There has been a verse… or should I say, ‘scene,’ in the bible that has captured my heart over the last few days.
I believe it adequately paints with words what it is that the Lord has been speaking to me about over the last few weeks regarding the importance of what we choose to give our attention and focus to in this season.
The verse is this: “And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15).
The ‘him’ in this verse is Stephen — a man the bible says was filled with faith, grace, power, and the Holy Spirit (see Acts 6:5, 8).
That’s a pretty good resume.
Now here’s what I find to be so captivating: the council beheld in his countenance who it was that he beheld.
Your face is a mirror.
Your countenance reflects to others what you yourself have been gazing upon.
I can’t help but to read and reflect on that above verse and yearn for what Stephen possessed — both internally and externally.
What he was filled with was mirrored through his appearance.
That which was in him was seen outside of him.
And everyone who looked upon him had a personal, public experience with what it was he gave himself to in private.
One way or another, we are always changed by what we gaze upon.
2 Corinthians 3:18 reaffirms this by saying, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
The reason why our face is to be unveiled is so that others may see in our face the face we look upon.
And it’s the face of Jesus made known by the Spirit that transforms us into His image.
This again reaffirms to me why it is the Holy Spirit is the church’s greatest need.
If you don’t believe me, read the above verse again.
In fact, the verse before the above verse states that the Lord is the Spirit… (see 2 Corinthians 3:17).
In other words, when you put these two verses in context, we quickly take note of the fact that the glory of the Lord is our face to face encounter with the Holy Spirit.
And it’s that encounter that produces change within that is then noticeable without.
We gaze upon whatever it is that the Holy Spirit reveals by way of revelation and He’s the one that transforms us.
He’s the one that causes us to look more like Jesus.
He makes our face to shine.
Revisiting what I have written in the last bog, Matthew 6:22-23 reminds us that what we choose to look at determines the light that fills us.
If we choose for our eye to be clear… to be single… to gaze upon one thing and one thing alone, our body will be flooded with light.
And I believe that what floods your body will be seen on your face.
If you are filled with light, your face will shine.
Stephen was a man filled with the Holy Spirit and I believe he was a man whose eye was signally placed upon Jesus.
That’s why his face was like the face of an angel.
The angels consistently behold the glory of the Lord and I believe they carry the essence of the One they look upon.
But if we choose to look at everything else in the world… if we choose to look at the light of negativity, the light of what we disagree with, the light of what frustrates us, etc., then the light that is within us will be darkness.
Whatever we look at… whatever we focus on will be reflected in our life.
Now more than ever, the world needs to see Jesus.
It needs to behold the faces of those that have chosen to make the face of Jesus their desire.
I don’t want to reflect the wrong the devil is seeking to distract so many with at this time.
Because the truth is if our countenance doesn’t radiate with His likeness, we might as well veil our faces.
The world doesn’t need to see in us what it sees in itself.
Now more than ever, I want to cherish the person of the Holy Spirit.
I want Him to reveal Jesus in me and through me.
I want my face to reflect the face of the One that transforms me.
- Brian Connolly, Faith Like Birds Ministries
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