Hello, my name is Reward Sibanda from The Upper Room and welcome to God Today. I want to share a story with you guys, and it’s not just an ordinary story because it hinges on this incredible premise that sets us apart from any and every other religion.
It is the fact that ours is a God of encounter. It’s the simple fact that wherever you are, whatever language you speak, however you are wired, our God desires to have an encounter with you. And for me, my most powerful encounter, you know, there’s different people like my wife for example, God encounters her in dreams, right? There’s some people like just Sarah, who is just like, they’re just sitting there and God just drops a burden into picture. And in that place, in encounter, there’s some people right that encounter God in worship and everything. But for me, God always encounters me, in and with his Word.
And I still remember the most profound encounter that I’ve ever had with the Lord was when He took me to Genesis 1:26 and right there in the middle of my insecurities, right in the middle of my insecurities, in the middle of my sin, in the middle of my addictions and struggles right there, He showed me that He made me in the image of God. It gave me a purpose. I can remember. And I’m reading the Scripture. I just pause it. I’m frozen. Then all of a sudden tears just start like, literally just dripping on this page, because I’m gripped by the power of this God who dared to make me in His image. And when I was lost, He came in and found me. What’s your encounter? My encounter was God, through his Word.
What was your encounter? Is it in worship? Is it in dreams? Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to place a demand on the encountering Power of God, and say Father encounter me. I love what Pastor Bill Johnson out of Bethel Redding says. He says, we owe the world an encounter with God, and how can we owe the world an encounter with God if we have not encountered Him ourselves?
So Father, I just pray for all my brothers and sisters who are watching this, that You will wreck them with encounter right now. However they feel loved and known and encountered. For some of them, wreck them in prayer, Lord God. For some of them, even at work, just wreck them at work Lord God. For some people, even in worship, just reveal Yourself to them that wherever they are, You would come there and give them a burning bush encounter to where everything around them is Holy ground. You, my friends, have a God of encounter. And I just declare that today, not tomorrow, not next week, but today you would have an encounter with the Living God that would forever mark you for the rest of your life. Wreck them, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.