Years ago I read “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan and he posed this question: “When you worship and pray, do you picture God in your mind?”
That question stopped me in my tracks. Honestly I didn’t really “picture” Him because…well…I’ve never seen Him and can only imagine. But as Chan explained, picturing God deepens our worship and prayer time. “Before you say one word to God, take a minute and imagine what it would be like to stand before His throne as you pray.”
― Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
We do have Revelation 4 that describes Him a little bit:
“At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”
In Revelation 22:5 we can read of His powerful light we’ll experience in heaven:
“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.”
And in Daniel 7:
“the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.”
Picturing His glory and power give us a healthy, reverent fear of Him. Even in our awe of Him, the Bible says, “Come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
His ultimate mercy was that He sent Jesus to represent Himself…His love, forgiveness and grace were all demonstrated in Jesus. When I worship and pray, I most often picture Jesus on the cross: arms open wide, giving His life for us!
God is also described as a Father who runs toward His lost, prodigal child. He then embraces, kisses and responds with joy to hold His child in His loving arms! (Luke 15). He truly desires to have intimate relationship with us! And in Daniel 7 and in other passages Jesus is described as our victorious King:
“there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed!”
I have found that when I picture these things about God, it completely changes how I worship and pray! A. W. Tozer writes, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.… Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”
How do you picture Him? It would be so cool to hear your thoughts!
