Him as nothing. He was despised and rejected. We hid as it were our face from Him. However, Deuteronomy 32:9 states, “For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” David says in Psalms 73:25-26 25, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” You see every now and then a man like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, or David or a woman like Deborah, Anna or Priscilla will realize that all they are going through is simply part of a great plan. They realize their little part in it is so small and that it is not about them. They learn to become selfless instead of selfish. They learn to understand that God the Father’s heart is so pure, wonderful and full of love and everything that He does comes from that heart of love. He always has our best interests at heart.

If we are ever going to fulfill and catch the prize of the high calling and finish this race, then we are going to have to think like Him. We are going to have to talk like Him, walk like Him and act like Him. We also cannot think that God is a man as Numbers 23:19 states, “God is not a man that He should lie...” For most believers, the only God that they know is the image in their own minds. They limit the Holy One of Israel by their lack of revelation or faith. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, but yet people consistently limit God because they think He thinks like them. God doesn’t think like us. He is God. Some people would say, “I just don’t understand how God can forgive?” That is none of your business. We are nothing but a little tiny piece of sand, and we are hardly even that. God is much bigger than our finite, carnal minds. Others say, “Can God provide a table in the wilderness?” He can if you can see how He sees. When there is no way, there is a way in God. When all seems lost, there is hope because Christ in you is the hope of glory. When everything seems against us, He says “I will!” The will of God is that He will never, ever leave you nor forsake you. So by the grace of God, let the Lord expand your spirit by the grace of truth.

In the scriptures I share in this book, God found people He could speak face to face with. In the seven passages I will share, every one of them reveals something that happens as we can have face to face communion with God.

What does it mean when you look into the face of another person? When you look somebody right in the eye there is a vulnerability that takes place. You are allowing that person into the space of your existence. You are allowing them to see who you really are. For most people, it is a hard thing to do because of insecurities, embarrassment or fear. We do not want most people to really see who we are.

We do the same with God when we come into His presence. Matthew 15:8 states, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” The minute God begins to get too close, people get nervous. The minute the Spirit of God begins to touch upon our lives and what He wants us to be delivered of, we draw back, we curse the messenger, and we find another place where we can sit quietly and never be bothered. The angels know, God knows and you know that you will never grow until you go back to where you left Him.

After years of breaking, I can say to you today that I am just barely on the verge of understanding face to face communion. Allowing Him to look into every part of my life without fear or insecurities, I find something so wonderful. He has allowed me to look into His heart. Once having looked into His heart, you are changed forever. When you can see into God’s heart, you will never act the same nor talk the same. It makes you want your life to mean something. I want to leave a legacy when I am gone that when my name is mentioned, somebody thanks God that I lived. I am telling you today that there is a way to go into the glory of God and look into the heart of the one that has been hidden for so long. He has been hidden Himself because people could not bear to look at Him because they were so full of sin. But now God has a remnant of people all over the earth totally devoted to Him, who love Him, and who love His presence. They are all about His kingdom and His people. Because of that they are actually starting to become like Him. They don’t think selfishly anymore. They put other people first. They absolutely read their Bibles, worship, pray, fast and intercede. They give cheerfully. This people God is going to give Himself to totally. I cannot understand why someone would scream against this revelation. This can only make you a better Christian.

Let’s begin in Exodus 33: 9-11. “9And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 11And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.” Jesus said to his disciples many times, I no longer call you disciples but friends. You see the thing about a friend is a friend sticks closer than a brother. A friend is willing to forgive you even when you are wrong. A friend is someone who will be there for you at the very worst moment in your life. Also a true friendship is reciprocal.

When I don’t understand what God is doing in my life, I am not going to charge God foolishly. I am going to give Him the benefit of the doubt that He knows more than I do about the situation. I will wait to see why I am going through what I am going through. In doing so I will not throw up any walls that God can’t penetrate. I will remember He knows “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:1), that He is the

“Alpha and Omega” (Revelation 22:13), and especially remember the revelation of His sovereignty that “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25).

Our walk with God is a proceeding walk, season by season, line upon line and here a little, there a little. Scripture reveals to us that our walk with God is from glory to glory, from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from vessel to vessel. This is how God teaches us to walk the narrow way. This is the path of the just. It is the highway of holiness that is leading us into His glory, in face to face communion with Him. It is the rungs on Jacobs’s ladder. It is the secret of the stairs in the Song of Solomon. Every stair is a season and time in our lives. At the end of the ladder, at the end of those stairs, at the end of that highway, at the end of that path, there is a heavenly door. In Revelations 4:1 we see this. “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” This door is also seen in Matthew 25:10-13 in the parable of the 10 virgins. “10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” Also, Isaiah 6:3-4 states, “3And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” We are the ones that open that door, not God. God has already broken through the veil. This last door we have been given the key to, but we must walk up every step, climb every rung of the ladder, go through every season and deal with, revelation, faith and strength. Only the Bride goes through that door. To everyone else the door is shut. Those that don’t go in through the door do not lose their salvation. They lose the prize that they were aiming for, to have face to face intimacy with God.

God did not create the world as we see it. This is a fallen world filled with fallen people. Lift up your eyes and see this world afar off. If you live in the daily grind of life, you will never, ever be happy. You will only have fleeting moments of peace. Lift up your eyes! Colossians 3:1 states, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” As I behold Him, I leave behind all the stuff around me, all the physical pain, all the emotional pain, the depression, the sorrows and the debts. I want to leave all that and move into a relationship with the One who created me from the foundations of the world. I want to be lifted up from this earthly experience and fulfill what I was born for, to give God a place of habitation face to face. Every time Moses went into the glory of God and came back, the people asked him to please cover his face. The glory had changed him. His face was bright, shiny, and radiant with God’s glory so that he had to put a veil over his face. I can understand why people

are leaving the ministry every day. When God is in a room how could anyone be thinking about anything other than Him? I don’t even know why some people are still walking with Jesus? But I will not let it discourage me because I have seen the other side. I have been to the mountain and I have seen His face. There is nothing on this earth that can compare to that glorious experience.

When you are face to face as a friend, you are speaking to your friend, like Moses did with God. However, when the people saw Moses, they asked him to please put a veil over his face because they couldn’t look at him. Because walking among them was a man whom God called his friend, who had face to face intimacy with Him. Each time it was from glory to glory and from strength to strength. Moses did not even know this about himself (Exodus 34:29 – “when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him”). You and I do not even see this but other people do. He does not want us to see it because then we will be concerned about where we are at. People do not really like to be around people who are truly free because then they are reminded that they are still in bondage. People do not want to be around people who are walking in holiness because just their very presence brings shame and embarrassment to them.

I am telling you that there are a people all over the world that God is raising up that are not tolerating saving their life anymore. Every day when they get up they say, “Today Lord, I am going to do everything I can to walk free from sin. I do not want to displease you. All I want to do is bless you and honor you with my life.” They are committed to reading His word and to praying. We all understand about having jobs and being busy and having issues and challenges, but that is how an overcomer overcomes. We overcome in our situations in life. There are people all over the earth who are doing this same thing. The sunflower is a flower that rises early and then it opens up its blooms to face the sun. Then as the sun goes down the sunflower closes up again. It is all about the Son and seeing Him and allowing His light to shine in us and change us into His image.

It is all about Him and His purposes, and not our little lives.

Can you hear this word today? Thank God we have jobs. Thank God we have families. But if this is all you are about, then you are a lost person. No wonder your soul is troubled about many things. You have put your emphasis on too many people and not on your precious husband, Jesus. We blame everyone but ourselves for the things in our lives. But every now and then the Lord speaks and we have a “kairos” moment. The veil is pierced in our lives and we see God. Without realizing it, the minute you see Him your face begins to change. The Bible says that Moses’ face shone and he knew it not. Lift up your eyes and shake yourself. That thing you think is so important is really not so important compared to eternity. It is like dust. If you are beholding God, everything else disappears. In the face of Jesus Christ, as I behold Him, He is not mad at me. He is trying to help me to get

there so that everything else can find its place. If you will seek Him, you will find Him. If you seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of these things shall be added to you face to face.

Today, the God of the universe, whose name is Jesus, is speaking to you. Arise and hear His voice! If you are in pain physically, find His face. I promise you, the pain will disappear. You will see that love that is so great when you sit face to face in communion with Him. It is so high that this earthly realm hardly even matters any more. I am not saying to be irresponsible with your life, but I am saying find out what is first in your life. If you can’t find Him, then grab a hold of my hand and let me take you there. Follow me as I follow the Lord. I can take you there. Ultimately, a people are going to walk through that door and forever have communion with their God as a bride and bridegroom. A natural marriage can be so bittersweet. Sometimes if we think of God like that we would shudder. When I look at my wife today I know why God gave her to me and I see how much I need her and how faithful she is. I also see how far short I have failed as a man and a father. But I am not condemned. I am resolved to change by the image in front of me as I behold God. We were created in the image and likeness of God. The Hebrew language says, “the exact duplicate in kind.” We will never be God but we will be as God. Anything less than that is not enough. Have you ever had an encounter with God? Have you actually lost earthly things for a period of time? Deep has called unto deep today and now we have a choice. Let us heed this calling!

Chapter 3

Numbers 14:14

Each of the passages that we will be looking at in the upcoming pages reveals the kind of relationship that God wants to have with His People. God wants a people to whom He can inhabit. That was His goal from the beginning. Let’s look at Numbers 14. In this chapter, God is very upset with His people. This is the chapter where God told Moses that He was going to destroy all of His people and start over with Moses. God said this to test Moses to see what Moses’ answer would be. He did all of this to check Moses’ heart. God then says in Numbers 14:21-23, “21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:” People do not lose their salvation but lose their inheritance. God was very firm here. Even at this hour when the glory is filling the earth many provoke the Lord with their disobedience or by their unwillingness to bow to the dealings of God. They will miss God’s greatest gift to mankind and that is total intimacy with Him. Is it any wonder that people draw back from churches that worship with a high level of glory? Is it any wonder that people draw back from teachings that delve into the deeper things of God when the Word is actually trying to find its way into our hearts? The Word begins to pull, open, push and prod into our lives because God is trying to create space in us for Him. People don’t like the intrusion.

Let’s look now at verses 11-14 in Numbers 14. The Lord is speaking to Moses about what He is going to do. Numbers 14:11-14 states, “11And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? 12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. 13And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them ;) 14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” In Moses’ intercession to the Lord, he brings up this salient point about what other people will say. Most of us are so consumed with our life that we don’t realize that at all times other people are watching us. Our lives are a painting for others to behold. Every day, to the people that you come in contact with, you are a living, breathing example of something to them. Let that something be Jesus.

Israel had signs that followed them such as the Red Sea parting, Pharaoh’s army being drowned in the water, bitter waters turning sweet, a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, and the manna that fell from the sky. However, God’s response to them here is, “How long will it be before they believe, what else must I do before they honor me?” Miracles will never make people serve the Lord. Signs and wonders are not enough to make people have a walk with God. These things are temporary. Signs are for the world and not for us.

Moses says something in his intercession that is so beautiful and is in essence that which God really wants for us. Numbers 14:14 states again, “And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” Let us meditate on this scripture for a while. God is after so much more. God does not only want to be among His people, but in His people, in everything we do and in everything we say. The older I get the clearer it is to me that my entire life is to be consumed in the Lord Jesus. My life should be fading away to such a point that it is no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me. That is what God is after. You will still, however, retain your own identity, even your own personality. But your old man, that unredeemed Adamic nature will be so dealt with, driven out, smashed, and pressurized that it no longer can keep you from being in the glory of God at all times. People try to tell me all the time that this is ridiculous because no one can be in the presence of God all the time. The reason that this is such a problem for people is they rarely get in the glory, the real glory of God. See even as I am speaking to you I don’t know what you are feeling, but I know where I am speaking from and I know that I am speaking from a cloud of glory. I live my life to be in this place and nothing else matters. This is what it comes down to in every one of our lives. It is either me or Jesus in everything. I council people all the time and I have done this for thirty-four years. It always comes down to one thing in people’s lives, selfishness. She says that he is wrong with this and he says that she is wrong with that. No one is willing to bow. The words of Jesus echo down through two thousand years of growth in God’s church, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” (Matthew 11:28-29) That is who He is and that is who we will be if we are in Him.

Moses said to the Lord, the Egyptians will know and they will tell everybody that you are among that people, that thou Lord are seen face to face. What makes the people of God different from everybody else? We find the answer in Exodus 33:12-16, “12And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that

I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated,

I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” Solomon said in Proverbs 19:27, “As in water face answereth unto face.” The face in the scriptures basically is the place where your countenance shows what is on the inside of you. If you are sad, people know you are sad because you look sad. If you are happy people know you are happy because you look happy, although some people are good at masking. We have had two thousand years to perfect that. Some of us have lots of religious masks. But face answereth unto face. You cannot hide what is in your heart (Matthew 12:34-35 – “...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” Matthew 15:8, 18-20, Luke 6:45). Your countenance will reveal what is the overriding force in your heart. The heart is so important (Luke 12:34, Matthew 6:21, Matthew 5:8, Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 23:7, Proverbs 4:23, Psalms 24:3-5, Psalms 34:18, Proverbs 14:30, Proverbs 22:11, Psalms 37:31, Psalms 51:10, Psalms 66:18, Psalms 78:37, Psalms 86:11, Psalms 84:5, Psalms 101:2, Psalms 119:11, 80, Isaiah 38:3, Jeremiah 29:13, Lamentations 3:40-41, Joel 2:13, Hebrews 10:22, I Peter 3:4).

Let us look back in Exodus 33: 20-23 when God says to Moses that no man can look upon Him and live. Please hear this, no man can look upon God and live. No man can do this, but in Revelation we see that it says that they shall see His face. We have to become then what God wanted Moses to become. God also showed a pattern in Moses’ life on how to get there. God told Moses, “You cannot see my face. So I will put you in the cleft of the rock where there is a place by me. I will put my hand over your face and I am going to proclaim the character of who I am to you.” (The name of the Lord) He begins by saying in Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth...” God declares His character, just as Jesus did in Matthew 11:28-30. I can never understand people who serve an angry God because it is not the God I serve. The Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every day. But He is not angry with His people. He gets upset with His people and He will deny them their inheritance. But this does not mean that they will ever cease from being His people. You were born not just to go to heaven, but heaven is the gate that opens up everything that you were supposed to become. God put His hand over Moses’ face and the Bible declares Moses saw the back parts of God or the afterglow of God. But the afterglow of God was enough to physically change the visage of Moses. Just the afterglow! So don’t try to convince me that a moment in the divine Shekinah glory of God cannot change you. It so affected Moses’ life. I cannot do this for you. You have got to want it. It has to be something burning

in you. There is a resolve in my heart that I will not be denied what God wants for me. I love Jesus. I have to have His presence. I want everything that He has for me. It must be the ruling factor in your life, like it was in Moses’ life. God showed us the progression in Moses’ life. He would go into the glory and come out. But he had to put a veil over his face because the people could not stand the glory emanating from him.

Now, let us go over several things. Are you going to let go of this high calling to see God’s face because other people around you don’t like the glory? Are you going to let go because you don’t fit in or because you are shy. Don’t let any of this stop you. When you live to see God’s face, you will be unusual and you will be picked out of a crowd for sure and be a marked man. But you will be marked with the seal of God while the rest of them are marked with the seal of Satan. I am not going to let any man with lesser glory dictate to me what I can and cannot do in the presence of God. Who do they think you are? We go from glory to glory. That is the progression. You go into the glory of God and you are changed so that you can ultimately end up where you need to be.

In Moses’ day, God wanted to dwell among His people. But they had sin in their lives. So as soon as Moses built the tabernacle, He moved it outside of the camp. God’s people said they wanted Him, but in actions they denied Him. So Moses picked up the tabernacle and moved it outside the camp and basically said that if anyone wanted to go and seek the Lord, they must go outside the camp where God was. But the goal is that God wanted to commune with His people between the Cheribums. But God’s people must want Him and invite Him into every area of their lives. They must want Him face to face. Everyone thinks I am a fanatic, but that is O.K. with me. I don’t mind that people think this. A lot of people will think that they can’t live like this. Well this is your decision to make. I want to behold Him face to face.

Every time we go into the presence of God, beholding the face of Jesus, we are going from glory to glory. Every time we come and worship Him, the goal is not that we are some great worship leader or a part of some great worship team or that we know all the cute buzz words about worship. The goal is that I come face to face and that my heart is laid bare, vulnerable before a majestic, holy and awesome God. What we don’t understand is that He is just as vulnerable. He has made Himself vulnerable and He basically says to us, “I will come if you will come.”

God has been rejected so many times. Lucifer and the angels rejected Him. Then came Adam and Eve. After that the nation of Israel and as we go through history “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). But yet there is in His heart a burning desire to have a people who will love Him so passionately. These people won’t allow earthly things to corrupt their lives. This is a school yard for what is coming. This is boot camp so that you can get your

stripes. How sad is it that most people do not understand this and are not preparing themselves to see Him face to face.

“Thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face...” (Numbers 14:14) Now the other tribes, the worldly tribes, hated and envied Israel because their gods of stone never spoke to them. Their gods of brass and metal had never answered them. But with Israel’s God, it was different. God is calling each and every one of us to a higher realm, to hear His voice and commune with Him face to face. I know that we have to live this life and care for the things of this life. But we must always do this with the understanding that this is not where it is at.

There will be a day when we will cross over into what we were born to be. All of this flesh, lust, emotions and all of the things in the world will pass away and they will be no more. But the one thing that God is after is to find a people who will be like Him in the earth before He comes. Phillip’s translation of Romans 8:19 says that the earth is “standing on tiptoes” waiting to see the manifestation of the sons of God. The people of the earth will once again say that their God talks with them face to face. There is no doubt about it! Do people say that you have been with Jesus? Let there be no doubt about where I come from. Let there be no mystery about my life. My life belongs to another. His name is King Jesus. The more you give yourself to Him in that face to face communion the more you reflect His nature. This interaction with Him face to face is sometimes only for a few fleeting moments. Let us be honest in those moments of vulnerability when the deepness of God is calling to the deepness in us. What is passing between you and Him is life changing! It is altering the course of your life! I live for those moments! I can’t live without them! I can’t even understand how somebody can only desire the things of this life.

We want to be like Enoch. According to Genesis 5:24, Enoch walked with God and was then translated because God took him. But he had this testimony that he pleased the Lord. Many people have joked over the years that Enoch spent so much time with the Lord that one day he had gone so high and so deep that the Lord said, “You have gone too far, so you should just stay here with me.”

Today, God’s remnant is climbing up to Zion, to His face. They are doing this line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, strength to strength, faith to faith and glory to glory. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. So whatever season you are in, stop complaining. If God is dealing with you, bow! I talk to people all the time and they say, “I just don’t know what is going on with my life!” I say to them, “Why don’t you?” There are four sources of affliction in our lives. One is the devil. He will attack you, tempt you and he will try you. If the hedge is broken in your life, he will bite you. Ecclesiastes 10:8 states, “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” If it is the devil afflicting you, then you can bind him, cast him out or resist

him. We can deal with him. Moreover, Jeremiah 12:5 states concerning demonic warfare, “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” This scripture in Jeremiah 12 speaks of different levels of demonic warfare you and I must face. I find that in my life there are people who are still wrestling with little footmen, those types of lower level demons that keep people from having a walk with God. The greatest demonic warfare the world has ever seen will precede the greatest move of God the earth has ever seen. The swelling of the Jordan, which symbolizes the last great move of God, will be for those who are left standing and have survived the demonic warfare. The second source of affliction is ourselves. A man reaps what he sows. The only thing you can do about that is repent and let the judgment of God wash you and cleanse you so you can get back in the flow. There is also a third source of affliction that you can do nothing about and that is God himself. We just need to bow to Him and let Him work in us that which is pleasing to Him. The fourth source is just living in this fallen world, yet realizing that as His people, we may be in the world, but not of it anymore.

I have to be honest with you. I find that most men are not really comfortable with intimacy. Every now and then you will find a romantic one or two. Maybe you will find a man that is in touch with his feminine side. However, a woman wants you to look deep into her eyes and be truly intimate with her. Women can see right through a man. That is why men don’t want them to look into their eyes. In this world now so much is about appearance and so much is show and not about truth. People don’t want to be a real hero or someone with substance. They want to be known for being a movie star. Then we bring this thinking into the church where we are supposed to love Jesus. Then we get reprimanded for loving Jesus too much. So people get confused when we teach one thing and walk another.

I lived in violence for the first fifteen years of my life in Washington D.C. So when I got saved and I began to walk and be committed to Jesus, my family got upset with me. I told my father that I got saved and he cursed at me. I then needed a Bible, so I took the family Bible off the TV one day and they had a fit. That Bible hadn’t been moved in years and it had a thick layer of dust on it! I also remember a girl who was a hippy in the ‘70s and she got saved and received the Holy Ghost. She disappeared from fellowship for a while and someone found out that her mother said to her, “I would rather that you take drugs than be going around with those Jesus people.” Let’s bring it a little closer to our own lives. We get saved and give everything to Jesus. We are told to study the Word and we are learning and growing. But then we find out that what we were being taught is not of God. When we ask them about it, they say that we are studying the Bible way too much. I heard long ago that a fanatic is someone who loves Jesus more than you. Today, does the world look at you and do they think that you know Jesus? Does your family think this about you? We have to get to the

place where He is precious to our hearts and that others see the love and adoration we have for our King.

I was out one night with my wife and two young men came up to me and said, “You are a pastor aren’t you?” I replied, “Yes I am.” They then said, “You led worship one night at a meeting that we went to. You are the one that wrote that big book about God.” Then one of them laughed very mockingly. As if to say, what a waste of time. The book they were referring to is The God Manual. When God instructed me about writing that book He said, “Son, of all the worship, of all the prophetic that is in my church, my people don’t really know me. They know what their pastor tells them. They know what their mother and father told them. They know what their denomination says or what their pastor says, but they have never taken the time to see what I have said about Myself in the scriptures.” In that book are 120 characteristics of the greatest being in the universe. You would do well to read one characteristic every day. One person sent me an email and told me that the thing that was sustaining her was “The God Manual” right beside her bed. It is written about God and not about man. We don’t want to hear this kind of word. We want to hear what kind of minister we are going to be or what is going to happen to us. We eventually have to come to a place where our revelation is married to the situations in our lives and we overcome in them. We overcome in God and we break through and God is real to us then.

Every time we go into the glory our nature is changed like unto His nature. It is revealed in our faces. The children of Israel could not look upon the face of Moses because he had been in the manifest presence of God. “That thou Lord art seen face to face and that thy cloud standeth over them.” (Numbers 14:14) Do you know when you are having face to face communion with God that you are surrounded by a cloud of glory? In that precious time, you are actually having intimacy with God. It is akin to intimacy between a man and a woman. At that time, we are one together with Him, joined as one. Sometimes the presence of God is so wonderful that He just rolls in and becomes comfortable with you so much so that He begins to reveal the secrets of heaven to you. I tell you, when you spend time in that glory, earth becomes smaller and smaller. The desires and cares of this world, the lusts of other things, the pleasures of this world and the flesh and devil all become smaller. Do you want to stop sinning? Go on a fast and start studying your Bible. Pray fervently, worship with abandon, and give your daily life over to walking in holiness. Spend time in the presence of God and you can stop sinning. God gave the law to Moses because they refused to come into His presence. He gave His presence to Moses because the rest didn’t want it. Moses gave it to them because they wouldn’t come up themselves. God gives His presence to a man or a woman every Sunday so they can give it to His congregation.

I pray that something will stir within your heart and rattle you, knock you out and make you mad so that you will do something about your life. I hope that you

get provoked in love so that you will set your affections on things above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God and not on things of the earth. You need to realize that there is nothing that any man or men can do to you. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Why should I fear what man can do unto me? The Lord is my strength and my salvation. You see, there, face to face, in His glory, I know who I truly am. Why do you want to live down here, away from His face? You are to be seated with Him in heavenly places. That is your heritage as a child of God. You have the right to go into the throne room of God, into the throne of grace. What a privilege that is! It would be the same as walking around in the White House and going straight into the Oval Office to plead your cause. When the Secret Service would try to stop you from entering, the President would tell them to step aside for you.

In Numbers 14 we read Moses interceded for the people and told the Lord, “You can’t destroy these people.” Moses was the one who saw God’s face. The people didn’t see God face to face and they rejected him. Yes we must love our family. Yes we must love our jobs and we must love our husbands and wives. Be we must love Jesus first. We must love Him intimately to a place that He knows that our whole soul loves Him. Look into His eyes and say, “Father, you are everything to me.” Listen to the stirring within you, the still small voice. For thou, Lord, art seen face to face among this people.

Chapter 4

Genesis 32:24-30

As we are sharing on this revelation of face to face communion with God, it is my prayer that this word to you is not just head knowledge for you. Rather, my prayer is that as you read these pages, you receive an impartation from God concerning His heart towards you. I have longed for this kind of ministry of the presence of God my whole life. He only comes upon that which is pleasing to Him. When His presence comes when I minister this word, God is basically saying, “This is my seal upon what is being said and what is being done.” So there is no question in my mind that God wants this principle in our hearts and in our minds about face to face communion with our Lord. Now as was shared, there are seven basic scriptures in the Bible that speak about face to face encounters with the Lord. The scripture that we are going to discuss in this chapter is very familiar but gives us a very applicable account of being face to face with God. It is the account in Genesis 32, when Jacob sees God face to face. In a face to face relationship, the deepest part of you and the deepest part of God come together in one place and everything is open before you and God. God sees through you and you are able to look into His heart. Many things are shared in those moments.

I am sure that was what was in Enoch’s heart. Enoch had a family, wife and children. But yet still something in Enoch yearned for more. Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him, the Bible says. Enoch pleased God because he walked with God. The word in Hebrew here for “walk” means “to rest comfortably with God.”

