Power Of A God Encounter

Well, our Hillsong UNITED team and I have just returned from a two week tour in South America - and once again I’ve been blown away by the presence of God and the hunger of His people! I am so grateful for the faithful churches and pastors; men, women and young people all across the Earth that continue to put in a tireless effort to strengthen and build the Body of Christ worldwide.

The Christian Church is gaining ground, and I was once again encouraged to see the generations gathering in force and with such a passion to take their cities for Jesus! The love, kindness and desperation for more of God was written in their faces night after night, and we were once again humbled to be a part of what God is doing in the hearts and lives of people all over the world. In the past few weeks I have been reminded over and over again what power there is in praise and worship, in unity and sacrifice, and in those moments when we undeniably encounter God.

On the last night of Hillsong Conference Sydney this year, I remember turning to see Bobbie caught up in a moment of praise and worship, and instantly recognized that she was having a significant moment with God. Later on that evening, she told me that she has ever only experienced that particular kind of moment five times in her Christian walk, a very distinct 'God-Encounter'.

As we began to talk about what that meant for her personally, I realised that I myself was desperate for the next God-encounter... a collision with the unexpected.

In Philippians 3:12 Paul says 'Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.'

I take comfort in the character of Peter, the disciple. Peter's life was marked by unexplainable God-encounters, and yet riddled with incredible moments of weakness and failure - still God never dismissed his ability to build a strong foundation for the early church. As a leader, sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong, but take courage that Jesus still saw the potential in Peter, and when we can leave the past behind us with our eyes focused on the prize, we will do great things for God.

You see, when we encounter God... something changes. God-encounters give birth to new things, God-encounters open doors, take ground and renew strength in our hearts, clear the clutter in our lives and make room for the divine.

Psalms 34:8 exhorts us 'Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.'

As Christians, we need to live with the expectation that our walk with God will be full of life changing encounters with Jesus. I pray that we will always be people with a Kingdom focus, and a spirit that says 'God, I need an encounter with You, I am ready for the unexpected, and I have a heart that will do whatever it takes'.

Let's be people that refuse to be robbed by the voice of critical and religious thinking, doubt and unbelief, but rise above the crowd and the noise with a Holy fear and expectation that God will encounter us when we seek Him wholeheartedly.

Imagine if we were a church not known for what we stand against; but what we stand for. A church known for unwavering hope in Jesus, a House of Prayer, a place of freedom, where people reach their potential, and the hurting and broken are healed and restored!

In the New Testament, the Pharisees missed the power of Christ because they were too busy with everything going on around them. Yet, I've learned that most God-encounters are NOT going to fit into the box of familiarity or restricting religion, because we are serving a God who does things 'out of the box!!'

Men and women, let's not miss the power of Christ, or the opportunity for a God-encounter because we are too busy ticking all the right boxes, doing all the right marketing, singing all the right songs and preparing all the right programs. Instead, lets lay down our agendas, and seek after God's - Embracing the hurting, inviting the unsaved into the House of God and praying with fervency for wisdom and inspiration. Finally, let's always be looking to move from a place of complacency into a place of surrender, under an open heaven, where we ourselves can have a God-encounter.

Blessings,
Brian