Heart Tracks - Maranatha!

"Then Moses had one more request, 'Please let me see Your glorious Presence,' he said." Exodus 33:18....."Christ will be coming back for a Church that looks like Him. His return has nothing to do with how big the Church is, but how big He is in His Church." James Robison

I've been thinking a lot of late on Moses heartcry to the Father in the above Scripture. I call it a heartcry because that is exactly what it is. It was not just one of many desires. It was not a request to have his curiosity satisfied as to what the Father actually looked like. It was a singular, overwhelming desire to see Him, and to see His glory. No other desire in his life could compare with that longing to behold Him. The question that arises in my spirit is, what would my life, and the Church of which I am a part of, look like, be, if such a cry were really present in my heart? In the heart of His Church?

The prayers that emanate from the heart of the western Church must surely grieve the heart of God. We bombard His throne with petitions that more often than not have ourselves as the main benefactor. Comfort, prosperity, success. These are words that, if not actually on our lips, are certainly in our hearts. If we're in trouble, we want His assistance in getting us out of it. If there is physical, emotional, financial, even spiritual need, we want Him to meet it, and sooner rather than later. "Now" would be best. Rarely do we ask Him to reveal Himself to us in the trouble or the need. Even more rarely do we seek for Him to glorify Himself in and through the situation we face. We just want it taken care of, so we can get back to what life is really all about....ourselves. That may sound very harsh, but the challenge for all of us is that we take the time to look at our prayer lives and "see" if "me" isn't the main subject and benefactor in all of it.

I return to that question asked above. What would be the result if we simply came before Him, broken, surrendered, His, and the cry of our hearts and lives is that we might behold Him? I have written in my prayer journal that "in beholding, we become." This is the only pathway to a truly transformed life. The heart that yearns to see Him, will. If there are "veils" over our hearts, they will fall away, and we will "see" Him with the eyes of our heart. And we will never be the same again. The Father longs for such prayers from you and I. Are we offering them up to Him? Or do we continue to see Him as "the Kingdom caterer," bound to satisfy our every desire. Desires that never seem to include Him.

There is so much talk today of His return. Yet His Word is clear. He will be returning for a "glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle." The Church in which the Father sees the fullness of His Son. Do any of us think, at least here in the west, that we are such a Church? Robison said that one day, hopefully soon, the Father, in His throne room, will turn to Jesus and say, "My Son, look at them. They look like You. It is time." Paul wrote of a Church that "longed for His appearing." I want to be part of that Church. A Church where the flesh has no part. Where the "me" is not seen. Only Christ. First, last, and always, Christ. Lord, may we behold Your glory. Maranatha, Lord! Come quickly.

Blessings,
Pastor O