Day 10 - Encountering God in Prayer

Today is Day Ten of 31 Days of Encountering God! If you missed the kick-off, you can go HERE and find the Introduction as well as each days post! (I will be adding every day as the month goes on!)

Encountering God in Prayer... 

We talked a little about this on Sunday, when we practiced a little Listening Prayer.  I believe that Prayer is a conversation... it is ongoing through out my day and I admit that I can easily move into checking off my list - but ultimately, He loves to talk with us, and when we quiet ourselves and really slow down... breathe in... count on... oh how He loves to encounter us!

I actually have this blog to thank for the depth of my prayer life and how I have come to expect Him to just show up whenever I bow my head and heart.  I had been involved in a large church for some time and was finding it difficult to really feel connected. I prayed and asked the Lord where 'my people' were and He lead me to discover that there was an Intercessory Prayer group that met once a week.  Now - I told Him I would go check it out... not really sure I wanted to commit.  I mean, what if it was a bunch of - well... not my people?  I went not really sure of what to expect.  I walked into that room... a room I had been in before... but found it transformed into a meeting place of faith stirring, and glory lingering, and a Heaven meets earth atmosphere - with women ready to press in and find Him!  These - these were my people!

After one day, I was hooked! And on the way home, the Lord asked me to give Him a year of Tuesdays... to meet with this group... pray, worship, press in... come home and write what I saw or heard... record it on a blog (back when not many really knew what that was!)... and give it all to Him!  Easy Peasy, right?

Well - it was even easier in ways than I could have ever imagined!

I was already comfortable with the fact that I was prophetic and could flow with the Spirit in gifts of discernment and words of knowledge, prophecy, etc - but up until that point, I was not what one would call a Seer, per say. But from Day One - the Lord peeled back a veil and gave me glimpses into another realm.  I recorded them faithfully for years. One year came and went and I had gotten so used to these God Encounters, I didn't want them to end! I stretched it out for a couple of years until it was clear that that season of meeting together to pray was over.  Our group slowly faded and we were lead to different gatherings and ministries. But I always treasure those Tuesday mornings...

So, I will include one of those God Encounters below... and over the next couple of weeks, I will share some more, mixed in with new posts... fresh writing... new encounters!

Step Into Him...

"As I was on my way to the weekly Prayer Meeting yesterday, I felt myself thinking about a message I had spoken on long ago. Basically it was a time when the Lord tied several seemingly unrelated Scriptures together and showed me that He is a Present God... We mere humans tend to go one way or the other... (dwelling in the past, or worrying about the future...) but our God is the I AM and He is a Present God. The Scriptures I was working with at the time were taken from each of the Gospels but were not about the same story or parable... but what God showed me was that they each dealt with "What if's" and "If Only's". 

Wow... OK - so how many of us are guilty of one or the other (or both) of those things?! We either have regrets about the past and we fill our thoughts with "If Only's"... or we fret and stress about our unknown future and get caught up in the "What If's." What God had said to me all those years ago was this...

"If Only's are about the past... What If's are about the future... I am not the "I Was"... nor am I the "I Will Be"... I am the "I AM"

He is right here... right now... fully aware of what is going on within and around us this very moment... He is 'present' with us at all times... not just 'here'... but truly Present... Webster's defines "Present" as something that is "now existing or in progress; being in view or at hand; existing in something mentioned or under consideration; relating to, ..." To be Present means to be attentive, to be instant and immediate... to pay attention to the details and all that is important.

Isn't it good to know that our God is "Present" with us... all the time... every day... through every situation that we encounter!? Aaah - that gives me so much peace! 

This memory also stirred up in me the words that I heard a few weeks ago regarding God being the Lion AND the Lamb... being the I AM and saying, "I AM in YOU!" 

We had our faithful leader back from a month away... the other gals that stepped up to lead this group all did an excellent job - sharing from their hearts and touching His... yet I must say I was blessed to find my dear friend return... she brings such a heart for the Lord and such a passion for those around her to enter in deeper with Him... and she is simply so Real... What she shared with us built upon what God was speaking to me earlier... Christ in us... the hope of glory!

Sure - we know this... we have read it and studied it... and yet - are we truly learning how to walk it out?! To literally know and believe and walk in the fullness of what that means... I believe that would look like His Bride... pure and spotless - don't you!? Anyway - while we entered in to worship - I saw the feet of Jesus... standing firm on solid ground... strong and muscular legs that are undefeated in battle... and a mighty wind blowing His garment, yet He was unmoved... in His midst was a Brightness of Truth blazing through any storm or any darkness... I scanned up and saw His eyes of love, crying - literally DRIPPING with tears titled "Mercy" and "Grace"... but it was His smile, full of joy that caught my heart! His head was thrown back, laughing and crying in joy... BECAUSE ... (I realized) because He saw Himself in us... in me. I FELT Him step into me... I literally 'saw' Him step into my body and fill me up... I felt all that He is stirring around inside of me... and the vision ended. 

Christ in you, the hope of glory... we are no longer HOPING for it, you know!? We have it... Christ lives in us... if we could stay 'present' and remember that He lives in us... all that He is is available for us... all that He is capable of - can flow through us when we are aware of the union we have with Him. We must look for that Abiding Fruit... 

I pray this week you will find yourself thinking of all that it means to have Christ abiding in you... that you will walk taller, feel deeper, and laugh with a joy that is not just your own! After all - the joy of the Lord is our strength!

May you walk STRONG this week

and Step into Him!"

Originally published August 9, 2006 

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What areas of your life are you feeling Him call you to Step In... to Step Up?  I'd love to hear from you, and pray with you!