Seek His Face Always

We open with a candid check-in on wins and a low mood, then trace a path from self-reliance to daily dependence through 1 Chronicles 16:11. We explore seeking God’s face over His hand, share a test-day prayer story, and close with questions and prayer for steady faith.

• naming depression and low motivation despite recent wins
• reading promises from Psalm 34 and Isaiah 43 for comfort
• centering the message on 1 Chronicles 16:11
• warning that celebration can dull spiritual focus
• choosing God’s strength over self-reliance and hustle
• seeking God’s face vs seeking His hand
• practical habits: pray before you scroll or react
• exam-day prayer story and quiet miracle
• marriage “go talk to God” safe phrase
• discernment checked by love and facts
• always as a daily rule of life

Make sure you visit the website www.forchristministry.com
Make sure you get you a copy of the book Discernment, a wake up call for a generationally cursed society
If you can't afford it, hit me up, send me a message, and I will send you a copy

Transcript

Welcome & Life Updates

SPEAKER_00 0:04

We would like to welcome you with my husband. Your husband. So without hey guys, it's B-Rob and welcome Faith Cast fam to the Food for Thought Faith Cast.

Wrestling With Unmotivated Depression

Verses On Comfort And Protection

The Core Text: 1 Chronicles 16:11

Celebration’s Spiritual Danger

Look To The Lord, Not Yourself

Marriage Safe Phrase: Go Talk To God

God’s Strength Replaces Ours

Seeking God’s Face Vs His Hand

Make It Practical: Start With Prayer

The Test Story: Prayer Under Pressure

Discernment, Love, And Daily Dependence

Always Seek God, See Him Everywhere

SPEAKER_01 0:30

It is Sunday, Janu uh February 22nd. And man 2026 is flying by. It's been a good week. I passed the life insurance, Suzanne. Um me and the wife was fighting and we made up. That's always a good thing. It's a blessing. Um so I'm gonna read a little insert from uh God's promises for every day. And I'm let's see. I I don't know what it is, man, but the past couple days, I don't I've just been feeling depressed. I'm not sure why. I've I passed my test. I got a new job coming up. I'm about to get ready for. I'm excited about that. I just past couple days, don't have a motivation. Got plenty of energy, cleaned the house yesterday. Um just I don't know. It's kinda weird. So let's look. What does it say? Let's say, let's see. Let's go to page 70. Let's see, it says about depression. I keep these books on my desk, so for moments like these, um, of course I read them other times than just not not just on the podcast, but what to do when you feel depressed. So it's got Bible verses, plenty of Bible verses, and that's basically all this is. So in Psalms 34 17, it says, The Lord hears good people when they cry out to him, and he saves them from all their troubles. That's beautiful. So Isaiah 43 2 reminds us when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you. So all this negative stuff that I'm thinking, all this bad depression, all this, it's just not you're not you're supposed to praise him. And God's gonna be with us, and God is with us. He is in the room right now. Always. He surrounds everything, and I have to tell myself that every day. You know, and it's funny because it's almost like this Bible app is AI. It's it almost like it knows what I'm thinking, but it's it's almost like a collective thing because everybody gets the same verse of the day, right? So it's almost like a hive mentality here. A collective thought process, kind of like where we go when we go all, that that phrase, right? Does that make sense? So the verse of the day, coincidentally, and I just read those God's promises, just pulled them. I that was not plan, but the verse of the day is always plan. That's how I a lot of times plan the podcast or the Bible study sermon slash podcast or faith cast, but uh God either the Bible verse has AI or God knows exactly what he's doing, and I think it's God knows exactly what he's doing, but because not everybody's going through the same thing, so but collectively everybody's reading the same verse, so that's a good thing because the verse is the recovery, you see? We're the broken, the verse is the word of God is the recovery, you see. It's kind of like we're the alcoholics and the word of God is AA, even though a lot of times AA don't work. The word of God definitely works. You see how that works? Man, I'm preaching and I don't even know, I ain't even started yet. Okay, 1 Chronicles 16, 11. We're gonna call this seek his face always, even in times of depression. No matter how many chemtrails they spray. No matter how much chemicals they try to induce our physically earthly bodies, we can always look to the Lord and seek his strength, seek his face always. That's first chronicles 16, 11, if you have your Bibles. So let me ask you a question. What are you looking at? And that's just a simple question to start this out. What do you look to first when life gets heavy as a center block? Or you feel like you got a house on your shoulders? What do you look to first? Your phone? Your bank account? Your emotions, your comparison to your friends, whether it be physical or online social media. Or do you look to your own strength? Because let me share something with you. Scripture tells us something very, very, very, very important. What you look to determines exactly what you lean on. You see, in 1 Chronicles 16, this verse is not written in a lull. It's not written in a vacuum. It's part of a song of thanksgiving. David gives when the Ark of the Covenant is brought back to Jerusalem. You see, that moment represents God's presence returning to the center of the nation. You see, and in the middle of the celebration, David gives the most important instructions of all. Look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his face always. You see, that last word means so much. A lot of times we get caught up in the full verse. But that last word always means so much. It means not just when you're desperate, not just when you have fallen, not just when you are broken, but always look to the Lord and seek his strength always. You may be thinking, why that matters. You see, the Ark of the Covenant symbolize God's presence in those times. It symbolized his nearness, his power, everything that we know God is, that was the symbolism that they had