How to Encounter God - a Practical GuideSample

In the story about the healing of the blind man, there were others who refused to encounter God – the blind man’s parents. They knew that their son had had a genuine experience with God, but they were more afraid of being put out of the synagogue than desirous of knowing this man who had healed their son. How sad is that? In honesty, have we sometimes behaved like the parents of the blind man? Is our fear of the unknown greater than our fire for God?

Some of us know that God is calling us to leave our local church, but we are stuck in fear. We say things like, “All our friends are at this church, and the children like the Sunday school here,” to justify our lack of faith. Sometimes we are so genuinely afraid of going down the wrong path that we cannot even listen or watch media from another stream of the faith.  

I have found that every genuine follower of Christ and stream of Christianity has some facet of God that I need. If I had not been willing to try new music and listen to people from different denominations, I probably would not have discovered more about God. It wasn’t that I agreed with every doctrinal position of every person. No one person or ministry has perfect theology. But if we can only receive from perfect people, then who would qualify?

God loves to push our boundaries. He loves to go over the walls of the boxes that we place Him in. We must be willing to push past our fear of the unknown and go wherever He takes us. Abraham, the father of faith, relocated his entire life at age seventy-five simply because God told Him to. His willingness to leave his comfort zone to obey God led Him to become the man whom God called friend.

If we want to encounter God, we must push past our fear.

Points to pray/journal:

• Is my fear of the unknown greater than my zeal for more of God?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, give me the faith of Abraham to forsake my comfort zone to follow you. May Your Presence become my safety and my comfort.