Encountering Jesus

When we read the gospels, we cannot escape the reality that meeting Jesus impacted lives.  For some that impact was a healing.  For others it was a hardening of heart as they held onto their beliefs.  I read my Bible quite often.  Yet in all that reading, only when the Holy Spirit worked in my life did I have an encounter with Jesus.  The Holy Spirit, working in me and using the Scripture and my mind, created an encounter with God. 

The reason I want to point that out, is that many people are seeking to have an encounter with Jesus, but they are stuck in a mindset where the closest they can come is an encounter with Scripture.  They fail to meet with Jesus as they interact with the Scriptures.  They interact with their understanding or mindset.  Reason is their God in that “what they think” about the stories of Jesus are their authority and not Jesus himself.  Some have even crafted arguments that reduce Jesus and the Holy Spirit into becoming the Bible.  The Bible is great and I could spend my whole life enjoying it’s truths and revelations, but I could also spend my whole life missing out on the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

Most of us are longing for a personal relationship with God.  Most of us want to talk about God like He is both the King of Kings and a close friend.  So how do we do that?

1. Slow down.  When you read the Scriptures, pray, worship or meditate, slow down and be patient.  We will find God, who we seek, when we seek Him in the right way.  Encountering God takes time.  Give time to God as you value His presence more than His content.
2. Journal.  Write down your thoughts and impression that you think are from the Lord.  Write down how you feel, random thoughts and what you think are insights from God.  Over time go back and review these with a teachable spirit.  Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.  Ask for ongoing conviction of what is right and true and what is authentically God’s presence.
3. Obey.  God in His kindness does not interact with us if we are not obedient to Him.  I am not saying that God does not interact with sinners – His does.  God just withdraws Himself from those who seek Him but do not have a heart to obey Him.  Each encounter with God has consequences.  We are called, through the encounter to be changed in our inner man and in our outward actions.  Failure to obey and change results in more sin, more rebellion, more evil being accumulated by our lifestyle.  God in His kindness does not add to that mess simply by avoiding us until our heart is ready for obedience.  Now the real pitfall of this situations is that those who are seeking to be religious or be known for being religious make up encounters with God.  They say “this is God” when He is far from them.  They are simply deceived and telling them they are deceived will not help.  Loving them, serving them and praying for the deceived will help.  I myself have been deceived a few times and I didn’t even know it.
4. Humble yourself.  When we truly humble ourselves we make ourselves a target for a visit from God.  Now beware of false humility that is in reality a prideful spirit acting humble so that it looks good to God and others.  You can usually know it is real humility because it hurts and there is no consolation prize.  Real humility is not serving so that you get praised for service.  Real humility is serving and no one knows you did it and most of the time accuse you of not serving. 
5. Forms.  God uses forms.  They are like pathways that lead to Him.  Some people may sing worship songs, others may walk in nature or some other form that is helpful to them to calm their spirit and encounter God.  Over time God removes Himself from being found through these trusted forms.  This removal is His love as He is leading us away from the security we have in the form and toward Himself.  But because we are busy, tired and hate insecurity; we often continue to use the form and neglect the reality that God has moved on.  In time the positive emotions of enjoying the form (like singing worship songs) may be all we desire and the desire to encounter God is nonexistent.  We have replace our love for God with our love of positive energy when we partake of a form we enjoy.  Most of us have a few forms the truly assist us in encountering God.  Be willing to fast these.  One person who was more in love with being in the prayer room praying then in enjoying the Lord was offended when I suggested they fast pray for a month.  If we have the courage to live it out, we may find that the Lord often shows up in our weakness, and less in our trusted forms.  We must mature to know the Lord beyond our self-gratifying forms and know Him in whatever from He come to us in.