Much of our time with Jesus is spent selfishly, mainly concerned about ourselves, our healing, our needs being met, our deliverance, etc. Rarely is our time spent just face to face with Him. But there are a people, who deep within their hearts cry out for more. Our hearts must rise up and Jesus must become the focal point of everything we do and everything we are about. Living face to face in communion with Jesus is glorious. I can’t begin to tell you the greatness of the joy it is to be in God’s presence all the time, as we seek to do this every day.

In Genesis 32, Jacob, whose name means “deceiver and supplanter”, had, along with his mother, deceived his brother and had taken the first born birthright. He had gone to live with Laban and to marry Rachel. But he had been tricked into marrying Leah instead. He’s traveling back now and is deathly afraid of Esau because he thought Esau wanted to kill him. But time has a way of healing all wounds. So Jacob divided his things and sent some gifts to Esau and also sent his family ahead of him. But Jacob is in a very vulnerable state. He thinks his brother

wants revenge and he is going to face him. He is also returning home because of the word God spoke to him. It is sometimes fearful when we obey the voice of God. What he is going through now is the hand of God.

We must have a revelation at times in our lives that God is sovereign in our lives. As Hosea 6:3 states, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” The things we don’t understand in our lifetime, we must surrender to the sovereignty of God. Also, as Genesis 18:25 says, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” God always does the right thing in our lives. God is after a people who have been through many processes that is character changing, to where all the selfishness and flesh is rooted out of us. Many people will not be ready for what is coming on the earth, because they have not been through these processes in their lives.

Earlier in his life, Jacob wanted the birthright and tricked Esau. He tricked Laban. He wanted the most beautiful wife, but later found that Leah was the love of his life. But here, God is after a change in Jacob’s character. Jacob was in a time of transition, where he is coming out of one season and moving into another, from glory to glory, where he has to trust the Lord. As David says in Psalms 18:36, “Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.” Again, David says in Psalms 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” So Jacob is in that place of great change in his life, where God is ordering and enlarging his steps under him.

So we pick up the story in verses 22-30 of Genesis 32. “22And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. (Jabbok means “poured out, emptied out” – This is where Jacob is at in his life, at a place where he is poured out and emptied out.) 23And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled (“to float away as dust or vapor”) a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29And Jacob asked him, and said; Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

Jacob finds himself alone, just him and Jesus. Jesus wrestles with Jacob over the flesh in his life, the flesh that Jesus wanted to remove out of his life. What

happens at this meeting with Jesus will determine the course of his life. True change happens in our lives, not when we are at a meeting, but when we are left alone. Most deliverance happens not when we are at an altar call in a meeting. Most change happens when we make a determination and we are wrestling with God over a situation and we let it go and give it to God forever. That is what face to face communion is all about, time alone with God. Therefore, we need time alone with God every day. Rather than run to everyone we know when we have a problem, we should run to God. Wrestle it out with God. Tell God about your flesh and as you are in His presence with him face to face you will be changed.

God has to take us little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, glory to glory and strength to strength. Ultimately you can be like Enoch where the veil is gone and you are totally perfected and redeemed. Most people don’t believe that is possible, but I believe that if you teach anything other than that, you are not teaching the full gospel. I believe God will have a people that are completely conformed to His image and likeness living on this earth. As it is in heaven so will it be on the earth. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus became a man to show us that we, as men, can walk free from sin, sickness, disease, poverty and temptation.

When you are in face to face communion with God your spirit is open. Your spirit is alive and your spirit can contain the glory of God. Your spirit can handle the very expanse of God and it increases in you. Then it bleeds over and bubbles over into your soulish man and then those chambers become assaulted by the river of God. You become like him, having your soul conformed into His image. “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” (Psalms 46:4) “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38) Water is very powerful, and you cannot stop it. It will sweep away all that is not of God. Don’t you want your flesh to float away by the river of God?

In this story in Genesis 32, why did God touch the hollow of Jacob’s thigh? God was giving Jacob a reminder of the experience and to remind him who truly changed him. He had that limp for the rest of his life. It would be better if we all had a limp. I’d rather have a man walking with a limp, a man who failed God and then has gotten up and gone on with God, rather than a self-righteous elder brother who sits in a house and never does anything for God, and doesn’t limp. As we bask in face to face communion with God, our walk with Him is altered forever.

We all need to get into a place, like Jacob, of no return. We need to get to the end of ourselves, to a place where we can truly experience change. A day will come when the finger of God will point to something in our lives and there will be no way to get out of it. At this place, we are left alone with God where we just have to deal with it. There is a place that the Bible speaks of where sin becomes exceeding sinful. Peter says in I Peter 4:1, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in

the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.” You get to a place where you say, “Lord I am not leaving this room until this thing is gone from my life. I am not letting you go.”

The sad thing is, though, we pray those prayers as Pentecostal, Charismatic people, but we have no faith, because the people who pray for us have no faith. The reason they have no faith is because they have no word. They have no authority. If they do not have true authority, then they cannot cast anything out of you. As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 10:7, “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.” This is true in the Charismatic world where men that have no authority are laying empty hands upon empty heads. That is why no one changes. People are flocking to seminars, big conferences and worship seminars, but nothing is happening. There are things that go on in leadership today that are shocking. Many young people have taken liberty as a license and are abusing it. I am telling you that if that is the next generation, then we are in a lot of trouble. God is sovereign, though. The candle almost went out in Samuel’s day, but it will not go out before a Samuel is born.

Have you reached a place where you are sick and tired of staying the same? Have you reached a place where you tell yourself that you are not leaving the room until you know this thing is finally finished? Like Paul said, wrestling with God is not a literal fighting, but it is in the spirit realm. You are asking Him as He pulls on your flesh to take this thing out of you. But as soon as you are willing to let that thing go, the wrestling is over and your walk is changed. Then you will walk with a limp and that thing is forever out of your life.

Something had transpired when God asked Jacob, “What is thy name?” Jacob, whose name means supplanter and deceiver, will get a name change. Jacob’s name gives us a picture of his character. Prior to this meeting, Jacob sent his wife and children before him where Esau was. He did that because of his selfishness and fear. But in his wrestling with God, which he later calls, “I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved,” Jacob’s selfishness, deception, and supplanting is removed forever out of his life. But God had to wait until Jacob came to the end of himself, where he was emptied out and poured out. We need to be alone with God because in that secret place our deepest sins, the deepest things in our lives are touched by God. As we spend time in the presence of God before His face, we will be corrected. Every day spending time in His Word will help us to be shaped into His image and likeness.

Names in Scripture represent one’s character. What is your name and who are you today? What is your perception of yourself? Up to this point Jacob only knew who he had been. Up to this point all of us only know who we were before. But I am telling you that when the glory of God descends in a meeting and the Word of God is preached and imparted to us in a supernatural environment, change takes

place. You are not the same as you were when you entered that building as when you leave. A divine exchange takes place and may even go unnoticed even by you. We have people walking around right now that do not know the authority that they have in God.

For example, I never knew I had the capacity to lead worship until it was by accident that they needed someone to lead worship one night. But we all know that there are no accidents and that it was the sovereignty of God. I was with my pastor in Columbus, Georgia in 1975. I was tagging along to watch what happened in the meetings, just serving him. We were visiting a Pentecostal Church and the worship leader got sick and they asked me to lead the worship with a tambourine. At that time I could not play a guitar or any other instruments. I led the worship for them and since that day I have led thousands of people into the presence of God. I began to sing and the glory descended into that place. If God has called you to do something, then it doesn’t matter about anything else. If God is in it, then nothing can stop it. Job 28:10 states, “He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.” God’s river is cutting out the rocks in our lives, the things that block the precious gift that is in you from coming forth. But God sees every precious thing in us and is determined to bring it forth in our lives. It takes His hands to get those rocks out of the way, so that the river is free to move in us.

What is your name? Because who you believe you are is who you are. What a man believes rules him. Proverbs 23:7 states, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Ten of the twelve spies sent out by Moses believed that they were grasshoppers in the sight of their enemies. But God speaks of Caleb and Joshua as the only ones who had another spirit, who were allowed by God to enter into their inheritance. But the rest, who provoked God in the wilderness and disobeyed Him all of those years, were not allowed to enter in.

One principle that needs to be mentioned is in the Greek word “mystery.” The word “musterion” in the Greek is the word for “mystery” and it is a very special word. Mark 4:11 “And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.” In the Greek it literally means “that which is known only by the initiated.” Now people hate when I teach on this. They say I am teaching on a super spiritual doctrine. But the truth is, some people are initiated into the deep things of God and some aren’t. What do you think the other disciples felt when Jesus said, “I am taking Peter, John and James with me? You other disciples stay here.” How do you think the other nine felt? What did the other seventy feel when Jesus said, “Just the twelve this time. You all go over and eat and we will stay here and talk by ourselves.” What did the multitudes feel when He sent them home? God does make choices. He spoke to Moses telling him that He will have mercy on who He wants. You have no right to tell God what He can do. He does choose people and He does anoint certain ones. Ephesians says that He gave unto us some

apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists. In the 70’s we were taught that everybody was to be in the ministry, that everybody was to have a fivefold office. It took thirty years for us to find out that this is wrong. Many people’s lives were ruined in the process thinking that God had called them to something and in reality they had not been called to it at all. They were trying to measure up to something that was not their calling.

What is your name? All Jacob knows up to this point is that he has been a deceiver and a supplanter. Face to face communion brings the initiation that changes your name and changes your character.

I can tell you that when I first started reading the Bible I was just like you. I read it a lot and I did not understand it. But as time went on, God began to show me things in the scriptures that I had never heard before and then I began to show them to other people. I didn’t realize it, but I had been initiated into the deeper things of the Scriptures.

The same thing happens in the realm of the spirit with the gifts and ministry. I began in 1971 simply by prophesying in meetings things like, “The Lord loves you.” I used to go to sleep at night begging God for the gift of prophecy so that I could show to other people that God is real and that He knows where people are at and that He loves them. I can also see myself in 1978 standing outside on a cold wintry night in Chicago, near my house, under a street light and it was snowing. I was looking up at the light saying, “O God, I really want the Word of knowledge to operate to be a pastor.” I’ll never forget what the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Son, the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance that which I have said to you. If you will fill yourself full of the logos, the written Word of God, then it’s easy for me to speak a rhema word through you. So pour it in, and then I can pour out of you my Words.”

So I began, little by little. After I was faithful to prophesy under the spirit of prophesy in meetings, it was then prophesied over me that God was giving me the gift of prophesy. I don’t believe you can say that you have a gift until it is confirmed through a presbyter. So then I began to move in the gift of prophesy, which is different from the spirit of prophesy that falls in a meeting. The gift of prophesy is a divine gift of the Holy Spirit that can be used at anytime He chooses to use it. You don’t need the anointing to fall in a meeting to use the gift of prophesy. It simply resides within you. But then one day, I had a vision. This sister was going to Austria on the mission field and she asked me to pray for her. As I took her hand I had a vision of her lying in the street. She had fallen in the street and I described the dress she had on. Her ankle was messed up, lying in the curb. I described the scene and I told her that the Lord says not to worry, but this is going to happen. She’ll be all right and that when it happens, to remember these words. Well, I forgot about it and when the sister came back from Austria,

she came and told me that what I prophesied over her actually came true. I then realized at that time that I had stepped into something else.

The last aspect of prophesy is the ministry of a prophet where someone is a seer and sees into the realm of the spirit. In 1975 the Lord spoke to me that the ministry of a prophet will be one of the focal points of my life in the final stages of my ministry. So right now, I know that I am moving into the final stage of my ministry after all these years. When I say to you that an angel is standing next to me and I see him, I am not lying.

One day when I was living in North Carolina, before I was to minister in the daily teachings, I began to worship. I then began to feel the presence of angels in my office. I began to dance and my spiritual eyes were opened and I saw five beautiful angels dancing with me in my office. I had an open vision. What happened to me was that I crossed the brook Jabbok, like Jacob, and I had been emptied out and initiated into a deeper experience in God. This only happens with a face to face communion. I thank God for what transpires in a meeting. But you have to understand that the greatest part of your life with God happens when you are alone with Him, in those precious, wonderful times when it is just you and Him.

Once I was on my way to a meeting in another part of North Carolina. I was in a lot of pain, but I thought that we should go anyway because you never know what will happen in a meeting. The minute I played my guitar to lead the people into worship, I was no longer standing in the building I was at, but I was standing on some platform in a huge stadium as I continued to play and sing. In this stadium were so many colors that I couldn’t have even described them. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:4, “how he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words....” There was so much harmony and music and smells that could not be described. There were thousands of people in row after row in a stadium like atmosphere all dressed in white and I was playing and singing. On this field in front of me there were these creatures of all colors. While I was singing I could feel this heartbeat emanating behind me and the power and sound of that essence that was coming from the throne of God was exploding inside of me. Then I realized those people in those stands and the living creatures were singing the song that I was singing and we were worshiping God together. Now, the people at the meeting in North Carolina said later that they felt the glory of God in such an awesome way and they all hit the floor and they knew something was going on, but they did not see anything. When I figured out that I was leading the worship in heaven, I said, “Let me stay. I do not want to go back.” Nothing else can compare. I don’t need to go to any big conferences to lead the worship. I have already been to a big conference. During that experience, I felt no pain in my body at all. All of my body felt like life was pulsing through it. Then the voice of God spoke to me and told me I had to go back. I pleaded with God to stay. He said to me, “Son,

I want you to go back and tell them that we are waiting for you because when you strike gold in the glory and in worship it releases us here in heaven.” Then I felt myself slipping back and then the pain in my body returned. This I cannot explain, but if I had not been spending time alone with God this would have never happened to me. I don’t like to speak of myself because I am seeking no glory. I am only telling you that there is a place of initiation into the deeper things of God. You can have that yourself. I am telling you, if you go for it, you can have it! Be faithful. Longevity means something to God. God learns to trust you with His mysteries. You prove yourself to God. I have spent most of my Christian life struggling terribly. I know all about His dealings. I am not saying that there aren’t any struggles today, but I have been released into a place where I am satisfied with God and He is my all in all and no more do I desire great riches or success. Now I am consumed with the Word and God’s people. You have to lose your life to find it in Him. Once you find it you get His life in you. Only people who have stood under a tremendous glory and ministered from a place of glory can know what it is like. When you stretch forth your hand and virtue flows from you into that other person and they are healed, there is nothing like it.

Your name is your character and there is only one thing that can change your character and that is face to face communion with God. God told Jacob, “28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Jacob went from a deceiver and a supplanter to a prince of God that ruled with God and with men. There were many name changes in the Bible. For example Sarai became Sarah (Genesis 17:15). Sarai’s name means “quarrelsome.” Sarah means “princess.” Her character changed. Consider Abraham. His name was Abram which means “exalted father.” Abraham means “father of many nations.” Do you see the difference? Consider Simon which means “hearkening, hearing with acceptance” (meaning you receive anything that comes along) compared with Peter which means a “rock.” Character change takes place as we spend time face to face with God. Lastly, how about Saul? Saul means “demanded and asked for” (everybody wanted to ask for Saul) and Saul became Paul which means “little.” Saul was the one that had quite an impressive background and achieved much in his life only to become Paul who said “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8) and said like Moses, “That I may know him” (Philippians 3:10). Moses cried out to God “shew me now thy way, that I may know thee” (Exodus 33:13). And when God hears somebody say this it moves His heart. Paul, I believe, became the first perfected son who was “one born out of due time” (I Corinthians 15:8). He was a figure of a people that are coming. He could choose when he wanted to die (Philippians 1:23). He said “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:6-7). And consider his entrance into everything was in a haze of glory (Acts 9:1-5). He

was knocked off his horse in the glory. Do you want your named changed? Do you need your character changed?

Continuing in verse 29, “And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.” Jacob wanted to know God’s name. But God’s name was a secret from the beginning because it wasn’t going to be revealed until the birth of Jesus Christ. The name of the Godhead is Lord Jesus Christ.

“30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Peniel means in the Hebrew “the face of God or to behold the face of God”. Are you getting this? Have you gone to Peniel yet yourself? God said to Moses “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). But we know in Revelation 22:4 it says, “they shall see his face.” So little by little, year by year, God is causing us to come in the glory and come out of the glory, come in and go out, etc, and we are gaining in our capacity to handle more and more of His glory. God will give you as much as you can handle. The more glory you can handle the more you can carry with you wherever you go. Demons will know to get out of the way. Rebellious spirits will shut their mouths and God is allowed to come into the place because somebody with authority carries Him in. The nonsense stops when true authority enters a place. As you grow, you gain this authority and you get it by face to face communion. Now a man or a woman of God with authority can lay their hands on you and a portion of the spirit that is upon them can be imparted to you as Moses did to Joshua (but only a portion). The rest is up to you. We must be radical and give ourselves to face to face communion with God.

Chapter 5

Deuteronomy 5:1-5

We have been looking at the principle of face to face communion. I pray that God is imparting something eternal to your soul as you are reading this. Let us look at a passage in Deuteronomy 5:1-5, “1And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. 2The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying...”.

Mount Horeb is defined as “a wasteland or a desert.” God made a covenant with you and me in a desert. I would like us to look specifically at verse 4 which again says, “4The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire.” This is the heart of God. He wants to talk to us out of the midst of the fire. The Bible in describing God’s throne is very clear. Before His throne is what is called the stones of fire (Ezekiel 28:14) or in Revelation 4:6 it is called a sea of glass. Isaiah 33:14 asks us, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.” You see God himself is a spirit, but God is also glory, so when the glory comes, God comes. The reason why people don’t have or can’t handle much glory is because it is likened unto fire. The glory would destroy them. The glory is a very flammable or dangerous energy. When it is placed upon flesh or placed upon anything that is sinful and that which is not of the Lord, it will burn immediately. Therefore because people know that God’s glory is God Himself they hesitate to speak face to face with Him. God’s desire is that we do have that deep, vulnerable, abiding communion with Him. But the cost is the burning of everything else in your life that defies the Lord God.

If you turn with me to Exodus 19 you will see exactly what Moses was talking about. God speaks here starting in verse 9, “9And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. 10And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes...” The children of Israel had to wash their natural clothes, but for us this represents our soulish clothes. Continuing in verse 11, “11And be ready against the third day: for the third day

the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai...” And Moses came and told all the people to get ready. Now think of an invitation like that, God giving you three days in advance to prepare for Him to come and appear to you. What a miracle that the God of the universe would say to a people, “I myself will come down and appear to you.” A troubling thing and the saddest thing in the whole world is that in the final analysis when people see God for who He really is many (and I mean many) say no. In the last days God is raising up a mighty remnant of people who have gone from glory to glory, and vessel to vessel. They have gone through the processings of God. They have been beaten and gone through wildernesses. They have done it because deep in their heart there is an absolute abandon and devotion to Him and they know that their calling is not in this world, but it’s a calling to the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. And they get to a place where their own self means nothing and they live by the faith of the Son of God. You have to be emptied before you can be filled. As God empties you and me out, the emptying out process takes years and it’s hard. God spoke this to them in Horeb, which means a waste land or a desert. This was the Word of the Lord in their wilderness that He will talk with you face to face.

Now, let us see what happened when God came. Starting in verse 16, “And it came to pass on the third day (the third day is a revelation of the last days, but I am not going to get into that) in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.” Consider this now, get this picture in your mind. Coming down upon that mountain were thunders and lightnings, a thick cloud, and a very loud voice causing all the people to tremble. “17And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 20And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.” We’ll keep reading in the next chapter (Exodus 20) starting in verse 18, “18And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”

What a sight! The glory of God descending upon a mountain in the face of all of Israel and yet, there God is, in all of His vastness, glory and beauty and what did they do? What do so many people in churches all over the world do every Sunday?

God from the beginning has wanted a people for Himself. He doesn’t care about buildings. He doesn’t care about denominations and all the Babylonish things that have taken place. It comes to down to this: God wants to inhabit a people. But for God to inhabit a people there must be a death. The children of Israel told Moses to go, “lest we die”. They recognized the fire that blazed was God (Again I quote Hebrews 12:29 – “For our God is a consuming fire”, and Isaiah 33:14 – “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”). No one can dwell with God’s devouring fire unless they have been burnt themselves. In Exodus 33 when Moses desired to see God in all of His glory, God responded and said, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). Moses couldn’t see God’s face because if he did, Moses would have died. That is why God covered Moses with His hand as He passed by. But at least on the mount here, Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. When I think of that picture with maybe three million Israelites beholding God’s glory and saying “no” and saying “Moses, you go instead of us”, it must have broken God’s heart. My heart breaks for God. All He wants is His people to love Him and desire Him as much as He does them. We must be like Moses and can’t help it if no one else wants to go, we will go. He must know there is a people who adore and cherish Him, that their whole desire has become Him and that all else has dissipated and faded into oblivion, swallowed up by His precious heart.

Isn’t God, throughout His Word, beckoning us to come to Him? “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), and “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Song of Solomon 2:10). John said in Revelation 4:1, “the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither...” Jesus told His disciples in Mark 1:17, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” In John 7:37 is says, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” God’s calling us to come is still going out, yet like the ten lepers whom the Lord healed, we see only one returned to give glory to God (Luke 17:12-19 – “12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”). Nine were satisfied to go to an earthly representative of God, like the children of Israel were satisfied to go to Moses. Now Jesus told the ten lepers to go and do it because the law stated one needed to go to the priest and declare that you were healed. He told them to do

the law, but a higher law was in operation. When God himself is standing in front of you, you don’t need a man! People settle for less because they can’t handle the fire or they don’t want the fire. It is very hard for most people. This is why Jesus had the multitude, He had the seventy, He had the twelve, He had the three and He had the one (John), who laid his head upon the heart of God. The revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John who was the one who laid his head upon the heart of God.

Why is it always one? Moses alone drew near. This a great problem in the body of Christ. God wants face to face communion. You see, my job as a pastor is to get my disciples to a place where they no longer need me, but they learn how to embrace God for themselves and know how to feed themselves out of the Scriptures. Now I will always be in relationship with them as a Father, but as they mature, they will be allowed to go on and do what God has called them to do. But the sad thing is people, and I have known hundreds of them that started out wonderfully, now are lost in oblivion. The streets our lined with people that once had a walk with God, who once had a visitation of God, but now they don’t. We are approaching our greatest hour. This is the final few minutes of Satan’s hour. Jesus looked at him and said in Luke 22:53 “this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” This is his hour and it is almost over. Jesus said that over two thousand years ago, so it has to be very close to the end of his hour. He is doing everything he can to tempt, to distract, to draw us away, to divide us, and to separate us. He is bringing in false teachers filled with error. He is doing everything and anything, because he knows his time is short.

Jeremiah 12:5 says, “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” This passage talks about the swelling of the Jordan. The Jordan only swells at harvest time (Joshua 3:15 reveals this, “...for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest...”). Harvest time means the end of the world and the in-gathering of the saints. And He says here in Jeremiah that if you can’t run with the footmen, how can you contend with horses, and if in the land of peace you were wearied, what will you do in the swelling of Jordan? When the Jordan waters overflow, the first thing that happened was all of the wild beasts were driven from their natural habitat and were driven inland. This means for us that the first thing that will happen in the last days before the final move of God, before we experience God’s glorious flood (Jordan’s waters) at harvest time, is there will be a great mass of demonic warfare (the beasts rushing inland). This flood represents the greatest revival and the greatest move of God the earth has ever seen. Isaiah 33:14 says, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Who will make it through the fire? You hear Peter (one of Jesus’ faithful disciples) in Matthew 26:33, 35 telling Jesus, “I will not deny thee”, but look with me in Luke’s account in Luke 22:54 to see what Peter

does when Jesus was captured. “Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.” This is exactly what the Israelites did in Exodus 20:21 where is says “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”

Look with me in Luke 19:37-39. Jesus once again is making His glorious entry into Jerusalem. “37And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; 38Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 39And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.” There are always Pharisees in the multitude that are judging and criticizing everything that others are doing. They themselves are doing nothing. In this situation they were trying to tell Jesus to stop His disciples from saying these things about Himself. How can you and I say, when the King of glory is coming in, anything but “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord”? Only the hardest of hearts would react as these Pharisees did. But wherever Jesus goes, hearts are revealed.

There is a difference between the multitude and the disciples. The multitude comes to receive their healing, to be delivered, to get their provision, and then they go home. Disciples follow the Lord into the boat, into the storm, and almost die in the storm. But yet, if you hang out long enough, you will see Jesus walking on the water towards you or stilling that raging sea. The multitude never sees that. These things are reserved for disciples alone. Because you see there is a higher calling in God, than just receiving from Him. This higher call is becoming something. Christianity has been turned into a “bless me” situation. Everything nowadays revolves around the people and what they want. This characterizes the Laodicean church, which is a type of the last day church spoken of Revelation 3:17, who say of themselves, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing...” But Jesus says of them, “...knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” The Greek word Laodicea means “the opinion of the people”, which is basically represents a democracy or what the people want. So the last church on the earth before the coming of the Lord is the Laodicean church where the people are in charge. And it is a fact that every time the people get their hands on what God is doing and try to control it, they destroy it and God has to do something drastic to get their attention before they can come to their senses. You cannot handle situations or play in areas that are beyond and above you. For example, in the Old Testament, God told Aaron the high priest that they were forbidden to offer a strange fire before the Lord. And yet in Leviticus 10:1-4 (“1And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. 3Then Moses said unto Aaron,

This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. 4And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.”). Aaron’s own sons (Nadab and Abihu) brought strange incense to offer before the Lord, and they were burnt to a crisp right on the spot. God didn’t give Aaron a chance to even grieve and God said get them out of the holy place now. We can’t stay in the holy of holies with flesh ruling our lives. This is strange fire before the Lord.

You see, beholding God face to face is like two people that are in love. They open their hearts to each other. They make themselves vulnerable, naked, and exposed before each other. And by opening yourself to your lover you are saying, “look at me and all my failings, can you accept the real me with all of my weaknesses and frailties?” When you are vulnerable you are showing the other person who you really are. God will make Himself vulnerable, because He is so hungry to be with a people. But so many times when people see that glorious face rather than respond like the bride in Song of Solomon who says “Draw me, we will run after thee” (Song of Solomon 1:4), they stand afar off like the children of Israel in Exodus 20:21. The bride doesn’t stand afar off. She runs after her lovely Bridegroom, and not only that, she tries to get as many people as she can to come with her.

