AN ENCOUNTER WITH GOD by Simon Smailus Francis Frangipane wrote in his book, “There is only one thing that keeps most churches from prospering spiritually. They have yet to find God” These words came to life for me last weekend. I went with my wife and a friend to an “Encounter with God” weekend in York. The event is run by The International Church, Mansfield. The weekend had a profound effect on me. So much so that my perspective on many things has been altered. Some things I’ve never understood, now make sense. My faith and understanding of God and his working seems more real. In my prayer times I just want to tell Jesus how much I love him and pray passionately in the Spirit. I’m not going to go into detail about the weekend, this is not something that can be explained, but must be experienced. I would encourage you to go. However, I will say that the weekend dealt with my complacency to sin and showed me how religious I had become as well as bringing me into an experience with God. There is no “silver bullet” to faith. Sorry, but in a world of false promises to obtain something without work and effort, this is not one of those! The best desciption was given by John Hibbert, that the weekend was a doorway into a life with God that can be lived for the rest of our days. I want to emphasise the idea of a doorway. It is easy for our faith to become cerebral. Our once passionate love for Christ at our salvation is slowly replaced by religion. We begin to exchange our relationship for liturgy. Why does this happen? Because we do not want to obey the simple truths of Scripture. We want Jesus and the World. I find it difficult to describe what happened. The result however is that my relationship with Jesus is real and my vision renewed. I feel something has started that I pray will increase and… “…if my fire is not large, it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.” —AW Tozer
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 06:49:28 +0000
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