In The Encounter – Part One we discussed the importance of a relationship with God, and how the Church has missed the boat by focusing on results rather than the experience of meeting with Jesus and having an encounter with Him. Jesus spells out quite simply in the Gospel of John what we have been talking about:
You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want. John 5:39-40
How much does He hit the nail on the head in describing the church today? We’ve missed it so much.
You see, Jesus is the point of Christianity. Without Jesus as the focus, Christianity loses its power. How do we get back to a relationship with Him?
Well, it’s quite simple. We need to make a connection with God, an encounter, if you will. I like what Jim Hockaday says about it, “Connections are made through time, the tangibility of the time spent, and shared experiences.”
Think about any friends you may have. That is exactly how you have built the friendship. Let’s go through each of these pieces one by one and see how they fit into our relationship with God.
- Time: Time is probably the primary factor when it comes to forming a connection and a relationship with someone. You are together. You talk, you laugh, you’re actually there. Without the time, how is it a relationship? Well, the same thing applies to God. Spend some time with Him. He’s all around us and in us, and the more we develop an awareness of the spirit world, which is the real world, all around us, the more we will see God in the mundane, everyday parts of life. Time in the Word and time in prayer are two ways you can focus on spending time with God.
- Tangibility of the time spent: How real is that time? One thing that people hate is a lack of quality time. My wife doesn’t like it when I get distracted by technology when we’re supposed to be together, and I can see her point. If I’m on my phone, computer, or iPad, my focus is divided and it feels like I’m not really there, even though I physically am. The time spent together isn’t very tangible because I am not as involved or invested in the time as I should be. Again, the same thing happens with God. If we aren’t fully invested in the time spent so that it becomes something real to us, we aren’t developing that connection.
- Shared Experiences: If you put two friends in a room for any length of time, one of the things they will talk about is experiences they’ve had. Most of the time, it’s things the two of them have either done together, or you’re sharing a past experience with the person. Those experiences help form the bond of the friendship, because the two of you now have a shared reference point. Again, God is the same way. That is part of what we talked about in The Encounter – Part One: David was talking to God in the Psalms, and saying, “I can’t get this amazing conversation we had last night out of my head.” That’s what he meant when he said, “I meditate on Your Word day and night.”
Isn’t it amazing that when we treat God like a person it doesn’t seem all that difficult to have a relationship? It’s far easier than you and I realize. In fact, the church has made it difficult. People try so hard to really seek God, and on one hand, I understand their heart. On the other, you don’t need to put forth so much effort, because God is everywhere.
You see, it ultimately comes down to choices. You have one choice to make: What world am I going to live in?
Are you going to focus on being a spirit being or a flesh being? The difference is shockingly simple: A spirit being is constantly aware of the fact that this world isn’t home. They are in constant communion with God, and their relationship with Him has become so real through time, the tangibility of the time spent, and shared experiences that they often don’t even realize there is a flesh world out there.
When you focus on being a spirit being, you are constantly keeping your body under you, in subjection to what your spirit man wants, needs and desires because you know your body isn’t the real you. (1 Corinthians 9:26-27) I’m not saying I’m there yet, but I’m working on developing that awareness.
If you are focusing on being a flesh being, you are constantly aware of the world around you. They’re are always issues that pop up, and your life is most likely filled with drama because you don’t know how to separate yourself from the world around you. You may go to church on Sunday, but if that’s the only day you’re even aware of the fact that you are a spirit, you’re living your life in the flesh.
You see, life is made up of a million choices each day, and those choices can either make you more aware of the real world, or tune you into the flesh world.
I have seen so much freedom come from acting on this in my life. You see, I made a commitment a few weeks ago that I was going to have an encounter with God every day. It started in church the other week, when I didn’t know the songs we were singing, and wasn’t too thrilled with how the sound mix was…(I’m a musician, and I really like to hear the music mixed good and loud…) God got my attention in that service and showed me that enough was enough.
It wasn’t an excuse that I didn’t know the song. It wasn’t an excuse that I didn’t really feel like worshipping that morning. There wasn’t any excuse that could hold water, because I was there to worship the King of Kings, and all those excuses were just occasions for me to focus on the flesh world rather than the spirit world.
So, I decided that I would have an encounter with God. I experienced Him in that service. And then I decided I wasn’t going to go another day without an encounter with God, because why would I? Don’t parents love spending time with their kids, especially when their kids want to spend time with them? Why would we think God would be different?
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t always easy. There have been times I’ve been tired, or I zone out, but every day, I am doing what I can to experience God – to encounter Jesus. He’s talking to me. He’s showing me things. He’s teaching me how to do more things and be more productive than I’ve been before. I’m learning how to obtain grace for the day. He’s teaching me to be a better husband.
Why would I want to do anything else? He has all the answers. When I have an encounter with Him on a daily basis, it opens me up to be more effective for the Kingdom.
Most Christians haven’t done this. They are content to spend their time focusing on the flesh six days a week and on Sunday they decide, “we’re going to give God a little time.” Well, that’s nice that you’re giving God the leftovers. (I hope you can detect my sarcasm) Why on earth would we give Him the leftovers and expect to be effective for the Kingdom?
You see, this is what the church has led us to, by not promoting our own, personal relationships with God the way that it should have. When we have an encounter daily, we’re able to be a force for change in this world! We’re so tuned into what the Spirit of God is wanting to do on this earth that walking in the miraculous becomes ordinary for us! We see instant results in healing, prosperity, and everything else we’ve been believing for, all because we’ve had an encounter.