If I asked anyone they would probably say of course they will run after the Lord. But life is long. You have no idea what tomorrow may bring. We live everyday by the grace of God. We should make no bold declarations about anything except every day we should examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith and we should examine our hearts on a daily basis. Paul said, “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16).

Preachers have told us for the last two thousand years that we will never stop sinning, the reason being they couldn’t stop sinning. But I boldly proclaim that this is a watered down gospel. The full gospel is that every disciple be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul put it this way, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). If you do not want to press on for God’s highest at least, I plead with you, stop keeping others from trying to get there. The only people Jesus was ever furious with were Pharisees. He told others “do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matthew 23:3). Jesus goes on to say “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). People always reject what they

don’t understand or are afraid of, or feel that they can’t measure up to what is being required of them by the Word and His Holy Spirit.

Moses said in Deuteronomy 5:4-5 “4The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the work of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount).” The Lord wanted to talk with the children of Israel face to face, but Moses had to stand between the Lord and the people. Was this God’s will? No. Moses was the only one who drew near to God, face to face. James 4:8 tells us to “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” God even gave the children of Israel three days to prepare and sanctify themselves before He appeared to them. There is no excuse. God wants us preparing ourselves. The stake are higher now, the bar is raised. It’s either face to face communion or settle for something less.

I love what a man of God said years ago. He said a fanatic is somebody who loves Jesus more than you do. I’ve never forgotten that. I have always been a fanatic. Fanatics are always called rebels. They are always misunderstood. No prophet in the Bible was really received, but it doesn’t matter. John the Baptist cried in the wilderness “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Luke 3:4). In your heart prepare ye the way of the Lord. He is coming. He is coming to live in a people. All that we have waited for is about to come. And we hear Jeremiah saying “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20). Isaiah 26:18 says “we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth.”

How easy it is to stand among the multitude and be critical of those who are trying to go on with God. It’s like the two men that went up to the temple to pray in Luke 18:10-14. “10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The Pharisee acted like many people in the church today and it is an abomination to God. The self righteousness that exists even in the charismatic and Pentecostal world is beyond comprehension. The heresy that is going on right now, men barking like dogs and being led around with chains like a dog, is beyond ridiculous. In forty years of being a Christian, I’ve never seen so much foolishness in my life and nobody will stand up and say this is not that which was spoken by

the prophet Joel. They think they are in a move of God. But just like David in II Samuel 6:1-9, when he was bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem (the ark of God is a type of God’s manifest presence and glory), the people were shouting, dancing, and having a great old time, but God was not in it, he had to kill Uzzah to get their attention. I hope this isn’t what we will have to experience.

It is like Isaiah 1:5 which says “the whole head is sick.” This means that the government of God in the Christian community is sick. They are all about money. Look at the Laodicean church again. What was their report? They say “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17). Is this not what is preached on the airwaves every day and every night that you can be rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing? It is not what Jesus had to say to the Laodicean church. He said, continuing in verse 17, “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Let me explain what Jesus is saying here. Our clothing represents our righteousness and what we’ve attained to in God. Revelation 19:7-8 says “7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” You cannot get into the wedding without a wedding garment (Matthew 22:12). Naked doesn’t mean you are going to lose your salvation. Naked means you are going to lose out on being Jesus’ bride. All over the earth today in corners, there are hidden people who are beginning to hear a sound deep in their spirit. They are feeling a grace loosed in them to stop sinning. Zechariah 13:1 says in the last days “there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” God’s blood is washing away the final remains of Adamic nature in them. To better understand this, you need to understand that we as humans are a threefold being (spirit, soul, and body). Inside every one of us is our human spirit where Jesus lives in those who are born again. You do not have any demons in your human spirit, which is why you can’t lose your salvation. Hebrews 12:23 says “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” You cannot make imperfect that which Jesus made perfect by dying on the cross. But our soul, which is not perfect yet, is being dealt with by God to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Our souls are filled with many chambers, and one by one the Lord is opening up these chambers to cast out that which is not of Him. This process is called sanctification and literally takes a lifetime of the dealings and processings of God to reach total sanctification. To the degree we allow God to do this in our souls will determine how much glory we will receive at His coming.

Have you ever fallen in love to such a degree that your whole day is consumed with thinking of that person? You spend all day waiting with anticipation for the moment when you can be with them, to touch them, hold them, and to share in that communion that is so beautiful. But you see Ephesians 5 tells us that even

marriage is a type of something heavenly. Earthly marriage and its intimacy is a natural type of what will happen spiritually between our Bridegroom and Husband Jesus, and his wife, the bride.

Let us take a look now at a story in John 12 where (starting in verse 20) certain Greeks wanted to see Jesus. Jesus response to them gives us great insight concerning seeing Jesus. Without going too deep into this story, Jesus talks about the principle of dying and serving Him. And in verse 28 Jesus ends it by saying “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” An actual voice came from heaven. This was an audible voice and God Himself spoke out of heaven. Look now at the next verse, “29The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.” In your own life, do you hear thunder, or do you hear the word of the Lord? Not everyone hears what God is saying. I am only interested in my sheep hearing the Word of the Lord and becoming true disciples in every facet of their lives and anything less than that is not God’s best. I want God’s best for my life and in my disciples’ life. God has saved the best wine for last. If you thought that the first outpouring in Acts 2 was something, the Bible says that the last great move of God is going be the former and the latter rain together (Joel 2:23, Hosea 6:3). It is going be an explosion of the glory in these last days. But how can there be an explosion of the glory when the glory is God Himself? It is only because there will be a people who will be transformed into His image. God told Moses in Exodus 33:20 “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” but we see in Revelation 22:4 “And they shall see his face”! He said in Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” The glory shall be seen upon you and me! It is true that God said Himself, “I will not give my glory unto another” (Isaiah 48:11). But He only gives His glory to that which is of Him and if you and I can become like Him, the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon us. He gives His glory to those who have died to themselves and Jesus is living in their soul. Don’t tell me I have to keep falling down and sinning for the rest of my life. This is a lie! Every day that we get up, we ought to say “I am going to consecrate myself to God to live holy before Jesus all day long and if I have any kind of problem between me and another person, I am going to make it right. I want nothing between me and the Father or anyone else because I want that glory to be upon me.”

God said to the children of Israel, I wanted to talk to you face to face. What did it say about Moses? He was a friend of God. Why? Because he talked to Him face to face. You can never be God’s friend if you don’t talk to Him face to face.

Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” This is a word from Jesus that means if you keep your heart pure, unadulterated and if you do not allow the world, the flesh, the devil, sin and religion to cloud your vision, and you always know that forgiveness to others is God’s answer, then

you can see God Himself. Having a pure heart means you are always ready to look for restoration rather than condemnation, and that you are always trying to be a blessing and help just like God the Father does. We don’t have to know who God is by what a man says. We can see Him for ourselves. Moses so desperately wanted to see God for Himself and God showed Him. God declared His character to Moses “and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7). The first thing God said about Himself is He is merciful. You can’t see God unless your heart is pure. You can’t behold that face with impurities lining your life. We said previously that this is the reason you and I have to go from “glory to glory” because we couldn’t take it if God showed us His face at this present time. We would be destroyed in an instant. If He was to appear to me right now in all of his glory, myself and everything around me would be destroyed. But you see, He is so patient. James 5:7 says “the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.” He has more patience that all of us. He is waiting for you and I to come up a little higher, to try a little harder, to go a little deeper, to study a little more, to worship a little freer, and to try to live our lives like Jesus Himself did. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28- 29). If we are to be like Jesus we have to learn from Him. He is meek. He is not arrogant and prideful. For us to become like Him is hard sometimes. The process seems long and hard at times. Jesus says here that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, which is true as long as you are following Him. But human nature always resists the yoke and we cause our own struggles and troubles and the devil gets blamed for so much that he has nothing to do with. But don’t be worried today. We are in good hands. Jesus knows the end from the beginning. People may be worrying all around us, but you and I are in good hands. He has always been there and He will not forsake us. In fact, God wants to dwell with us. He wants His glory to be with you all the time. God is after a people who will see Him face to face. Do you want somebody to stand between you and Him?

Before I finish this chapter, let us look again at Deuteronomy 5:2-5, “2The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day...” God made a covenant with the children of Israel in Horeb. “Horeb” again means “waster”. It is just like the account of the last supper, “That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me...” (I Corinthians 11:23-24). On the very night Jesus knew beforehand that He was going to be betrayed and forsaken by all of

His disciples, He took bread and purposely made a covenant with them. This is how wonderful our God is and should bring us great comfort in our struggles. He’s sovereign and He knows how it is all going to turn out. It may seem frightening now and you may not know how you will make ends meet, or how it will happen with your children, or how it will happen with your job, but He does and He knows and He has made a covenant with us! Stop panicking. Even though Psalms 46:6 may say “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted”, the next verse says “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

Horeb represents the wilderness experiences in our life. Listen to me now (especially for every person that is struggling in a wilderness experience) because I have been through thousands of wilderness experiences myself. I can tell you that your stay in the wilderness is determined by how long you want to be there. God only wants you to be there to learn what you need to learn and then He will bring you out. For those that allow God to deal with them in the wilderness you will find that you will come out of the wilderness leaning on your beloved (Song of Solomon 8:5 – “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?”).

God is after you. He is after everything in you. It sounds almost heretical to say this because we can’t think or conceive of being like God and Him being able to deal with everything in us. But the reason it seems so beyond us is because it is not of this world. Isaiah 55:9, speaking of God’s ways, says “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Even though our thoughts and carnal mind cannot grasp all that God is doing, but still our spirit can hear Him. Our spirit can understand. We are all flawed. We are all fallible. But every one of us must have a heart that is reaching and trying. No matter what is happening to us or what we are going through, that still small voice inside of us will be speaking. You see, when you are enraptured with His face, everything else disappears and everything else is trivial and insignificant. It is like you are flying and you are going higher and higher away from this world and all of its boundaries and ties and you find the higher you go in God’s glory, the freer you feel and the farther detached you become to this world and the elements of it (the lusts of the flesh, the deceitfulness of riches, the pride of life, the cares of this world, etc). The things of this world grow strangely dim when you are beholding God’s lovely face. The God of the universe who created you, who knew you long before you knew yourself is calling to you to come home and to come up higher. He is calling to you to let the things of this world go because He made a covenant with us in the wilderness. He is just wanting you to look at Him and He knows you will survive. He doesn’t want you to look at the face of your bills, of your job, of your spouse, children, or problems, or your bad weaknesses, etc. I’m telling you, look at the face of God! Looking at the face of God is all you need! If we spent more time pressing into His face, there would be little time for anything else.

Looking back at my life, God has brought me through thousands of wildernesses. There were so many times when I had no idea how I would get out of a situation because things looked so bleak in the natural. Our own carnal mind is our enemy. Forget the devil. Our mind is our main enemy that keeps us from seeing God. Man was originally created to only eat from the tree of life. The tree of life is God Himself who is a Spirit. We are supposed to be listening with our spirit. Adam walked in the cool of the day with God. But there was something about God that wasn’t enough for Adam. Adam needed a help mate. There is something about God that for most people, it isn’t enough. I am talking about people who love Him, but yet they stop at a certain point. All of my life people used to say to me, “Brother Sam, can you please teach on something where the dealings of God are not concerned?” Trust me, I know it is hard. I’ve been teaching for over 33 years and have had to live through every word myself and I tell you these are the greatest days of my life. I have never had such liberty. I have never had in my life such an abiding presence and glory. When you let go of everything, He’s there! But hear me, even Lucifer, who was the anointed cherub that walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire and covered the glory of God (for we don’t know how many thousands of years), but yet one day Lucifer saw God’s meekness and misinterpreted it for God’s weakness. You see, when he looked into God’s face, he saw vulnerability and he thought that vulnerability was a weakness. But he didn’t understand that in God’s weakness is His greatest strength. That is why in our weaknesses, He is made strong. And so Lucifer rebelled. John 1:11 says of Jesus that “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” Why do so many turn away from God and do not receive Him? What is it about Him? We know He has no weakness because He is all powerful. It isn’t that He doesn’t know everything because He has all knowledge. It isn’t that there is somewhere He hasn’t been because He is omnipresent. What it is, is this. When you look right into the eyes of God you see a reflection of yourself. You see who you are supposed to be and it is frightening. Potential is a terrible word. When you look into that lovely face that is so wonderful and precious you begin to unveil yourself. It is like a little flower where the petals begin to pull back and little by little as you are in His glory you begin to unwrap yourself and you become again as Adam was, alone in the garden with God. And as you become naked again and alone in the garden with God, you look right into the eyes of your Creator and you see that what He wants is total oneness! We can’t understand the Godhead because we can’t understand oneness. It is a mystery that the three aspects of God are one.

The day we can look into His eyes and be one with Him, we can turn to our brother and change our brother just by looking at him. We are moving into a realm where tremendous power and glory is going to be released to some saints who can handle it. All these pretenders will be off the scene shortly, trust me. God will no longer be trifled with foolishness. And there will be no more Christian T.V. stars because there won’t be enough satellites to pick up all the men and women of God who have a miraculous ministry. In every corner of the world right now, God is

choosing people in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10 – “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”).

Continuing in Deuteronomy 5, it reads, “4The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire...” We are afraid of the fire. In Daniel 3, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abed-nego stood and responded, when the decree was made that everyone must bow down to the false image, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:17-18). They basically said that it doesn’t matter whether God delivers them or not. They made it clear to the king that they will never bow down to that golden image (a type of Satan). This made the king even madder and he told his guards to make the furnace seven times hotter so much so that the guards were burnt to death when they had to put Meshach, Shadrach, and Abed-nego into the furnace. So these three Hebrew men were thrown into the midst of the burning furnace with everything to lose, but they saw something as Jesus tried to explain in John 12 that “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Song of Solomon 1:4 says “Draw me, we will run after thee.” Multiplication happens as you are in the fiery furnace burning! And then the king, as he was supposedly watching these three Hebrew men be burnt to death said “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:25). It doesn’t say in this passage whether Meshach, Shadrach, or Abed-nego saw the fourth person in the fire with them. The king saw four, but they necessarily didn’t see the forth, telling us it doesn’t matter if we see Jesus or not. He’s there with us! Four is the number for creation. In the fire something is created!

What is it that you and I have to go through to get back to God? It is “a flaming sword which turned every way” (Genesis 3:24). You are going to have to face the fire or you are not getting in. You have got to go through the fire. As a father, if I can keep my children from having to suffer in any way I would do it and suffer for them. If I could save you from dealings, I would do it. Jesus did that for us. The Father loves us so much that He took a part of Himself and said let me bear all of that so they don’t have to go to hell. This is why people who say you can lose your salvation are foolish. II Peter 3:9 says God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Salvation is a door. It is not the end. It is the beginning.

So it comes down now to Moses saying “5I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the work of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount.” Moses stood between God and the children of Israel when God wanted to talk to the children of Israel Himself face to face. And we see there are two types of people in the book of revelation in response to

God’s face. The one are afraid to see God’s face who say “to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16). It is such a beautiful and glorious face, but it is a face that is full of fire, a face so full of virtue, power, and love, that everything that is not pure and lovely cannot stand in its presence. Is it worth it to hold on to something as small as a stupid grudge? Is it worth it to hold that unforgiveness? Is it really worth it to see who’s going to repent first? Is it really worth it to strive about things to no profit? You see eventually it comes down to you having to say, “It’s me, put it on me”. And as you do this, the other person will see that you are not doing it because it is the spiritual thing to do, but you are doing it because it is in your heart to do it and it will provoke the other person to love and good works. And they just might get delivered by seeing your example.

Psalms 16:11 says, “in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Let me ask you, were you joyful today? Make a vow today that you will have no other gods besides Him, that nothing will take the throne of your heart ever again but Him. Look into the face of God and see who you were destined to be. Don’t stand afar off anymore. Hear my testimony. I am someone who was bound by so many things for so many years, who has repented and have been forgiven millions of times and have seen that every time I got up, the grace of God was there to meet me and help me. Until eventually, as I fought the good fight of faith, God’s grace finally broke me free and I broke through and came out of the wilderness changed, leaning upon the arm of my Beloved as you will too. It is better to come out leaning than to die in the wilderness like every one of those people Moses was talking to. None of those people made it into the promise land. Their children did. People, don’t let that be your end. But rather give yourself to His face. Allow it to burn the dross in your life so that you can fulfill your holy calling and become His bride, see His face, and have face to face communion with Him. God is calling. The question is, will you answer?

Chapter 6

Deuteronomy 34:10

In Deuteronomy 34, Moses is about to depart from the world. God is showing him the land that the children of Israel will inherit, but he himself could not. I want us to look at verses 10-11, but let’s read this short chapter to see it in context. “1And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither...” Let me say something before we read on. Let there be no question about who that land belongs to. It belongs to the Jewish people. God said it and that is the end of it.

“...5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day...” Why would God hide the body of Moses? Simply because the children of Israel were such a wayward people. As soon as Moses was missing for 40 days, the children of Israel built a golden calf. And if they knew where Moses’ body was, they would have turned the body of Moses into an idol and started worshipping it. God knew this. Now think of this principle in terms of men of God today. We make idols out of men of God. When a man’s time is finished, he basically needs to slowly diminish and fade and get out of the way of what God is doing. We see in Scriptures that John the Baptist could not do this. I’ve never heard anyone share on the fact that John the Baptist, at the end of his life, failed miserably. John the Baptist was the forerunner to Jesus. He said,”prepare ye the way of the Lord and make His paths straight.” He did this and when Jesus came up out of the waters, John saw that Jesus was the lamb of God that takes the sins of the world away. At that moment, John’s ministry was over. John the Baptist should have been the first disciple and should have followed Jesus himself. But he didn’t. He only sent two of his own disciples after Jesus. John and all of his disciples should have followed Jesus. This is the problem with men of God. Once you’ve tasted the power of God and God gives you authority and people look to you, it can become a heady experience and when you realize it is over, you feel empty and useless. But God did have a provision for John after that. He had a life for him to live and fulfill and John just needed to find the place that God had for him. Rather than struggling to hold onto something that no longer was, look at what happened to John. At the

end of his life, he started messing with politics. Let this be a word to all of us. It is not the job of men of God to mess with the political world. John could not get out of the way and he ended up losing his faith (had to send someone to ask Jesus if He was really the one), and ended up losing his life. What a tragedy. But we need to take note of this. When we walk in our own ministry and it is fulfilled and time for us to step back or sit down, know that God has something more for you (a place, plan, and a provision). Don’t strive to hold onto a position or a place. If you strive, all you do is upset the order of things. You stop other people from coming forth, you abort ministries, and you stymie and stifle the disciples of God. What about the people that continued to follow John? They missed out on Jesus! They needed to be following Jesus, not John. So God knew here in Deuteronomy 34 that the people would have made Moses an idol, they would have prayed to him, and worshipped him instead of going on to what God had next.

Continuing now in Deuteronomy 34, “7And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 8And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended...” It is okay to mourn for people. It is part of the healing process. But God had someone else ready to take his place, Joshua. “9And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.” This is the greatest gift you can give your disciple, what Moses gave to Joshua. The last thing you will want to do as a father is to lay your hands upon your sons and impart to them what God has given to you and then release them.

Here we go now, the verses I want to spend some time talking about. “10And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 12And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.” Please note that in the book of Daniel that it says “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” (Daniel 11:32). Because Moses knew God face to face, signs and wonders followed. This is the problem today. We have people putting the cart before the horse. When Jesus called His disciples it says in Mark 3:13-15, “13And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. 14And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.” The signs follow being with Him. You cannot give what you don’t have and the picture is there in Luke 10:38-42 where you see the two types of servants, Martha versus Mary. Martha is careful and troubled about many things (verse 41), and Mary is simply sitting at Jesus’ feet hearing His word (verse 39). And Martha gets so mad while she’s serving and Mary is sitting down, that she tries to get Jesus to make Mary help her. And Jesus turns to Martha

whom He loved and said, “...41Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled (Greek – “distracted with care”) about many things: 42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” The Pentecostal Bible college I attended as I was working towards my Bachelor’s degree years ago had a chapel service every day, and they had this great big banner up behind the podium that said, “Saved to Serve”. In another place, I’ve heard people preach and say “the first two words of ‘Gospel’ are ‘Go’”, the emphasis on both these places being going and going. Every day during these chapel services I tried to enter into worship, but that banner assaulted me constantly. I have not been saved to serve. I’ve been saved, in order that I might be filled with the Holy Ghost, in order that I might know the Lord and be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). And out of this knowing the Lord, everything else comes. Galatians 3:13-14 puts this clearly, “13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14That the blessing of Abraham (salvation – justification by faith) might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that (or “in order that”) we might receive the promise of the Spirit (this is the baptism of the Holy Ghost) through faith.” We got saved for the sole purpose of getting baptized in the Holy Ghost! This is why we were saved, so we can be filled with the power of God, and then begin our journey of being conformed to the image of Christ Jesus, and to go on ultimately, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Paul said to the Galatians, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). You see, salvation is a seed. To birth the ministry of Jesus it is like Mary birthing Jesus naturally where Gabriel said to Mary, “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” The Bible says in I Peter 1:23 that we are born again of incorruptible seed. Everything starts with a seed and everything in the seed is all that we will ever need. You just have to allow it to grow. The fullness of everything is in the seed, but you must water it, tend it, and let it grow. So when we are saved, the seed of God is put in our heart. Just like Mary, that holy thing in you and me now shall become the son of God! Jesus had to grow up, didn’t He? We see Him at age twelve in the Bible talking to the Pharisees, asking them questions about the law. But everything starts with a seed. We have been made partakers of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4). This is just the beginning. Our human spirit has been made perfect (Hebrews 12:23). This is justification. We then, through sanctification, allow God’s nature to overtake our Adamic nature, which takes a lifetime.

Here’s the thing, you have Martha distracted with care. God knew Moses. There had never been a prophet like Moses whom God knew face to face. The example of a servant of God is beyond what we’ve thought. Moses’ face was changed in the very presence of God. It is such a type of every believer in the last

days. Signs and wonders come as you bask in the secret place. All of us can be distracted with care. Martha was troubled about many things and Jesus so clearly and emphatically responds to her by saying, “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Mary was simply sitting at the feet of Jesus. Should we go and preach? Yes. We are to “do the work of an evangelist” Paul said (II Timothy 4:5). We should always do the “work of the Lord” as long as you always remember first “the Lord of the work”. Sitting at the feet of Jesus is the one needful thing we should always be doing. The children of Israel, Psalms 103:7 tells us, knew God’s acts, but Moses knew His ways. The children of Israel knew God’s acts, but they did not perform any of God’s acts. Moses performed the acts. Martha, in all of her running and doing and going, produced nothing. Mary simply sat at the feet of Jesus, doing that good part, which will never be taken from her. As you and I sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His Word, and worship Him, and have face to face communion with Him, then God will speak to us to do something. We are to then do what God is telling us to do and then go right back to that place of sitting again. Ministry must come from the heart of God, not from our heart. I can’t say I am going to do this or do that because I feel like doing it, but we need to say like James said, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15). Jeremiah 6:16 says, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” The “way” and the “old path” is the narrow way (Matthew 7:14), the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8), the path of the just (Proverbs 4:18), or the race (I Corinthians 9:24). We don’t need to figure out something new to do, we need to seek that old path that Moses was on. And while the Martha of the earth are going out preaching, many times they come back burnt out, mad at the body of Christ for not supporting them. But the truth is many times that God never told them to go. I remember R.W. Shambock saying once “Some were sent, and others just went.” I want to be sent. If you are not sent, you will end up like Martha burnt out and furious with the Marys in the world. The one thing that is needful is face to face communion with Jesus. At Jesus’ feet so much happens. At Jesus’ feet means sitting under the Word of God, it means worship, intercession, but more than anything it represents a submission and a bowing to a greater One than you. And as you sit there basking in this relationship, having face to face communion, God can then say to you what to do, intimate to you His heart, and lead you by His Spirit. The greater ministry God wants for His people will only come out of a face to face relationship, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Mary didn’t get burned out blaming everyone else. Martha put the “work of the Lord” before the “Lord of the work”.

The children of Israel knew, but never performed, His acts. What do we hear all the time in the body of Christ? Everybody wants miracles. People will fly half way across the world to be at a place where they hear something’s happening. Fanciful claims of miracles are always happening whether they are true or not.

Many times these claims are false and manufactured, but still people flock to it. People have put ear pieces in their ears to pretend they have the Word of knowledge while someone back stage spoke to them. People sell miracle oil, miracle water, miracle soap, and the list is endless. Some famous minister made over $30 million off the body of Christ, even after getting caught lying. The body of Christ acts very foolish many times. But this is what you do when you are a Martha. You are out there doing and God is not supporting you, so you have to think up ways to get your support and come up with gimmicks to take advantage of the people of God to get them to give. Whereas, if you sit at Jesus’ feet, hear His Word, and have face to face communion with Him, you will never have to worry about your provision. Now you may worry about it (let’s be honest), but the provision will still be there. In ministry, there is nothing wrong with sending out a newsletter as a father and telling your friends and disciples that the ministry needs support. This is honest and right and I have no problems with doing this. But to promise things like blessed special oil and miracles if you give is not of God and leads to greater error. But still, people do this to exploit the body of Christ because everyone wants to see the acts of God. We need to get our eyes off of signs and wonders (they are really for the world anyway, not us His people) and “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). By sitting at His feet, we come to know Him personally. Then as He speaks, we can then go and do His will and see great results.

But we learn by the story of Moses, that the only way to see God’s acts is to know God face to face. Moses knew the Lord “face to face, 11In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land.” When was the last time you or I put our staff down in a body of water and it parted? Psalms 74:9 says, “We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet...” We are not seeing signs ourselves because we are not having face to face communion like Moses had with God. Coming out of face to face communion, you come out of being in the glory and majesty of the presence of God and you have a Word that God has spoken and that Word will not fail. I Kings 8:56 says, “...there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.” Isaiah 55:11 confirms this by saying, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

God will give you a rod like He gave Moses and when Moses held out that rod to use it, the Red Sea parted, so the children of Israel could walk across on dry land. But even after getting across, it wasn’t enough. The children of Israel saw that Pharaoh and his army followed them to get them. Then Moses had to use the rod again for the waters to come back, only after the angels messed with the chariot’s wheels to slow them down, which then drowned all of Pharaoh’s army.