for God. That was God to them. They needed a physical. A lot of times back in those days, that's what that's what they did. And they, you know, some still do it today. But you see, for years Israel had lived without intentionally centering around God's presence. And that was the symbol of God being restored. And you see, David's smart enough to realize something. That celebration can be just as spiritually dangerous as hardship. Because a lot of times we celebrate and we forgive, we forget to give thanks. Or we forget the very reason we are celebrating. How many times have I DJ'd a wedding? And everybody just wants to get to the reception. They could care less about the wedding. They just want to celebrate. I see it. I've seen it. More than not. You see, like I said, celebration can be dangerous. It can be just as dangerous as the hardship, the fall. You see, because when things are good, we stop seeking the one who made it good. That's insanity. And insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And it's insane that we keep celebrating and we forget why we're celebrating. And we stop seeking the one who gave us the reason to celebrate. So you see, David doesn't just tell the people to rejoice. He tells them how to remain in God's favor. He tells them how to align spiritually. Look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his ways, his face always. Two parts, one verse. Two parts, one verse. So let's break it down. Let's break those down, okay? Look to the Lord and his strength. Notice what the verse does not say. Look to your own understanding, look to your own preparation, look to your own discipline. Not because those things don't matter, because they do matter. But those things are secondary. You follow? You picking up what I'm throwing down. Those things are secondary. The word look here means to fix your gaze or look ahead. Intentionally turn forward. You see, strength begins with direction. Many of us get exhausted, not because life is too heavy, but because we're carrying things without God. If you turn your books, if you turn the word of God to Isaiah forty thirty-one, it reminds us those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. You see, renewed strength doesn't come from grinding harder. It doesn't come from working more. It comes from prayer. It comes from looking higher, looking towards eternity. You see what daily alignment actually looks like. Before you react, you should look to the Lord. Before you decide, you should look to the Lord. Before you should give anything one second of worry or doubt, you should look to the Lord. And I am so guilty. I need to go look in the mirror. I need to go look in the mirror and tell myself, I need to look to the Lord. Me and my wife have a safe phrase. We both like to fight. We're the oldest of four siblings. All brothers for her, all brothers for me. She's the oldest, I'm the oldest. And we like to fight. A lot of times we do it for sport. We don't even know it. It's just the way we were programmed. But I have to go look in the mirror and say, look to the Lord. And she will tell me if I'm getting, I like to talk. Uh, I get very animated. A lot of people think I'm raising my voice, but I'm not. I'm just very passionate person. And our safe phrase is go talk to God. And sometimes it gets heated too, and she goes, I have been talking to God. It was funny. But anyway, we're not going to talk about that. We're talking about this. But that's what we have to do. Before reacting, we have to look to the Lord before deciding we have to look to the Lord. And before we give one second to worry, we have to look to the Lord. You see, God's strength is not added to yours. It replaces it. It replaces your dependence on yourself because you cannot do anything without Christ who strengthens you. Philippians 4 13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. So let's get to the second part. Seek his face always. You see, this is the verse that's supposed to hit home, hit heart. There's a difference between seeking God's hand and seeking God's face. God's hand, that's what God can provide. Security, safety. All the things, all the places that you can be without depression, loneliness, and all those evil thoughts. That's what He can give. That's God's hand. Now God's face, this gets better. That's who God really is. You see, many of us are very consistent in prayers and prayer requests. But the one thing we are not consistent in, we are very inconsistent in the pursuit of a relationship with God, the intimacy with Christ. You see, to seek his face means to desire his presence, to want intimacy, not just intervention when things are going wrong. Not just intervention when you need God's hand. God wants us to seek his face. Always. So there we go. Always removes any loophole you may have in your heart and in your mind. Always means not just in crisis. Always means not just at church or not just at Sundays. It means what it is all ways. Every way, all ways. Jeremiah 29, 13 says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. You see, seeking God is not being passive. It's very intentional. It's very relational. And it's very continual because it's supposed to be every day, all day. And we're not talking about perfection because nobody is perfect but Christ. We're talking about priority. Is Christ a priority in your life? What does that look like today? Is he a priority in your life? I know sometimes he's not in mind. I'm not going to tell the lie and say he is always. But I'm trying to work on that. And I'm going to try to work on that always. In every way. So let's make it practical in today's term. Seeking his face looks like starting with God. Before you scroll, before you get stressed out, before you let anxiety take over, and before you schedule anything, pray. Even five minutes. Even if it's five minutes, let me tell y'all, I showed up, it said to show up 30 minutes early for that test. So I did. I showed up 20 minutes early because I know at age 51, even though I intentionally broke these rules all the time, I know that if you show up five minutes early, you're late. That's military. I worked with a lot of military people. I worked with a lot of veterans. So I showed up 40 minutes early. And let me tell you, I used a bathroom and drank coffee for the first 10. And uh and got registered and all that. And then 20 to 30 minutes before the test, I