What I noticed most was the theme of the importance of having a personal encounter with God. The worship times were wonderful (though a bit louder than they should have been, IMHO). The sessions were never a waste of time (though some went longer than needed, again IMHO). But all in all, I'm glad we went.
I'll summarize a few other key teachings I found helpful first, and then talk about having an encounter. The other thoughts are some of the fruit of a life-style of encounter. If you find those helpful, as I do, they may spur you on to seek a deeper encounter with God yourself.
Who Are You that You Should Fear?
On the first night Bill Johnson (of Bethel Church in Redding, CA) spoke. (If you've never heard Bill, I'd suggest you do an internet search for him and find some video or audio of him talking about just about anything.) I'd heard Bill before, and have read most of his books, so his first talk didn't have much in it I hadn't heard before. It was still inspiring to listen to him, as he has such a singular vision and passion for the things of God.
Toward the end of the talk he went off-script (as he admitted), to begin talking about the US elections in the light of Isaiah 51:12-16. He didn't make the jump equating Israel with the United States (as some foolishly do). But he did apply this verse to we who are God's people now. The passage asks the question: "Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth..." (NIV). The NASB (which he used) replaces "mere mortals" with "a man who dies." Which person running for office, who will die someday, are we afraid of? Who are you to be afraid of them?!
If God made everything, and if He is our God, why are we so afraid during this election season? Some well-known Christian leaders, and some lesser known ones, and some of my Facebook friends, at least sound afraid when they talk of the Republican and Democrat candidates. To hear them talk, both candidates will lead our nation to a certain doom, and on a path to destruction with a momentum that will carry over for at least the next generation.
What Bill said was something like this: "Who do you think you are, that you are so afraid?" The implication (as I understand it) is: "You must have a very small god."
I'll just leave it there, as Bill did, and let you ponder this thought however you like.
You Only Have Authority Over What You Love
Leif Hetland made the above statement in a talk he gave. He wasn't talking at all about authority over demons! What he meant was that the Kingdom of God moves forward through love. It doesn't move forward through intimidation, nor by treating people like personal projects, or valuing people only in case they turn, or might turn to Christ. Love people for who they are.When he says to love people for who they are, he meant to distinguish their identity from what they do. Clearly some people do bad things, or follow a false god, or whatever. Still, no matter what, we love them. This is basically what Jesus told us to do: Love even your enemies (those aligned against you), because that's what God is like (for example, Matthew 5:43-48).
He told the story of how loving Muslims, with no agenda, without speaking to them at all about Jesus, has them turning to Jesus, even having encounters with Him before they come to faith. Love is at the center of God's being (1John 4:8, 16). He explained love in terms of simply serving, and showing kindness. In other words, love is more than merely thinking nicely about people. If it doesn't result in action (when action is possible), it isn't really love. We're supposed to love (demonstrated in acts of kindness) to all people. Period.
When we do that, we position ourselves to speak powerfully into their lives. Which is another way of saying, we have authority in their lives. The same applies to peoples and nations. Hate tears down; love builds up.
Anything You Do That's Not Motivated by Hope, Is under the Influence of a Lie
Hope is one of the three things that remain in 1Corinthians 13:13. Hope is one of the central themes and attitudes of the New Testament. Hope is something we are to hold onto unswervingly (Hebrews 10:23).The Gospel is something that infuses us with hope, or it isn't the Gospel. Our future is certain (despite whatever temporary obstacles there might be). God is good all the time. (Bill just released a book on called God Is Good: He's Better than You Think - in which he develops this central Biblical teaching in some helpful, overarching ways. (Just finished it and recommend it.)
If God is good and everything that happens to us turns out for good (Romans 8:28), what are we worried about? The worst this world has to throw at us can rob us of nothing God is giving us. And if that weren't enough, His Kingdom can't be shaken--we can't lose!
You Are the Incarnation of God's Dream
I know. It sounds a bit self-aggrandizing, doesn't it. Larry Randolph told this to us (not an exact quote). If we were chosen in Him (that is in Christ) before the creation of the world, He knew us before the creation of the world. We were in His mind before He said, "Let there be light." In other words He dreamed us up a long time ago, and now we're here! No one is a mistake. No one is a waste of space. (I've heard Bill Johnson say something similar: Before you were born God had a world without you and He didn't like it.)His point: we need to realize who we are, and how important we are to God! We may think we are unworthy of Christ's sacrifice, but apparently He didn't think so. What Jesus did for us on the cross means that we can be with Him forever--and from God's perspective, that He can be with us forever.
Ponder that!
If Love Ain't in What You're Doin', and If Love Ain't Drivin' It, It Ain't Nothin'
Another summary of what Larry Randolph told us (definitely not a direct quote!). Echoing Leif Hetland (see above), everything we do that's not filled with and motivated by love is just "a resounding gong or a clangning cymbal;" it amounts to nothing (1Corinthians 13:1-3). If we do it to feel good, or to be noticed, or to win the debate, or whatever, if love isn't in it, it doesn't mean a thing.