Think about this. What if you were there and you saw this happen. You would think it would be enough for you to believe and follow God for the rest of your life. But in three days they came to a place where there was bitter water and they began to complain and wished they were back in Egypt. They were dreaming of the leeks, garlic, and onions of Egypt and complained to Moses that they had nothing here and why did Moses do this. Moses didn’t bring the children of Israel out, God did, because He heard them crying in their bondage, begging and pleading to get out. So God got them out, but they wanted to go back under bondage because at least in bondage you are assured of some provision. People are happy to be in Babylon because they have money assured to them. If you are going to have a supernatural ministry, you don’t depend on Babylon for your provision. God is your Father and provider. But this wasn’t enough for the children of Israel and God had to turn bitter waters into sweet waters. In Numbers 14:11 we see God saying to Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?” God did ten major miracles in Egypt to get them delivered, then He parted the Red Sea, brought back the Red Sea to destroy Pharaoh and all of his army, and now turned bitter waters to sweet waters, and it still wasn’t enough. Miracles will not change your life! John 6:2 says the multitude followed Jesus because of the miracles which He did and finally in this chapter Jesus gets fed up and says “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:53). And it says in response to Jesus, “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60), and “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66). Once the Word came, they left, but here is the principle. John 8:32 says “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The Word of God makes you free! It conforms you to be free. But there is a certain level of safety in bondage and people don’t want to leave it for fear of having to have faith to believe God for the unknown. “Launch out into the deep,” Jesus told His disciples (Luke 5:4). If you are going to walk with Jesus, you are going to have to launch out into the deep. You have to be willing to go a “stone’s cast” farther than everybody else (Luke 22:41). If you want signs and wonders, there is only one way to get them. First of all, we don’t control and manufacture miracles, God does. The Holy Spirit is in control. But to have signs and wonders performed through your hands, know Him face to face.

When I first started out in the ministry, I wanted to be a healing evangelist. I wanted a ministry just like William Branham, R.W. Shambock, Oral Roberts, T.L. Osborn, or Kathryn Kuhlman. I will never forget a time as a teenager taking a bus to Pennsylvania to go to a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting. My friend and I got off the bus at five in the morning and walked to where the meeting was. The meeting wasn’t until 11:00 a.m. or so. I waited in line for six hours to get into the building to be in the meeting. Six hours I waited in the boiling hot sun in a long line. Even getting there very early in the morning, many others beat me there. The line was

full of sick people. I stood next to a man and his wife who came from Portland, Oregon. She could not stand. She had to be rolled in a chair. And over a period of hours we got to know each other. She hadn’t walked in fourteen years because she had a crippling disease of some kind. At 11:00 a.m. they finally opened the doors and we all rushed forward to get seats. It was pandemonium and even though I was closer to the front of the line, I still only got a balcony seat. And I’ll never forget this meeting. There were thousands of people there. They had us singing an old chorus many know, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah...” and while I was singing it, I heard the sound of a rushing wind. I was singing that song and heard it and I opened my eyes and the Lord directed me to look on the platform. That whirlwind began when that little woman walked out on the stage. If you have the glory, you carry it with you. When you walk into the room, as Kathryn Kuhlman did, the atmosphere changes. This meeting must have lasted six hours. Half way through the meeting I remember looking down, seeing that woman from Portland running down the aisle. I stood with her for six hours in that line. She could not even stand and hadn’t walked in fourteen years and I saw her with my own eyes running. They say Kathryn Kuhlman, before she would minister, would walk back and forth praying, “take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” quoting Psalms 51. She was having face to face communion.

Robert Thom was one of the greatest South African ministers ever. I loved him. I forced myself to know him. He was such a powerful man of God who knew William Branham and I remember asking Robert Thom about him. William Branham got into error towards the end of his life and there are still followers today that think he will rise from the dead. But he was just a little country man, with an eighth grade education and God used him mightily. I was once given a five minute video of a William Branham meeting in 1951, and as soon as the screen came on of his meeting, the glory of God fell on me. This meeting happened four years before I was born and yet it still had the power of God to touch me. This is like Elisha’s bones. I got an impartation from watching this video and I saw him. I remember him saying to a woman, “Ma’am, now you know I don’t know anything about you.” She said, “No sir.” He continued, “If I were to tell you what your name is and who your doctor is and where you live, would you believe that Jesus is your healer?” And she said “Yes.” And then he would wait (as he was waiting on the instruction from the Lord), and then he would tell her information about her life and people would gasp because it was the exact name, the exact address, and the exact doctor, and then the miracle pursued. But asking Robert Thom about him, he told me that when he was around William Branham one time in Chicago during a great campaign that all the ministers were in the room with Branham praying before the meeting. They were all very upset because William Branham was biting his finger nails and was very nervous. They were all thinking to themselves, “this is the great man of God, biting his finger nails?” But then all of the sudden William Branham would stand up and say “there He is!” The angel of the Lord would come into the room and William Branham changed into another man.

Like Saul, as we come into His mighty presence, we are changed into another man (I Samuel 10:6).

We see not our signs because nobody is having face to face communion with God. Don’t make the signs your emphasis. Make knowing Him your emphasis and signs will follow. Listen to what the Scriptures declare. John 17:3 says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The essence of eternal life is knowing Jesus Christ. I John 5:20 reads, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This (knowing Him) is the true God, and eternal life.” We must understand this powerful revelation. There are two types of knowing. The knowing I am talking about is an intimate knowing, as in “Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain” (Genesis 4:1). When you have face to face communion with Jesus, it is like having intimacy between a husband and wife, because a holy seed is put in you. Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore a son. When we spend time in the presence of God we conceive something and then we birth it into the earth.

Hosea 6:3 says, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” This means that when you follow on to know the Lord and stand face to face with Him, you begin to understand His sovereignty, how that He is King and controls everything. You can’t understand this if you are out there running around, doing, doing, doing, and distracted with care. Marthas are good and sincere people, but they don’t understand that they are distracted. Cares are good, but they do not rule us. Paul himself struggled with the burden of the care of all the churches (II Corinthians 11:28). But you can’t minister to people because you feel sorry for them. You can’t minister to people because they expect you to do something. You have to obey what God says. If God says go to the hospital, you go to the hospital. People will always have something for you to do. People will drain you, questioning you, wanting to talk to you. They will wear you out. I am a living example of this. For over thirty years now I’ve been teaching daily, counseling people, ministering to people, holding thousands of meetings over the years. People will wear you out if you let them.

Over in Hosea 2:14-20, “14Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali...” “Giving her vineyards from thence” means the wine of the Holy Ghost will flow in your life in the wilderness. “Achor” means “trouble” in Hebrew. God will give you and me the valley of trouble for a door of

hope. Don’t resist the dealings of God, embrace them. When you can learn to sing in the wilderness, you are gaining substance in God. When you have face to face communion with God, it shouldn’t matter where you are at, whether in a valley, a fresh flowing garden, or in a waste hollowing wilderness, because you will sing there. “Ishi” in Hebrew means “husband”. “Baali” in Hebrew means Lord. We have to get to the place where we call God our husband. How do you do that? Only a bride has a husband. You spend time, face to face, in intimate communion with God. Isaiah 54:5 says, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name...” Jesus is the heavenly Bridegroom that God the Father has prepared a supper for and the wise virgins are preparing themselves (Matthew 25) to marry the Bridegroom and then the door will be shut. There must be in all of us a burning, holy, and radical desire to know Him intimately. Psalms 42:7 says “deep calleth unto deep”. The deepest and realest part of us must long for Him, long to be with Him and near Him. As David said, “My soul followeth hard after thee” (Psalms 63:8). Our hearts must desire the Lord as David said in another place, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalms 42:1).

Continuing in Hosea 2, “17For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. 18And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. 19And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.” Knowing God is the essence of eternal life. “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” We hear this down through the ages. We see in the garden Adam hiding from the presence of God and God saying “Adam...where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9). We hear Jesus crying in the book of Luke, “but where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17). Only one of ten lepers that were healed returned to give glory to God. We hear Moses in Exodus 33 saying “shew me now thy way, that I may know thee” (Exodus 33:13). Paul picks it up in Philippians 3, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). Paul is saying I don’t care if I have to die; I want to know the Lord. He said right before that, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8). This needs to be our attitude, where everything else is dung and Jesus alone sits upon the throne of our heart. No earthly desire, ambition or care (be it a person or anything else) should take the place in our hearts that belongs only to Him. He must overshadow all. He must be our one true love. He must sit upon the throne of our hearts. He must be Lord and Master. He must be our everything.

Finishing in verse 12 of Deuteronomy 34, “12And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.” God not only did signs of great healing through Moses, but God judged the people because they complained and blamed Moses. If you are walking with God, you don’t have to worry about anything. Even if people judge and criticize you, stay quiet and don’t justify yourself. God will, all of a sudden, come on the scene and justify you. The ground opened up and swallowed Korah and his family when he rose up against Moses. God will stand with you. He is so desperate for people to know Him face to face. Do you want signs and wonders and that mighty hand and the terror of the Lord upon you? People were so afraid of Samuel in the Old Testament that every time he came into a town they quickly asked him what he was doing there out of fear, thinking something was wrong. A real prophet should bring the fear of God upon the people. What we need now in our generation, which is so littered with people exalting the work of the Lord and exalting themselves, is men and women clothed with humility who sit at the feet of Jesus and only do and fulfill what He says. When you begin to know the Lord and commune with Him face to face in that secret place, something will be conceived in you! Then you take that thing which is conceived in that holy place and you bring it out and you birth it into the earth. And people who knew not God, now know God because you brought Him to them! You didn’t bring them yourself. You stayed in that secret place until God put a holy seed in you and you take that conceived seed to God’s people and you birth something that is living, fruitful, and will multiply. It will have the life of God in it!

The Lord’s hand is heavy upon us because He is asking us in this hour like it says in Song of Solomon 2:10, “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” We need to rise up and come away with Jesus into that secret place. What does John hear in Revelations 4:1, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” God is asking us to rise up, draw near, and to come up hither because it is in that face to face communion that we are changed into that same image that we behold. If you behold Him long enough, your soul has to become like Him. For all the suffering we go through, there will be a day that we will see it will be all worth it, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). You and I survive the same way by keeping this song in our heart. “17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:17-19). Have a song in your heart today, and you can stay close to that secret place. Take the song that you heard in the secret place and sing it when you are out in the world. Take what you’ve gotten in the secret place and take it out to the world. But stay long enough in that secret place to conceive a seed of truth.

Every place I’ve ministered, I’ve asked people to make this vow to the Lord and I’m going to ask you to make a vow right now. I’m going to ask you to make a holy vow to God that you will spend the rest of your life wanting to know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. I am asking you to make a vow today that you will be face to face with your Master.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your cloud of glory to descend on everyone reading this right now. If you want to make this vow, say it with me, and if you follow on, you shall know the Lord and they that know the Lord are strong and shall do exploits (Daniel 11:32), signs, and wonders.

Father, we vow today to seek Your face the rest of our lives, to put the Lord of the work before the work of the Lord. We will do as Mary, that one thing that is needful, we will sit at Your feet, hear Your Word, worship You, pray and intercede, and just wait there and abide with You until You conceive seed in us and tell us to go and birth that thing in the world and promise to do that thing quickly and come right back at Your feet to conceive again. On this day, I solemnly swear an oath to You Jesus. I vow to have face to face communion with you for the rest of my life, to make you the only God in my heart. I will have no other gods before you. I humbly ask that You grant this to me, this great privilege, to come into that secret place. Draw me and I will run after You, my Lord.

Seal this to every heart, in Jesus name!

Chapter 7

Ezekiel 20:35

In this chapter, I want to look at a passage in Ezekiel 20. We’ve been talking about face to face communion. This means that God’s face and your face are beholding one another. As we said before, this is a very vulnerable place because when you look into the eyes of someone and you don’t avert or turn your eyes, they see through you and you see through them. God’s desire is for us to see through Him. When you look deep into the eyes of God, you see a reflection of yourself. We are called to be like God. Man’s original position was not to be God, but a god over the earth. Adam had complete and total dominion. This takes nothing away from our exalted Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. There is only one Most High God, but Jesus Himself said, quoting Psalms 82:6, “ye are god” (John 10:34). Psalms 82:6 says, “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” Even though God calls us to have dominion and be like Him, we will never be Him. He is the Most High God. But we can’t be afraid of being godlike, becoming like Him. This is why we are Christians. The devil surely wants his people to be god-like in his image, and there is a great battle about images in the earth today. Forget teachings about numbers on your head, bar codes, chips, and all that nonsense. Having the number 666 (Revelation 13:18, 14:9, 20:4) as a seal upon a people’s arms and heads simply means they do the works of Satan and they have the mind of Satan. On the contrary, those that have the seal of God in their foreheads (Revelation 14:1) simply means they have the total mind of Christ. Their minds have been renewed completely and fullness has been achieved.

In every chapter, I’ve been trying to communicate how important it is to the heart of God that we learn how to become intimate with Him. Many people never learn how to even have true intimacy with another human being. Married couples can live forty years together and never experience true intimacy together. But I’m telling you there is a place in God where true intimacy happens. I can say without any doubt, boasting, or shame, that I have true intimacy with God every day of my life, purposely. I’m addicted to it. I can’t live without it anymore. I must touch hearts with Jesus every day, in such an overwhelming way, that I am left undone after I’ve been with Him. Amen!

But as we look at Ezekiel 20, we will see there is a process with this face to face communion. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Moses was told by God, “20Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live 21And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover

thee with my hand while I pass by 23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33:20-23). God’s back parts are like His after glow. But we see God’s back parts was enough to change the visage of Moses, so much, that he had to put a veil over his face because the people could not stand looking at what they should have been (Exodus 34:33-35). It embarrassed them, exposed them, and rather than repent, they made Moses put a veil over his face. Every one of us must have that burning desire within us to know God face to face. I don’t care what anybody thinks about me. I’m too old now to be moved by some person’s words that have no wisdom. As Christians, we bow to true wisdom and authority. Foolishness and strife, we have no time for. It is too late in the game now. These are the last days. God is not asking, but demanding intimacy. But all we hear many times is how we are to be a success and how we can have more money! It is so sickening to me because it is not the heart of God. Yes the heart of God is for souls, but that is not the only place His heart is. Stop limiting God to just evangelism. God wants to get people saved for a purpose so that they can come to know Him personally. Jesus said in John 17:3, “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” You and I got saved so that we can know Him intimately.

So let’s begin now by reading Ezekiel 20:33-40, “33As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: 34And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. 35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. 37And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

This is a tremendous end-time word Ezekiel is sharing. First of all, God is gathering a remnant and bringing them into the wilderness. The wilderness experience is God’s pattern for every believer. Why it is not taught on more is simply mind boggling to me. Consider Jesus in Matthew 4:1. Immediately after Jesus’ baptism in the Holy Ghost, He was “...led up of the Spirit into the wilderness...” Luke 1:80 says John “was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.” Galatians 2:1 says of Paul, “Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem...” Where had Paul been for fourteen years? He was in the deserts of Arabia. What about Israel? They were forty years in the wilderness after beginning their exodus in Exodus 3:18. Before this, Moses spent forty years on the backside of a desert before he entered into his ministry. David in Psalms 102:6-7 said “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.” David, from the time he was anointed by Samuel until he became the actual king of both Israel and Judah, was anywhere from thirteen to seventeen years. Joseph suffered years and years

between the times he got the dream and the fulfillment of it. My point is that the wilderness is a principle. Matthew 18:16 says, “...that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” I am clearly establishing that the first place in every one of these people’s lives, the very first place God took and led them, is into and through the wilderness. We need to tell new converts this, so they aren’t shocked when they realize that being a Christian is not what they were told. People told me when I first got saved that if I came to Jesus it is like getting on a cruise ship called glory. I thought as I was listening, I would have to be stupid not to accept this. But no sooner than I got saved I was met by two women with buns on their heads, three minutes apart, telling me I would lose my salvation because I was dating a black girl and because I had long hair. Then I went home anxious to tell my parents what happened to me. When I told my father I got saved, he proceeded to spend five minutes using every expletive you can think under the sun, and then told me to take out the trash. This was my introduction into salvation. There was no cruise ship. Of course there was a honeymoon experience that we all have, but there was no cruise ship. It was nonsense. This is why so many people get saved and then fall away after a short amount of time. Nobody is preparing them and teaching them correctly. That is why I am going to spend the rest of my life planting churches with Bible schools all over this country and all over this world. People are desperate. They aren’t hearing anything and they certainly aren’t experiencing the impartation God wants to give that makes it a reality in their lives. You can’t give what you don’t have.

So God is bringing a people into the wilderness. What happens in the wilderness? The wilderness is a purging place. It is a place where God deals with you and your flesh is burned out of you. Deuteronomy 32:9-12 reads, “9For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.” He leads us into the waste howling wilderness to instruct us. An eagle will take a baby eagle, when it is time for her to learn to fly, put her on her wings, soar up into the heavenlies high, and then drop that little bird. At first, the baby eagle does not know what to do and so the eagle sweeps under and catches the baby eagle before she falls and takes her right back up and drops her again, repeating this process until the baby eagle learns to start batting her wings and until she learns to fly. You learn how to fly in the wilderness. There is purpose for the desert. In verse 12 it says “there was no strange god with him”. You get rid of the strange gods in your life in the wilderness. This is speaking of nothing other than idols and devils. Don’t pray and ask God to deliver you if you are not willing to actually receive your deliverance because your first stop will be the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 8:2 says, “2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 4Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 5Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. 6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” There are people who will tell you today there is no such thing as God dealing with His people, and yet the Scriptures are so absolutely clear that He does. I heard just the other day a preacher on TV blaming Job for all his problems. He was reading out of Job 1 and sharing where Job sinned. Then he went into Job 2 and shared where Job sinned and brought his calamity upon himself, as if to say that it wouldn’t have happened if Job hadn’t sinned. And I still say the same thing today that I did when I got delivered from this false doctrine. There are things being taught on T.V. that are error. In everything, you eat the chicken and leave the bones. It is astounding that they teach that Job sinned in the first two chapters and never read at the end of Job 1, and in Job 2:10, where it clearly says that “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly”! Thousands upon thousands of people were probably listening to this preacher the other day and he is in error! It is right before their eyes that Job did not sin. People believe whatever anybody says without ever searching the Scriptures themselves to see if what they are hearing is true (Acts 17:11). So many people in the charismatic church are being swept away by personalities and the opinions of men. Not me! I only want Jesus. People need the reality of God in their lives, something they know that will work when nobody is there but them and God. I am tired of Christians being condemned when God is leading them into a wilderness. He leads us into the wilderness “to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” He’s pleading with His people, face to face, in the wilderness. God takes us into the wilderness to plead with us to learn humility and to “make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” God is pleading with us to see this principle. Pride cannot stand in the glory. Pride is the original sin. Flesh cannot glory in His presence. God cannot have His people standing near Him with demons and hidden sin. The wilderness delivers you of all of this. Don’t curse your wilderness. Bless God that He thought enough of you to lead you into it, for it is in the wilderness where our flesh and carnality are dealt with. It is where you learn how to worship and fight off demons just like David. Remember he killed a lion and a bear and learned how to worship God by himself in the wilderness.

While the children of Israel were in the wilderness he also said, “4Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” Feet swelling represents our walk with God being swollen with pride. Forty is the number of divine testing. Continuing in verse 5, “5Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.” The word “chasten” in the Bible does not mean “beating or whipping”. It literally means “teaching or instructing”. Don’t make God out as an abuser. He uses His Word first. This is His highest form of instruction. The result of God chastening his people as a man chasteneth his son is verse 6, “Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” This is why we have the wilderness.

Luke 4:1 says “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness”. Later in verse 14 it shows the result of Jesus coming out of the wilderness, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit...” Between the beginning of the wilderness and His coming out of it, something had transformed Jesus’ life because God pleaded with Him in the wilderness, pleading to stay there until it is done and you are changed. We ought to be begging God not to take us out of the wilderness until the job is done. Even though we may fail in the wilderness, there must be something in us, a determination, that says to God, leave me here until You get the job done and we come out of the wilderness victorious, full of power and authority over my own life. You can’t minister to anybody when you have no authority in your own life.

Psalms 78:19 says “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” Well if you have to ask that question, you don’t believe He can. There is no question that He can! He proved it over and over again with a pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The children of Israel had air conditioning in the hot sun. They had fire and warmth at night when it was cool. They had supernatural bread every morning and occasionally He gave them meat. Their feet didn’t swell and their clothes didn’t wax old. The wilderness is not as bad a people make it out to be. It is only bad when we persist in our sin, rebellion, and pride. It is only bad for the person that strains against the yoke and refuses the discipline and the chastening of God. The Bible tells me only a fool does that.

The beauty of the wilderness is found in Song of Solomon 3:6 and Song of Solomon 8:5, where the bride comes out of the wilderness “like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant” and “leaning upon her beloved.” You see, you learn in the wilderness you can’t do it on your own. Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life (Genesis 32:24-30 – “24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not

let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh...”) because he struggled and wrestled with God, because God was dealing with him. Jacob needed a character change. He needed to stop being a deceiver and a supplanter because God had great intentions for him. Don’t think the wilderness is punishment. This thinking makes me mad because so many walk around condemned because preachers teach people they have a lack of faith or they teach people that those who are having difficulties have them because of some past sins. The opposite is true. The wilderness is the greatest blessing God can give you. Peter calls “the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth” (I Peter 1:7). So many teach that our faith is more precious, but that is wrong. It is the trial of your faith that is much more precious than gold. The trial of our faith is what makes the difference in our lives of being just the same old person with the same old issues or someone who comes out as a prince and a champion with God and with men!

Isaiah 43:18-20 says “18Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. 21This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” Don’t you get tired of people just always talking about what used to be? We have to stop living in the past. What is God doing right now for you? God is wanting to do a new thing. You may think you are in a hard place and in the wilderness, but Peter says these “same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (I Peter 5:9). Everybody is going through it as they walk down the narrow way we are on (Matthew 7:14 – “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”). This path of the just (Proverbs 4:18 – “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”), this highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8 – “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein”), this race (I Corinthians 9:24 – “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain”), seems long and we get lonely, tired, and we feel separated. Sometimes we think we can’t make it and that there is no escape and the temptation is to do what the children of Israel did. They began to complain in the wilderness and become bitter rather than better. But Hosea 2 says, speaking of the bride of Christ,

“14Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (Achor means “trouble” in Hebrew) for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt...” Our wilderness and our trouble is actually a door of hope for us. When you and I can learn to sing in the wilderness just as loud as we sing on the mountain, we then can say we have true substance in God. In previous verses of Hosea 2 it says this bride went after other lovers and never realized that God was the One who provided for her. Even the heathen right now that are living and breathing are living only because God allows them to breathe. He will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Beasts, in Isaiah 43 above, represent demons. Paul said “I have fought with beasts at Ephesus” (I Corinthians 15:32). The field is the world (Matthew 13:38). The beasts of the world will honor Him. The dragon, a type of Satan, and the owls, a type of night creatures, will honor Him. Even the devil and his entire host will see how God’s people went from being one thing to having a character change and being completely different to where they can’t even deny it. The devil will then see how God give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to His chosen. God’s chosen have to go through the wilderness. I want to be chosen of God. How about you? This people Isaiah 43 is talking about are people that go through the wilderness. Now for people who don’t believe in the wilderness and people who end up rebelling and never persevering in the wilderness and just fall in unbelief, always complaining and provoking God will not fulfill God’s plan for their life. But these people in Isaiah 43 and elsewhere that God is pleading with in the wilderness face to face, the wilderness is God’s place and they know God’s purpose in it. God makes a way for them there.

The wilderness is like in the book of Jeremiah where he went down to the house of the potter (Jeremiah 18:1-6 – “1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”) and he saw the potter making a vessel out of clay and he said the vessel of clay was marred in the hands of the potter and so he made it into another vessel. You and I are earthen vessels that God formed out of the dust of the ground, but He is taking our soul (our spirit, as born again believers, are forever redeemed), which can run crazy with thoughts, emotions, desires, etc, and molding it using His right and left hands. The right hand is God’s hand of blessing and victory (Exodus 15:6, Psalms 16:11, Psalms 60:5, Psalms 118:16). The left hand is God’s hand of judgment and cursing, where the goats go (Song of Solomon 2:6, Matthew 25:33, Job 23:9). Left

speaks of the dealings of God. God uses His two hands, blessing and cursing, to mold our soul into the image of Christ Jesus. This is where we become the sons of God. His chosen know the wilderness. Job 24:1 puts it this way, “Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?” This is saying that those that know Him should have an understanding of what God is doing in every season of life. If we claim to have such knowledge and have intimacy with God, why are so many people confused and freaked out when trouble comes? All I know is God says in verse 21 of Isaiah 43, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” This people that have gone through the wilderness God has formed or molded with both His hands, for Himself. God isn’t preparing this people for the world. He’s not preparing them for ministry. He is preparing them for Himself! Jesus called the twelve disciples in Mark 3:14 “that they should be with him”. After being with him then he “might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (Mark 3:14-15). Nobody talks about just being with Him. You and I are called not to preach. We are called to be with Him for “the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). “This people have I formed for myself”. God is calling a people for Himself. Jesus calling His bride in Song of Solomon 2:10 says, “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” These people “shall shew forth my praise”. This not only means praise and worship as we know it, but it also means the virtue of God or the attributes of God. They can show forth the virtue or attributes of God because they have been changed in the wilderness. They will be a completed people.

