What is it that happens during an encounter with the Most High God that causes such an impact in our lives? What common deeds open the door to people's hearts that causes them to desire this encounter with the creator Himself? What attitude of our hearts prepares the way for His work in us?These are but some of the questions I was asking after attending three days of meetings held at a local church in a community near me.
These meetings were led by a humble woman whose former ministry assignments looked overwhelmingly tough and whose resources were small and did not seem up to the task at hand. She used humor to poke a little fun at her own short comings and to tell her story of God’s calling on her life and to reveal the strategy of the King to establish His kingdom in people to whom she ministered. God had sent her to some very desolate lands where the Gospel had been forbidden in the past to plant churches with little more than a heart for God and the Fresh Wind of the Spirit. When she arrived she found many poor and down and out people or so we might call them, but God called them His hidden treasure! She began to feed and cloth them and as she did she shared God's message of the Good News about Jesus. She would stay up all hours of the night caring for the people and prayed day and night for the outpouring of the power of God, as they used to say in Pentecostal circles.
This was not your typical church planting strategy, but it was God's plan for this land. Today from among those who were once alcoholics and street people are anointed ministry leaders whose lives God had transformed. When she finished recounting the working of God, it was as if the people with one mind and one heart said, Wow! Lord you make magnificent works out of very ordinary people and circumstances.
There was a sense of anticipation in people’s hearts of what God could do through their lives if they would give themselves completely to Him. The anticipation in the peoples hearts was well founded and revealed as our speaker stood to ask if they would come to the edge of the platform and surrender their hearts and plans to God. Slowly a few came and then a few more came to the front of the church for prayer. Our speaker and the ministry teams began praying with them and those who had come forward began to sob and cry out to God.
Then, in what seemed to be a great wave the people in the church began to run to the edge of the platform. They humbled themselves and were crying out to God and confessing there sins out loud for all to hear for more than two hours. This humbling of themselves and crying out to God for a fresh touch and for His fire and mercy was the beginning and the breakthrough required for the outpouring of the Spirit that went on for three days and nights. During these gatherings of believers there was a significant work of God accomplished in many people from a variety of Churches. There was a very intense anointing present throughout every gathering and people experienced a true outpouring of the living water both in the meetings and outside of the scheduled gathering times as well. The impact of those meetings is still working today in the live of the people who were there.
When I began to reflect on these meetings and the magnificent and powerful presence of God which worked in and among the people attending, I began to look in scripture and back both at church history and my own experiences for other times when God has manifested His Glory among His people. I was drawn in the Bible the last four chapters of Job and the first four chapters of the book of Revelation, as well as, Genesis chapter, and John chapter one. In these scriptures we see the majesty, splendor and wonder of God revealed to people.
When we look at Church history both in and out of scripture it is this breaking forth of God’s majesty and power that has continued to capture the minds and hearts of people and kept each new generation crying out to Him and standing in awe of Him!
Lots of questions arise after such encounters with God. How can I experience more of the majestic and wonderful presence of God? Why don’t we experience more of these outpourings? What is of God and what is of man during these encounters? When God does work so powerfully what are or should be the results? I believe the answers start with the material below.
The first step is for us to humble ourselves.
Chronicles 7:14-15; 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
When we have humbled ourselves God will respond and make us ready to be used by cleansing us and then extend an invitation for us to be a part of His plan.
Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah 6:1 In the year of King Uzziah's death bI saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
There are Three Keys to Experiencing a Fresh Move of God Every Day
1. Remember: By the Blood of Jesus we have been transferred out of the Kingdom of darkness and in His Kingdom. Col 1:13-14
A. When is the last time you remembered the joy of your salvation?
B. What are you doing with and about it?
2.Consecrate yourselves Josh 3:1-6
A. Every day and in every situation
B. A humble soul and spirit is His goal, because this provides good soil for Him to work in .
3. Choose you this day whom you will serve Josh 24:13-16
A. Death to self and your ways, plans, goals etc.
B. Lay down your gifts, calling and assignment and submit to the master's direction.
C. Say yes to God's opportunities Is 6:8
We will experience all of the majesty and glory He desires for us to encounter as we make ourselves available to Him and His unfolding of His will, which includes His Times and seasons! In the process we may be called upon to do some very ordinary things which open the hearts and doors he desires to open and which are necessary to accomplish His majestic plans.
Artwork from: http://www.majesticartworks.com/
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