Throughout the Bible, we saw many people have different types of encounters with God. In the book of Exodus, Moses had an encounter with God through a bush that was set on fire. Balaam had an encounter with God through a donkey in the book of Numbers, and the donkey spoke to him. David had various encounters with God in the Bible, as well as many of the mighty and humble prophets. Even in the New Testament, Jesus had various encounters with God. His disciples received prophetic visions, as well as the Apostle Paul. As a matter of fact, one encounter changed the course of Paul's life. It turned his life around completely. Why do we need various encounters with God? For this very reason.
Moreover, last Sunday, as I sat down and received the message, I was impacted and mind-blown at the words that came out of our pastor. As I taught a class to my disciples the day before about being filled with the Holy Spirit, I was mind-blown at what God did that evening. Last night (Thursday), as I sat down and listened to my mentor preaching about being filled with the Holy Spirit, I had a beautiful and powerful encounter with Jesus. Those were tremendous encounters and tremendous experiences. But is that all that I want to experience in my life? There has to be more.
It is for that reason, that I wanted to share a little about what those messages about the Holy Spirit taught me. It taught me that every encounter is like the engine to a car. There is never a filling that will last forever; we must continue to fill up our tank with more. As I look back at my Christian walk, my mind immediately recaps to my most powerful encounters with Jesus. When I am weak, fragile, sick, or discouraged, those encounters give me strength and adrenaline to continue going. If it weren't for those encounters, I would've abandoned the will of God years ago. The more encounters we receive, the more fuel we add to our tank, and the more we are able to drive to many different places. Without fuel to our tank, it is impossible to be able to stay on this Christian walk, because this is a battle between our flesh and our spirit. Our spirit wants to do the will of God, but our flesh wants to say no. As we continue to sacrifice and crucify ourselves, the flesh wants to reject surrendering. Therefore, our cup continues to downgrade if we are not after God's presence. It is for this reason that God needs to continuously fill us up with more of himself, so that we can have life inside of us.
My journey this week has consisted of several experiences. I've realized that the more experiences I have with him, the more I feel connected to my purpose, calling and to my destiny. I've realized that I cannot grieve him, and that I must please him with all my inner being. I also learned that I cannot quench his holy fire, and that I must explode at all costs so that I can keep that fire inside of me. Have we quenched the Holy Spirit? Have we grieved the Holy Spirit? If we have, it is time to go deeper into His presence. He is the life source. He is everything to us. He is the reason why we are alive. He is the reason why we breathe. Seek His presence, and have another encounter with Jesus!