Looking back at Ezekiel 20, it says, “35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.” God pleaded with the children of Israel and they refused His correction. In Numbers 14:11, God is upset with them and says to Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?” These signs included ten major miracles inside of Egypt, and then He delivers them out of Egypt, parts the Red Sea so they can cross over, and then causes the Red Sea to return destroying all of Pharaoh’s army. Despite what we think, signs will never change a human being. Miracles will not alter your character or your life. Israel saw miracles daily and it did nothing but make them even more rebellious. It was said of many followers of Jesus in John 6:2, “And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.” People weren’t following Jesus for Jesus. All the multitudes ever want is fresh bread, supernatural bread, which represents healing, deliverance, salvation, etc, and then they want to go home and do their own thing. Disciples are different. They have a higher calling. Disciples have a deep burning hole inside of them that is never satisfied. They must have more. They must have Him! You and I should never be satisfied with

being rich, increased with goods, and having need of nothing. You and I are not to be selfish. We’re not looking to be blessed. We want to be a blessing. I’m not looking for anyone to carry my Bible and serve me. I want to do what Jesus did when He stripped off His clothes and became naked in front of His disciples and said I am doing this as an example to you and then he stooped and washed their feet (John 13). Every man of God should be naked before their congregation. There should not be hidden sin. Most people don’t even know their pastor, as well as their pastor does not know his sheep, many times not even knowing their name nor does he want to know his sheep or know their name. I am telling you I believe Scripturally this is wrong. Jesus set the example for us to follow. Be naked before your disciples and then be a servant and wash their feet. If you want to be a leader, Jesus is saying this is how you do it. A leader does not stroll into meetings after it has been going on so you miss the worship because you are too big to be with your brothers and sisters while they worship and then coming in with all of your great glory. Men now love to flatter themselves with titles. This is a stench in the nostrils of God and He’s pleading with His chosen in the wilderness to learn to be like Him.

Next in verse 37 of Ezekiel 20, “37And I will cause you to pass under the rod...” In the wilderness is where God uses the rod. Psalms 23:4 says “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Proverbs 22:15 says “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” There are five levels of growth in the Word of God: babes, children, young men, older men, and the aged. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of children and the only way it will be gone is if the rod is used. So many people get angry with me when I preach sometimes and ask me if I am angry. I tell them no. The Spirit of God in the last days is wanting to prepare a people. It is just like Jesus when He walked into the temple and He saw His people buying and selling, making the offering of God a mockery. There is nothing wrong with having righteous indignation when God is being misrepresented, when people are telling lies about our heavenly Father or grieving the Holy Spirit by perverting God’s Word.

Embrace the rod! Proverbs 23:13-14 says, “13Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” Do you want to end up like the brother in the early part of Proverbs that mourned at the end of his life and said, “...How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!” (Proverbs 5:11-13)? Do you want to end up like Saul who said, “I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly” (I Samuel 26:21)? Do you want to end up like the so-called wisest person on the earth, Solomon, who loved many strange women at the end? Every one of us needs correction. “Reproofs of instruction are the way of life”, Proverbs 6:23 says. Proverbs 29:15 says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” How many

children (spiritually speaking) in churches are left to themselves? A mother here is a type of the church. Proverbs 13:24 reads, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”

The rod is both a blessing and a disciplinary thing. Psalms 23:4 says again “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” The “rod” and “staff” are both the same Hebrew word. One is to discipline and correct, and the other is to stabilize and comfort us. Jacob leaned upon his staff (Hebrews 11:21 – “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff”). After we pass under God’s rod, He will have placed in our hands a rod too, which is the scepter of Judah, that moves mountains. The overcomers in Revelations 2:26-27 shall “rule them (the nations) with a rod of iron”. Have you passed under the rod? Do you embrace the rod or do you run from it? In the wilderness do you say “God finish it, do what you have to do to change me!” I want my soul delivered. I want wisdom. I want to be a true full-grown son of God, not a half one. I don’t want to be like Ephraim who Hosea said was like a “cake not turned” (Hosea 7:8), or a cake that is only half baked. There is nothing worse than getting something half cooked. Jesus said “well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). God wants a finished people, a complete people, a people with His own image, and a people whom the wilderness has changed and made them true men and women of God.

Lastly, the last half of verse 37 of Ezekiel 20 states that after they passed under the rod, “...and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.” What is the bond of the covenant? It is the love of God. Abigail turned to David when he was about to destroy her whole household because of her stupid husband whose name, Nabal, literally means “fool”. Some women are married to fools. Abigail knew Nabal was a fool and went and told David to please have mercy and not to take Nabal’s folly out on the rest of them because her husband was a fool. After this, she then says something very beautiful. She says in I Samuel 25:28-29, “28I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. 29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God...” She said to David (this is the David that was in the wilderness with the little sheep all by himself for years where he learned to worship and sing songs to the Lord; it was in the wilderness where David learned to kill off the lion and the bear that tried to hurt the sheep; it was in the wilderness where God pleaded with David face to face and he knew the Lord intimately, and at the end of David’s life it was said that he was a “man after God’s own heart”), that your soul is bound up in the bundle of life in Christ Jesus! This is the bond of the covenant. The covenant that God has made with you and I is this: to love you in spite of yourself, to change you, to cause a resurrection to take place in your spirit, soul, and body in your life; to walk with you as a comforter; to not let you off the hook but to remind you

when you sin; but He’s called us to come “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). We were saved to be conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29 – “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”). This word image means an exact duplicate in kind, just like Him. I Peter 5:10 says, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” This is what it means to be brought into the bond of the covenant.

He’s pleading with us face to face in the wilderness. So if you are in the wilderness today, don’t freak out, don’t give up, and don’t take the path of least resistance. Fight! He will provide a table for you there. There may seem no way out, but He will make a way in your wilderness. He’s pleading with us. Don’t rebel and provoke God like the children of Israel. He loves us! Our feet won’t get sore and our clothing won’t get old. He’ll give us bread to eat and water to drink. He’ll keep the enemy off of us, keep us cool in the summer, and warm when it is cold. He will be with us all the way. Isaiah 63:9 says “In all their affliction he was afflicted.” But God makes His choices “in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10). He’s pleading with us face to face. He’s pleading with us to look at Him. If you are in a hard place today and battling sin and you hate and loathe yourself for it, don’t quit. Jesus knew all about that sin even before He came into your life. Just don’t quit. Keep repenting and getting up and looking at Him. One day, His grace will deliver you. If you are in a marriage that seems doomed and there are struggles, disputes, contention and strife, and you sometimes wish privately to yourself that it would be so much better to be free, but children, responsibilities, and faithfulness keeps you there. In despair and hopelessness, He will make a way for you. If you’ve been betrayed and people have rejected you and you feel alone with no friends, He is there. God can provide a table for you in the wilderness. He’s pleading with you today, face to face in the wilderness. Look up then, and in spite of your circumstances, behold His face, and by doing so, be forever changed!

Chapter 8

I Corinthians 13:12

In this chapter, let us begin by looking at I Corinthians 13. This is a very familiar chapter, the great “love chapter”. I would like to look specifically at verse 12, but let us start in verse 9 to understand the context of the passage, “9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” First of all, some evangelicals will tell us this is talking about the Word of God, which is wrong. The context is speaking of the return of the Lord Jesus. They are just trying to hide from the gifts of the Spirit. Continuing in verse 11, “11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” There are five levels of growth in God: babes, children, young men, men, and the aged (or fathers – those that are able to reproduce themselves). In this verse, this is speaking of maturing and putting away childish things, in order to becoming a full grown man. Verse 12, “12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then (what is then? it is when that which is perfect is come) face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” This means at the second coming of our Lord Jesus there will be a mature people who will see Him as He is and they will know Him intimately as He knows them.

Let us look at other translations of verse 12. The Amplified version reads, “For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face!” The first part of this translation brings out that perfection has to come before you can see face to face. This is talking about face to face communion with God. As Christians, we must “go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1). Psalms 138:8 reads, “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me...” Those that are not interested in going on to perfection will not see God face to face. I just heard a man say the other day on Christian television, “you will always be a sinner until Jesus comes”, and my heart asked why would someone, especially a man of God, say this, when the Bible clearly says we are “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Jesus is coming for a bride, “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). You and I have been called to be conformed to the image of Jesus. The word image means an “exact duplicate in kind”. In other words, you and I will keep our personality that makes us unique, but everything else about us will radiate the heart, characteristics, and image of Jesus Christ. Believing for anything else less than this is error. Perfection must come to see face to face. Remember when God told Moses “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). Why did God say this to Moses? It was

because of his imperfection and sin in his life. Now you and I still have sin in our life, but we need to believe for God’s deliverance in every area as in Isaiah 4:3-4. We should get a revelation about sin and stop condemning ourselves and worrying about it. I’m not saying give in to it, but I am saying if you fall, get up, repent, and start fighting again as the Word declares in Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief”, and in Psalms 37:24 “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” When we sin I John 2:1-2 tells us “1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” We just need to keep on repenting as in I John 1:9 which says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Do not stay in a state of condemnation (Romans 8:1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”, Psalms 68:18-20). Jesus will watch how you respond and what you do and I promise the day will come when sin will become so exceeding sinful to you, that you will just quit and say no more (I Peter 4:1-2). It won’t be because of you and your great ability, but it will be the grace of God (the divine influence) working in your heart to finish the job and bring deliverance. Only He which is perfect can make us perfect (Psalms 138:8 – “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me...”). Believe God for complete deliverance for perfection. Perfection simply means then completion, a place of graduating and fulfilling God’s calling, or we’ve apprehended that which we were apprehended for (Philippians 3:12). This doesn’t mean that we become super spiritual spooks, but you just graduate from the school of Jesus Christ.

Finishing the Amplified translation of verse 12, “...Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].” This is something all of us need to keep in mind when things happen we don’t understand and there is no apparent answer right now. Trust me, the Judge of the whole earth always does what is right (Genesis 18:25). God has our best interests at heart no matter what you or I think. Stop listening to the enemy condemning you and blaming everyone else. This is wrong. There are four sources of affliction in our lives: 1) The devil – we can bind him, resist him, cast him out, and deal with him; 2) Ourselves – a person reaps what he sows; we should repent, have Jesus forgive us and wash us, and walk through whatever circumstances were created by our sin; 3) God Himself – if God is dealing with you there is nothing you can do but bow your head and say “make it quick”; and 4) Life – things happen because we just live in a broken, fallen world. Regardless of this though Hosea 6:3 promises us that “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD...” Our answers will come one day if we follow on to know the Lord. All God is asking us today is to give Him the benefit of the doubt. He deserves our trust that He knows what He

is doing. When God looks at us, He sees the end from the beginning. He knew us even before we were born (Jeremiah 1:5). God never is shocked by anything you or I do. But that complete knowledge about you and me, we’re also going to have of God Himself! Now will we have the total revelation of God? I don’t believe so because the Scriptures say “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). David said, “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known” (Psalms 77:19). In other places it says His ways are “past finding out” (Job 9:10, Romans 11:33). But, we will have the knowledge and the ability to know enough about God that will have answered all of the questions we had here on earth. It will take ages upon ages for us to begin the journey of truly understanding the greatness and the majesty and the depth, height, width, wisdom, and heart of our God. But we will have enough to know why.

The Living Bible translates verse 12 as follows: “In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face to face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.” Amen! I can say without hesitation that as I’ve grown over the years, I’ve learned to see into God’s heart. If you love the Scriptures, you love the Glory, and you love the Lord, and you put Him first in your life, and you do this for years, God will give you glimpses. I am talking about face to face communion. God very rarely has it because there aren’t a people that can handle Him. He’s too big, powerful, holy, pure, and wonderful, and we’d be burnt to a crisp in His presence. However, as we keep coming into His glorious presence, we are changing from glory to glory (II Corinthians 3:18).

Now what does this verse mean when it talks about a glass or a mirror? James 1:23-24 compares looking into the Word of God with looking into a mirror. In the Tabernacle, women’s looking glasses were used to build the brass laver. This speaks of the Word of God. This is why the Word of God is so important in our lives because when you read the Word and study the Scriptures, it becomes the mirror that shows you His heart. So many Christians really do not know what God is truly like because they never really study the Scriptures. This is why I wrote the God Manual a year before, to allow the Scriptures to reveal to us what He is like, not men’s traditions. Isaiah 1:3 says, “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Even a dumb ox knows where he gets his food from, but God’s people do not know or even consider. This is a sad truth. Jeremiah 2:13 says, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” The water of life flows freely out of the Word of God when you read. As you grow in the Word, you grow in your capacity to contain more of God. Experiences and miracles will not do this for you, but the Word of God brings the true power and authority of God into your life. The Word brings an understanding of His ways and who He is and as we give ourselves

to God’s Word, we will begin to see Him clearly, as the Scripture says in Psalms 119:130 (“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”), Psalms 119:104-105 (“Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”), Luke 24:45 (“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”) as well as Proverbs 4:18 (“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”), Jeremiah 15:16 (“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.”) and especially in John 8:31-32 (“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”).

Reading again the King James Version of I Corinthians 13:12, the first part says “For now we see through a glass, darkly...” This glass we just said was the Word of God, but it also is a glass between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm. Paul spoke of being caught up to the third heaven and said, “...whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven...” ((II Corinthians 12:2). You see, once you start moving in a prophetic realm and start rising into heavenly places you’ve never been before, it is hazy. It was said of Peter that his shadow overshadowed others and brought healing (Acts 5:15). This term “overshadow” literally means “to be enveloped in a haze of glory”. Zechariah 2:5 says God will be to His people, “a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.” I humbly confess that I have been to heaven and have seen angels myself. I have had many sacred experiences that were private between me and the Lord and I am only bringing them up because of the context of this topic. People will ask me all the time, what is it like or how does it happen? My response is how can you explain the unexplainable? Paul said of being “caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (II Corinthians 12:4). The reason he couldn’t utter them was because of the form and the condition we are in now. But this doesn’t stop me from running after it. Sometimes I can say it is as real as an object in the room, but other times you cannot even explain it. You are on the earth, but you will see your angel right there. I’ve seen my angels and have even danced with them before, but yet it was through a glass darkly. God is trying to bring us to a place where Jacob visited called Mahanaim (Genesis 32:2). It is a place where heaven and earth meet and until we learn to come to Mahanaim over and over and over again and become accustomed to it, then I believe our spiritual eyes will be opened just like Elisha praying for his servant, “LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (II Kings 6:17). This servant had an open vision.

“12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face...” God from the beginning, as we’ve been saying, is after a people who can communion with Him face to face. Deuteronomy 32:9 says, “For the LORD’s portion is his people...” You and I are all God will ever get out of His entire creation when all is finished. All He wants is a devoted people who can love as much as He loves so that He can share the secrets of the universe with us. Jesus had the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). I believe the sons of God will have the Spirit without measure. All the gifts of the Spirit will then flow freely in God’s full grown manifested sons. They will have all of the nine gifts operating in them. Face to face is where we’re heading.

Now I’ve said it before, but many people do not like intimacy. They can’t look someone in the eyes either because they are insecure or they feel condemned or they feel insufficient, inferior, or they just drop their eyes and move them around because they feel they are not as pretty or good looking or as wise or charismatic as the person they are talking too. I understand this. I came out of living in the ghetto as a kid. I didn’t even go to a restaurant until I was in my late teens. I didn’t know what a salad fork was. I didn’t know they served meals in stages. I was embarrassed so many times because of my ignorance. But I could have been like the poor country people I came from and stayed ignorant and got proud in my ignorance. But I said no. I want to be better than that. So I would force myself to go to situations that were so far above me that is was ridiculous until eventually I overcame my insecurities and my past. I’ve sat with many millionaires over the years in their homes and I’ve sat with people that have nothing, living in shacks, and I’m still the same man in both places because it makes no difference to me now. God’s people are God’s people and they deserve our love and total respect, every one of them. But face to face is difficult for so many people in the natural. This is why so many men never make it in the ministry because they are insecure and they can’t overcome in this area or they don’t have a good opinion of themselves. Now we don’t need a bunch of arrogant peacocks walking around thinking they are great, but our confidence should be in God. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Philippians 2:13 says “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Paul said “by the grace of God I am what I am” (I Corinthians 15:10). But many have a problem with looking face to face with another, especially in marriages. But marriage in the natural, Ephesians 5 tells us, is simply a very low picture of a heavenly pattern, where God the Father wants intimacy (spiritually speaking) with a people, face to face.

I want you to see in the Scriptures a picture of this face to face knowing. Who are going to be the people who will see His face, as these above translations of I Corinthians 13:12 tell us, just as clearly as God sees into their heart right now. “... Even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God]” is how this people will see Him. Do you want this? I do! First of all, Psalms 17:15 says, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be

satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” David prays, “As for me”. It has to be a personal decision for you and me. Nobody can make it for you, just like nobody can give you oil in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. You have to go buy your own. Psalms 17:15 is what is coming in the future. We need to make a decision that we will see God’s face. Now if we are going to see God’s face, we need to be righteous. II Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Remember Genesis 1:2-3 says “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” This light has shined in our hearts for a reason, to give us a revelation of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The first thing is, you have to know Jesus. The face of God is the face of Jesus. Isaiah 54:8 says, “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.” One of the things we need to behold is the Lord’s face in righteousness. We just need Jesus. This is simple. We need more and more of Jesus.

Secondly David says “...I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” “When I awake” speaks of resurrection. I want to awake as Philippians 3:21 says have God “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body...” This means not having any hindrance between me and Him, nothing blocking that intimacy with God. God longs for this so much and if anybody even shows a little bit of interest to know Him, He will move heaven and earth to help you. Matthew 17 is the story of the mount of transfiguration where Jesus’ face was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. In verse 1, Jesus takes a remnant (Peter, James, and John – left the others) up a mountain. This tells us that not everyone will see this or even want to see Jesus in all His glory. This is just like when Moses came back with his face shining with the glory after being in the mount with God and the people told him to put a veil on his face. Why didn’t the people want to look at Moses’ face or say to Moses “let me go with you the next time”? Then it says in verse 2 that Jesus “was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” “Transfigured” in the Greek means “to change into another form, or to transform”. It is where we get the word “metamorphous”. In the story of Moses, he was being transfigured as he was spending time with God face to face. Matthew 17 is a picture for the remnant. Jesus represents to us not only the Son of God, but the son of man. He was every bit a man just like Peter, James, and John. Therefore this reveals to us that as men, we can climb the mountain and change into another form just like Jesus and just like what was happening to Moses. We can be transfigured and our faces will shine with the same glory that Jesus’ face shined with. Isn’t it interesting that Moses was there, clearly beholding Jesus’ face? Oh what we have to look forward to if we will just keep pressing on.

We see this in Revelation 10:1 with the Lord’s angel. The word “angel” here is the Greek word that simply means “messenger”. The term “angel” can represent any messenger of God, even you or I. In Revelation 22 when John wanted to worship the angel that showed him these things, the angel said to John, “See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God” (Revelation 22:9). This wasn’t an angel with wings. The angel in Revelation 10 is a type of a last day minister that has an open book in his or her hand. It is somebody with revelation that can make you free. This is speaking of someone who has aged in God and has true revelation of God’s Word. But listen to the description of this mighty angel (I believe it represents a company of these messengers or men): “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire” (Revelation 10:1). This mighty angel came down from heaven. You and I are supposed to be seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). This cloud represents the glory cloud. The rainbow is a sign of the covenant of God. His head represents his mind. His mind had been renewed by the Word of God and he understood the covenant God had with him. And “his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire”. Something had happened to this messenger before the last coming of the Lord. He’s reached perfection and his face is shining here just like we saw Jesus in Matthew 17. I believe Paul was one born out of due time (I Corinthians 15:8) and was a man that completed his work (II Timothy 4:7-8 – “7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness...”). Moses is our example in the Old Testament and Paul is our example in the New Testament. Paul was hated and reviled by the other Apostles and brothers. He was constantly tormented by men devoted to stirring up trouble to kill him. This was his thorn in the flesh. This is defined in II Corinthians 12:7 where Paul says “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Paul was given this thorn in the flesh because he had an abundance of revelation. Most people don’t necessarily love you when you have an abundance of revelation, but rather they may despise you because your very presence and walk with God exposes their immaturity, their slothfulness, and their ignorance. Paul’s and Moses’ presence should have provoked others to love and to good works, but most of the time it didn’t. Paul was hated and Moses was told to put a veil on. I don’t know about you, but I want my face to shine. The great thing about Moses is it says in Exodus 34:29 that “when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not (or knew not) that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.” God doesn’t need to show us that our face is shining. The only thing that matters is that people see it. When you and I look up and behold His face, we can stay there in His presence longer because the fire has burnt the dross out of our life (the old sins in our life being dealt with). God wants His ministers’ face to shine (Hebrews 1:7), so that the seed that is in them being sown into the

people’s hearts, when they minister, is pure and not mixed with hidden sin. When God’s ministers shine and are walking in purity, the pure seed they sow into the hearts of the people births immediately that revelation.

Revelation 22:4, speaking of that great company in the last days, “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” Stop thinking in terms of these foolish teachings about 666 literally being on people’s faces, or bar codes. Six is the number for man and the number for Satan. 666 simply means the fullness of Satan in the fullness of man. There will be a people full of darkness having the image of Satan in the last days. Contrariwise here in Revelation 22:4, as well as in Revelation 14:1, 4-5, which says “...a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads...These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” There will be a people just like our heavenly Father. These people follow the Lamb wherever He goes because they’ve allowed the dealings of God in their life to wipe away sin, the Adamic nature, and their human nature. They bear God’s image in their souls. In their choices during their life, they submitted to God everything. Jesus suffered in the flesh and Luke 6:40 says, “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” II Timothy 2:12 says, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him...” Ministries and doctrines that do not teach about the dealings of God truly miss the mark. Thousands and thousands of people are unprepared for the last days because of bad teaching. Formulas do not work. Not everything bad that occurs happens because of a lack of faith. God is trying to sanctify and deal with His people so He can write His name on their forehead. The dealings of God are going to let us see His face. The forehead speaks of our soul and mind. Jesus said in Matthew 8:20, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” His head here speaks of His mind or His government (for doesn’t the mind govern the body?). Jesus has no place to lay His government because there is no one now that can handle it. 144,000 doesn’t represent a literally 144,000. 144 is 12 times 12. 144,000 represents the complete government of God upon a people. In the last days, there will be a company of people who corporately together can hold the government of God. They will also have the Father’s name written on their forehead. The opposite is true as we see in Revelation 17:5 about Babylon, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” God’s people will either have Babylon’s name (character) written in their foreheads (Babylon representing all that is the religious church of all denominations, etc.) or the Father’s name written in their foreheads. You and I that are striving to have the image of Jesus and become these 144,000, need to know that God is day by day, line upon line, here a little and there a little, trying to increase us in the knowledge of the Lord. We are to be

growing in grace. II Peter 1:5-7 says God wants to “add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” God wants to renew our mind by the Word of God. Actually, Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...” God wants us to be transformed in our mind to be like Him. Eventually, there will be a people whose mind will not bear the Adamic nature, but His. Paul says in I Corinthians 2:16, “...we have the mind of Christ.” You and I are going to be able to look at God face to face when we have the mind of Christ and God the Father’s name written on our forehead.

Leviticus 19:32 is a beautiful verse tucked away in a chapter with a lot of God’s do’s and don’ts. It reads, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.” The revelation of the hoary head is someone who has white hair and this represents age, experience, and maturity. The aged speak of the highest level of maturity (Hebrews 5:14), also known as fathers (I John 2:14a), which are able to reproduce themselves. So this verse says that when we stand before these aged men, you are to honour their face because in the face of that old man, you might just see Jesus. Instead of running from Moses (like the Children of Israel did), be like Joshua and follow him! Oh that we had more true fathers in the body of Christ, those who can transform what God has given them to others (Deuteronomy 34:9-10, II Timothy 2:1-2, as well as Philippians 2:19-22).

Ephesians 4:11-15 is a very familiar passage. I am trying to give you a picture of what this face to face knowing is about. Ephesians 4:11-13 reads, “11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” This means being like Jesus in every way, a perfect man. This is why we desperately need apostolic doctrine today. We really need the fivefold ministry operating correctly. People are pastors that are evangelists. People are evangelists when they should be something else. People are calling themselves apostles and they’ve never started a church in their whole life. Apostles raise up works and they have a history of fruit in their life. This is an apostolic ministry. A prophetic ministry is somebody that absolutely has the characteristics of a seer. But for you and I to see God face to face, you and I need to meekly do what John did in Revelation 10:8-10 and go and take the little book, “8And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10And I took the little book out of the angel’s

hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.” John had to humble himself and take from the messenger (which for us represents a teacher or father ministry) the open book (which represents the revealed Word of God). Have you done this yet in your life? Have you submitted yourself to your father in the Lord, to the one that God has set in your life to teach you? In I Corinthians 4:15-16 (which reads “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me”) the Greek word for “instructors” means “boy leaders” and in the body of Christ we definitely have too many of those. Have you meekly and humbly realized that you must bow down your ear to instruction, that only after you sit under the teaching of another man, can God give you that which is your own (Luke 16:12)? This is what is lacking in the body of Christ. As a teacher and spiritual father myself, I don’t need people carrying my Bible around. I don’t need somebody taking a towel and wiping the sweat from my face. What I need are men and women sitting in front of me drawing the counsel of God out of my spirit and watching their lives be transformed by the revelation of the Word of God (Proverbs 20:5 – “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out”).

Next, Jude 24 says “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Jesus wants to present His people to the Father and say, “Father, you can look right into their eyes because their hearts are pure. They have the same heart I have Father. They’ve overcome Father. They love one another!” This will happen in the future. Somebody is actually going to allow God to perfect them and bring forth the image of Christ in them. Why not let it be you and me? God’s name is going to be vindicated on this earth through a people who have chosen His life above theirs (Galatians 2:20, Philippians 3:7-15, Ephesians 3:14-20, Ephesians 4:11-15, Romans 8:14, 18-20, 28-30, as well as Galatians 4:19).

