The Smile that Counts

UV 2757/10000 When He Smiles On Us
If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
Job 29 v 24
The face of the Lord is our light. Jesus, the Lamb of God is the lamp that lights up our lives. When His glorious face shines upon us, it is a sign of irreversible favour. When His face shines on us, the Shekinah or indwelling glory of the Lord arises on us like the morning sun. The phrase, the glory of God is an abbreviation or short hand for all the ways the Lord manifests His love to those who are in a love relationship with Him. The sun shines upon us while Jesus shines from within us. He is the Sun of righteousness in whose rays shining through us rather than falling on us -we find strength, healing and deliverance. He revels in doing an internal work in us. He causes us to go from strength to strength and joy to joy. After each experience of His love and grace, we can rejoice. He ignites our minds and hearts with His love and grace. Though ignited, we will not be consumed like the burning bush that Moses saw on Mount Sinai. To the unrepentant and unbelieving, He is a consuming fire while to the repentant and believing, He is an illuminating, liberating, empowering light. To the persecutor Saul, He appeared as a blinding light. But once the apostle Paul had the light of the truth of Jesus turned on in his heart and mind through his Holy Spirit guided personal study of the Word, the light of Jesus set him free from the shackles of blind tradition and literally from shackles that tied him down in the prison cell.
When we please the Lord by making our bodies a living sacrifice to Him, a living tabernacle, a mobile temple of residence of His indwelling Spirit and conform to the patterns of the Word and not of the world, He smiles on us. The extent of our faith and love causes the Lord to smile. When we mess up, He smiles at us like an indulgent parent. When we do things right, He smiles on us. When He smiles on us, His manifold blessings come upon us, His protective cover surrounds us and His power dissipates those forces that attempt to oppose or oppress us. When He smiles on us, unfavourable circumstances will turn favourable. We need to regard His presence and His smile precious to us. We must not treat lightly the favour of the Lord or take it for granted or reject it.
The light of His face will dispel darkness. When the Lord smiles on us, our enemies are disarmed. They will be alarmed at the radiance on our face. It is the light of victory for the light will always overcome the darkness and the darkness however gross cannot overcome the light. Darkness has no part with light and light has no part with darkness. He fills our lives to the point of overflowing with love, faith and hope. People will be blessed with the overflow from our lives like Joseph’s brothers were blessed by the fruitfulness that stemmed from the grace of God manifested in his life.
Prateep V Philip