What is it like to have an encounter with God?

TruthSeek3r said:

Is it life changing?

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I just posted this testimony this evening. Hopefully appropriate.
James
My Strength and My Song

Minister Monardo said:

I just posted this testimony this evening. Hopefully appropriate.
James
My Strength and My Song

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Of. course!

Not only confusion, but conversely that which comes down from Him openly, grace-granting heights will entail PEACE!

Pray for Richard Dawkins and see.

TruthSeek3r said:

• What is it like to have an encounter with God?
• Is it a supernatural experience?
• Is it spectacular, like the encounters we can read about in the Bible?
• Is it life changing?
• Can it happen multiple times?
• Can it happen to anybody? Can anybody have an encounter with God?
• Can an atheist (e.g. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris) have an encounter with God?
• Are there conditions to have an encounter with God?

I'd like to read your stories.

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All of those things are up to God. My limited encounters have been very peaceful and comforting.

A few years ago I was in distress. I was really worried about things that were going on in my neighborhood, and troubles with my house. One day the Lord grabbed me and pulled me up onto the roof of the house and In the spirit I looked out on the property. I could not see the Lord because he stood beside me. I thought to turn to look at him, but he took my face in his hands and gently turned it toward the corner of the property that faced the road. There was an angel standing on the corner of the property with a sword. It faced away from me as though on guard, but it had a dangerous, powerful kind of feel to it. Then the Lord pulled my view around to the opposite corner of the property that faced the marshland behind the house, and there was another angel on that corner. So then In the midst of all that wonder, I open my mouth and say the silliest thing. I asked the Lord, “what’s that guy doing over by the marsh; there is nothin out there except water birds?” I could have asked the Lord anything and that is what was in my silly brain. How embarrassing! I was promptly put back into my body. Although it was comforting to believe that two angels were guarding my family, my home, there was a far greater impact on my life and my faith. I don’t just believe that Jesus is real anymore; I know he is real because he touched my face.

TruthSeek3r said:

• What is it like to have an encounter with God?
• Is it a supernatural experience?
• Is it spectacular, like the encounters we can read about in the Bible?
• Is it life changing?
• Can it happen multiple times?
• Can it happen to anybody? Can anybody have an encounter with God?
• Can an atheist (e.g. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris) have an encounter with God?
• Are there conditions to have an encounter with God?

I'd like to read your stories.

Click to expand...

What is it like to encounter God?

Clarifying. Very, very clarifying. Encountering God, I see my own sinfulness much more clearly. Encountering God, I see my weakness and ignorance much more clearly. Encountering God, I see the eternal nature and purpose of my life much more clearly.

God is holy - thrice holy, in fact, as the cherubim before His throne declare (Revelation 4:8). His throne is holy; His angels are holy; His words are holy; His arm is holy; His mount is holy, and so on. We don't read in Scripture parallel descriptions of God being thrice loving, or thrice gentle, or thrice humble. His throne is never called the "throne of love"; His angels are never called the "angels of gentleness"; His mount is never called the "mount of humility." No, God is "holy, holy, holy" and when a person actually, truly encounters Him directly, the result is the same:

Genesis 17:1-3
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell on his face...

Joshua 5:13-15
13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”
14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
15 And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Exodus 3:1-6
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Job 42:1-6
1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Revelation 1:12-17
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.
16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

Modern Christians have this conception of God that is very small - more like themselves than not. He is...comfortable, approachable, like a favorite sofa, or pet bunny. He will do weird things for them, too, exciting things, stimulating things; He'll put on a show for them and make them squeal with surprise and excitement. It never occurs to them, unfortunately, to think about why, when these people in Scripture encountered God, they fell on their faces in fear and repentance. Such thoughts lead to uncomfortable truths about God. Yes, the born-again believer may come "boldly unto the throne of grace," but it is always to a throne that they come. Yes, Jesus is our Savior and Friend, but he is also the terrible figure the apostle John described in the passage above, eyes like a flame of fire, his face shining like the sun, speaking with a voice like the crashing waves of the ocean.

Any believer, then, who proposes to tell me about a special encounter with God that does not include a recognition of their own deep sinfulness, repentance and a hugely elevated understanding of their holy Maker (and a corresponding profound diminishment of their own self-importance), has not encountered God.

Is encountering God a supernatural experience?

I don't know what you mean, exactly, by "supernatural experience." Characterized by sensational events? Tingles, warm oozies, falling to the ground in convulsive ecstasy, babbling incoherently? These sorts of things? This wasn't what happened to Abraham when he encountered God, or when Moses, or Joshua, or Paul, or John did. Elijah wasn't "slain in the Spirit" when God met him at the mouth of the cave in which Elijah was hiding, speaking to him quietly and calmly. When the Spirit came upon Samson, he didn't speak in tongues, or convulse, or laugh hysterically.