Isaiah 60:1-3 says, “1Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Let me ask you, can you shine right now? How will a people shine in the last days? You will be able to shine by every day staying in the Word of God, trying to walk in holiness, praying in tongues and building up your most holy faith (Jude 20), worshipping God intimately, searching the Scriptures, giving generously, loving fanatically, and as time passes the glory of the Lord will have risen so much in you that all you have to do, when you are standing, just shine and the glory of God will rise upon you. When Jesus was on the earth, all He did was shine and people were either drawn to that shining or ran away. It will be the same for the sons of God. So many people teach God will not give His glory

to another, quoting out of Isaiah 48:11, but here in Isaiah 60:1 a people will have God’s glory rising upon them. It is true God will not give His glory to another, but when a people are conformed to the image of Jesus, God will be giving His glory to the Son, in the sons of God. In verse 2 it clearly states, “his glory shall be seen upon thee.” Just as the children of Israel clearly saw Moses’ face shining, people will see the glory upon the sons of God in the last days, bringing the last great move of God, “3And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Romans 8:18-22 doesn’t say the earth and the whole creation is waiting for Jesus to come. They are groaning and waiting for the “manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). They will be coming to them, to their light and the glory will rise upon them. We can never say whether we will be a part of that, but I can say that nothing is going to stop me from running after that. Acts 14:22 says, “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God”, and “every man presseth into it” (Luke 16:16). You and I need to say like Paul, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Others can settle for something less in their lives, like being a deacon or an elder, or a music minister. This is not enough for me. I don’t care about a title. I want to see that face. I want to look directly into that magnificent heart! I want to behold His face in all of His glory.

Romans 8:16-19 says, “16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” We need a revelation of suffering. Suffering brings a double portion. Consider Job’s trial and life and then he ended up with twice as much as he had in the beginning. Have you been falling a lot? Has life been hard? Do you despair of life? I’m telling you, don’t quit! The end will justify your journey. It wasn’t until the end of Joseph’s life that he realized why his journey was like it was. He could’ve held grudges, hated, and even killed others in response to his dealings (unjustly thrown in a pit, sold to slavery, falsely accused, thrown in prison), but yet when his brothers stood before him (the same brothers that betrayed him terribly), He said it was the Lord and blessed them (Genesis 50:18-20). Joseph prospered everywhere he went. We need to get a revelation that the wilderness is the place where we need to sing the loudest. That is the time to give the most money, the time to serve more, love more, and lift up the sacrifice of praise continually. When everything in you wants to quit and not do these things, do the opposite! All the devil has is a roar. He is toothless. Job 4:11 says “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey.” Jesus said of Himself that, “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). Let this be said of you and I, that when we feel the worst, we are not going to give the devil an inch, but we will keep pressing on, just as the three Hebrew men did in Daniel 3:16-18, 23-28. God has such a glorious end for you and I, the

manifestation of the sons of God. This is God manifesting Himself completely and totally through a group of sons who have been perfected. Phillip’s translation says, “The whole world stands on tip toe waiting to see the sons of God...”

Continuing in Romans 8, we read in verse 20, “20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Yes there are times when we feel in bondage and corrupt. We feel our sin and our bad attitudes. Our minds sometimes scream at us, but I am telling you, God has chosen you for higher things. You have been chosen to walk in the glorious liberty of the sons of God! John 8:36 says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” I am talking about people who no longer have to think about the curse. They have gone past the law and the curse and have entered into the perfect law of liberty. They are living examples of Jesus to their families, church, friends, mates, children, and to the world. Whatever sufferings we have to go through will not be worthy to be compared to this! In your suffering, don’t settle for something less, something temporal, or something perishable, something carnal and in the flesh. Only settle for God’s best, His glory. Don’t sell your birthright. If you do, you will still go to heaven, but you will not get what you were born for, your inheritance to be the Lord’s portion, the Lord’s bride.

Finally, in Romans 8:28 it says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” We have to really know this. We have to have a revelation that “shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25). You and I have to come to the conclusion that no matter what we may be going through, in all things, God is sovereign and will eventually bring you out of it if you keep quiet and lean heavily upon Him. Do you love God? I know you do. If you love God, God is working together for good in the stuff that is happening to you. Hasn’t He called you? Of course He has, but it is His purpose and plan, not yours. Too many of us have our own agenda, wanting to do this or that. We’ve got to be delivered from our own plans and get a revelation of His purpose for our lives, because ultimately it will be the best thing for us. And what is His purpose and calling for us? Our purpose on the earth is to be conformed to the image of His Son! Nothing else matters. This is it! Our face will shine like Jesus’, our hearts will be pure, and when this happens, we can look directly into His glorious, unveiled face and instead of averting our eyes, we’ll look right into them! I tell you, His eyes are pools of liquid love! Nobody that has ever looked into the Father’s eyes will ever preach anything but mercy and grace.

The world is waiting for people like Moses and Paul who have seen His glory and have been changed into His image and now can turn as the priests were told to do in Numbers 6:23-27 and in Deuteronomy 10:8-9 and Deuteronomy 34:9. They can then turn to the people of this world, as well as the saints, and give out the great glory and substance, Word, revelation, and heart of God to them. And when they stretch forth their hands, God will be in them. They can then transfer to the people that which they have received of God. Dear Jesus, please give us men and women like this.

Chapter 9

Revelation 22:4

We’ve been talking about face to face communion. What does this mean again? Proverbs 27:19 tells us, “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” When you are looking at someone full faced, you are making yourself vulnerable for them to look at all the places in your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Most of us shy away from true intimacy because intimacy is a powerful thing. It carries a price tag with it. The Bible says in Psalms 42:7, “Deep calleth unto deep...” The deep place in God’s heart is calling to the deep place in every child of God’s heart. The word “presence” in the Hebrew is the same word translated “face”. It means a “turning of the face towards”. And so when you sense the manifest presence of God upon you, that means that Jesus, God Himself, has literally turned His face to look at you. Now the question is, can we turn our face to look at Him?

We’ve already seen in most places in the Scripture when the Lord appeared to people, they said no thank you. The children of Israel sent Moses instead of drawing near themselves. Moses was willing to handle the stare of God. And when Moses did it, his physical body was changed, so much so, that the people could not stand to be around him for the glory that radiated from his face. They told Moses to put a veil over his face. You see, what happens to you on the inside affects your outside. Every time Moses went up the mountain and into God’s presence, he would take the veil off, and when he came back to visit with the children of Israel, he had to put the veil back on. God is raising up ministers in these last days who are going up into the mountain of the Lord and God is telling them not to put on the veil when they stand before the people. The only way you and I are ever going to change people is for the inside of us to be changed first. You cannot give what you don’t have. You and I have to allow ourselves to be vulnerable before God and allowed His light to shine upon our weaknesses and frailties. God is not at all perturbed when He sees our weaknesses. He became a man so He can understand and be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15). So why should we run from God? We need to draw ever closer to Him. I don’t want somebody else going to God for me. And we see that picture of God appearing upon the mount before the children of Israel with all of the voices, shoutings, thunderings, lightnings, and millions of Israelites said they did not want to have anything to do with this and told Moses to go for them and tell them what God says. This was the beginning of religion. This is Babylon, when you have to have somebody else tell you what God is saying. The whole Babylonish experience of church began here in Exodus and the Bible says “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). God is drawing us

to Himself. He doesn’t want religion. He doesn’t want you to stand afar off. He wants you to draw near Him. Jesus said “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). This is life eternal, knowing Him! There are two types of knowing, a casual association, and an intimate knowing, as is the case where “Adam knew Eve his wife”. The second knowing is an intimate knowing. Paul used this same terminology when confessing, “That I may know him” (Philippians 3:10). He said before this, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8). It is an excellent thing to know God. It is an excellent thing to search the Scriptures. The Bereans were called noble for searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). People that do not love the Word of God, do not love to worship, and that can’t take the fire of God, will not see God face to face. We were not called to stay in the outer court. Sure, our ticket to heaven is forever sealed, but you and I weren’t created to go to heaven. Jesus didn’t save you so you can go to heaven. Galatians 3:13-14 tells us, “13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” This passage in Galatians clearly tells us that Jesus saved us in order that the “blessing of Abraham might come”, which is righteousness by faith (Genesis 15:6 says, “And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness”), in order that we “we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. For all the people who say no thank you to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues, etc, they don’t realize what they are turning down. God saved us not just to deliver us from hell, but so that He could fill us with the Holy Ghost because without the Holy Ghost we are missing out. Acts 1:8 says, “ye shall receive power (Greek for power, “dunamis” which means miracle force), after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you...”. You and I receive God’s miracle force when we are baptized in the Holy Ghost.

But what does this face to face communion mean in the future? We quickly recap the story of Moses who prayed to God asking “13shew me now thy way, that I may know thee...18I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” (Exodus 33:13, 18). God said okay, but told Moses he couldn’t look at His face and live (Exodus 33:20), which seems to contradict earlier where it says “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend...” (Exodus 33:11). So the whole point of Moses is that we are now able to come into God’s presence and look into His face by degrees: “glory to glory” (II Corinthians 3:18), “strength to strength” (Psalms 84:7), “faith to faith” (Romans 1:17), “vessel to vessel” (Jeremiah 48:11), etc, but eventually there is an end to what God is doing in our life, and we will see God completely unveiled, as He is, face to face. This is our “expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11). Paul calls it the “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Let us see it in Revelation 22:1-4, “1And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” Verse 2 tells me that even though many aren’t healed right now, everyone will be healed in the end! Before you think of this city as a literal city, Revelation 21:2 describes it as, “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” New Jerusalem is God’s bride. You and I have the throne of God and of the Lamb in us. And the river that flows out of your belly (Psalms 46:4, John 7:38), shall bring healing to your nation! The word “serve” in chapter 3 should be better translated “worship”. And in verse 4 it says “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” Who are “they”? Well, as we search the totality of the Scriptures, comparing Scripture to Scripture, we know they are the remnant, the bride of Christ. They are the five wise men in Matthew 25:1-12. In Revelation 19:7 the bride “hath made herself ready”. Not every Christian is being made ready and “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage...” (Matthew 25:10). Luke 21:36 says, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” We saw the same picture in Moses’ day. God appeared to millions of Israelites and only one man (Moses) drew near to see God’s face, “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). It is the same today. Millions of Christians flock to seminars, conferences, trying to see the new great teacher, preacher, or worship leader in order that these ministers will bring God to them. As a father to many disciples, I am not training disciples who need me to bring God to them. I’m training disciples who can bring God to the whole world themselves! Pastors should be working themselves out of a job. My disciples should know the Word of God inside and out, know how to lead worship, counsel, not arrogant peacocks strutting around in fancy clothes, but adorned and clothed with humility and having an earnest love and care for God’s people. Jesus was not like many men of God today. God is getting ready to scrap every arrogant leader in the body of Christ and replacing them with meek and humble nobodies who are preparing themselves, going in and out of the glory, having their faces changed, and who can’t wait for the day when they can see God face to face. In contrast there will be those who will cry, as we see in Revelation 6:16, “to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” This is why even today some people get nervous during really holy times in worship. They start fiddling around uncomfortably, wanting to leave, because they feel pressure. This is because the manifest presence of God exposes sin and the darkness in people will rise to the surface making them very uncomfortable. What most people don’t realize in this

situation is that if they would just yield at that moment, Jesus might heal them of their darkness.

So in Revelation 22:4 it so clearly states, “4And they shall see his face...” Whereas in the Old Testament, God told Moses “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). Now there are a people in the book of Revelation that can see God’s face because “...his name shall be in their foreheads.” Our forehead speaks of our mind. We can’t see God with a carnal mind. Are you allowing God to transform your mind by His Spirit, by His dealings, and by the Word of God so you can one day see His face? The Bible uses the natural picture of marriage to explain the kind of intimacy God is after, “25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). The natural picture of marriage is only a very small picture of the true reality in the heavenlies, which is being spiritually married to Jesus. Jesus is called a Bridegroom in Scripture and His people are called a bride. Isaiah 54:5 says, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name...”

I realized something years ago that shocked me. Many Christians really don’t want to know God intimately. Ask yourself, do you want to see God’s face? “Deep calleth unto deep...” (Psalms 42:7). The depth of God’s heart is calling out to the depth of a people’s heart to draw close. If you and I look closely at our lives, we only do what we really want to do. We say a lot, but we only do what is really in our hearts. Jesus, quoting Isaiah 29:13, said “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). In these last days, are you drawing close to God with your heart? For those who don’t, there will be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth even by those who will tell the Lord, “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets” (Luke 13:26), and Jesus will respond by saying “I know you not whence ye are; depart from me...” (Luke 13:27). This is not speaking of people losing their salvation, but speaking to people that never allowed God to let Him have intimacy with him. This is what they will lose, their inheritance. Being born into a family in the natural is easy. We had nothing to do with being born into this world and into the family we were given and it can’t be changed. But you and I can lose our inheritance. There has to be something deep inside of us that says “I want to see God”, something inside of us that longs for intimacy with Him. There must be a passion inside of us that will not tolerate what’s just good, but rather that which is of Him. He must be the love of our life, just like a bride who yearns for her husband.

Now consider with me Matthew 5:8 which says “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Years ago the Lord showed me that this doesn’t just mean

the end times. You and I can see God right now. In Psalms 27:13 David said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” We need Jesus here. We need Him right here in our lives right now. We need to see God now. I humbly and most assuredly can tell you I see Him on a regular basis. If you can’t, it is because you are either slothful, ignorant, full of sin and rebellion, or are just religious and never seek to get close to Jesus in your life. This is the truth. For those who can’t see God, I hope this makes you mad because one day you will for sure stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for everything you’ve done and did not do. This is not a time to be playing around. The devil’s hour is almost up and the earth is waiting on tip toes, waiting to see the manifestation of the sons of God. God is going to have a people on this earth who talk like Him, live like Him, and act like Him in every way. Now this doesn’t mean they will be Jesus, but that they will be like Jesus, having His image in their soul. Who wouldn’t want this? The bridal call is out. In Matthew 25:6 it says “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” The interesting thing about this is everyone heard this call. All ten virgins hear it, but we find that only five had prepared themselves and the other five want the wise five virgins to give them some of their oil. The wise virgins couldn’t give the others oil, because they have to buy it for themselves. No man can give you your walk with God. You have to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). And so when the five foolish get there, the door is shut, and they bang on the door to be let in. This is just like in Noah’s day and Jesus said in Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”. In Noah’s day the people had one hundred years to repent. For one hundred years they watched Noah build this ark of gopher wood. They probably mocked Noah and made fun of him like they make fun of you and I when we press on to know Jesus intimately. They call us fanatics and heretics. But Jesus proved to us that a man can walk with God and not sin. We are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. He’s given us the same Spirit! Jesus proved that a man can be so devoted, so in love with the person of God and the Scriptures, so willing to abandon himself and his life, so he can obtain the life of God. God is calling. I don’t know how many more chances people will have. Peter said almost two thousand years ago in Acts 2 these are the last days. Therefore, we are living in the last of the last days. Wickedness is coming to fullness. Sex is on almost every T.V. station. We can’t even watch normal T.V. anymore. Don’t get caught up in the things of this world. You and I were born for such a high and holy calling. We were not born to fall in love with this world, with all of its temptations and lusts. Or as Jesus put it in Mark 4:19, “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things.” Or as John put it in I John 2:15-17, “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” We were created for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11). We

are called to a high calling (Philippians 3:14), a heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1), and a holy calling (II Timothy 1:9). A throne right beside His has been our calling from the beginning, as Jeremiah 17:12 states, “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.” I Samuel 2:8 states, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.” Moreover, Revelation 3:21 states, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Most of us never hear what our true calling is, because we are so bound up in denominations, organizations, men’s plans, their creeds, etc. It is only the ones who search for Him with their whole hearts and search the Scriptures to see if what they’re being taught is correct, that ever find Him. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

How much do you love Jesus today? Most people will say they love God. Well, I would ask them, how do you love God? Most people will say because they go to church or share something that they are doing for God. This is just service and works, though. Those that really love Jesus think about Him all day. It is the same in the natural. When you love somebody, you think about them. Consider two people about to get married. They can’t wait until that day. The same should be true for us and Jesus. Our hearts should be panting to be in the glory and to be with Him. He is the joy set before us that will cause you and me to do whatever it takes to see His precious face. How do you explain love? You can’t. It is something you feel and experience deep in your heart towards another. He’s so deeply in love with us and calling you and me to be with Him. He wants to one day show us everything He is. But here’s the flip side. We have to show Him everything we are. This is what is hard because we have hidden issues and sin that we don’t like exposed. But we need to know that God loves us in spite of ourselves. True love loves in spite of.

Turning to John 12, I want to share a few thoughts on how we actually see Jesus. Starting in verse 20, “20And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: 21The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus...” First of all there are Greeks, outside of the covenant of God. But I want you to know that there are people who aren’t in church that desire to see the real Jesus. They just haven’t met any of His true ambassadors yet. What they’ve seen is a faulty and phony imitation. Worldly people know everyone is a sinner and has issues. They will forgive your weaknesses as long as they sense humility and a reality of Jesus in your life. What most people can’t tolerate are phony people preaching at them, saying one thing, but living a life that doesn’t come close to measuring up. They say quietly to themselves, “forget it”. But I am telling you in these last days, God is getting ready to move. Muslims will be getting saved by the millions. Jews are

about to come into the Kingdom by the millions. People in our families that have never even uttered the name Jesus before, deep in their hearts, are saying “is there anybody that knows the real Jesus and can show me the real Jesus, somebody that isn’t just walking around asking for money all the time?” Jesus never asked for money, never passed out prayer cloths, passed out oil, or crosses that He wore, but this is the image most people see and it isn’t Him. Jesus explains in John 12 the answer to the Gentiles’ question on how to see Him. Continuing in verse 23, “23And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit...” Before I continue with this story, I want to stop here and say a few things. How do we show the nations the real Jesus? By learning to die to our own ambition and our selfish desires. The only way people will see Jesus in our lives is if we die. There can never be life until there is death. We do this by dying to our pride. For example, you are at work and there is a conflict and everybody is watching what you are going to do because they know you are a Christian. What are you going to do? Trust me, if people know you are a Christian, they are watching your every move and how you act. To be a true witness, people need to see Jesus by your actions, not by what you say. Continuing in this example, if this co-worker curses at you, you don’t curse back. When men revile you and persecute you, you do what Jesus did; you answer them not a word. We have got to stop being selfish, fat, and puffed up babies that always want what they want. We have got to learn this principle of death. Psalms 116:15 says “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” You see if you die, you multiply. You have to die to your own selfish wants. For example at work again, people all around you are jockeying for a promotion and you want it too because you want more money and that ambition in you tries to drive you. But deep inside there should be a still small voice that says “promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Psalms 75:6-7) and you should die to yourself, stop striving, and trust God that He will take care of you.

Continuing now what Jesus said in verse 25, “25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal...” The word “life” in Greek is the word “psuche”, which means “soulish life”, not physical life. Everybody wants to walk the red carpet in this world. Everybody wants their soulish life to be a success, have all the money, fame, and accolades. Jesus is so revolutionary here. He says we have to hate our soulish life to find the life of God. We find ourselves only in Jesus. Most people don’t even know who they are because they’ve never found Jesus.

Next in verse 26, Jesus adds, “26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” If you and I are going to serve God truly, that means you are going to

follow Jesus wherever He goes, through deserts, through wildernesses, mountaintop experiences, through times of prosperity, through times of leanness, through times where everybody thinks you are the greatest, through times when you are the offscouring of the earth and nobody will even speak to you. Jesus said many times, “follow me and I will make you...” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus is interested in the quality of our character and not in the quantity of our possessions. He is the ancient of days and takes His time with us. And wherever He is, we will be with Him. This means that in Revelation 22:4 where “they shall see His face”, we will be among them. How are we going to get there? We will get there by first and foremost dying to ourselves.

Finally let’s look at Psalms 17:15. This is a psalm of David. David was the lowly shepherd boy, the eighth son of his father, who kept the sheep in the wilderness while his brothers were probably off having fun. While in the wilderness, Samuel visits David’s family and comes to anoint the next king of Israel. All of David’s seven brothers pass before Samuel, but God says no to all of them because “the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (I Samuel 16:7). I Corinthians 1:26 also states, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” God does not look at the outward appearance but on the heart. And Samuel said “are there any other sons?” and the father says, “there is one in the wilderness.” So Samuel asks for David to be brought to him at once and as soon as Samuel saw David the Lord spoke to Samuel and said “Arise, anoint him: for this is he” (I Samuel 16:12). And Samuel poured that oil upon David, who was just a young shepherd at the time. Nobody knew it, but while David was out there keeping the sheep, he learned to worship God by playing his little instrument. Nobody knew it, but while David was out there being faithful keeping the sheep, he learned how to kill lions and bears, so when he has to face a giant like Goliath later, it means nothing to him. So David says in Psalms 17:15, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” You and I have to make this decision. What will be the report of your life? What do you want out of the life God has given you? Will your face become like God’s face? This needs to be our prayer just like David’s. It is just like I John 3:1-2, which says, “1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is...” We must be willing to pay any price, go through any suffering or persecution in order to see Him as He is. The greatest thing we can ever lose is God turning His face (presence) from us. David prayed after he sinned, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (Psalms 51:11). Let us die to this world, die to our ambitions, and die to

every fruit of the flesh because knowing Jesus is the height of all we are living for. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee...” (John 17:3). The reason we were created was to know Him and the only thing that should ever satisfy us now is awaking with His likeness. It shouldn’t be enough that we are successful and we have people in our lives that love us. I want God to say about my life, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant...” (Matthew 25:21).

It is interesting that David said this in Psalms 17:15 long before he committed his sin with Bathsheba and long before he caused 75,000 people to die in Israel because he numbered them. Hear me, God will forgive the sin in your life if He knows you are trying with everything in you to keep your heart right, that when you blow it, you admit it, you confess it, and you get rid of it. Jesus will always forgive you and uphold you to keep pressing on. He loves you.

I plead with you today, stop being selfish. You were not born for yourself. “The LORD’s portion is his people...” (Deuteronomy 32:9). Will you be that people today so that when others come asking to see the real Jesus, you can say to them, “Look no farther than me because I can introduce you to Him myself”? Even if you are somebody that isn’t really walking with Jesus and you aren’t passionate to know Him because of some foolish reason, God is calling you. If you stay away from Jesus too much longer, Satan will rule you and it will be harder and harder. Have you made up your mind yet to give Jesus everything? God is asking you today to give Him everything. It has to be all or nothing. Jesus does not want a part time bride. Would you want a spouse like that? I don’t think so. He is looking for a devoted bride that loves Him, a bride where He is the essence of their life.

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (Psalms 63:1). Are you in a desert today? Are you in a backslidden state or are you just treading water? The glory of the Lord wants to fill you afresh today. Say like David, “As for me, I will behold thy face...”

Chapter 10

I John 3:1-3

I would like to note that this word of face to face communion is not for everyone. Well, it is for everyone, but not everyone can handle it. When speaking about eunuchs, Jesus Himself said in Matthew 19:11 “All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.” A eunuch is someone in the natural that has been castrated and cannot bring forth children of their own. Jesus said that there are some eunuchs that were born eunuchs, some eunuchs that were made eunuchs by men and then there are eunuchs that made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of heaven’s sake. These eunuchs that made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of heaven’s sake are eunuchs of God, people that literally turn their life over to their master Jesus. It is like the servant in Exodus 21 who can go out free, but rather says, “I love my master...I will not go out free” (Exodus 21:5). They have decided to become a eunuch for Jesus, so that any of the seed that comes forth from them will only be seed birthed from Him. A eunuch has no earthly companion. A eunuch cannot have intimacy with another person. People become a eunuch in the natural (for what reason I don’t know), but the spiritual concept is that as Christians, we can become eunuchs unto God. You can be married in the natural and still be a eunuch unto the Lord. You are simply totally given over to God and His heart and you have no desire to produce earthly things. Things that are sponsored and authored by men, you no longer want anything to do with. You and I should really only care about producing Godly seeds and establishing Godly things in the earth. No longer do we have to waste our time with man-made projects.

So we have been looking at the principle of face to face communion. My heart is praying that in every one of these chapters, that as you read them, you have found an increase in your personal relationship with Jesus, that you have grown a little in your ability to be in His presence, have learned how to call Him down or have Him rise up within you. This is my whole desire because the truth is that the earth is desperate for a people who can literally bring the presence of God to them. On our own, you and I should be able to bring the presence of God whenever we go to people who do not have it, who do not have any idea on how to get it, but who desperately need it. The earth is groaning for it and God is training you. Hear me, He is training you. In John 7:37-38, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” In the last days, during the Spiritual Feast of Tabernacles, just as Jesus stood up and cried, He will also have a many-membered man, a company of devoted saints say the same thing. Can this be true? Listen to Isaiah 32:2, “And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as

rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” The earth is groaning to see the true Jesus in His people.

Many years ago in my life, early in my ministry, I was on staff at a very large church. I was doing well in the natural, but spiritually I was not doing well. I saw so much stuff that was going on that did not match the Scriptures. I saw many of the men and women of God that were over me leading two lives, one before the people, and one in secret. I saw them tell outright lies to people. I was there to protect them and cover their sins of homosexuality, adultery, etc. I was the one who had to go into the bars and get husbands out of there and take them home to their wives. This kept going on and on and it got to a point where I couldn’t stomach it anymore. I learned that the only people that I did not have to counsel and minister to like that were the people who came to the daily teachings. They never seemed to have those kinds of needs. But the others, who did not give themselves to the Word of God, were living in constant depression, divorce, and trouble. We had about almost one thousand people in this church, but at most we only had seventy-five to one hundred coming to the morning and evening teachings. So only about 10 percent of our congregation was really growing in the Lord and I saw it as a failure. It finally came to an end for me when I tried to help a woman get delivered from a terrible and an abusive situation involving one of the leaders. As I tried to put a stop to it, I was told that I needed to mind my own business if I wanted to keep my job. So I told them I was leaving the church because something in me wanted more. I remember the night I was sitting before the leadership and they were railing on me because I told them I wanted to leave. I had at that time an opportunity to start a small church in another state in an unknown place, and combined with the previous situation, I wanted to go as far away as possible. But one by one they began to tell me how stupid it would be for me to leave and how foolish because I would be found and promoted in this large church (because most of the major ministers in the body of Christ at that time came through this church). And I remember that night so clearly because when one of the brothers told me I would be found here, there was such an overwhelming sense of the glory of God that came upon me that let me see the stark difference between me and them. This was not in a prideful or boastful sense, but I realized I had absolutely nothing in common with them. And I saw the gap was so large and wide that I could not endure what was happening anymore. And I looked them in the face and said, “The thing you don’t understand is, I’ve already been found by the only One that I am interested in being found by, and that is Jesus”. Did this cost me? Absolutely, but that is alright. As Paul said in Hebrews 13:13, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” I would rather be with Jesus than multitudes of people who are not devoted to Him. I would rather be in a small room with absolutely committed and devoted disciples than be in a gigantic gymnasium filled with people who only attend church.

