Face to face with God by Deon Crafford

1 Cor 3:16-18 (The Message) Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

One thing that the Covid-19 pandemic established as a part of our lives, is the rise of virtual or on-line meetings. For close on two years at least people shunned meeting face-to-face with others in the confines of meeting rooms, halls and other gathering places. Even today we’ve adopted virtual prayer meetings as a way to allow more people to attend such meetings, in and amongst the challenges of parenting, traffic and other daily chores. Most would attest though that “online meetings” are just not the real thing, in that it becomes difficult to read the attention and emotion of others. Most would attest of not always being as attentive online as they would in face-to-face meetings. And perhaps we sometimes approach prayer as an online meeting with God – knowing He is there on the other side, but engaging him amongst other busyness things. Do we then truly understand the incredible privilege of prayer? Do we understand that the living personal presence of Him to whom there are no limits, is here with me right now when I endeavor to pray? If our meeting with Him was face-to-face, would I approach praying as shallow and glibly as I do? Because the truth is, there is no virtual or online to God. He is here with me, in full, right now. Think about that before you open your mouth or thoughts in prayer.

Love to all

DC