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encounter love

One Moment In God’s Presence Can Change Everything

by Sarah Crockett April 11, 2022

The famous verse in John 3:16 reveals the heart of our Father, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son.” He “so loved” the whole world that He made a way for us to be in His presence! The Father so desires a relationship with His sons and daughters – you and I – that He sacrificed His one and only son.

The Power of His Presence

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice the veil was torn and we were given full access to all that was lost in the garden. We have access to God’s face-to-face presence again!

This might seem obvious, but where ever God’s presence is, He is. He is the Great I AM and that means where ever He is, who is His is also present and available.

Do you need healing? It’s in His presence because He is the Healer.

Do you need provision? It’s in the presence because He is the Provider.

Do you feel confused and unsure of your next steps? Just enter into His presence because He is the Good Shepherd.

Do you feel lonely? You guessed! Get in God’s presence and encounter the Comforter!

What do you need? It doesn’t matter what it is because you can find it in the presence of the Great I AM!

Entering In

By now you’re probably ready to jump right into God’s presence and get to know the One who makes all things possible. But you also might still be wondering how to do that. The answer is simple – by faith.

Hebrews 11:1 teaches us, “faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.” Faith is the key to unlocking encounters in God’s presence.

Let’s get a little more practical. First, take time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to come. Matthew 7:7 promises that if we ask we will receive so just ask Him if come meet with you face-to-face. Then activate your faith by choosing to believe that when you ask He will come. Finally, take time to wait in His presence.

Time in God’s presence might look like peace or laughter or tears. He can come in a still small voice or in power. The point is really how He comes, but that He comes. As you honor Him, He will continue to come and keep coming.

Grow In Relationship

Spending time in God’s presence isn’t a one time thing or only a church service experience. It’s a lifestyle all day every day! The easiest way to think about it is as a relationship. There is always more of Him to encounter and experience.

Try it right now. Pray this out loud and wait for Him to come, believing in faith that He will…

“Holy Spirit, I ask for You to come and encounter me. I want to know You more, not just know about You, but know You face-to-face. Amen!”

________

Build Bridges of Love

by Pastor Choco De’ Jesus August 21, 2021

written by Pastor Choco De’ Jesus

Where do you and I draw the line between people we have hope for and continue to pray for who are messing up their lives, and those we give up on? When my son, Wilfredo Jr., was flunking out of school and smoking marijuana, I never thought of giving up on him. Sure, I was upset, frustrated, and deeply disappointed, but his behavior got more of my attention, not less.

But others are harder to love, and it’s more difficult to believe they’ll ever change. We tend to draw a line to exclude them from our lives because of their behavior or their views on important topics. That’s why it’s important for us to develop a kingdom perspective about people and ideas. It’s the only way to build bridges of love.

Most of us have family members whose lives have gone off the rails. The list is almost endless: people who are alcoholics, addicts, thieves, liars, narcissists, hoarders, or sexual predators; human volcanoes who blow up and go dormant until the next explosion; people who are abusive; those who abandon us physically or emotionally; people who are irresponsible; and people with obsessive-compulsive habits or personality disorders, to name a few.

It’s my guess that most of us have drawn a line in the sand, and on the other side are people we’ve written off as utterly hopeless. We manage to barely put up with people who are grouchy or whose habits are somewhat repulsive, but these others are beyond our limits.

To move the line so we can love more people, we need a rare and precious commodity: humility. Paul describes the humility of Christ in his letter to the Philippians. He begins by saying that we can have a similar attitude if our hearts are filled with God’s grace. Paul begins with a series of “if” statements:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion . . . —Philippians 2:1, NIV

Paul is reminding us of the phenomenal gift of grace poured out on us in Jesus. This grace isn’t just a theological truth; it connects us with His heart so that contempt for others melts away and is replaced with kindness.

Notice that the “if” clauses conclude with a “then” statement as Paul describes what happens in us and through us when we experience grace:

. . . then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. —Philippians 2:2–5

What was Jesus’ mindset? He didn’t insist on His comfort and popularity. Instead, He emptied Himself. He was the King of glory, but He became a servant. He was the Lord of life, but He let Himself be killed to pay the penalty we deserved. He was supremely powerful, but He humbled himself for you and me. He died for His enemies, people who had nothing to offer, people like us.

We get a picture of how wide Jesus’ love was on the morning of the resurrection. The first person who saw Christ was Mary Magdalene. When she saw Him, she didn’t expect to see a risen Savior. She thought He was the gardener who had taken the body away. But when Jesus gently called her name, “Mary,” she knew it was Him. (See John 20:11–16.) At that moment, the message of the gospel was in the hands of a woman who, Luke tells us, had been possessed by seven demons (Luke 8:2). She was the most unlikely evangelist: she was a woman in a man’s world, a person who had been possessed by demons, and uneducated. But Jesus looked beyond these factors and revealed Himself to her. You and I were once just as unlikely, and yet He has revealed Himself to us.