Now the first thing many people will say when you talk like this is that you are proud and boastful. But this is so far from the truth. On the contrary, a true son

recognizes how far he has to go, but at least he has something that he is running after, not some earthly promise of ministry, position, or place. But many times, they lie about this too. There are so many wounded sheep who have been disappointed due to unfulfilled promises. But what you and I have to realize is that Babylon, or the religious church system, is a system that uses God’s people up until it can get no more out of them and then it spits them out, broken, disillusioned, and they could care less. Now many people need to endure this until they can get a true revelation of what Babylon is really like. Many people, sadly, have to go through this because guess who will be waiting for them when they get thrown out. The Lord Jesus will be right there standing and waiting.

You and I were called to have face to face communion with Jesus. We have to know the Lord. Our calling is not just to go to heaven. Our calling is to become the bride of Christ, pure, holy, and without spot, blemish, or any such thing (Ephesians 5:27). A bride is someone who absolutely loves and adores her husband, puts him first in everything, is his servant and friend. This is what we are called to. We are not called to service to a building, to a denomination, to an organization, or even to a man. Our service is to God. We are called to worship God every day (Psalms 34:1 – “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth”), not just in praising and singing at church. But Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Nobody else can present you. Remember in II Chronicles 5:11 when the glory filled the temple of Solomon it says “...all the priests that were present...” This means that there were priests that were not present when the glory fell. So it is on us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. Paul said, “I die daily” (I Corinthians 15:31). Psalms 116:15 says “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Every day you and I should be dying a little bit more to the flesh, the world, the devil, and the Adamic nature in our lives. But as we die to this, we take on the divine nature. Glory to God! Jeremiah 33:11 says “bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD.” To worship and give yourself to the Lord in praise many times is a sacrifice, but it is always worth it. You and I shouldn’t care what the price is. We should always be willing to pay it.

The living sacrifice is our “reasonable service”. In the literal Greek, it should read “your reasonable form of worship”. You worship God not just when you sing, shout, and dance. You worship God when you forgive your brother, when you don’t hold grudges, when you sense your own irritation in your soul and you don’t give into your baser inclinations. Jesus said in Luke 21:19 “In your patience possess ye your souls.” Keep yourself before the Lord. Don’t allow your soul to have its way. Paul in Acts 24:16, “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.” Our soul (our carnal mind) is our greatest enemy (Romans 8:7). This is why we need the mind of Christ. Our soul is where our conscience is. This is why so many people live

guilty all day long because they loathe themselves and they are so full of guilt and it shows. But consider Jacob (which means “deceiver, supplanter”) who became Israel (champion of God). Genesis 32:28 says, “And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Interestingly enough Jacob not only became a prince with God, but also with men. The two are joined together. Whatever you do to the Lord, will result in you being able to bless people. Whatever price you pay, it really is not for you. It is for somebody else to be blessed. Joseph said to his brothers that betrayed him, after all that was done to him, “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God...” (Genesis 45:8). And Joseph was able to feed and save his brothers’ lives. Can you say this today? Whatever you have been through or whatever you are going through, can you see through all of the mess and realize it is not a certain person, it is not the situation, but it is God? God is doing something in you and me that we might not even understand right now or know about, but in the end He will reveal exactly why we’ve gone through whatever we are going through. We’ll be able to do like Joseph and save the then known world from famine. We need more men and women with the spirit of Joseph who are willing to suffer at the hands of their brothers and the dealings of God, not just for themselves, but for their family, their children, and for the body of Christ. Selfishness has got to go. If there is anything God is not, it is selfish. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son...” (John 3:16). This is very powerful love. Sometimes I say to myself, I don’t know if I can do this. This is why Abraham went through his great trial, because at the end of it he says, “...for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.” (Genesis 22:14). Jehovah-jireh not only means “God our provider”, but it means “God will see”. If you are in a financial situation today, God not only will make a way and provide, but He sees your situation. The Lord is watching when you are in your trial to see what you are going to do. Isaiah 48:10 says God will make His choice about you “in the furnace of affliction.” When you say like Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:17-18), God will see and be with you and visit you in the furnace. The test here was whether they would give up and bow down to this golden image of Satan, or the image itself, or the image of the world. The antichrist literally is the human self. I do not believe that the antichrist is only a person coming. But I also believe the spirit of antichrist has been here for thousands of years (I John 2:18) and it simply represents the abomination of desolation. The abomination of desolation means something is sitting upon the throne of Christians’ hearts other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil wants us to get caught up looking to a man or for us to read all these prophetic books that absolutely are doing nothing to help us become better believers. We may have our

charts, but what is the fruit of it? The whole book of Revelations is not a revelation of future events. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ given to John the disciple whom Jesus loved. How would you feel if you were one of the other disciples? The Bible says in a few places that John was the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, John 20:2, John 21:7, John 21:20). If you were one of the other disciples, would you have heard a voice saying “what about me?” This is why people do not like the message of the remnant. It brings a distinction between those that really love Jesus and are closer to Him compared to all the others who stand afar off.

So for the remainder of this chapter I want to continue talking about future face to face. How can you and I get to the place where we can stand in the glory of God and behold the face of God? The Bible says Jesus has been looking for a place “to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58). Isn’t His face part of His head? Why hasn’t He found it? Because He hasn’t found a people who have the ability, or enough of the divine nature within them, to hold the glory of God to the glory of God. Sure, God gives great gifts to people, but what happens is they end up getting glorified and not God. This must change.

Let us look now at I John 3:1-3 which reads, “1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” There is a provision to being able to behold God’s face. In the Greek there are two words used for “sons”. Both are used to describe believers and with it carry a revelation of our relationship with God the Father. The first word is huios which means “a child, kinship, or like an animal foal or a kid”. This word gives the sense that the son is mature and resembles the father in likeness and moral characteristics. An example of this word being used is found in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons (huios) of God.” In Mark 1:11, God the Father speaks of His Son Jesus using the word huios, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus, the son (huios) of God, had all the fullness of God in Him.

The second word is teknon which means “a produced child” and comes from a root word tikto which means “to produce from seed or my son”. When Paul addressed Timothy saying “my beloved son” or “my son”, he used the word teknon. Teknon gives the emphasis of being one’s true, genuine offspring. To be a “teknon” identifies you as the legitimate son of the Father, being born of the Spirit of God, having His holy seed dwelling within you. God wants that seed to grow up into fullness. John uses the Greek word teknon to call us sons in the above passage. Every one of us are at different levels. The five levels of spiritual growth in God in the Bible are: babes, children, young men, men, aged. You and I are at

one of these five levels. Wherever it is, don’t be condemned, but keep pressing on until you can be a full grown son.

Let me give to you some of the other passages where teknon is used to describe sons. I Corinthians 4:14-17 says, “14I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons (teknon) I warn you...” Paul is not writing to natural children here. He is writing to his true sons in the faith when he says, “...15For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. 17For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son (teknon), and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.” Teknon is a produced son, starting from a seed. Timothy is Paul’s true son in the faith and now this seed (Timothy), who has matured in the Lord, has now begun to produce in others as well. A seed is nothing until it has grown up. It has to come forth.

Another place it is used is in Romans 8. Starting in verse 17, “17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us...” You will never have glory revealed in you if you do not experience and go through suffering in your life. We have to allow ourselves to go through the dealings of God and allow God to change us. Jesus had to suffer. I Peter 2:21 says, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” Continuing in Romans 8 it states, “19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children (teknon) of God.” The manifestations of the sons of God are produced seeds who have come to full fruition.

Let us look now in Job 42. Before we read, what had happened to Job? In Job’s life God allowed, in His wisdom, what He could’ve prevented in His power to bring for a double portion to Job and to show Satan that there will be a people, human beings, that will not bow to him. Job passed the test in the first two chapters. He did not sin with his mouth during his affliction and did not charge God foolishly (Job 1:22, 2:10). The only time Job sat down and began to complain is when Job had visitors come and try to cheer him up. These visitors were called “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) who “darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge” (Job 38:2). When you are going through difficulty in life, beware of people who come to try to comfort you because their comfort may be pity and this is not of God. If you are lying in a hospital bed dying, you don’t want somebody coming in saying “It is okay sweetie, it won’t be much longer now”. No, you want somebody coming in there saying “Get up out of that bed! If you are going to die, die at

least trying.” Amen! Remember in Mark 8:22-25 when some people brought a blind man to Jesus, what did Jesus do? Jesus immediately took the blind man and took him outside of the city. Here is the point. There are sincere people who care about us and want to help us, but they have no revelation. So Jesus had to take this blind man away from them, heal him, and then give him back to them. We need people who can, as in Mark 2:4, tear the roof off to help others. We need worship leaders that are lion-like in nature that can tear the roof off so there is an open heaven. Anybody that is called to lead worship needs to understand that in every meeting, I don’t care how small it is, a spirit of Michal is going to come and see what you are going to do during the meeting (II Samuel 6:20-23 – “20Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! 21And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. 22And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. 23Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death”). You have to learn to drive this spirit out and gain authority. Once you’ve driven them out and have gained the authority, they try less and less to slip in during meetings. But you can’t grow in authority until you’ve won some battles. You can’t be an overcomer until you’ve overcome something. So if you are trying to lead worship and the first few times you miss it, it may be hard, but keep pressing on, tear the roof off, and gain that authority over religious devils that resist the moving of the Spirit of God and that hate the glory. For example, if you feel like nobody feels like dancing, you should just keep on playing dancing songs until they dance. You have to take authority in the realm of the spirit. Be radical and tear the roof off. People may not know what you are doing. They may think you are doing something foolish, but they have no conception that what you are trying to do is open the heavens above them. And here’s the great thing, once you’ve broken through in the heavenlies, that place belongs to you and from that point on all you are doing is creating a greater, deeper, and larger hole for God to flow through.

So now at the end of Job’s story, God has rebuked his miserable comforters, rebuked Job, and Job answers in Job 42 here, “1Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 2I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 3Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not...” Previously, Job uttered many things that he understood not. Let us learn from this. Let us keep our mouths quiet. “Study to be quiet”, Paul said (I Thessalonians 4:11). James said “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). Solomon said “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but

he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”, Proverbs 18:21 says. The devil is not omniscient. He doesn’t know what we are going through many times until we tell him with our words. At least act and speak like you know what you are doing. He can’t read your thoughts. All the devil can do is watch and hear what you say and see what you do. In a counseling session with your pastor, this is sacred ground. The devil is not allowed to be there. But you don’t need to be talking on the phone with every person you know when you have trouble. Most people will add unbelief to a situation. So if you see things going on in your life that you don’t understand, keep your tongue. The end will justify the journey. Hosea 6:3 says, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD...” We need to know as David confessed in Psalms 56:9 “this I know; for God is for me.” If you don’t know anything about what is going on in your life or why things are happening, always remember and know in your heart that God is for you! God has your best interests at heart and “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25). We don’t have to know everything now. We probably couldn’t understand if He tried to tell us anyway or we wouldn’t want to if we saw what we had to go through.

Continuing in Job 42, “4Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” I like the next verse which is Job’s response to seeing God, “6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Can you imagine that the more you and I go into God’s presence and we see the things that are abhorrent and an abomination to Him as He puts His light upon it or puts His finger upon it, then day by day we will die to it, overcome it, and eventually we will be like Him. Paul wrote in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” Keep going into God’s presence and let Him change the abhorrent things in you. I know it is very hard to walk this walk. The easiest thing to do is take the path of least resistance. The easiest thing to do as a pastor is to just teach on the gifts of the Spirit, teach on being a success, and prosperity. Most people do not want to come to church and hear about what an abomination they are and how they need to change or they will not be allowed in the most holy place throughout the ages to come. What made Job see God? The dealings of God. Job would have never saw the Lord if the things that happened to him never happened to him. Isaiah 6:1 reads “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple...” Why didn’t Isaiah see the Lord before then? Because King Uzziah meant too much to him and filled up his life. Does your pastor fill up your life? Is he keeping you so busy that you don’t have time to spend time with Jesus alone? Are men manipulating and controlling your life? Pastors should be getting out of the way, pointing you towards heaven and towards Jesus, not drawing disciples after themselves. This is the truth.

“5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” Everybody has heard of Jesus by the hearing of the ear. Most people don’t even read or search the Bible to see if what they hear is true. Most people believe what they believe because of what they heard and not because it is a truth they see as they’ve searched the Scriptures. You and I have no right sharing truth until you and I have searched it out Scripturally. The children of Israel saw God’s acts during the exodus, but they never knew His ways (Psalms 103:7). When God wanted to meet with the children of Israel in Exodus 20 and when He came down in the sight of all the Israelites, the people said no thank you and told Moses to go for them and tell them what God said. “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). Moses spent his life drawing near the thick darkness where God was, and for that, Moses got a rod in his hand. Moses grew in authority so much that he was able to stand before the Red Sea and hold up that rod and it had to obey what he said. Daniel 11:32 says “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” But if you don’t know God, you are always dependent on somebody else doing it for you. Consider the man in John 5:1-8 sitting next to the pool of Bethesda who confessed, “I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool”. So many people make excuses because there is nobody to help them. This man could have tried to crawl to the water instead of sitting there looking for a man to help him. We are always looking for somebody else to do for us what we should do for ourselves.

Everybody has heard of Jesus, but does something in you burn to see Him? David says in Psalms 42:2 “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” In the Hebrew this reads, “when shall I come and behold the face of God?” Lord, put in everyone’s heart that is reading this a holy desire to see Your face.

Turn to II Corinthians 3:18. How are you and I going to be prepared to see God’s face? II Corinthians 3:18 reads “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” What is this glass that we see as we behold the glory of the Lord? Well, let us look at James 1:21-23 which says, “21Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls...” First of all, before we continue in James and talk about this glass, we need to understand the context of what James is talking about. James is not talking about the initial salvation of being born again (which is called justification). He is talking about sanctification here. He is writing to Christians. Jesus’ blood on the cross saved our spirit. When people say they want to win the lost to Jesus and “save souls”, they really should be saying “save spirits”. Spirits get saved when you lead somebody to Jesus, not their souls. Saving somebody’s soul is the process of sanctification that is ongoing everyday as God deals with and changes their soul conforming it to His image. Justification is when you are born again and your spirit is made perfect

because of Jesus. Hebrews 12:23 says, “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” But your soul is your carnal mind which is the place of your will, mind, emotions, affections, intellect, etc that isn’t perfect when we are born again. After we get saved, God begins the process of sanctification to change our soul and make it like His and this is what James is talking, which is the “engrafted word” which is “able to save your souls”. Romans 12:2 confirms this by saying, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...” Psalms 119:9, 11 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word...Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Ephesians 5:26 explains how God will cleanse His church, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” The “engrafted word” means the Word of God is literally sewn into your soul. John 8:31-32 says, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The Word of God doesn’t set us free (as so many like to quote). It really says the Word of God makes us free! Being made free speaks of a process of total deliverance never to return to it. If you are just set free you can fall back into it. But if you don’t understand the difference between justification and sanctification, you will not understand this passage in James.

Continuing now in James about this glass we saw in II Corinthians 3:18. We read in James 1:22-25, “22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23For if any be a hearer of the word (What did Job say again in Job 42:5? “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.”), and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” With an unveiled face we behold in the glass the Word of God. This glass represents the mirror of God’s Word. The brass laver in the Tabernacle of Moses was made up of brass mirrors which were made from the women’s looking glasses. The brass altar represents the cross, Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, which is our justification and our salvation. The brass laver represents the beginning process of sanctification. In the Tabernacle, after the priests would kill the animals at the brass altar, they would come to the brass laver to wash themselves. The priests were filthy dirty from the blood. They had to wash themselves before they could go into the holy place. So you begin your sanctification at the brass laver which was made out of mirrors. They were made out of mirrors so when the priests would approach the laver, they could see the dirt and what they had to clean. The Word of God is that brass laver in our lives which shows us the dirt in our lives. As you behold the Word of God, you will behold the issues and dirt in your life.

Let us consider and look back now at II Corinthians 3:18. We are talking about purifying ourselves so we can “see him as he is” as we saw in I John 3:2. So as we behold the glory of the Lord in the Word of God and allow the sanctification process to work in our lives, we are “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” This brings up the principle of the seasons of God. Here we see that the process of being changed into the image of Jesus is a process of going from “glory to glory”. Jeremiah 48:11 shows us we are to be “emptied from vessel to vessel.” Proverbs 4:18 says “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Isaiah 28:9-10 says, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” Psalms 84:7 tells us we are to “go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” Romans 1:17 tells us “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith...” Hannah brought Samuel, her son, a new coat, year by year, because Samuel kept outgrowing his old coat. As Christians, we are to be growing season by season. I Peter 2:2 puts it this way “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” We are to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). The clothes we wore, spiritually speaking, last year should not fit us this year. We should be stepping into another place of revelation, glory, light, and maturity. It is a process and it takes time. We go from one level of Word, light, faith, glory, etc to another. After each season, we have been changed on the inside that much more.

This is how we are going to see His face. It takes going through seasons and there are thousands of them before the coming of the Lord. But after each season passes, each dealing is done and you’ve overcome, God will bring you higher and into a new season of dealing, etc. Now if you’ve failed during a season, you will have to go back and try it again. God is determined to see us pass, but He will not allow us to go on until we pass every test. Now what most people do during a test that they don’t want to pass through is change churches. They blame the pastor or the people and move on never realizing it is them. This is why so many have been to dozens of churches in their life. God only gives you one father. But stay encouraged. Don’t expect to go from point “A” to point “Z” overnight. It is foolish to think like this. You and I grow by sitting under sound doctrine, line upon line, glory to glory, precept upon precept, growing more and more as each stone in our foundation is laid. And as God lays foundational principles into our lives, then God can begin to lay deeper truths into our lives. So many people are quick to call things that they don’t understand error when the truth is they don’t have a foundation to handle it. You can’t understand point “F” when you’ve never been taught points “A-E”. Paul said, “if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (I Corinthians 14:38). The fool says “How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine

ear to them that instructed me!” (Proverbs 5:12-13). Saul in the Old Testament, started out so good, but at the end of his life ended up saying “...I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly” (I Samuel 26:21). I don’t want the end of my life to be like that. Let the end of our lives be the best part of our lives. Let’s go through all the dealings now, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God...” (I Peter 4:17). If we will allow God to judge us now, we will not need to go through the great tribulation period. You and I should be going through tribulation now so we don’t have to go through the great tribulation when it comes. I Thessalonians 5:9 says, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath...” If you have oil in your lamp like the five wise virgins, you will not have to gnash your teeth like the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25. Are you preparing yourself so when the door opens to the marriage chamber, you can go in? Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”

Don’t listen to voices that say you are too far behind and there is no way God can deal with all of your issues. I believe if Jesus would come soon and you are trying the best you can, He will have mercy and let you in. Luke 18:8 says, “when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” But for those who choose to stay ignorant and do not want to press on, there will be a judgment. Most people will do what they really want to do. What do you want from your life? Just as Moses went in and out of the glory, we can go in and out and be changed (Exodus 34:29-35). Every time you and I walk into the manifest presence of God, all our spiritual senses come alive and we are changed.

Let us now look at Psalms 104:13-16, “13He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. 14He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; 15And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. 16The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted.” First of all wine is a type of the Holy Ghost. What happens when the Holy Ghost comes? He makes you glad. Proverbs 17:22 says “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” In Acts 2 when they were filled with the Holy Ghost, they thought the disciples were drunk with wine, but they were filled with the new wine of the Holy Ghost. So wine makes our heart glad. Next it says “...oil to make his face to shine.” How are we going to see His face? By the anointing of God. The anointing of God has to be in our lives.

Remember Matthew 17 when Jesus was on the mount of transfiguration; it says “his face did shine as the sun”. Exodus 34:29 says of Moses that he “wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.” When you are in the true glory of God, you don’t think about how great you are or that your face is shining. In fact, you don’t even recognize it. Somebody else has to tell you. Don’t go

seeking for people to puff you up. Trust me, if you are going into the glory, people will know. They will know by either being drawn to you and the anointing or react as they did to Moses and told him to put a veil over his face out of fear.

Moses was the only one to draw near out of all the children of Israel. All the children of Israel ever saw were the lightnings, thunders, earthquakes, the voices, and the fire. But they didn’t realize what was behind that and that was God Himself, the most precious Being in the universe. This is the same as Elijah in I Kings 19 when he was told to go and stand forth upon the mount before the Lord and it says, “...11And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” It is akin to the eye of the hurricane. You have to get through all of the storms and mess and once you get in there you are safer than anyone on the face of the earth. This is what people don’t understand, because when God comes down in His glory, it can be frightening, but if you just walk right on in to it, eventually you find yourself in what is called the “secret place of the Most High”. In this place, Psalms 16:11 tells us, “is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” In this place are the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).

Lastly, let us look at Job 11:12-19 – “12For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt...” Wouldn’t you agree with this? This is speaking of our Adamic nature. Psalms 51:5 says, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” But God has made a provision for this as we keep reading in Job 11, “13If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; 14If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles...” What are you stretching your hands towards today? What do you long for? If you are committing sin, deal with it He says here. All God asks us to do is repent faithfully, and allow Jesus’ blood to keep cleansing us (I John 1:9). It doesn’t matter how many times you have fallen. If you keep getting up and repent from your heart, He will forgive you every time. Psalms 51:17 says, “a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” When the blood of Jesus Christ washes you, you are clean, and God just wants you to keep fighting. Most of the time we are not delivered instantly. Don’t quit and believe you will always be like you are. The Word of God will cleanse your way. This Word will wash you one day to where you will not sin again, but you will also not want to sin again.

So fight to put sin as far away from you and “...let not wickedness dwell in the tabernacles”. Don’t let demons get in you and stay. For example, don’t get into an argument with somebody and not try to make it right immediately. Don’t say something mean to somebody that hurts them and walk away like nothing happened. Don’t hold grudges against people in unforgiveness. Don’t let bitterness

and resentment live and rule you because you are allowing a devil and wickedness to dwell in you. You should always “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves...” (II Corinthians 13:5). I John 5:10 says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself...” I John 2:20 says “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” This word “unction” means “an umpire”. The Spirit of God that is in us is a witness and an umpire for us to always tell us right from wrong. We always know when we mess up and sin. The Spirit of God will always tell us, “you shouldn’t have said that”, or “you shouldn’t hold that grudge”, or “you shouldn’t be bitter or resentful”. When you don’t obey the Spirit of God and make situations right after you’ve sinned, you are letting wickedness dwell in your tabernacle. This is why Ephesians 4:26-27 says “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.” This means we are to have a righteous indignation against sin. We should never let our righteous indignation soften and open the door to the enemy. The Greek word for “place” means a “chamber or a room”, which represents a chamber in our soul. If we allow wickedness to dwell in our lives we are allowing the devil to live in the chambers of our soul. And when you are allowing the devil to dwell, you are carrying him wherever you go and allowing the enemy to live in your life. This is what was meant in the Old Testament about “having strange gods among you”. Genesis 35:2 says, “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments.” I’ve heard people say many times, “I will never forgive that person.” Well, for those people, they can never go on with God. If you want to see God’s face your conscience as to be “void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). I John 3:3 says “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” Habakkuk 1:13 says of God, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity...” God cannot sit with an evil person in the same room because the evil person will burn up. The glory will not tolerate flesh. All I ask you is why hold onto grudges? Why keep your heart hard? (Matthew 5:8, Proverbs 22:11).

Yield to God and He will cleanse you and wash you and renew your mind. Trust me, in my life, I’ve been betrayed more times that you can imagine as a pastor and I tell you to forgive. It is not worth it. As long as you hold onto it, you will be in the hands of the tormenters (Matthew 18:34). If people don’t want to forgive you, let them stay mad. You just go on with God and keep your heart right and don’t worry about them. Determine in your heart to not let anger, bitterness, resentment, strife, contention, etc, dwell with you. If you or I say something stupid, we will repent immediately. All of us do it. Even today while writing this, I had to ask for forgiveness for something stupid I did. Every little thing in our life is important. It is important if you want purity, holiness, if you want to be able to handle the glory of God, and most importantly if you want to see God’s lovely face! Everything in our lives is important, even the little things! Song of Solomon 2:15 says it is the “little foxes, that spoil the vines.”

It is very important to at least strive to be holy in the Lord for the Scriptures say in Ephesians 4:22-24, “22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” It also says we should “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Corinthians 7:1). The Word says we were called to be holy (I Thessalonians 4:7, Ephesians 1:4, Deuteronomy 7:6). In Leviticus 11:45 and I Peter 1:16 is says “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” This happens as the Word declares in Isaiah 4:3-4, “And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” and Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”. We then can see Him and dwell with Him (Isaiah 57:15 – “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”).

So if we do these things, we have a promise as we see in the next verse of Job, “ 15For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot...” Song of Solomon 4:7 says, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.” Glory to God!