went in the bathroom and I Prayed, I prayed, and I kept praying. And you know, I sat down and took that test, and the enemy was on my shoulder the whole time. I second guessed every question. I skipped over about 30% of them because I know in testing, I've read enough in AP testing to know that you answer all the ones that you positively know first. And um I skipped over about 30 questions and answered the rest of them, which I would have passed right there with a 70. And I wasn't thinking about that, even though I had a calculator. Now that I think about it, see, that was just the enemy trying to tell me that I was not going to pass. And when I got up, I was the first one to get up out of the whole room, because I was in a room with a bunch of young people. The lady was smiling and said she passed, and she said that was one of the fastest ones that she had ever seen pass. And the Lord is that good. Even when the enemy is on one shoulder, the Lord is on the other shoulder, and guess who wins every time? It's your choice. It's your choice who wins. But for me, I know who wins every time. My Jesus. My God. So like I said, how does it look in today's life? Are you going to the Lord before first? Or are you going to the phone first? You know, seeking his face and checking your spiritual alignment. Is this decision drawing me closer to God? Is this response reflecting trust in him? Is it coming from a place of love? I talked to Courtney about that yesterday. It's okay to have discernment, it's okay to have gut feelings, but is your gut feeling coming from a place of love? Because I've seen so many times that people accuse people of things without facts. So love is true. So if your gut feeling is not coming with place from love and facts, then, you know, I don't know what to tell you, but like I said, seek his face is consistent. You don't have to be dramatic. You just have to be faithful. You have to walk with God. God is not oppressed by intensity. God is not impressed by daily dependence. God is not impressed by what I mean by daily dependence is you're doing good at your job. You're doing good. You know, God doesn't care about that. Jesus came to fix the broken. Remember that. Okay? There's nothing you can do to impress him except for walk with him. Have a relationship, be intimate with him. Don't just ask him for favors when you need something. Don't be that friend. Too many of us have too many of those. You see, God is not impressed by occasionally intensity, he desires your daily dependence. And we're going to close with this food for thought. If you seek God occasionally, you'll experience him sporadically. And a lot of times, sporadically means trials, tribulations to see if you're going to pass the next test he has in the book of life for you. And just read the Old Testament. There are stubborn men all through it. And it took years. But they were not ready for God's blessings. So if you seek God always, remember the word always. Put it in your head today, always. Seek God always. See, the cool thing about if you seek God always, you will recognize God everywhere in everything. I even wrote a song about this called Grocery Store. It's about seeing smiling faces in the grocery store, seeing Jesus. The choice is yours. It's attitude. A lot of people like, I don't like people. I don't like humans. I don't want to, you know, I don't even want to go to the grocery store. It's the wrong attitude to have. It's the wrong attitude to have. You can't control your surroundings, but you can control your reaction to your surroundings, and love wins every time. 1 Chronicles 16, 11 is not a command meant to burden us. It's not a command meant to weigh us down, it's an invitation to live life supported by the Creator. Not strained by worldly constraints. So today, look to the Lord for strength, seek his face for relationship, and do it always. Guys, let that be the rhythm of your heart. Let that be the beat of your drum. Let that be the rhythm of your faith. Amen and a hallelujah. We're going to close with three questions. First question. FaithCast fam, what am I looking to first when I need strength? Am I looking to God? Or am I looking to myself, my phone? My friends? Question number two, am I seeking God's hand and face right now in this season of my life? And can I do it always? Question number three. What would change if I intentionally sought the Lord every day? Every way in always. Not just when I need help. What would I change? What would I intentionally change? If I had a relationship with the Lord always. So think about that. We're going to go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Father God, we come before you. We come before you. We're grateful for your presence, Lord. We're grateful for your faith. We're grateful for your grace, your faithfulness, your mercy. Lord, please teach us to look to you for strength instead of us or the world. Teach us to look to you for strength instead of leaning on our own understanding, Lord. Help us to seek not just your hands and what you can do for us, but help us to seek you in your face and who you are. Lord, help quiet any distractions we may have, Lord. Lord help calm any storms we may walk through, Lord. Lord, we thank you so much because we know that you're going to prepare a table for us in the storm, in the presence of our enemy, and you're going to sit there with us while they watch, and you're going to protect us, Lord. Lord, give us discipline. Give us trust. Give us dependence. That we may seek you. That our faith may be sharp. In every single season, Lord. We pray for your blessings and lessons. Lord, we thank you. It's in Jesus' holy, heavenly, divine name. Amen and hallelujah. Guys, we thank you for tuning in to the Faith Cast today. Make sure you visit the website www.forchristministry.com. Make sure you get you a copy of the book Discernment, a wake up call for a generationally cursed society. I think you will love it. It's a short read. If you can't afford it, hit me up, send me a message, and I will send you a copy. And if you would like, I don't mind signing a copy and mailing anybody. But um, most of all, I'd like you to call in and talk to me. I'd like to have a relationship with you. I'd like to know how your relationship with God is going. And guys, we love you. God loves you. And if you don't have a relationship with Christ, you better get right.