The Christian's normal experience of God is always supernatural, but not in the sensational way many believers today propose. When God convicts, it is always contrary to our own, natural humanness, moving us beyond mere guilt and shame into deeper, joyful communion with Himself. When God strengthens, it is always beyond what our own human resources can supply, moving us from strength to strength, not into exhaustion and moral collapse. When God teaches, He brings clarity and understanding about Himself and His truth that mere intellectual effort cannot achieve. And so on.

This has been my experience, aligned to, and well-supported by, the record of God's word, which is important, I think, because, if we are free to claim anything we like about encountering God, if an experience of Him is without boundaries, then we become, essentially, the definers of God; He becomes merely a mirror of ourselves and what we think and want in an encounter with Him.

Mirror Or Master?

Is an encounter with God spectacular, like the encounters we can read about in the Bible?

Not generally. There were comparatively few who had the incredible experiences with God the Bible records. And to whom much was given in this respect, much was required. Think of Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac. Or the struggle, and danger, and rebellion Moses faced as he led the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Or the many battles Joshua endured as he led the Israelites into the taking of Canaan. Or Paul's suffering and sacrifice in serving God as the apostle to the Gentiles of the Early Church. John was boiled in oil and then exiled, Peter was crucified upside-down, and so on.

Is an encounter with God life changing?

Always. But in what way depends upon one's response to the encounter.

TruthSeek3r said:

What are your thoughts on her experience?

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Time will tell. I hope something real is going on between her and her Maker but only over time will the truth be revealed. She has the preoccupation with feelings that most babes in Christ have. She certainly seems rocked by her experience on a very profound level. But if God is really in her, then, over time, she will decrease and He will increase in her life. The feelings will be set aside for faith and her walk with God will find its anchor, not in what she has described, not in the effects of God upon her, but in God Himself.

aiki said:

Time will tell. I hope something real is going on between her and her Maker but only over time will the truth be revealed. She has the preoccupation with feelings that most babes in Christ have. She certainly seems rocked by her experience on a very profound level. But if God is really in her, then, over time, she will decrease and He will increase in her life. The feelings will be set aside for faith and her walk with God will find its anchor, not in what she has described, not in the effects of God upon her, but in God Himself.

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Excellent response!

TruthSeek3r said:

• What is it like to have an encounter with God?
• Is it a supernatural experience?
• Is it spectacular, like the encounters we can read about in the Bible?
• Is it life changing?
• Can it happen multiple times?
• Can it happen to anybody? Can anybody have an encounter with God?
• Can an atheist (e.g. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris) have an encounter with God?
• Are there conditions to have an encounter with God?

I'd like to read your stories.

Click to expand...

Beloved one, you are asking what is like to have an encounter with God.

what is an encounter ? Oxford defines an encounter : an unexpected or casual meeting with someone or something.

I consider if you like to have an encounter with God, you should expect Him and meet Him.

How you should expect Him? This is what we have heard:

“Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:9-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

How will we call the Lord and He will answer and meet us ?

Beloved ones, we should take away the yoke from our midst.

How should we take the yoke from our midst?
We take the yoke from our midst by preaching repentance to those whose hearts have not moved to the teaching of Jesus and to those whose minds have not been ruled by the Spirit of the Lord or the words that Christ have spoken.

So if we no longer point fingers or we no longer blame others or spoke wickedly about others, so we have released forgiveness to others or that we speak about the righteousness of God to others.

If we extend our life, that we satisfy the afflicted person, that we comfort others with the Lord’s mercy or Lord’s love.

Then our teaching shall dawn in the hearts of others who have no teaching of the Lord, and our untaught hearts shall be enlightened as in the teaching of our Lord.

So if you want to have an encounter with God, preach repentance that Jesus taught, to others, that their hearts may be filled with the compassion of the Lord and that their minds may be ruled by the Spirit of Christ, that we forgive, that we speak the righteousness of God, that they may find comfort in the love of God, then the true light shall dawn in the hearts of others and our unenlightened hearts shall perceive and understand the teaching of the Lord.

Then we who have heeded His words, call Him and He will answer us and He will meet us.

To God the Father be all glory and thanksgiving through Christ. Amen.

Along time ago, in a State far, far away, I worked the dark side, 11 to 7. Once, on my day off in the early afternoon, I was sitting down at my computer getting ready to save the universe from ugly alien scumbags … again, and then the Lord spoke to me. There was no voice. The words were just there like someone you didn’t realize was in the room began to talk. He told me to get up and get ready for work as though it was time for my shift and to go to work. I was surprised. I felt tingly with warm oozies, but I also was very concerned about the supernatural command to do something odd potentially in front of my coworkers which could have had nontrivial repercussions. I believed it was really the Lord’s voice, which was heady just thinking about it, but actually doing it meant abandoning plausible deniability. In the end, I wanted know if I was blessed or crazy; so, I got dressed and drove to work. As I crossed the parking lot I prayed and told the Lord that either this was going to be really awesome or I was going to look like a total nutbar. When I went in, the place was in total chaos, so I went to the managers office. As soon as he saw me he yelled out, “How did you know I needed you?”

