“Recognizing Divine Encounters”
Dear writer, I hope you had an excellent week and began to see how God has used relationships to shape your unique voice! This week, we’re going to look a little more specifically at how divine encounters with certain individuals grow and influence our voice.
You see, writer, there are long-term relationships that form the fabric of our experiences and expression, but there are also individual people that enter our life briefly, maybe just for a moment, who can completely change our trajectory, our self concept and, yes, even the way we express ourselves.
When we recognize and celebrate these moments and people, it can become easier to identify the unique message God has given us, who He intends to reach with it, and how. But before we dive in, let’s take a look at some others who had key people impact the course of their life and work…
Divine Encounters in History
Amy Carmichael is an amazing example of someone impacted by an encounter with a particular person. When Amy was just a young child on her way home from church with her mother and brothers, Amy spotted an old beggar woman staggering down an alley. Moved with compassion, Amy and her bother helped the woman down the road, but Amy was so embarrassed to be seen with the impoverished lady that she hid her face from others as she helped.
As they went, Amy heard the Holy Spirit say, “Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw—the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If the foundation survives, He will receive the reward.” Immediately, Amy was convicted that, though she was helping the woman, her heart was wrong. Tossing aside her embarrassment, she held her head high. Later, when she looked up the words she’d heard in the Bible, Amy committed to live her life to please God alone.
This singular encounter with the beggar woman sparked Amy’s missionary career, beginning with the poor and outcast of Belfast and reaching halfway around the world to India. Amy’s life and writings still inspire countless others missionaries today.
You see, writer, sometimes we encounter people who spark a fire in our hearts of vision and passion for God. When we recognize and embrace these moments, like Amy, we can more easily recognize and give ourselves fully to the work God designed for us.
Divine Encounters in the Bible
The Ethiopian eunuch is another amazing example of how God used a divine encounter to change the trajectory of someone’s life. Though we know little of the Ethiopian eunuch himself, we do know he had an ardent interest in the Word of God, though he could not understand it. So great was his earnest desire, that God sent the Apostle Philip to the desert where the eunuch was traveling, simply to answer the man’s questions.
Upon understanding the message of salvation in the scriptures, the eager Ethiopian wholeheartedly surrendered his life to God and was baptized. When Philip vanished before his eyes, the Ethiopian gave glory to God and returned home rejoicing as one of the first to carry the Gospel into Africa.
You see, writer, sometimes when we earnestly desire to know or understand something of the Lord, God sends people to meet us, who can speak to just that need. Those deep desires and questions are always a formative part of our experiences, expression, and voice.
Divine Encounters in Life
I had an encounter with someone who changed my life when I attended a rally on a famous Christian college campus, and a man dropped to the ground with a heart attack. Medics rushed in and, for nearly thirty minutes, worked to revive him. The whole time, my heart burned. This was a Christian campus built on faith for healing. Could no one pray for the man?
That moment remained with me for months afterward as a passion for those who were sick took hold of me, and I began to notice the ill, injured, and infirm, everywhere I went. A few years later, the Lord specially called me to begin praying for the sick.
Though I never knew the name of the man at the rally that day, my encounter with him led to a lifestyle of prayer everywhere I go that has seen several reports of God’s miraculous intervention to heal and even reports of others who, observing my lifestyle, began to pray for others and see miraculous answers as well.
Divine Encounters in Your Life
- He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. – Isaiah 30:19b-21
- Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. – Isaiah 65:24
- The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. – Matthew 10:41
- Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:12-13
You see, writer, learning to develop our voice is often about learning to recognize the way God speaks to us and to see where and how He is using life’s encounters and circumstances to shape us. Because here’s the real deal: the more we begin to recognize God’s movement around us and to understand His purposes in that movement, the more we begin to see the way He intends to work in and then through us to be His seminal voice for others, too.
Where to Begin with Recognizing Divine Encounters
Do you have a defining moment—or a few—that God has used to shape you? Here are a few suggestions to begin exploring how those moments influence your God-given voice…
- Recognize the Divine Encounters. Prayerfully make a list of some of the most impactful moments and people you’ve experienced. They may be direct interactions or something powerful you observed that dramatically changed your outlook, perspective, self-concept, or even your concept of God.
- Recognize the Change. Take some time to journal, exploring how that moment or conversation or encounter impacted you. Often, when we write out our experiences, it brings a whole new depth of understanding to that experience and the ability to “own” the lesson more fully as we more thoroughly comprehend and articulate what we’ve experienced.
- Recognized God’s Purpose. Now that you’ve carefully thought through the event’s significance, I encourage you to prayerfully explore what God was doing in that moment. How did what happened fit with other things He’s spoken to you? How does it flow into and dovetail with His greater work in your life? This can be a powerful indicator of the the unique voice and message He’s given you.
- Recognize the People, Message, or Desire. Often these moments of encounter with others serve to unlock or equip us with the passion, desire, wisdom, etc. needed to reach a particular kind of people, to address a certain kind of problem, or to champion a specific truth. Because here’s the thing…
These encounters come through people, and what they build in us is for people. The moment God unlocks desire, passion, understanding, etc. in us, it is because He loves us and has a burning passion to love others through us. Just like the ultimate expression of marriage is the birthing and raising of children, the ultimate expression of our walk with God is to partner with Him, allowing Him to stir our passion and mingle it with the power of His own to see His life and light break into the lives of others.
Just like Amy’s encounter with the beggar woman both convicted her of her cowardice and unleashed the fearless love of God in her life that transformed thousands and still calls others into fearless service today. Just like the Ethiopian’s encounter with Philip unlocked not only the mystery of word of God in him but brought that light and truth through him as he carried the message back to Africa. Just like my encounter with the man at the rally sparked a passion to see God’s people experience His desire and power to heal that has multiplied through the lives of others.
And it’s the same with you, writer. When you begin to recognize and embrace the people and encounters God has used and is using to shape you, you can begin to give yourself permission to lean into the fearless love of God and it’s unique expression through you and your words. Because here’s the final thought…
When God intersects people into our lives, you’ll notice there is always a moment we must choose courage over fear. Or when someone else made that same choice in order to reach us. Because here’s the real deal…
The journey of discovering our voice is really a journey of embracing the confidence that comes from the Father to courageously love in the unique way He has designed us to. His perfect love is the supreme antidote to any kind of fear we may feel. And recognizing life’s divine encounters is, in a large part, learning to recognize how God has powerfully loved us, so that we can more freely live lives of love for Him and others, too.
So, I encourage you, today. If you have defining moments that shaped your life’s story, take some time to sit with the Lord and see how He may be using them to uniquely shape His message of love through you. And if you can’t seem to recall any such moments—don’t despair! Ask the Lord to stir up your passion for Him and to open your eyes to recognize those moments.
Then, I encourage you to choose to wholeheartedly pursue something He’s put on your heart. As Jeremiah 29:13 says, the easiest place to encounter the Lord and His people is as we ardently pursue Him. He loves to be found by us, and when we search for Him, we’ll be surprised to find He makes our lives a spotlight for His love to others, too.
#courage #love #people #DivineEncounters #EveryWriterWriting
