Living Out an EncounterSample

DAY 4: Be in Good Company. Be Discipled.

Living out of an encounter always results in the right people getting around us to build us up and grow us! An encounter with God transforms us, so much so that a true encounter with God should mark us differently when others see us! After an encounter with God, God desires us to be around people who will help us live out the encounter and continue to grow in our walk with God.

This may mean for some of us that we must leave some friendships behind in order to pursue new friendships with people who will encourage us in our faith. There is nothing wrong with the old friends we used to have, but will those friends lead us back to our old ways before our encounter with God or point us forward in Jesus. The Bible says iron sharpens iron, meaning that when we allow the right people to speak into our lives as friends, they sharpen us into the man or woman who God has called us to be!

In Acts 9, Saul, a man who persecuted Christians, encounters God so powerfully, that he was completely transformed. Saul had to get around people who were going to show him how to live out of that encounter to ensure he didn’t walk back to his old life and to show him what living for Jesus was all about. He spent three years with the disciples before he became Paul the great apostle of the New Testament that we know today.

It’s time to take a deeper look at the people who we allow to be around us and speak into our lives today. For some of us, this may mean getting around wiser people such as youth leaders and your youth pastor or maybe choosing new friends who are mature in their walk with Jesus. These people want to help you grow in your walk with God and to allow you to be accountable with them as you grow in your daily relationship with Jesus. Find and seek after these people who will challenge you to grow daily and stir you to go deeper in the things of God and who can be accountable with you to see you step into the destiny that God has for your life!

Find people who:

• Speak life in tough times;
• Challenge you to go higher in God;
• Will be accountable when you feel tempted to go back to old ways;
• Encourage the call of God on your life;
• Sharpen what God has on your life for better!

Prayer: God, help me with the friendships I pursue. Thank you for giving me people who can sharpen and help me in my walk with you. Give me wisdom to help me grow. Amen.