The Presence of God Pt 3: Dying to Self and Seeing the Face of God

To see the face of God, you must first die to self — because only the dead in Christ can recognize the God who brought them to life.

The presence of God is not the anointing and it is not the Holy Spirit. It is the face of God Himself — and it is possible to see it. Access to the face of God requires dying to self, receiving the life of Christ, and recognizing the invisible God through the men and women He sends.

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Teaching Overview

1. To see the face of God, you must first die — because only a person who has died to self and risen in Christ can receive eternal life and enter into oneness with God.
2. The presence of God is distinct from the Holy Spirit and the anointing — it is the face of God Himself, and it transforms those who encounter it from seekers of temporary things to those oriented toward eternal realities.
3. Man can never see the invisible God without man — access to the face of God comes through honoring and following the men and women God sends, because God always identifies Himself as the God of your fathers.
4. Humility is the primary evidence of death to self — it cannot be prayed for or rebuked into existence; it is a revelation that there is more of God to receive.
5. Working with God and walking with the presence of God are different realities — and only those who have truly died to self can discern and value the difference.

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Key Distinctions

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The Presence of God Is Not What Most Believers Think

• The presence of God is His face — it is distinct from the Holy Spirit and distinct from the anointing, even though all three are extensions of God.
• God can anoint someone and simultaneously hide His face from them — a person can operate in spiritual gifts while God's face is turned away.
• Where the face of God is shining, people are not merely drawn to miracles or deliverance — their hearts are turned to eternal things.

"God can anoint somebody, but turn his face from you. Hide his face from you."

Death Is the Prerequisite for Seeing God's Face

• The number one requirement for seeing the face of God is death — no one can see God while still living as a natural person.
• When God removed Moses from the category of men — declaring him God to Pharaoh and making Aaron his prophet — Moses could see God because he was no longer classified as a man.
• To die is to return to the dust from which humanity came — it is the posture of absolute lowliness before God.

"The only way you can see the face of God is you have to die first."

Receiving the Life of Christ vs. Keeping Your Own Life

• No one gives their life to God — God gives His life to the believer; receiving the life of Christ is the correct understanding of salvation.
• The life of God is eternal: He does not die, He does not pass away, and therefore one who carries His life cannot die or be bound by a past.
• The central problem is that most believers receive the life of Christ but simultaneously keep their own life — they live with both, and this prevents them from seeing God.

"When He puts Himself inside of you, He does not die so you cannot die. He does not pass away so you cannot pass away."

God's Deepest Desire: Oneness With His People

• The true Lord's Prayer is not Matthew 6 — that was the prayer Jesus taught His disciples; His own prayer is recorded in John 17, where He asked the Father that His people would become one with God as He and the Father are one.
• It is impossible to be one with someone whose face you have never seen — oneness requires moving beyond knowing about God to knowing God.
• God wants His people to move from partial glimpses of who He is into full revelation — seeing His face, knowing His attributes, entering into complete union.

"The mind of the heart of God is that you and him become one. You can never be one with somebody that you have never seen their face."

Man Can Only See the Invisible God Through Man

• The invisible God is made visible through man — this is why God became flesh in the person of Jesus, and why He always identifies Himself to Israel as the God of their fathers.
• A person who has truly died to self and been raised in Christ will recognize God when they encounter a man or woman who carries Him — just as David recognized the anointing on Saul even when others could not.
• The Hebrew term translated "man of God" is, in its root meaning, "God man" — this is why Jesus stood before the Pharisees and declared, "Is it not written that you are gods?"

"Man can never see God without man. Man can never see God without man. Man can never see God without man."

Honoring the Fathers Who Carry the Presence

• The mountain of God is not accessible to everyone — just as no Israelite could ascend Sinai without dying, there are spiritual heights that only those called as fathers can reach.
• Jesus consistently brought only three apostles into the deepest spiritual moments — the Transfiguration, Gethsemane, the raising of Jairus' daughter — because not everyone had the capacity to see who He truly was.
• Miriam's leprosy in Numbers 12 is the scriptural record of what happens when a person dishonors a man who carries the face of God — and the same principle operates today.

"I am the God of your fathers. Meaning the access they had to the face of God was their fathers."

