Encounter With God

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips - Isaiah 6:5

When the Prophet Isaiah encountered God, he had to repent of only one type of sin – Unclean lips. For us, when we encounter God, how many sins would we need to repent before God. It can easily be many sins which we can mention like an essay. There can be many known and unknown sins. There can even be some secret sins that we are unaware of until we encounter God. Isaiah lived a holy Life, only when he encountered God, did he find out about the secret sin of unclean lips. There are some hidden sins, which we come to know only when we encounter God.

Isaiah had said only one line about His sin - I am a man of unclean lips, if it had been you or me instead of Isaiah, we would have easily said an essay or many pages of sins. In the encounter with God, since Isaiah had only one unrepented sin left, after repenting, it was quick for him to see God and hear God’s plans. Because we have so many sins, repenting itself will take more time and it will would delay our opportunity to see God and hear his plans. For example-Prophet Isaiah had only one sin left, so it might have taken him 1-2 min to repent and after that he has seen God. For us in the encounter with God, since we have lot of sins, repenting itself may take 3-4 hours and then we will see God.

If you want to have an encounter with God, start repenting of your sins right now, and once you have an encounter with God, it will be quick and easy to see God. Only when Isaiah repented of his sins did God begin to talk to him and reveal his plans. God does not reveal His plans until we repent of our sins. Today when you have an encounter with God and hear God’s plans without repentance, be careful with such visitations or encounters with God. True encounter is an encounter with God in repentance. In an encounter with God, repentance comes or precedes before seeing and speaking to God.

Nowadays people talk of having an encounter with God – seeing God’s great plans and spending a lot of time with God, but they rarely emphasize having to repent and encounter God’s Holiness. Encountering God is a terrifying experience. If you have an encounter with God with sin in your lives, it’s even more terrifying experience and your hip joints may shake like Belshazzar (Daniel 5:5). Despite living a holy lives, the prophets of the Old Testament fell down when they encountered God. Consider if we had an encounter with God with sin in our lives, how much God's Holiness would shake, scare, and make you automatically repent of your sins. Isaiah was not given an option to repent, but was made to repent because of God’s Holiness. When we encounter God, God’s holiness will automatically make you repent of your sins.

Despite the fact that Ezekiel encountered God many times, each encounter was a unique and terrifying experience. This generation talks a lot about encounters; what will they say if they have a genuine encounter? What a wonderful change it would bring in their lives and lifestyles. Holiness and Holy Living is outcome of a genuine encounter. By our Holy Living, others around will know that we had an encounter with God. If you have a genuine encounter, you will talk more about encountering God's Holiness, such as falling down, having to repent, being unable to endure such presence, and so on.

When the Old Testament prophets encountered God, they did not speak to God as if he were a friend; they were terrified of God; God’s Holy fear came upon them; they were in God's presence, but God did not speak to them for a long time, and they did not speak many words; it was primarily one-way communication with God, in which God spoke many words and they spoke 1-2 lines. This generation say that they have an encounter with God, claiming to have spoken to God for a long time without encountering God's Holiness. All of these encounters are fake and a waste of time.

One prayer request I have for this generation is that - let this generation encounter God in all His Holiness feeling the heat of God’s Holiness. Their lives will surely change when they encounter God in all His Holiness. No wander the author of Hebrews said this verse - it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Encountering God and His Holiness is a very dangerous thing because it causes people to tremble and automatically repent of their sins. Encounter with God can change and break even the hardest of hearts. Its better that we encounter God in all His Holiness on earth before the judgement seat.