God can do whatever He wants. Jesus spent time with people who were not super-spiritual people. Anyone can encounter God.

After all, Jesus had personal encounters even with Satan. So, Jesus is not at all conceited; He is not picking and choosing who is good enough to share with Him.

But God does not want to have only certain impressive moments with us. But I offer that God's word means that He desires to share personally with every one of us, all the time.

For example, His word says >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

If we are ruled, this is all the time.

And if God's peace is ruling in our "hearts", this is very personal > we are encountering God Himself in us, if God's own peace is ruling us. Because God's peace is not only a feeling; but God's peace is the harmony of God Himself so sharing with us what rules Him!

In the ruling of His own peace we have our Creator's creativity of how He loves in sharing with us.

So, this ongoing ruling of His peace in us can be more intimate with God, than certain encounters might be. Encounters can be impressive but somehow distant.

Ones who claim encounters can treat them like they mean the person has special status and authority. Because of their claimed experiences, they can be seen as being super-spiritual, or they can claim to be.

But we are God's children, sharing as family in this peace

Therefore, we do well to always submit to God in His peace, and experience how He has us sharing with each other and helping one another to stay submissive to God while sharing with one another in this peace.

"Therefore submit to God." (in James 4:7)

"submitting to one another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21)

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

While God personally guards our hearts and minds in His own peace, we experience this! This is very encouraging > I can start to have evil cruel nasty stuff in me, but I can be still while God fights the battle in me to clear me of wrong imagining and thinking and emotional reacting, and instead I can become creative for loving any problem person or Jesus family person, doing this in sharing with God . . . not because of anything right or spiritual about my own self!

com7fy8 said:

Ones who claim encounters can treat them like they mean the person has special status and authority. Because of their claimed experiences, they can be seen as being super-spiritual, or they can claim to be.

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The Lord has touched my life many times over the years. One of my great shames is that I took him for granted. His word says that he is not far from the fatherless; maybe that is why he has been so near, so helpful. In my youth I begged him for his help because I was so isolated, so broken. I have wished for his council and I have surely needed it. I am a sociopath among other things because of a horrible thing that happened to me when I was very young. I worry every time I come near another human being that I am making a mess for the Lord to clean up. I worry every time I write in this forum that I am misunderstanding the conversation and that my words will cause offense. I truly believe in Jesus and I see miracles not because I’m better than anyone else, but because the Lord keeps his promises and forgives me, and because I cry out to him and I lean on him every day.

Another story:
A few years ago, I had a wild dream. In the dream I lived for months. The entire time I was in the dream I felt like I was not where I was supposed to be. When I woke up, the feeling that I had to leave was palpable. I was staying in a hotel on the side of a mountain in the blue ridge mountains. I was looking for a house to purchase. The wife wanted to live up in the mountains. It was surely a beautiful place, but I knew I had to get off that mountain. So, I told the wife that I wanted to go back to the coast and pressed the matter until she agreed. I should have told her about the dream right then, but I didn’t. We packed it up and set out. As I was pulling out of the hotel parking lot it felt like I had dodged a bullet. I thought that maybe I had a chance to get to where I was supposed to be. We went to to coast and continued our search for a home. A realtor showed us a house at the end of the road next a wetland marsh. I finished the tour and looked out over the marsh, and I remembered the house from the dream, so I immediately put an offer on it despite my wife’s misgivings. I thought it was going to be great; I knew I was where I was supposed to be. Well, I spent the the next five years being tortured by my wife because she hated it, and rightly so. Pretty much everything that could go wrong did, including finding out that the house was built on a sink hole and the previous owners had lied about it and hidden it from us. The Georgia sand gnats had taken a shine to my Wisconsin born sweetheart; and so, my wife was all but housebound in a sinking house. Yeah, I heard about how I was an idiot. When I told her about the dream, she really didn’t believe me. I prayed that the Lord would give her some kind of relief and asked him again and again if I had made a mistake. We found a little church around the corner and my wife fell in love with the folks. She joined the choir and made a bunch of really good friends and I was still an idiot. I told the wife that because of the way the Lord pointed out that house I needed him to show me when to leave in a similar manner so I could be sure it was right. He did. The house was on the market for three days. The first person to look at it was an architect who understood the sinking problem and we were forthcoming with the details. His wife fell in love with the place, and oddly, wasn’t bothered by the bugs at all. Because of the market and a bidding war, we made 150,000 dollars profit on the sale having held the property for only five years. I’m still an idiot, but…