In talking with Pastor Robert this last week, I found out you guys have been doing a study on the presence of the Lord.

And of course he said I could talk about whatever is in my heart, which I always appreciate.

But there's nothing that stirs me more than the privilege

of being able to talk to people about the presence.

And one of the interesting things in scripture about the presence of God is whenever in the Old Testament and oftentimes in the new

when the presence of the Lord is mentioned the word for presence is actually face.

If you know anything about the subject of the face of God in scripture, it is the sign of God's favor.

So when his face shines upon you, if you remember the prayer, the priestly blessing that Aaron was to give over Israel every day.

Part of that blessing was the shining face of God the father over his children.

Years ago I wrote a book on the face-to-face with God and when I was doing

writing that book somebody came to me and they said they've found that

there's a joy center in the brain that is actually trained and activated by the countenance of caregivers.

So the mom did that, I mean you're holding an infant, you make faces and say things you would never say to another human being, you know, noises and stuff.

And there's something in that process that actually activates joy in that child.

And if you think about it, it's the shining face of the face. in that

teaches us real joy as well.

It's knowing that we are accepted and not just accepted,

but celebrated by a perfect father.

So when we talk about the presence of God,

we're actually talking about the shining face

of a perfect father aimed directly at you.

I remember a number of years ago I made a discovery so I announced it every week to our church for quite a while that God is in a good

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