Encounter with God
I need to share what God began in my life last weekend! Ever since I’ve been back, I can’t help but share with everyone what God has done in me! It was truly life changing.
Last weekend our church had an “Encounter” weekend. It’s basically a retreat, and this time only the men went to the encounter. Now let me say this: I’ve been to many retreats and camps. Separating myself for the purpose of going to a retreat is nothing new to me. In fact, I’m not too hot on creating a habit of leaving town to try to “experience” the presence of God. After all…isn’t God everywhere? But this time I just knew it was going to be different. It was like the Holy Spirit was preparing my heart to encounter him. The Holy Spirit created within me an expectancy that I could NOT have had without Him giving it to me. Trust me on that one.
Let me just break in here to say that timing is everything. Of course, there are times when a person can have personal encounter with God. Those encounters are so impactful to that person and that person never forgets it. Paul had an encounter like this that changed his entire life and ultimately affected Christians around the world. That was his personal encounter. But there’s something deeper. There is a corporate encounter on God’s time clock that ultimately produces the “Peters” and the other apostles, the “Phillips”, the “Stephens” and yes even the “Pauls” of the faith. Paul’s encounter was really a byproduct of the corporate encounters that the Lord had already preordained with His church. Needless to say, I believe that our church is in the process of a corporate encounter with God! No lie, no exaggeration.
Anyway…when I got to Shepherd’s Creek Ranch (the spot where we had our retreat), I didn’t feel a supercharge of God’s manifest presence or anything. But I knew that God wanted me to get something so I went in as if I was a new believer. No titles, no reference to past spiritual experiences or retreats. I was really hoping that God would do something fresh in me…and He did not disappoint! Do you remember my post about being hungry and thirsty for righteousness? That was all God’s set up to get me where He wanted me.
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