Behold The Living God

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Cor 3:18

To behold the Lord is to be changed. No one can sit at the feet of the Almighty and walk away as the same person. His majesty, love and goodness; his justice and perfection inspire terrifying respect and awe. To behold the Lord is to be changed. The longer we sit with him and marvel at his attributes the more we are shaped into his image. Not by our power, but by his. I want to spend time with God. As much time as possible. To see the hope, glorious inheritance and power provided to us in Christ (Eph 1:17-18). To see it with the eyes of my heart. O to find my satisfaction and joy only in him. I can see how the Psalmist rejoiced in God being his portion forever (Ps 73:26). Most times though God is just out of my grasp. I long to be with him but the time seems so fleeting that I am actually there. The other night in a study that I was involved in we talked about how we can better behold the living God. Some observations:

1. God will be found by those who seek him with all their hearts. Deut 4:29, Jer 29:13; James 4:8; 1Chron 28:9

2. God manifests himself to the obedient, those who know his commands and obey them. John 14:21, 23; Matt 5:8, Isa 59:2

3. We should ask God to commune with us because he says he will when asked. Rev 3:20, Ps 145:18

4. And this from a previous post related to John Owens Communion with a Triune God.....Two things are required of believers to commune completely with the Almighty. Communion consists of giving and receiving. First, we as believers must receive the Father's love. We receive it by believing his love for us is real, unchanging, eternal and significant. That he delights in us and that his love for us is not dependent on our living a sinless life. His love for us is dependent on who God is in his very nature. It is not dependent on who I am. (If his love was dependent on me and my actions, I could earn God's love and his glory would be diminished). To believe God's love is dependent on our actions is to diminish God's magnificent mercy and grace and is a manifestation of unbelief. We must receive God's love for us if we are to commune with him. Link. We can approach his thrown with confidence to receive mercy and grace (Heb 4:15).

5. All this—ALL THIS—emanates directly from the cross where Christ’s glorious, finished work of substitutionary atonement is all-sufficient for my needs as a sinner (1 Peter 3:18). Added by my brother BB.

To truly experience consciously the living God in reality; to know him personally and closely is my desire. O Lord help me to know you. Show me your glory. Send down your presence. I want to see your face.