I am pleading with you to let this Word work in your life because if you let it, you will become a carrier of the glory of God. I remember years ago somebody prophesying over me around the time I left the large church in the story earlier in this chapter. I drove three hours to my pastor’s house desperately needing ministry. As they were praying for me, I was expecting God to tell me how much He loved me and how great I am. But all that was said to me was that I was “a beast of burden”. When I first heard it, it made me mad because I didn’t know what it meant and was disappointed. But then God showed me what He meant. He told me that the reason I was going through the suffering I was going through was I was being prepared to carry the burden of the glory of the Lord and the Word of the Lord to thousands of people. I tell this story to tell you the same thing. You are a beast of burden being prepared for something great. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Don’t take the path of least resistance. Stand up and fight back. Don’t do the easy thing. And one day, years from now, you will be laying your hand upon somebody’s head and the virtue of God will flow through you and they will get healed, delivered, set free, or God will speak to them through you and their whole life will be altered, simply because you were a beast of burden. Because of the dealing and sufferings we have to go through, you will carry the deliverance for others. It took me years to understand this and even more years to bow to it. Oh I preached it, but I sure didn’t live it. But now, this is all I live for.

Father, would you take this Word and engrave this Word upon our hearts. Pray this with me and make this vow:

“Heavenly Father, I receive Your Word right now. I want to be pure even as you are pure. I have got to see Your face. I live to see Your face. Help me in my weakness. You said in my weakness I would be made strong. I come boldly to the throne of grace, asking for Your help in my time of need. Remind me of this Word whenever I sin, whenever I am tempted, when something happens, let this Word come roaring back to me so that I can choose the right path, so I can choose the holy, rather than the profane. I vow tonight, I choose today, whom I will serve. My life is not my own. I love my Master, Jesus Christ. I will not go out free. I am your love slave. Help me to have a conscience void of offense always towards You and towards Your people. Make me a beast of burden. I want Your glory. I want to be vehicle of God, not to be seen of men. The only people I want to know my name are You heavenly Father, and Satan. I vow to serve and worship You, to give myself to Your Word and to worship You intimately, and to lead others by my example as I die daily to my Adamic nature. So from glory to glory, I will be changed into that same image by the Spirit of God. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I will only be satisfied, when I awake at resurrection time with Thy likeness, Your image in me. Hallelujah and Amen!

Chapter 11

Job 22:26, Numbers 6:22-27

We are going to start this chapter by turning to Job 22. I want to finish talking about the face of God, particularly about how we can behold His precious face. Let us read all of the passages that I want to look at so we can get the entire picture before I start commenting on the individual verses.

Job 22:21-28, “21Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 25Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. 26For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.”

In this passage tucked away in the book of Job is a very illuminating word from the Lord about the simplicity of coming and being in His presence. First of all, the Lord sees everything. Mark 10:17-22 tells us the story of Jesus encountering a rich young man. The rich young man approaches Jesus and asks, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus answers him by saying “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.” And the young man tells Jesus, “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.” And the story ends by saying, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” You see, it is not so much in what we do, because this man was doing all the right things and even seeking God. And this is the danger for every one of us. You can be in a place of seeking God and doing the will of God, but yet refuse to let go of that one thing God is requiring. God is after that one thing in all of us. In the case above, Jesus wanted him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and the young man went away grieved. But while Jesus was telling him to sell all he had, it says “Jesus beholding him loved him”. Now God loves all of us, but He can love us in sorrow or He can love us in joy. He would rather love us in joy and see us follow after him.

Beginning in verse 21 of Job 22, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” Are you acquainted with Jesus? Isn’t it a shame that God has to remind His people to acquaint ourselves with Him and be at peace? If you do not have any peace tonight, it is because you are not acquainted with Him. If we can stay in the place of His presence there will always be a peace about us. Our greatest fight is to stay at peace. Our greatest striving is to not strive. God is calling a people not to get acquainted with religion, but to get acquainted with Him personally. He is asking for a people to rise above the religious clatter and dogmas of our day to hear the deepest part of God calling to the deepest part of men (Psalms 42:7).

And then it says, “22Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.” Over and over again you see the same principle in Scripture. If you are going to see the face of God, if you are going to behold Him, you must first come before Him and sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary in Luke 10:38-42. This speaks of not only coming before Him and communion with God in worship (Psalms 22:3 says “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”), but we must also receive the Word of God and have it laid up in our hearts. The Word of God must come forth in our lives. You cannot behold the face of God if you do not have any substance inside of you and the Word of God is the substance of God. John 1:1, 14 says (in describing Jesus) “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Do you understand what this means for you and I? This means that as the living Word of God enters into our soul, it literally creates the divine nature within us. The Word is God and yet you have so many people who take such a light approach to it. For the rest of your life give yourself to God’s Word. For the rest of our lives, we must give ourselves to the Lord in worship, give ourselves to being in His presence, fighting to keep our hearts pure and clean, doing everything we can to walk uprightly before Him, loving our brothers and sisters, and we are going to let His Word be rich in our lives. We will never be ashamed of this.

Continuing in verse 23, “If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.” The Word of God certainly will build you up. Acts 20:32 says, “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” There is no way God and sin can dwell together. So as we come into the glory of God (even if we are just on the outskirts of His glory), things in our hearts begins to show themselves (areas where we need to repent, issues that haven’t been taken care of), and these things must be put away. For example, in the Old Testament, God told Moses and the children of Israel to pitch the Tabernacle in the midst of the tents of all of God’s people. But because of their sin, God told Moses to take the Tabernacle from among the people of Israel and put

it outside the camp (Exodus 33:7) even though God’s desire from the beginning was to have a habitation among them. God desires to inhabit us. But He said to Moses to take the Tabernacle away from them because they are a polluted and stiff-necked people. In God’s eyes they were a mixed and mingled seed whose mouths praised Him, but whose hearts were far from Him. Everyone from that point worshipped from their tent door and refused to go to the Tabernacle which was outside the camp. After this, we see only Moses and Joshua going into the Tabernacle, into the glory of God. This is yet another reason why I know there is a remnant.

I am so grateful God put in me, at an early age, a burning desire to know Him and to be with Him. What a tremendous gift this is! James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights...” Somehow, even as a fifteen year old new born Christian, I wanted more than what was offered to me by others because I was such a sinner living a vile and perverted life that when that cleanliness, and that holiness came over me as Jesus’ blood washed my sin away, I realized I had made contact with the purest and most wonderful Being in the universe and I swore at the age of fifteen that I would live for Him. God in His sovereignty brought me then to a meeting when I was seventeen years old to hear a message on the remnant and on the bride of Christ. This was 1971. Nobody even knew about a remnant back then, but what this brother spoke during this meeting was a potential, that there might be a people who will be like the wheel within the wheel in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:16) that might actually fulfill all that God says we can do. This gave me a hope and a thought that began to stir deep in my heart and I realized as I was sitting (as a seventeen year old) in a place that the sovereign hand of God had led me all through my life to be in that one place, that night to hear that Word because that place, that night, and that Word changed and altered the course of my life forever. Never again would I be satisfied with enough. Never again would I be satisfied just to read the Bible or to just pray a little bit or worship just a little bit. No, something was birthed in me, a seed, that cried out for all that God had provided, that cried out to know Him! I saw and heard His heart. Other Christians that do not have this heart cannot understand this. It is so hard to explain the burning love and desire that is in my heart for Jesus and to see His face. How can you or I tell someone about the depth of love and passion for someone who is so powerful and great, but yet is mindful of us? To stand idly by and do nothing about this revelation of God’s love is heresy to us, for everything in us begins to swell and glorify His name. Birthed in the heart of a remnant are a people that when they come to the outskirts of the glory, they’ve already driven the iniquity far from their tabernacle.

And then as they sit in the manifest presence of God, they shall “...24lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.” Gold in the Scriptures speaks of the divine nature of God. As you spend time beholding His face, face to face communion, whether it be in worship or as you are reading the

Scriptures, your soul is being transformed into gold, God’s nature and character. I never read the Word of God alone. I read the Scriptures in the manifest presence of God, so God Himself is there to be free to comment to me at any moment. The divine nature is being imparted to us as we go in and out of God’s presence every day, having face to face communion we will be changed from “glory to glory” (II Corinthians 3:18). This doesn’t happen in one day, but for the rest of our lives. Life seems slow at times, but it really moves quickly and as it moves, make sure you stay constant. Do not take any exit signs. Do not follow the fads. Stay true to the Word of God making sure everything you do is Scriptural and is glorifying Jesus and not glorifying men. And as you do this day by day, month by month, and year by year, you will be laying up gold inside of you. It is unseen to us, but somehow when we stand in face to face communion, either with His Word or in His presence, our soul is literally being changed. The Adamic nature is taking on the divine nature of God and you begin to think like God and act like God. All of the sudden you become a merciful person when before you were an angry and hurtful person and it becomes easy for you to love and reach out to people. You see, “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). It is not in sermons, conferences, and not in all the things we’ve been taught or told to do. It is by sound doctrine, by sitting at the feet of Jesus day in and day out, hearing foundational principles as well as living words from God that we are changed into that same image, not by experiences, but by the Word of God. I am happy people can roll around the floor and laugh for forty-five minutes. I’ve done it myself. But it may not change me. What changed me was in the worst situation, where the Word of God was being tried in my life and I decided to let the Word work through me and I became an overcomer in that situation. That Word then became mine. The gold of Ophir represents the divine nature worked into the lives of the bride of Christ. Psalms 45:9, 13 reads “9Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir...13The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.” She has the nature and characteristics of God in her.

So if you lay up this gold inside of you, verse 25 then says “Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.” God Almighty shall be your defense. It doesn’t matter if others curse you, mock you, or judge you, or if the Marthas of the world criticize you (like she criticized Mary in Luke 10:38- 42 saying she wasn’t doing enough). People will always have expectations of you. The only expectation we should care or worry about should come from God (Psalms 62:5 – “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him”). I am expected to do what Jesus says. Nobody should be able to dictate to me what I will do with my life. Living to other people’s expectations is living in a world run by men. However, as Christians, we live in a theocracy. We should live at the feet of Jesus until He speaks and says for us to get up and do something. I will not spend my life just wandering around like so many others, getting burned out, quitting and feeling like a failure, because the expectations of everyone else

are too high. I don’t feel like a failure at all because the only expectation I have every morning is that I meet with my Creator and I stand in His presence and give Him glory and am waiting and ready to do whatever He wants me to do that day. But the Marthas of this world always run around feeling like they have to produce something. They believe that quantity means something, but it doesn’t. God is after quality, not quantity, substance over style, sitting instead of running and waiting on the Lord than simply going off to work for God.

“26For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.” Think of it, there you are, the Word is rich in you. You have dealt with the sin in your life. You’ve allowed the glory and the blood to wash and cleanse you (Isaiah 3:3-4). And now you stand with “a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). You will then have every right to stand and behold the face of God! And you will find that He will be smiling at you because He has been waiting for you and me to wake up to the real reason why we live this life. This life is nothing more than a school yard for eternity. And what we do here determines our place in the world to come. So those who give themselves to the “cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things” (Mark 4:19) or to “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I John 2:16) and revel in these things have no comprehension of what eternity is. We are being prepared for the ages to come. There will be ranks all throughout the army of the Lord of hosts and there will be one special company that will just stay with Him. I want to be in that special company. You must love the Lord. There has to come within you, such compassion and such a desire like David prayed in Psalms 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” or in Psalms 42:1-2 “1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God 2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Another translation of verse 2 is “when shall I come and behold the face of God?” You and I will behold the face of God when we have done what the Scriptures we have been reading say to do.

I can tell you right now that all you need to do every day is set aside a time, not a religious thing, but set aside a time that is dedicated to Him. Begin that time by simply making sure everything in your life is in order, that there is no lingering sin, no images, no filth, nor any unresolved issue within your soulish realm at all because God cannot dwell amongst this. If there are any devils or if there is any wickedness in you, that you get rid of it and put it far from you. Then you seek to enter into God’s presence. Psalms 100:4 says we “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” And as you begin to worship God, thanking and blessing Him while opening up His Word, and you lift up your face to Him in adoration and devotion, He will come and dwell with you. And as you do that day after day, month after

month, and year after year (this is a lifetime journey), you will eventually lift up your face without spot! And then you will have true communion with your Creator. In your purity you can see the real Him and He can behold the real you.

He goes on to say in Job 22:28 that “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.” What does this mean? This means you will start acting like God. God said “Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). You and I will be able to decree a thing. Jesus exhorted us in Mark 11:23, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” By being in God’s glory and being changed into His divine nature you then become “God-like” (please don’t misunderstand me, you and I will never be God, but we will be God-like) as Adam was before the fall. Anybody that cannot handle this revelation will never know the depths that there are in God and will miss so much because of a foolish fear that preachers have given many people.

Let us look next at the book of Numbers 6:22-27, “22And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, 24The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: 25The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. 27And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” You cannot give what you do not have. James 3:1 tells us, “be not many masters (Greek – “teachers”), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” As teachers, we need to be careful not only about what we teach, but what we don’t teach. Every one of us are called to be kings and priests unto God (Revelation 1:6), but not everyone will fulfill this calling or fulfill their roles as priests or kings, but yet the potential is there. In Numbers, God wanted the priest to be at such a place of communion with Him, face to face, so that when he stood in the most holy place with the shekinah glory bathing him, he could then turn around from that glorious place and stretch his hands out towards the people. And what the priest got in the most holy place, he could then bless the people and the other priests. I never want to stand up and minister and have nothing to give. The Lord spoke to me years ago and said, “I want you, son, to get all of what you can of me and then I want you to give that to as many people as you come in contact with. This is your destiny for the rest of your life.” God wants His priests to be able to come out of the secret place and bless the people of God. You can’t say like the priests in Numbers “The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee” unless you’ve seen that Face yourself. You can’t say, “The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” unless you have it yourself. Where are God’s true priests today? Many are just running around erecting buildings, doing works of men, and not doing as Peter urged in Acts 6:4, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer,

and to the ministry of the word.” Why have we made the ministry into a business? Why have we made it a job and put expectations on that job? We are not employed as ministers. We are to be priests of the Most High God. People have lost focus on what is really important in the Kingdom of God and have been swallowed up in buildings and in plans, and other purposes. Hosea 8:14 says, “For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples.”

It all comes down to this in verse 27, “And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” Names in Scriptures represent someone’s character. Priests are supposed to be imparting the character of God to the people of God and on those to whom they are ministering to. You cannot give what you don’t have. Oh that men of God would spend more time getting to know the Lord Jesus, acquainting themselves with Him, so they can be at peace. Sure it is “very tempestuous round about him” (Psalms 50:3). There’s all kinds of fire, smoke, voices, thunderings, and lightnings around God, but deep within the tempestuousness, there is a secret place, like an eye of a hurricane, that is full of pleasures (Psalms 16:11) and peace. There are pleasures and things in the secret place that we can’t understand because we look at everything after an earthly way. There are treasures we cannot comprehend because we do not have the ability to comprehend something we’ve never seen before. You see there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), but there are plenty of new things beyond the sun. Glory to God! And our God lives beyond the sun. There are things waiting beyond the first and second heaven (the second heaven is where Satan lives), beyond the sky and the universe, and into the third heaven where God is, are things for you and me. These things we cannot comprehend with our natural understanding. I Corinthians 2:9-10 says the “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” We can only begin to understand these treasures and deep things of God as He reveals them by His Spirit in that secret place. But once you find that place of glory, that divine presence begins to filter all through you until it consumes you and until it becomes you. As you stand in this place, you are called to then turn and go back out to a people who don’t want to go where you are. Remember in Exodus when the people saw the fire, the voices, the thunderings, and the lightnings, they told Moses to go for them. I am so grateful God put the passion in my heart years ago to be one of the ones to go into the thick darkness where God is. I don’t know why I am not one of the multitude standing afar off telling another to go for me. I can’t take credit for this. Every good thing comes from God. Somehow and someway God got me at a place during a certain time for a sovereign moment (just like that whale yawned one morning and in flew Jonah – it had no idea that one morning it would rise up out of the water and at one particular sovereign and God ordained moment, open its mouth and a man would flop in) and changed my heart and put a seed in me to run after the Lord with all my heart.

Would to God that when every minister stretched forth their hands, that in them was that precious character, that gold of God, and when they pronounce over others, “24The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: 25The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Numbers 6:24-26), they say it with authority because the Lord’s face has shined upon them. And because they’ve been in the glory they can then turn and take that glory and put His character into the people of God! This is real ministry. Anything less than this is not good enough. We do not need any more seminars or power point presentations. We need men and women infused with God and His Word so much so that it radiates from their being, and when they speak, the seeds that are sown are Godly seeds that will grow up and bear fruit unto God. To have this ministry costs everything. Are you willing to pay the price? You have to completely die to yourself. I can’t tell you how many people over the years I’ve seen confess that they were willing, but when they were faced with the opportunity to die, their soul lives on.

Look at Luke 10:38-42. “38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” This kind of face to face communion may cost you friends, relatives, positions, etc. Like Martha, these people who are not having face to face communion become angry, upset, jealous and sometimes vengeful and hateful. But like Mary, we counted the cost and chose that good part that would never be taken from us.

In Ezra 9:6, Ezra was so embarrassed to lift up his face to God. Ezra says, “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.” It says here that Ezra blushed in the presence of God because of the sin of Israel. When I read this years ago, I remember thinking I wish my heart was that innocent. I haven’t blushed in years. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve blushed. Here is Ezra who is so innocent and such a priest of God. It wasn’t even his sin. I’m talking about face to face communion. He is so innocent that he is embarrassed to bring to God the sins of his own people. But the point of Ezra here is that after you learn to have face to face communion personally, then you get a revelation of the corporate responsibility you have, that the communion you experience is not just for you, but it is for somebody else. As priests, we are to be separated unto God, but we are to never lose contact with the people. One of the very reasons of being a priest is not for ourselves, but to minister to others the life of God. I do not want to be known as a priest of God that nobody can

get near because I am “so holy” as in Isaiah 65:5, “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” I want to be someone that even though nobody knows my name, yet as they take my hand, they will see the divine nature and virtue of God being transferred to them. Why do we give so much glory to men of God? Everything we have comes from Him, not men. God is the author of all good things in our lives (John 3:27, James 1:17, I Corinthians 4:7, Galatians 1:12, Acts 17:28). There are no great men. There is only one great Man, and His name is Jesus and He’s creating another great corporate man called Christians. Christ means “anointed one” and Christians mean “little anointed one”. We are to be little anointed ones all over the earth. We are to be like little Jesus’ all over the earth. What always baffles me is why so many believe this teaching is error. The only reason I can think of is the cost is too high. You can’t be a carrier of the glory of God when you carry around sin and perversion. You certainly cannot be someone who can release the glory of God when you have sin stored in your life. You must be dead to everything before God will allow you the privilege of carrying the glory. This is when you have face to face communion.

Read now this passage is Psalms 89:14, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” You and I, as we come into His presence, God knows we need help, so there is plenty of mercy, but not just mercy, truth as well. Why do we have to camp on either side? Many are either all about mercy and disregard truth and judgment or they are about judgment and dealing out punishments without showing mercy (James 2:13, Psalms 25:10, Psalms 61:7, Psalms 85:10, Psalms 89:14, Proverbs 16:6, Proverbs 20:28, Isaiah 16:5). For example, let’s look at the story in John 8:1-11 where a woman was caught in the act of adultery and she was brought to Jesus by Pharisees that had stones in their hands looking for judgment. “1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” This woman was taken in the very act of adultery and

thrown at the feet of Jesus while hearing all the scribes and Pharisees shouting and yelling with stones in their hands and saying she deserves to die according to the law. We get a little insight here as to what happens to her after Jesus bends down and writes on the ground. Nobody knows what He wrote, but it is obvious to me that it was the sins of the others standing in front of Jesus. Beware of your judgments and how you speak and judge others because it may come back to judge you (see Matthew 7:1-2, Luke 6:37, John 7:24, I Corinthians 4:5, I Corinthians 11:31, Romans 14:10-13). So Jesus looks at the woman after the others left, being convicted of their own sins and says, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” Jesus doesn’t say anything else to her. You would think Jesus would at least ask her name or why did she commit adultery, etc. But He doesn’t, he just asks the questions above. And she responds and says “No man, Lord.” I believe that this adulterous woman, while lying on the ground being the object of such scorn, cruelty, and viscous slander and assault was in a secret place with Jesus. And as Jesus bent down, He was very near this woman and this woman was face to face with Jesus, in His very presence. I believe that in this place she saw that she was selling herself cheaply; that she saw her sin for what it was and realized she didn’t want to be this way anymore and whoever this man is in front of her, He has something that is far greater than anything she’s experienced. And so when Jesus looks at her she says, “No man, Lord.” And all Jesus says in response is, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” Jesus wasn’t interested in asking her more questions. He knows she has been in His presence and that is enough. She’s seen something greater than adultery. She’s seen something higher than what she was living. She was just in the presence of God herself and what she was doing before is now nothing to her, compared to what is before her. I believed she was saved at that moment. It was so powerful for her that all Jesus had to say was go and sin no more! This is what being in the presence of God can do for you. This is what cultivating God’s presence in your life can do for you. It can cause you to go and sin no more because you’ve found something better!

I finish with the passage in I Kings 19. This is the story where Elijah is running from Jezebel into the wilderness. Elijah is supernaturally fed and strengthened and I’ll pick it up in verse 8, “And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God...” “Horeb” means “waster”. God was sending Elijah from a place of supernatural provision to a place called “waster”. “9And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away...” Many times we feel like Elijah here. We feel like we are the only ones left, but we are not. But look at the Lord’s answer, “11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by...” Now before I continue, remember Exodus 33-34

when the Lord passed by Moses. Moses face was covered by the hand of God and Moses was only allowed to see God’s back parts (Hebrew – “after glow”). And now here the Lord is passing by Elijah. Do you think this is why on the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17 that Moses and Elijah were there? Was it because the Lord passed by them? Look at what having face to face communion will do for you. You see in Elijah’s case, he was running from Jezebel and wanted to die. This tells me that even when you are a failure as a minister and you come to the end of yourself and you recognize that you’re weak and you can’t even stand up to someone like Jezebel, and you let your flesh win. But we quickly forget like we’ve just read that “mercy and truth shall go before thy face” (Psalms 89:14). God will forgive you. He will not pat you on the back and say what you did was right, but He will have mercy on you and He will tell you to not do it again. And then when we obey and make things right, He passes by! Now pay attention to what happens to Elijah because it is such a dramatic shift and change from what happened to Moses.

“And, behold, the LORD passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind...” Before I continue, let’s look at this. Remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist? Jesus spoke concerning John, “What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” (Luke 7:24). God was passing by Elijah. The wind was part of God, but it was not all of God. The Holy Spirit is called a “rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2). There is nothing wrong with having a rushing mighty wind experience, but when you put your eyes on the experience and not Him, you miss it.

“...And after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake...” Doesn’t the Bible tell us that everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken (Haggai 2:6-7, 21)? God shakes things up. He shook the new cart that was trying to carry the ark in II Samuel 6:3-8 that cost Uzzah his life. God caused the oxen to stumble. God will bring shaking, but it is not all of God. It is a part of God. It is not all of God.

“And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire...” Doesn’t the Bible say that our God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29)? Isaiah 33:14 says, speaking of dwelling with God, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Yes, God is fire. Yes God will be “a wall of fire round about” (Zechariah 2:5) us. This again is a part of God, but not all of God.

And finally “...and after the fire a still small voice.” You see the wind of God, the shaking of God and the fire of God is part of God, but it is what God uses to mold us and bring us to the place where we can hear the voice of God! All the other things are preparatory for the still small voice! We put emphasis on wind, shaking, and fire, and none upon what God is really after. We glory in the wind,

the shaking, and the fire of God. We recognize God’s hand in all of that, but you and I should be pressing on and waiting to hear His still small voice.

Continuing in verse 13, “And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave...” Why did Elijah wrap his face in his mantle? I believe a part of it is like God’s hand being over Moses’ face. But this was done willingly by Elijah. He wrapped his face because he didn’t want to be led by his sight, by his hearing, by his smelling, by his speaking, or by any of his natural senses anymore. When you stand in the very presence of God and the Lord passes by, flesh has nothing to do with it. Flesh cannot dwell in His presence. And so Elijah, by wrapping his face (“for there shall no man see me, and live” God tells Moses in Exodus 33:20), was immediately given a word about the end of his life. His ministry was over. The one thing I love about Elijah is that he submits to this. He was called to come and bring the prophets of Baal and expose them. He was called to restore Israel back to God, see supernatural fire come down from heaven, train up a disciple (Elisha), and then that was it. And Elijah ended up his life by going up in a chariot of fire! How many people don’t go up in chariots of fire because they keep driving around in Bentleys on the earth or they have their priorities out of order?

When the Lord passes by, when you’ve seen Him face to face, you recognize and come to the end of yourself, the end of your ministry, and you see that God is all in all! When you stand there in His glory and in His precious presence, everything else disappears, and this is what God has wanted from the very beginning of creation, a habitation, a man and a woman that are willing to have all of Him so He can give them all of Him. Who would not want this when you think about it? But you see, the way can be hard. Life is long. So much must take place, the dealings of God and the seasons of life. But in the end, as you stand in the very shekinah glory of God, you become God’s friend. What can be more rewarding or important?

Lastly Deuteronomy 10:8 says, “At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.” God is separating you today as priests to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The burden upon your life is to carry the manifest presence of God with you all the time. The emphasis in this verse is God wants priests who will carry His manifest presence to His people, and priests who carry the living Word having substance to give. This is your calling for the rest of your life. We are to take what we’ve experienced in our face to face communion with Him and then turn and share what we have received with God’s people. The greater the time spent in studying the Scriptures, worshipping Him intimately, seeing Him face to face, the greater our ministry will be to others.

Table of Contents

Table Of Contents

Dedication

Ackowledgements

Forewards

Preface

Chapter 1 - The Face Of God

Chapter 2 - Exodus 33:9-11

Chapter 3 - Numbers 14:14

Chapter 4 - Genesis 32:24-30

Chapter 5 - Deuteronomy 5:1-5

Chapter 6 - Deuteronomy 34:10

Chapter 7 - Ezekiel 20:35

Chapter 8 - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Chapter 9 - Revelation 22:4

Chapter 10 - I John 3:1-3

Chapter 11 - Job 22:26, Numbers 6:22-27