WEDNESDAY 6TH SEPT.,2017

TOPIC: SEEKING GOD’S FACE IN PRAYER
TEXT: Numbers 6:25 “The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee..”

In prayer we speak about ‘seeking God’s face’. That means sometimes prayer is about speaking, other times it’s about listening but there’s a third ingredient. It’s the security that comes from sensing God’s smile Of love and approval. When you study the life Of Christ you realise that for Him, prayer wasn’t an energy drainer, but an energy giver and it can be the same for you when you come to see God’s face shinning upon you as you talk with him in prayer.
When you’re with a critic who wants to argue, you lose energy but when you meet with your best friend, you gain energy, and Jesus said, ‘l have called you friends’ (John 15:15). Have you ever noticed how people in love sometimes speak to each other in baby talk? Its immensely intimate and private – and its off-putting to a third party. We do it because it is the most tender language we know. Jesus’ prayer life demonstrated this intimacy. He called God ‘Abba’, an Aramaic word much like ‘dada’ or ‘mama’. (Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and some portions of the New Testament are written in Aramaic rather than Greek) ‘Abba’ was a Jewish child first word, because it was so easy to say. Somehow when Jesus was with God, the tender love that an adult offers to a child to give him strength is what He received from His Father.
You can have that same experience. It’s why Paul wrote: “You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba Father.- For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs’ . Your highest goal should be intimacy with God.

MEDITATION: Romans 8:15-17, Psalm 27:8-10

BIBLE STUDY
1 Sam. 31, 1 Cor. 11, Ezk. 9, Ps. 48