Power of a God Encounter

Lately, I have been working on and off with my blog design.  I am finally finished! Do you like the new look? 
While I was working on it I watched a sunset. During this time, I put my computer down, grabbed my bible, and my journal.  


I had what I like to call a God Encounter.

In Philippians 3:12 Paul says "Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus."

Personally, I take comfort in the character of Peter, the disciple. Peter's life was marked by unexplainable God-encounters, and yet riddled with incredible moments of weakness and failure... but still God never dismissed his abilities. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong, but take courage that Jesus still saw the potential in Peter, and when we can leave the past behind us with our eyes focused on the prize, we will do great things for God. You see, when we encounter God...something changes. God-encounters give birth to new things, God-encounters open doors, they take ground and renew strength in our hearts, clear the clutter in our lives and make room for the devine.

Psalms 34:8 says "Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him".  As Christians, we need to live with the expectation that our walk with God will be full of life changing encounters with Jesus. I pray that we will always be people with a Kingdom focus, and a spirit that says "God, I need an encounter with You, I am ready for the unexpected, and I have a heart that will do whatever it takes".

Let's be people that refuse to be robbed by the voice of critical and religious thinking, doubt and unbelief, but rise above the crowd and the noise with a Holy fear and expectation that God will encounter us when we seek Him wholeheartedly.

Imagine if we were christians not known for what we stand against; but what we stand for. Christians known for unwavering hope in Jesus, a house of prayer, a place of freedom, where people reach their potential, and the hurting and broken are healed and restored!

In the New Testament, the Pharisees missed the power of Christ because they were too busy with everything going on around them. Yet, I've learned that most God-encounters are NOT going to fit into the box of familiarity or restricting religion, because we are serving a God who does things out of the box!!

Let's not miss the power of Christ, or the opportunity for a God-encounter because we are too busy with other things. Instead, lets lay down our agendas, turn off our televisions, and any other distractions and seek after God's embracing the hurting, inviting the unsaved into the House of God and praying with fervency for wisdom and inspiration. Finally, let's always be looking to move from a place of complacency into a place of surrender, under an open heaven, where we ourselves can have a God-encounter.

What kind of God encounters have you experienced?