The Central Importance of the Encounter
All the speakers (I didn't quote above from talks by Joseph Garlington, Will Hart, Paul Martini, Tom Jones, Mark Chironna or Randy Clark), spoke of the importance of having a personal and direct encounter with God.This is not something I grew up knowing anything about--except for stories of this happening with a few, select people in the Bible: Abraham, Moses Isaiah, Paul, John especially, and some others along the way. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't think it happened any more. However, I'm not sure I heard a speaker that didn't point to having a dramatic encounter with God just prior to their ministry taking off in amazing directions.
An encounter with God is transforming. Does that even need to be said?!
They did not point to a sort of vague awareness of God's presence, or a hazy sort of consciousness that God was nearby in some way. They pointed to experiences of God that overwhelmed them, left them unable to sleep, or even move, of wondering if they could even survive the encounter (and not caring if they didn't!).
I've not had an encounter like that. I've had encounters with God. In 2004 in Toronto, at what was then called Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (now called Catch the Fire), as well as some times since, I've had powerful experiences of God's presence. These encounters were very real and either transforming, or affirming. But they fall short of the sort of encounters I heard from these teachers.
So, what do we do with that? What if my experience doesn't seem to measure up to what these speakers were talking about? I suppose I have a few options: I can choose to not believe them, and call them liars; I can psychologize away their experience as a projection of their wishful thinking; I can attribute it to the devil; I can dismiss it as something that only a few actually get to experience; or, I can see their experience as something possible for all believers. I'm choosing the last option. I won't let my experience (or lack of it) so far rob me of anything God wants for me for my future!
In Hebrews 11:6 we are told that the kind of faith that pleases God has two parts: believe "that He exists" (which the devil does too, BTW -- James 2:19), "and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." That we believe that God rewards those who seek Him is of central importance, according to the author of Hebrews. Bill Johnson said about this to those of us who don't want any reward, that if we refuse them we'll have no crown to throw at His feet.
In John 14:21 Jesus tells us that those who love Jesus will be loved by the Father and that He too "will love them and show myself to them." This verse wasn't quoted by any of the speakers, as far as I remember, but it sure sounds like a promise to me!
I think too many of us have set our expectations so low, that we might as well be Stoics. Stoics were Greek, and later Roman philosophers who saw life as something to be endured with dignity, but nothing more. We should never be too joyful, nor too sad, but rather centered in something a bit more dignified and moderate. When you say it like that, it sort of looks like pride, doesn't it.
If God is a good Father, He is not an absent Father and He's never too busy for us. Human fathers are limited in ways God as our Father is not. While human fathers sometimes are too busy, or need to go away to work when we want to have time with them, God our Father isn't. He always has time for us.
If God keeps His promises, He does reward those who seek Him, and Jesus actually does show Himself to us!
Now I haven't gone looking for any pink elephants with purple polka-dots recently, because I don't expect to find any. In the same way, if we don't believe we can have a direct encounter with God, we won't go looking for one. However, if God does keep His promises, and if Jesus wasn't exaggerating, it's worth seeking an encounter. Right?
Some would object to the idea of wanting an experience of God, as if experience is not reliable, and that we should be satisfied with God's self-revelation in Scripture. However, Scripture seems to point us toward having and desiring an encounter with God. David desired and expected to encounter God in the sanctuary where he could "gaze on the beauty of the Lord" (among other things -Psalm 27:4). He urges us to "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8 - tasting is purely experiential!), a kind of experience that Peter assumes his readers to have had (1Peter 2:3).
I'm not there yet. I've not experienced the kind of transformation I saw in the lives of the speakers that I listened to last week. They have seen the eyes of the blind opened when they prayed, deaf ears opened, cancer gone, limbs grown out to their proper length, and many other kinds of healing miracles. They have seen thousands brought to saving faith (Leif Hetland's ministry has reached the 1 million mark).
I'm not there yet, but I'm seeking. I'm seeking more than I have yet known or imagined. I'm seeking it because I want it (I'll admit that!), but also because I believe God wants it for me, and because such an encounter is likely to have a powerful impact in the world God calls me to live in.
Do you want it too? Go for it! Like Jacob, don't let go until He blesses!
About encounters with God. I pursued the approach you outlined for years and years, trying anything possible, going to so many Pentecostals for help, and when still didn't get that powerful encounter with God I almost completely gave up my faith thinking that maybe God didn't really exist. I think such an exercise can be dangerous. We want to expect that we can have a real relationship with God, but setting ourselves up to expect these powerful encounters is something else. We are still living in the fallen world, where we have been cast out of the garden, and we don't see God face to face. When Jesus returns, we will see him face to face and have that encounter we crave. In the meantime, we have to be content not having encounters like that.
ReplyDeleteOf course today, I still try as much as possible to experience God and have intimacy with him as much as possible. But I'm trying to keep my expectations lower so that I don't fall back into doubts and frustrations.
That said, I still agree with you that most American Christians set their expectations too low