Encountering God

A light-bulb went off this morning.  I have always known, for many years, that God the Father and Jesus Christ love me.  But for the last few years, God's love had become too general to be specific to me.  What I mean by that is this: God loves the world.  God loves everyone.  Even the person who is unkind and mean, God loves them, too.  And while that is the truest testimony of God's mercy, grace, and goodness, part of me began to think that if everyone is special, no one is special.  And so God loves me, yes, but if God loves everyone, is that special?  So, this morning, as I was going over Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God," I was reminded that every time the Holy Spirit impresses something upon me, every time I learn something new, every time a passage of Scripture speaks to me, those moments are my very own, very personal, very intimate encounter with God.  And why do I have encounters with God?  Because God loves me in a very personal, very unique, and very intimate way.  *Ding* Light bulb!

Thanks to Roger Patterson, the senior pastor of my church, I had the privilege of having a second, most wonderful encounter with the Lord today!  You see, I've grown up being told to pursue righteousness.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness.  But I never understood HOW to do that.  In the past, I would have said something like: keep the 10 commandments, love everyone, pray for everyone, forgive everyone, put others first, serve others, try not to sin, seek God's glory and His kingdom, etc, etc.  It was always just so overwhelming, and even then I would not have ever used the word "righteous" to describe any of it.  However, today, Roger told us the answer to my question was found in Romans 6:13 - "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness."  My job was to offer every part of my body (mind, eyes, mouth/tongue, hands, feet, etc) to God, to allow him to use each part of my body as an instrument of righteousness.  Does that mean it will be easy - of course not!  But what an exciting revelation, an amazing encounter, and an encouragement to hunger and thirst for righteousness!  Feel free to help keep me accountable!

The last thing I want to share is a quote from "Billy Graham in Quotes."  This is not my official review on this book, that will come later when I have read it in its entirety, but from time to time, I'll probably share from the book when something impresses me.  The quote is: "America's Declaration of Independence speaks of 'the pursuit of happiness,' but nowhere in the Bible are we told to pursue this.  Happiness is elusive, and we don't find it by seeking it."  I was particularly touched by this quote because it is so true - the harder you try to find happiness (thus, consumed with self), the more discontent and unhappy you will likely be.  The best way to find happiness is to stop worrying about yourself, start loving and caring and serving others, and most importantly, learning about and loving God/Jesus Christ/the Holy Spirit.  Then you will find joy unspeakable, peace beyond understanding, and love unlimited.