When You Encounter Jesus, Things Do Not Remain the Same!!

Salvation without transformation is impossible. If you are in Christ, and have the righteousness of Christ, it is impossible not to be transformed. It is also impossible for a Christian to receive salvation but never experience sanctification.

 The born-again experience, “from death to life” is only a brief instantaneous moment in a Christian’s life. While it is monumental, it is just the starter’s pistol being shot to start the rest of the race that you are called to run. WHEN Jesus shows up and interjects Himself into a situation, THINGS WILL HAVE NO CHOICE but to change. Saul who later became Paul lived his life before this encounter with Jesus doing what he thought to be God’s will for his life. Many times, referred to as the “Pharisee of Pharisees,” the keeper of the law, the master of all knowledge of God. Only to realize that his pursuit of knowledge had been in vain. After his encounter with the Holy Spirit, the scales fell from his eyes, and at once he began to preach! When you encountered Jesus what scales fell from your eyes, and what revelations of truth, and knowledge became known to you? As Christians, these experiences should be more common than an occasional, almost rare encounter. For many Christians, experiencing GOD seems to be a non-starter, a non-existent event. Jesus died to give us access to all and more than just what we read about in the Bible.

The Bible makes clear that the presence and power of God is a central goal in God’s redemptive mission. All of God’s work ends with the Lord dwelling with and in man. And second, the presence and power of God is not only an objective, but it is also how the redemptive mission is fulfilled. God writes Himself into your life to bring salvation, transformation, and power. Knowing God is more than knowledge of Him. We should be as Moses when he said, “If Your Presence (power) does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? (Exodus 33:15-16a). Or as in Acts 4:13 which says, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been in the presence of Jesus.” God’s Manifest Presence Is a Necessity for Life. 

Transformation and power are the goal, and this requires the presence of God.“The Bible is not “a greatest hits” record of the most profound acts of God in the lives of only a few people throughout history. It’s an invitation to experience it fully and completely. We should read the Bible as people who are being called and invited to the very life that we see lived in the pages of scripture.”

1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, The demonstration of the Spirit's power refers to the tangible evidence of the Holy Spirit's work among the Corinthians, which could include miracles, spiritual gifts, and transformed lives.  No different than when Jesus shows up.

When was the last time your life imitated the stories and experiences that we see in the Bible? If not, then why not?