“Face to face.”
And the LORD went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.1
—Communion with God recorded in Genesis
And He gave unto Moses, when He made an end of communing with Him upon Mount Sinai, two tablets of testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.2
—A testimony of Moses
What is communion with God?
Communion with God occurs when you communicate with Him. Communication requires both the sending and receiving of a message, without both, you have a break in communication, broken communion.
My son, an early riser like myself, found me writing this morning and began talking to me. At that moment, I was in meditation with God, seeking His Word to describe communion with Him. I did not hear the words of my son because my ear was not tuned to his voice. Communication did not occur, and I did not receive his message. There are times when we talk to God when He may not be listening—He is not tuned into words spoken to Him.
How can this be so? God listens to your heart. Your spoken words may be meaningless to Him if they do not match your heart’s desire. To guide Samuel in his search for Israel’s next king, the LORD said to the prophet, “People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”3 God illustrates this when He finds doubt in the heart of Sarah whom He promises the gift of a son:
Then one of them said, “About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby. And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past he age of having children, she laughed silently to herself. “How could a worn-out woman like me have a baby?” she thought. “And when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, “That is not true. You did laugh.”4
So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.5
When we refuse to repent, the desire of our heart is to return to pleasing the flesh, rather than to seek God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We make Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and His atonement for our sins a mockery in our heart when we ask God for forgiveness under the pretense of returning to our wicked ways. “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened,”6 the psalmist admits as he lifts up his voice in prayer.
Jesus warns us against making a pretense of our prayers, praying with false intentions, when He said to the teachers of the law, “Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property, and then, to cover up the kind of people you really are, you make long prayers in public. Because of this, your punishment will be the greater.”7
Communion with God is holy and should not be considered half-heartedly. Communion with God is a time of reverence, a time to truly revere Him as God the Creator of the heavens and the earth and every living being. Communion with God should create a change in you.
His face glowed because he had spoken to the LORD face to face.8
Praise to Our Father for the words He has given me. ~Jeff Cambridge
Written July 8, 2004
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2016 Stellar Rhema Ministry, Jeff Cambridge
References
1. Genesis 18:33
2. Exodus 31:18
3. 1 Samuel 16:7
4. Genesis 18:10-15
5. Matthew 5:23-24
6. Psalm 68:18
7. Matthew 23:14
8. Exodus 34:29
My son, an early riser like myself, found me writing this morning and began talking to me. At that moment, I was in meditation with God, seeking His Word to describe communion with Him. I did not hear the words of my son because my ear was not tuned to his voice. Communication did not occur, and I did not receive his message. There are times when we talk to God when He may not be listening—He is not tuned into words spoken to Him.
How can this be so? God listens to your heart. Your spoken words may be meaningless to Him if they do not match your heart’s desire. To guide Samuel in his search for Israel’s next king, the LORD said to the prophet, “People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”3 God illustrates this when He finds doubt in the heart of Sarah whom He promises the gift of a son:
Then one of them said, “About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby. And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past he age of having children, she laughed silently to herself. “How could a worn-out woman like me have a baby?” she thought. “And when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, “That is not true. You did laugh.”4
Deceiving God is impossible.
If you are praying for someone, yet your heart harbors unforgiveness, your prayer is considered insincere. Your prayer did not come from your heart because your heart was filled with deceit.So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.5
When we refuse to repent, the desire of our heart is to return to pleasing the flesh, rather than to seek God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We make Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and His atonement for our sins a mockery in our heart when we ask God for forgiveness under the pretense of returning to our wicked ways. “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened,”6 the psalmist admits as he lifts up his voice in prayer.
Jesus warns us against making a pretense of our prayers, praying with false intentions, when He said to the teachers of the law, “Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property, and then, to cover up the kind of people you really are, you make long prayers in public. Because of this, your punishment will be the greater.”7
Communion with God is holy and should not be considered half-heartedly. Communion with God is a time of reverence, a time to truly revere Him as God the Creator of the heavens and the earth and every living being. Communion with God should create a change in you.
His face glowed because he had spoken to the LORD face to face.8
—Moses, carrying the stone tablets written by the finger of God
Praise to Our Father for the words He has given me. ~Jeff Cambridge
Written July 8, 2004
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2016 Stellar Rhema Ministry, Jeff Cambridge
References
1. Genesis 18:33
2. Exodus 31:18
3. 1 Samuel 16:7
4. Genesis 18:10-15
5. Matthew 5:23-24
6. Psalm 68:18
7. Matthew 23:14
8. Exodus 34:29
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