Personal Encounters of the God kind: In the beginning…
My first military assignment; I had a supervisor who was the biggest womanizer and smooth talker I’ve ever met. Men wanted to be like him, women wanted to be with him and most everyone wanted to be his friend. He was very charismatic and never had a short list of female conquests or drunken parties to talk about.
When he became a follower of Christ it influenced a lot of people. To me this was the first evidence of God I ever witnessed. He became my first personal encounter because I saw the before and after. Still, I was one of the last hold outs from the many people who were now becoming Christians around me. “What’s it going to be Heaven or Hell?”, he asked. I said, “Hell! I love sinning too much.” To which he replied, “Do you know how stupid you sound?” I didn’t respond.
Seeing the change in the people around me and with a nominal Christian upbringing, I thought I’d read the Bible for myself. That inspiration to read on my own, I see now as a personal encounter with the leading of God’s Spirit.
I might have looked at the Bible a few times in my life before this, but when I read it now I became hungrier to read more and would lose sleep to consume it. It “burned inside” like nothing I ever read or experienced. I was expecting condemnation for my willful disobedience by lying, committing sexual immorality, theft etc., but instead I was convicted by God’s grace to repent.
I took a step of faith! I trusted in Jesus as the Son of God who came in the flesh to pay the penalty for my sin, as a demonstration of God’s love while I was still a sinner. His love brought a new birth in my life, with new freedom and empowerment to live. I was invigorated to say the least and I found joy in life I had never known.
I then sought baptism as an outward sign of putting off my “old man” and rising in this new life. After this and even now I don’t “love sinning too much” and when I have/do it hurts deeply because Jesus Christ is Lord and it’s my desire not to continue in sin. His grace is truly amazing to have saved someone like me.
To me, the evidence or re-creation in others, the inspiration to seek God, the conviction to repent of sin, the new birth experience, the desire to obey and subsequent sorrow for sin are personal encounters with God that I hope everyone experiences. My hope is all would come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord because His friendship is out of this world before miracles, signs and wonders come into it. I think forgiveness is a personal encounter with God, because at the cross justice and mercy kiss on everyone’s behalf to encounter forgiveness and give forgiveness.