Abide, Behold & Become
Abiding in God’s presence is not just about a physical space but a posture of the heart, where intimacy with Jesus becomes the ultimate pursuit, leading to fruitfulness in character, faith, and relationship with Him. Seeking His face is a lifelong journey, not merely a one-time encounter, as true transformation happens through continual revelation, deepening our love and trust in Him. As we behold the beauty of God, we are transformed into His likeness, crowned with His glory, and filled with His love, for falling in love with Jesus begins with seeing and knowing His love for us.
The Abide
Abiding & Dwelling
This One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may dwell (abide, remain, linger) in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
When we talk about Deeper Intimacy the next grace key is abiding in the secret place. The secret place may start off being a room where you spend some time seeking God in prayer and worship when you awaken and before you sleep (and as many other times throughout the day as you can) but graduating to the revelation that the secret place is a position your heart takes towards longing and adoring Jesus, falling more in love with Him and abiding in pouring out your affections on His feet, as Mary did with a costly fragrance all those years ago.
It’s not something that you have to do to get something back, it’s something you get to do because of what He first did for us when He came to Earth and endured the cross. It’s an affection overflow not a religious duty. Sometimes it may need to get stirred up, but we are not trying to get Gods attention or earn anything or try to qualify our callings like we are being selected on our merits. It’s something we do simply because He is our favorite one to be with and His house is our favorite place to be. Not a building on the Earth but the place in your heart where you are standing before Him worshipping and pouring out all your love. “Who is there like the Lord?”
John 15 reveals Jesus as the True Vine and ourselves as branches. It is those who abide that bear much fruit. No tree was able to ever give food, shade or bear leaf unless it stays planted. Nor can we. The three types of fruit are character fruits (love, peace, patience) progenial fruits (sons and daughters of the faith) and intimacy fruits (hope, faith, trust, encounters, revelations, miracles etc)
The thing about abiding in the Word and cultivating your affection for Jesus is that you know Truth and all your desires are granted.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14:20b-21
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:7-8
The One in whom is all your delight, grants the desires of your Heart, more of Him.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper. Ps 1:2-3
The measure of true prosperity is found in the depth of your intimacy with God; falling more in love with Jesus and knowing him more intimately. As your trust with Him deepens, He entrusts you with His wealth.
Beholding Beauty
Seek My Face
This One thing I have desire of Yahweh, that I will seek. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of YHWH… Psalms 24:7
The actively and passionately hungering and longing for the Lord, and the abiding of that position is unto beholding His Beauty. To see His Face
Are you hungry to see God? I meet many people who have seen Jesus or met with the Almighty. I personally haven’t been there, either in the Spirit or had a vision of Him. After I entered the ministry, the Lord asked me to pray for 3 years. My expectation was that I would see His Face at the end of those 3 years. To have an encounter with Him where He would commission me to do what He wants me to do, and I would be prepared and know what to do or where to go. The truth is it never came like I was expecting, however after sitting with Jesus for three years I did get to know Him more intimately – deeper. He was revealing Himself to me the whole time in small ways, words and leadings. If the point of seeing His Face was so that I would know Him more intimately, then I definitely got that. Whereas if I had finally seen His face and ‘ticked that box’ then I would have probably moved on to the next task and missed the deepening knowing.
(But I must interrupt this because although this has been an 18 year ‘seek’, whilst preparing this writing I had a kind of vision, more like a saw an outline of Jesus crucified. I couldn’t tell it was Him by recognition as it appeared like it was nighttime and without detail. I instinctively knew it was Jesus. But what was highlighted in that moment (which lasted 5-10 seconds) was the crown of thorns He wore as his head hung on that cross. What I realized as I looked at that crown was that He wore that so we could be crowned with His glory. We can sense and have the hope, peace and presence of God that fills our hearts (by faith but felt in various moments) because He took the punishment for what kept us from having that – our sins and the sinful nature we inherited at birth as sons of Adam (however, back to the narrative)
The point of seeking His Face is the journey and not the destination. It is about the continual revelation of Himself to us, not the one-time event. The Bible says that a man looks in a mirror and then walks away and forgets what he sees (James 1:23-24). The point of the encounter might be partially the commission but also in the hope of a deep transformation. Although I believe that if we were to truly see God’s Face it would not be easily forgotten, it does not necessarily mean that we would know Him more intimately, be more like Him or walk closer with Him. I walk past people every day and see their faces, and even recognize some, but I don’t know them. It’s about the revelation of Him, the transformation like Him in the “seeing” of Him – it’s more about the ‘being’ with Him unto the knowing of Him. Seeing Jesus happens by faith for most of us, but as He reveals more about Himself our faith is deepened and we become increasingly intertwined with Him. This is how we get to know Him.
Beholding His Beauty is more than seeking His Face, the seeking is where we start out and He is always found by those who search and opens to those who knock. As we seek, we will get to a place where we now see His Beauty (by faith) in the light of the trillions of galaxies (most of which have centibillions of stars) or the love displayed at Calvary or the beauty of a flower or the kindness of a stranger.
Becoming Beautiful
Beholding & Becoming
This could probably go in the lifestyle section, but after the deep dive into beholding it needs to be said that we become what we behold. 2 Cor 3:18 tells us that:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
This verse is such a beautiful promise, that as we behold the love and beauty of God, we become the beauty and love of God. Beholding His glory releases His glory into our hearts. We are crowned with Glory as we behold the King of Glory, who was crowned with thorns so that we could be His glorious vessels. Becoming Christlike happens by the Holy Spirit in the beholding. There is a beholding in the Word of truth, through the scriptures and there is a beholding in the Spirit through worship and prayer. Both take faith and and are fuelled by desire and abiding as discussed earlier.
Falling in love with Jesus can only happen as we behold His love.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us - 1 John 1:1