Face to Face – Chuck Smith
Numbers 12:6-8
“Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. 7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?”
I love text messaging. It has got to be my favorite means of communication. I have been told that a phone call is always better, but I will do whatever I can to make a text work, even if I have to send it two or three different ways to get my point across. It is not that I am so busy that I can’t dial a person’s number, nor is it that I have a phobia of actually talking to people. Texts just get the job done. I am uniquely gifted with emoticons, and have LOL’d more times than I care to confess.
Text messaging really is symbolic of what our world has become; Quick, to the point information, just the facts, don’t bother me with your frilly emotions that will ultimately just complicate our relationship. We are now very accustomed to reading each others blogs, Facebook updates and Tweets, but we have waned in our ability to read each others hearts. The world is not as personable as it used to be even 15 years ago, and the tide does not seem to be changing.
Face to face relationships are not what they used to be. People would travel long distances to spend long hours with others and the only thing on the agenda was to communicate. My mother got a call in the 70’s from a wrong number and had a wonderful one hour conversation with the other party! This doesn’t happen anymore, though maybe it should. What is more important than relating to one another, however, is that we emphasize our need for face time (the non-Apple branded kind) with the Almighty.
Prophets love to carry the word of the Lord. It is easy as a prophetic individual to get caught up with the mechanics of visions and dreams. I have taught tons of classes on how to interpret the encoding of this Godly communication. I love dreams and visions, but if I love dreams and visions more than sitting at the feet of Jesus I have missed everything. Prophets don’t just impart an increased ability to hear God to other people, but they should also release a passion for His presence.
…does the dynamic nature of our relationship with God stir up others to seek Him with the same passion?
Moses was unique in the fact that when he spoke with God it was at a level higher than the other prophets of the day. God stated that His communication with Moses was the face to face, the communication of friends, the type of interaction that you have to pull yourself away from. What culture are we creating, prophets? Are we just teaching people what a bird might mean in dream language? Or does the dynamic nature of our relationship with God stir up others to seek Him with the same passion?
Prophets carry the word of the Lord, they carry the burden of the Lord, but unless they walk in the presence of the Lord they will not be releasing to the church and the world what they could be. When a prophet walks into a place, the atmosphere should change and become charged with spiritual potential. Shifts in the spiritual environment should occur when the prophet opens his or her mouth, but not simply because they are operating in a gift, but because they have an anointing on their life that has come with authentic time with Jesus.
God defended Moses and in doing so referenced this face to face communication. God guards over and protects those who live close to Him. Read Psalm 91; It’s those hidden under the shadow of His wing that avoid the snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence. Prophets who fight a sense of rejection would do well to remember that they can always come under the protective wing of God. Jesus promised us trials, but I believe we face added troubles when we wander from the wing. Moses was guarded by God, he did not have to live a guarded lifestyle of self protection like so many prophetic individuals walk in today.
…prophesying can become a watered down activity if it lacks the presence of God.
I love prophetic classes. I am fascinated with the nuts and bolts of the prophetic ministry. Let’s never forget, however, that all of this prophesying can become a watered down activity if it lacks the presence of God. It can become filled too much with man’s thoughts and less of God’s words. Let’s renew our time in the secret place of His presence. God is not only raising up a company of prophets in this day, but a company of prophetic revivalists who know their God!