Humility and Honor Are the Marks of the Dead

• A person who has truly died to self becomes a carrier of honor — because they have understood that the life now flowing through them is God's life, and it requires a posture of humility to keep flowing.
• Humility is not produced by prayer and pride is not removed by rebuking — both are realizations that there is still more of God to receive.
• The natural instinct of the uncrucified self is to seek attention; dying to self is learning to give others attention so that God can give you His.

"The number one symbol of death is humility."

"You cannot rebuke pride and you cannot pray for honour."

Believing the One God Sends

• The work of God, according to Jesus in John 6:29, is to believe in the one He has sent — faith in Jesus is primary, but believing in Jesus requires also believing the ones He sends.
• Second Chronicles 20:20 establishes the principle: believe God and be established; believe His prophet and you will prosper.
• A person who has not died to self will never recognize the value of their pastor, their prophet, their teacher, or their evangelist — and will forfeit the access to God's face that those servants carry.

"If you believe Jesus, you have to believe the ones He sent."

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Key Definitions

The Presence of God — The face of God Himself — distinct from the Holy Spirit and the anointing, both of which are extensions of God but are not His face.

Dying to Self — The process of surrendering the natural, temporal life completely so that only the life of Christ remains; symbolized by returning to the dust and expressed outwardly through humility.

Eternal Life — God placing Himself inside a person — because God does not die and does not pass away, the one who carries His life has no past, no yesterday, only an eternal now.

The Face of God — Not an appearance or outward impression, but the full revelation of God's attributes and nature — to see His face is to enter into oneness with who He truly is, beyond what words or imagination can access.

Working With God — The visible manifestation of healing, deliverance, and miraculous works; a person can work with God through gifts or anointing even after God's personal presence has departed from them.

Walking With the Presence of God — Moving in the atmosphere where God Himself is personally present — not merely where His gifts operate, but where His face is shining.

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Key Takeaways

• Death to self is the entrance requirement for seeing God's face — without dying to self and rising in Christ, a believer may carry gifts and attend services but will never enter the level of encounter where God's face is seen.
• The presence of God is distinct from the anointing and the Holy Spirit — understanding this distinction protects believers from settling for gifts and manifestations while missing the face of God entirely.
• God is always identified through the fathers He sends — the path to seeing the invisible God runs through honoring the men and women God places in a believer's life, because the God of eternity identifies Himself as the God of your fathers.
• Humility cannot be prayed into existence — it is a revelation — the moment a person truly grasps that there is still more of God beyond what they have seen, humility becomes the natural posture of their life.
• Oneness with God is His deepest desire and the purpose of salvation — Jesus' prayer in John 17 is not a doctrinal footnote; it is the expressed will of God that every believer become one with Him as the Son is one with the Father.

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Reflection Questions

1. Have you truly received the life of Christ, or are you carrying both His life and your own — and what evidence in your daily posture would reveal the answer?
2. Who are the men and women of God placed in your life, and have you genuinely honored them — or have you related to them only at the level of their personality and appearance rather than the God they carry?
3. Where in your spiritual life are you still pursuing temporary things — signs, miracles, deliverance — rather than pressing toward the face of God?
4. The teaching states that humility is not a prayer point but a revelation. What would it look like in your specific circumstances this week to actually die to self rather than seek recognition?
5. If God identifies Himself to others as the God of your fathers, who are the spiritual fathers in your life — and does the way you treat them reflect that you understand God's access comes through them?

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Scripture References

• Numbers 6:25-26 — "The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." (KJV)
• Numbers 12
• 2 Samuel 21:1 — "Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord." (KJV)
• Matthew 7:16 — "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" (KJV)
• John 6:29 — "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (KJV)
• John 17
• John 1:1 — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (KJV)
• Acts 5:1-10
• 1 Corinthians 11:1
• 2 Chronicles 20:20
• Luke 2:52 — "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (KJV)

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Golden Nuggets

"The only way you can see the face of God is you have to die first."

"When He puts Himself inside of you, He does not die so you cannot die. He does not pass away so you cannot pass away."

"The mind of the heart of God is that you and him become one. You can never be one with somebody that you have never seen their face."

"God wants us to move from knowing about him to knowing him."

"Walking with the presence of God is walking with the atmosphere that God himself is in a place."

"The number one symbol of death is humility."

"You cannot rebuke pride and you cannot pray for honour."

"Man can never see God without man."

"Believe God and you be established, believe in His prophet and you prosper."

"Somebody who doesn't know how to highlight others, God will never highlight you before men."

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Resources and Further Reading

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• Study with a Recommended Bible →