Face Up

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith. It discusses the concept of countenance and how it reflects who we truly are. It emphasizes the importance of having Jesus' countenance and the transformation that occurs when we accept Him. The Word of God is highlighted as the means to change our countenance and experience victory in Christ. It concludes with a reminder of God's unconditional love for us. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Psalm 42.11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall still praise Him, the saving help of my countenance and my God. Look at me when I'm talking to you. Make sure you face the class. Look up. Attentive listening includes keeping or at least making regular eye contact. It's a sign of respect. It's a sign of a domineering personality to demand it. It means they're listening. It means they've checked out. Opinions are divided. Everyone has decent reasons to back up their opinions. This is the modern take on the face. All these things, we hear them all the time and dozens more. This is what countenance means to the world today. But there is so much more to countenance than the rules of communication. It's a look, an expression, mental composure, a bearing that provides moral support. It is your aspect or your semblance, that summing up of your outward appearance. It's your bearing, your demeanor. And it is the body language you give that means you are extending approval or toleration to something. As in, you're sanctioning the behavior that is occurring near you. It is the whole unconscious package that is projecting an image of who you are to the world. You know who knows about countenance? Publicists. The ones paid to control the star's image, their public face. Some do such a good job that when facts about the lives of the stars hit the news, the public is shocked. The ideal countenance will match public and private. A decent countenance will be curated, but still reflect in public the basic values of one's private life. And a sadly typical countenance gives a completely different person in public and in private. We are ideal people when we're at church. Singing songs, smiling, friendly, kind. But we were screaming at the kids to get ready and get in the vehicle and shut up and behave in order to get to church. We're swearing on the phone about that thing at work after church. We're fighting with our neighbors or trashing fellow churchgoers on the way home. The parents we are on Sunday aren't always the parents our kids see on Monday. We're at work through the week and none of our co-workers know we're believers. Our countenance often tells a story we don't want to be writing. Jesus had a countenance. The Pharisees didn't pay attention to it. They stomped him and demanded to know if he truly was the Messiah or not. Jesus answered them, I told you and you don't believe the works that I do in my Father's name. These testify about me. John 10.25 His countenance spoke for him. They were mad that he called himself the Son of God. In his answer to them he said this, If I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe in me. But if I do them, though you don't believe in me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in the Father. John 10.37-38 His countenance spoke for him. It was his witness. Our countenance should be our witness. But so often it isn't. Or it witnesses what we don't want it to say. The solution to this is simple. We need to change our countenance. Which is, on our own, impossible. We can tweak it. We can polish a facet here or there. But there in the center is always that which we often want to hide. What is in our hearts shines out. What comes out of our mouth comes from our heart. Matthew 12.34 and Mark 7.21-23 What is in us is the foundation of our actions. Whether we want them to be or not. Romans 7.15-23 It's the same path that temptation takes. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. James 1.14-15 That doesn't sound too good for us, huh? James goes on because God doesn't leave us there. Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow. Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. James 1.16-21 It is the Word that changes us, that works on our countenance to truly change what is in our hearts. Jesus was the Word, and the Word is Jesus. John 1.1-3 and 1.14 In Hebrew, the word for countenance is faith, which is more often like a presence when it refers to God. In Greek, it is more the idea of looking away from everything else to focus on one thing with intent. In Aramaic, it is about being transparent, like two people choosing to be so open to one another that they have open hearts and no secrets. Countenance, then, is the concept of two people facing each other, looking eye to eye, focusing intently on each other, totally transparent, right down into our hearts. The great Old Testament blessing on the people of Israel by the Lord in Numbers 6.24-26 is this. Yahweh bless you and keep you. Yahweh make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up His face toward you and give you peace. The very act of the Lord turning His face to us gives us peace, which drives out fear. And you think about that. He looks on us face to face. Wait, face to face? Exodus 33.20, He said, You cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live. Then how can we manage to handle His countenance? Why would He give a blessing that no one in the nation can experience? Why would He give a blessing that no one can experience? Well, because everything is about Jesus. That's why. In Jesus we can see the Father. Jesus said that if you've seen Him, you've seen the Father, that the Father and Jesus are one. That's John 14.9-11. The words that say that the Father and Jesus are one don't mean one person, but one entity, one thing. Jesus is the part of God we can touch. Jesus is the part of God we can see. We can look at Jesus face to face, eye to eye, intently, with nothing kept secret, open hearts, total transparency. He sees into the depths of us, and we see into the depths of the Father. Paul talks about that in Ephesians. In fact, he prayed that we experience this. He prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and made Him to sit at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. Ephesians 1, 17-21. And that wasn't enough. He also prayed that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, that you may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3, 16-19. We can have this as a reality because we can see Jesus' countenance. More than that, we can have Jesus' countenance. When we are saved, we are given by grace through faith Jesus' Spirit. His righteous Spirit is ours. We are remade, recreated, and reborn. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the Word to Himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses and having committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ. As though God were entreating by us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5, 17-21 Now, it's easy to give up. It's easy to say that we lose. It's easy to say that we're supposed to be downtrodden and broken down and dust-eaters. But we are the righteousness of God in Jesus. He was an overcomer. He was not downtrodden. He was not the tail. He was not poor. He was not lost. He was not a failure. They couldn't even kill Him. They tried on their own power several times. They tried to throw Him off a cliff. They tried to stone Him at least twice. They tried to arrest Him at least once. None of it worked. They couldn't do it. They wanted to kill Him, but it was impossible. But Jesus chose to die. He laid down His own life on His own. Therefore, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father, John 10, 17-18. He died for us. He rose again from the dead, resurrected by the Father. In Jesus, through baptism, we symbolize our dying to ourself and our being resurrected into Him. In Him we have victory. In Him we are winners. In Him we are rich. In Him we have all we need. In Him we cannot be killed. We cannot be touched unless we choose to lay down our lives in His name, to give up ourselves and operate in the kingdom as He leads. Because He told us people will come to persecute us in His name because we hold to His name. We have the choice to fall before that pressure and give up, or to hold to our faith and be persecuted, maybe even killed. That isn't losing. That is overcoming. Now, the world won't think so. They'll think they won, but they haven't, they don't, and they can't. We overcome because we are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us, and He is the overcomer over the circumstance, over the persecution, not in it, over it. It works with our Christian walk. It also works with our countenance. We are the righteousness of God in Christ by choice, because we have accepted Jesus and we abide in Him, John 15. But we need the Word to complete the transaction, because the Word is the cleaner, the renewer, the doer of the work. Our part is study. The part of the Word is renewal, restoration, and polishing, molding us into Jesus, making less of us and more of Him, 1 Corinthians 6.11 and John 3.30, making our countenance into Jesus' countenance, because it will be Jesus in our hearts, the Word in our hearts, and this is what will shine out toward everyone around us, our saving grace, Jesus in us, having died for us, having paid for sin, having been resurrected, having restored our relationship with the Father, having given us His Holy Spirit for teaching, correction, and fellowship, Him in us, our salvation. If we put our eyes on the world around us, we will have problems. If we put our eyes on our circumstances, we will have problems. If we put our eyes on ourselves, we will have problems. If we put our eyes on a piece of ourselves, a feeling or an experience, and make it who we are, we will have problems. These are the waves that are rising around us. These are the winds that are blowing around us. These are the storm that is fierce and terrible around us. If we put our eyes on them, we will not have our eyes where they belong, and we will sink. But if we engage in countenance with Jesus, we will have our eyes on Him. We will be looking to Him for what we need. We will be looking to Him for our victory. We will be looking to Him for our relief. We will be looking to Him for our everything. When we do, we are saved. How can we despair? He is hope. How can we be discouraged? He is victory. We can hope in Him. His eyes into our eyes, His heart into our heart, open together one to another. The encouragement and saving grace of Him open to us, flooding into our heart, giving us peace, simply by looking at us with intent. Jesus is our hope. He is our salvation. He is our new self. He is our help. We need to get into the Word so that we get a better picture of who He is. When we have a better picture of who He is, we get a cleaner picture and clearer picture of who we are in Him. We are the righteousness of God in Jesus. Apart from Him, we are fruitless, a dried-up branch. In Him, we are vibrant and dripping with fruit. We are His witness. We are His peace. We are Him, and He is us. Examine your own selves, whether you were in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don't you know about your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, indeed, you are disqualified. But I hope you will know that we are not disqualified. 2 Corinthians 13, 5-6 We are not disqualified. We are the righteousness of God in Jesus. He became sin so that we can become righteous. Praise the Lord for this. Study the word of Jesus. Learn who you are in Him. See the victory you can experience regardless of where your body is walking. We will have peace. We will have victory. We will stand before the Father, seeing Him through Jesus' countenance, eye to eye, face to face. Praise the Lord. Don't stop. Do it every day. Believe it. Receive it. Don't fear. Be in His peace. Our daily affirmation of God's love is 2 Corinthians 4, 5-7. How is your light line? How is your revelation? God Himself said that light will shine in darkness, not just in the skies above us, created lights to illuminate this earth, but in us and in our world in a spiritual sense. Every morning is an evidence that His word is true. Every morning is proof that His promise stands. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus. When we countenance with Him, we will be facing each other, looking eye to eye, focusing intently on each other, totally transparent right down into our hearts. Is He being reflected back? Are you taking into yourself the full light of the knowledge of the glory of God? You're allowed to. Don't believe that you can't know it. Don't believe the depth of Jesus' love for us is unknowable. Don't believe it is beyond your grasp. It is in Jesus' face. It is in Jesus' heart. It is shining at us, and we can contain it, not able to take it all in, but to take it in until we are full up and then letting it shine out of us as it seeks the next vessel, until we are joined one to another like parts of a body, a network of shining vessels, His word and His work bursting forth out of our hearts, through our faces, out into the world in an unstoppable flood, light shining in the darkness, like so pure, disease dies, sickness flees, body restores, finances build, and witness is given. Be a servant, but be a servant who countenances with His Lord. As we close, remember that you have earth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent His only-born Son into the world that we might live through Him. And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin, and it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.