Remaining in the Shining of God’s Face in His Word to be Infused and Glow with God

This week I have been appreciating the rich function of the word of God toward those who love Him. If we love the Lord and seek Him in love when we come to His word, we enjoy the blessing of having the divine light becoming life, we are watered by God and we absorb God, we inhale God and breathe God in through His word, and we enjoy God Himself as our portion.

Many people may ask us to show God to them, but it is the Word of God who contains the element of God if we come to it in a proper way. May the Lord make us His loving seekers, those who have a pure heart toward the Lord, seek to know Him, and exercise their spirit when they come to the word of God, so that we may enjoy all the rich blessings coming from the function of the word of God.

May the Word of God be light becoming life to regenerate us and increase the measure of the divine life in us, water us and cause us to absorb God with all His unsearchable riches, be the breath of God as the life-giving Spirit in His word, and make God our portion and our everything.

Today we want to see how through the function of the word of God we as God’s loving seekers receive the blessing of enjoying God’s countenance and the shining of His face. How wonderful it is that we don’t only get the fresh supply of God through His word but we also have God’s countenance and the shining of His face upon us!

Whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we can behold the Lord face to face, with no obstruction, so that we may be transformed into the same image – even as from the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:16, 18). The Lord desires that we as His loving seekers would return to Him and behold Him with a pure heart, and our living will be one of enjoying His countenance and the shining of His face.

Lovingly Seeking God in a Personal Way and Asking for the Shining of His Face

In the psalms we see how the psalmists loved God and lovingly sought Him in a deeply personal and intimate way; they didn’t just praise God or admired His amazing work but loved God, sought Him in love in a personal way, asked for the shining of His face, and sought the help of His countenance (Psa. 42:5; 80:3).

Like the Psalmists, we need to entreat God’s face with our whole heart (Psa. 119:5), seek the Lord’s face continually (Psa. 105:4), and praise God for the salvation of His countenance (Psa. 42:5).

Just as children want to see their mother’s face and gaze in her eyes, knowing that when they have their mother everything is alright, so we want to have the Lord’s face (His presence) and gaze at His countenance so that we may be saved and enjoy Him.

We need to seek the Lord in an intimate way, entreating His countenance for whatever we need. The Lord is so real, present, and practical to us in His word as we lovingly seek Him, and we can seek the help of His countenance.

The countenance of the Triune God is our salvation. When God causes His face to shine on us, we will be saved (Psa. 80:3). We all should begin our day with beholding the Lord face to face in His living word, and we should stay the whole day in this union with Him by beholding and reflecting Him and by being one with Him.

When we have an unveiled face by dealing with anything that would hinder us from seeing the Lord, we will behold the Lord face to face in His word, and we will reflect Him – we will shine Him out; this causes us to inwardly be transformed as we enjoy the shining of His face and the salvation of His countenance. May we be those who lovingly seek the Lord in a personal way, behold Him face to face every day, live in His countenance, and ask for the shining of His face!

Lord Jesus, we want to seek You in a personal and intimate way in Your word. Unveil us and purify our heart as we come to Your living word. Lord, cause Your face to shine on us, and save us by Your countenance. Your countenance is our salvation: we just want to see You face to face so that we may behold You to reflect You. Lord, infuse us with the shining of Your face until we are inwardly transformed into the same image as You, even as from the Lord Spirit! Dear Lord Jesus, we seek the help of Your countenance and we ask for the shining of Your face!

Remaining in the Shining of God’s Face in His Word to be Infused and Glow with God

In Num. 6:25-26 we see that the priests blessed the people with the Lord’s shining face and with the lifting up of His countenance upon them. These verses say, Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

The threefold blessing in Num. 6:24-26 refers to the blessing of the Trinity – the blessing of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In particular, the face (in v. 25) denotes the presence of the person, and the countenance denotes the expression of the person. We need the Lord to lift up His countenance by confirming us, assuring us, promising us, and giving everything to us.

Christ came as the face of God (the expression of God; in Christ’s face the glory of God shines), and the Holy Spirit comes as the countenance of God (see Eph. 4:30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit). Because we have the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the face of God, and because we have the Spirit, we have the countenance of God. When the Triune God is dispensed into us, we have His face and His countenance, and we have grace and peace.

However, there’s a difference between having the person of someone (his presence) and having his pleasant countenance (the expression of his face). We need not only to have the Lord Jesus inside of us as the face, the presence of God, but we also need to have God’s countenance lifted upon us by not grieving the Spirit of God. When the processed and consummated Triune God is dispensed into us through the function of the Word, we have the face of God and also His countenance (see 2 Cor. 13:14; 4:6).

Paul was one who lived in God’s countenance, and even when he was a prisoner on a ship going toward Rome and passing through a storm, he was able to tell the others, Cheer up, men, none of you will lose your life (Acts 27). Paul’s living was Jesus living again on earth in His divinely enriched humanity because he was enjoying the blessing of the shining of God’s face.

If we are faithful in contacting the Lord through the Word, we will experience the shining of His face, and His countenance will be lifted up (2 Cor. 3:16, 18). To enjoy the shining of the Lord’s face is richer and more satisfying than simply experiencing His presence.

We need to be faithful to contact the Lord through the word every day, starting in the morning, and we will experience the shining of His face; then, our desire will be to remain under this pleasant, delightful shining. This will bring us into an intimate relationship with the Lord, and we will experience and enjoy God in a real, present, and practical way.

When others ask us about God, we will just testify of our enjoyment of Him, and we will not try to “convince them that God is real”; rather, we will simply find it difficult to deny that He exists because God Himself affords us the most supreme enjoyment!

We need to be like Moses who went up on the mountain and beheld God with an unveiled face; he was under the shining of the face of God on the mountaintop, and he was infused with God until he was glowing with God. Our desire should be that, through the Word, we would remain under this pleasant and delightful shining, staying with God, being infused with God, and glowing with God (Exo. 34:39; 2 Cor. 3:18).

Stephen was one who was so much under God’s shining face that even when he was stoned to death he saw the smiling face of the Lord Jesus. We need to enjoy God in His word as His loving seekers, desiring to be under the shining of His face and remaining under this delightful shining to be infused with God until we glow with God. Being infused with God by being under the shining of His face will make us the genuine expression of God since we will be glowing with God!

Lord Jesus, cause Your face to shine upon us. Lord, we long to enjoy Your shining countenance. We want to contact You through Your word as Your loving seekers so that we may come into and remain in this pleasant, delightful shining of Your face. Lord, we want to enjoy You and taste You so much that we find our supreme enjoyment in You as we enjoy the shining of Your face! Oh Lord, it is our desire that, through Your word, we would remain under Your shining to be infused with You until we glow with God to express God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 56-58 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 4 / msg 4, The Blessing Received by God’s loving Seekers through the function of the Word of God.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Fill all my vision, let naught of sin / Shadow the brightness shining within. / Let me see only Thy blessed face, / Feasting my soul on Thy infinite grace. (Hymns #381)
  # Take time to behold Him, gaze oft on His face, / Receiving His Person, and grace upon grace. / By His pleasant shining, infused we will be; / Our faces will glow with His light, radiantly. (Song on Beholding God’s Face)
  # Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Bathing in His countenance; / Saturated with His beauty, / Radiate His excellence. (Hymns #784)