Jesus obliterated the line and the limitations on His love. No one was outside His grace, and everyone was welcome to experience the wealth of His kindness. As we grasp His love more fully, our line will move out.

Does this mean we totally accept everyone, no matter how abusive or irresponsible he or she is? No, not exactly. We are called to love people but not necessarily to trust them. It would be foolish to trust an abuser or a habitual liar. Jesus loved the Pharisees by speaking the truth to them and letting them respond. But He did not exclude them.

We can build bridges of love with people if they’ll open their hearts—even just a little—so we can take steps toward each other. Sometimes a relationship may look hopeless, but God can make a way when we don’t see one.

____

This is an excerpt from “Love Them Anyway: Finding Hope in a Divided World Gone Crazy” by Pastor Choco De Jesus. More at https://lovethemanywaybook.com

Pastor Choco De’ Jesus is the former senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Chicago, one of the largest churches in the nation. He serves as General treasurer of the Assemblies of God. He was named in 2013 as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. He is the author of several books, including “Love Them Anyway”.

God’s Marvelous Love: May It Never Cease To Amaze Us

by Bobbi Kumari October 23, 2020

written by Bobbi Kumari

God’s marvelous love encountered me so beautifully when I took Communion this morning. As I reminded myself that my life is built upon the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, no matter my circumstances or my emotions. I took the elements and meditated on who Christ is, and on what He has done for me. And then suddenly to my delight, I got deliciously hammered by God’s goodness and His flawless, perfect love.

Wow! What a price Jesus paid on the cross when He shed His blood for us. All so that we could have a relationship with Father God. This wrecks me. I am filled with fresh amazement and awestruck wonder at the scandal of being in a heart-to-heart relationship with the most important, most transcendent, most powerful, wisest, most loving, kindest, most beautiful, most significant Being that could ever exist. I mean how can this even be? That we, mere human beings, so intricately flawed, dysfunctional, insignificant, selfish, and broken – could be in an intimate relationship with God Almighty? And not just as distant acquaintances, but in a profoundly mutual “knowing” that reaches the very depth of our being.

Boldly Permitted To Approach God’s Throne

How can we have been invited into such an irrevocable adoption, as sons and daughters of God? Fully accepted? Unconditionally loved? Eternally embraced? And boldly permitted to approach the Father’s throne, day or night, whether we be clean or dirty, righteous or unrighteousness…pure or impure? And how can we be called friends of God? Friends of God? OF GOD??!!!! Like whaaaatttt??? Seriously, how is this lofty, inconceivable privilege our reality?

Yet this is our reality. And it is all made miraculously possible and accessible because of the bloodshed by God’s Son Jesus, who is the only complete representation of God. Through Him and Him alone, we get to meet God, we get to know Him and we get to see Him. We get to be in an unhindered, love-drenched relationship with God. This is wild. God’s love is SO SO wild It’s a love that’s so scandalous. It’s actually quite ridiculous. So inconceivably undeserved.

God’s Marvelous Love Revealed

To think that God Almighty, who is LOVE personified, would send His own precious, perfect Son to demonstrate the fullness of His Father’s love, by dying for an unlovable, sinful world – by becoming the very Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for an imperfect world. And in doing so, the Father’s love would be revealed.

And then, those that would accept this gift of extravagant love – this very torturous crucifixion, the sacrificial breaking of the body of the Son of God – carried out on their behalf – would then become the very body of Christ – the Bride of Christ – who the Father would then lovingly prepare, with great care and delight, to present to His Son, in divine marriage. His beautiful, beautiful Son Jesus.

Jesus. Glorious One. Oh, so so dazzling is His nature. Beautiful is His fragrant aroma, Flawless is His character, and irresistible is His personality. Who could resist Him? His incredible nature causes the body of Christ – His bride – to literally adore Him, to be lovestruck. Enamored forevermore. Ever so besotted with Him.

A Love So Wild

And the whole while, we are falling in love with Jesus, we are seeing more of God’s marvelous love revealed. And this is what floats our Heavenly Father’s boat I reckon – having His creation receive the revelation of His nature, by falling in love with His Son. Yet, only made possible because God loved us first and sent His Son to die in our place, to save us from perishing and to bring us into an intimate relationship with Him. So that we could know Him.

This is crazy. It’s the most scandalous, inconceivable, almost ridiculous demonstration of love that could ever exist. And yet, we are the recipients of it. Recipients of this eternal love-jackpot, which is so beyond our merit, our understanding, and even beyond our capacity to reciprocate this love. But reciprocate we must. For how could we not? How could we ever take lightly such a love? How could we ever fail to lavishly respond to a love so wild? A love so free? One that is totally unconditional? And so undeserved?

Yet this is the extravagant love, that we were all created for. It’s truly God’s marvelous love that has been lavished upon us. It’s a divine, unfathomable, glorious love that now defines us. Shapes us. Completes us. And it renders us utterly wrecked, in the most delicious way…for all of our days.

October 23, 2020 0 comment