June Encounter Week
Photo by Vlada Karpovich
Welcome to this month’s Encounter Week!
An encounter with the Lord is a time of special interaction with Him.
Have you ever been reading the Bible and suddenly a verse stood out to you? It just came alive in your heart? Or think about a time when you knew you heard His voice, and His words began to change you.
Encounters can be big things like seeing an angel, or they can be small, quiet things, like knowing what He is saying during your devotional time. Every encounter with the Lord is a big deal, even if it seems small at the beginning. We never know when He will change our lives forever, and sometimes He does this with very “small” things.
We often encounter the Lord when we are purposefully giving Him our attention. That’s what this Encounter Week is for—it is an opportunity to give the Lord our attention.
The Truth of God Found in His Word
Here is a list of truths about you and the Lord based on His Word.
Every day this week, set aside some time, and meditate on one of the truths in the following list. (You don’t need to do them in order.) Ponder the truth in your spirit, and ask the Lord to teach you more about it. Invite Him to show your heart what is real about Him, about you, and about what He’s doing in your life.
Note: If you have trouble sitting still with the Lord, it might help to set a timer for fifteen minutes. (That’s just a suggestion; choose whatever time works for you.) This can help you press into Him when it’s hard to focus.
Truth #1: Jesus has done a powerful work in you. You are not marred by shame—you are holy and dearly loved.
Many, many believers in Jesus don’t really understand what God has done for them. You are holy now. You shouldn’t look at yourself “outside” of Jesus, because that isn’t a true picture of you anymore. Ask the Lord to show you more about His work inside you and what you truly look like now.
This is who you really are: “I love God’s law with all my heart.” (Rom. 7:22 NLT)
This is who you really are: “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” (Col. 3:12 NIV)
Truth #2: Your spirit knows the goodness of God in a special way. His goodness is chasing you down.
The Bible says that the goodness of God is chasing after you. Whether His goodness is difficult or easy for you to see right now, the truth is that you are filled up and surrounded by His goodness. He made you holy so you could be close to Him: the One who is good. Ask the Lord to show you how His goodness is pursuing you and what that means for you personally.
Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life. (Ps. 23:6 MSG)
The Mighty One has done great things for me! Indeed, his name is holy. (Luke 1:49 CJB)
Truth #3: Because of Jesus, you are holy in a way the world doesn’t understand. He has set His seal of ownership upon you.
When you met Jesus, He set you apart as His. You do not belong to the darkness anymore—that’s over. You belong to the kingdom of light, and the Holy Spirit shines within you. You look different now than you did before. Ask the Lord to show you more about the Holy Spirit and what it means for Him to be your “guarantee.”
It is God himself who makes us, together with you, sure of our life in union with Christ; it is God himself who has set us apart, who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us. (2 Cor. 1:21–22 GNT)
Truth #4: Because of Jesus, you are truly holy. Even your speech is holy.
Before Jesus, you were one way, and now because of Jesus, you are another way. As you choose Him and fill yourself up with Him, something happens inside of you, and He flows out of you as holy words. The next time you feel crushed or fearful, remember the following two descriptions of who you really are. Ask the Lord to show you more about His holiness inside you this week.
For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Cor. 3:17 ESV)
When the time comes, you will be given what to say. Indeed, you’re not the ones who will be speaking. The Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you. (Matt. 10:19–20 NOG)
Truth #5: Because of Jesus, you get to experience the whole of God’s goodness and love.
Do you feel unworthy of God’s love and care? That’s one of the many beautiful things about Father God. None of us “deserve” His goodness, but we get to be confident in His goodness because of Jesus. The Bible overflows with descriptions of how good He is. Ask the Lord to tell you more about His goodness, and write down what He says.
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. (1 John 4:16 NASB)
I lavish my love upon thousands of those who love me and obey my commandments. (Ex. 20:6 TLB)
Truth #6: You have not been cut off from God. In fact, you are the thing He treasures.
Ann Voskamp says, “There is no way God will ever abandon us; there is no way He will ever give up on us.”
Do you see yourself as pure and holy, the way the Bible describes? Or do you see yourself as a mistake or as someone God doesn’t really want to deal with? You, precious child, are worth so much to Him. That is the truth whenever your heart feels lost or ashamed: You are precious to your Father. Ask the Lord to show you this week how precious you are to Him.
When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. (Hos. 9:10 NIV)
But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8 AMP)
Truth #7: You can be confident that whatever the Lord has promised you, it will happen.
Waiting is a part of life. Sometimes we lose faith and start to think the promise isn’t coming—but, child of God, if He told you something, it is coming. Do not let the promise go, but hold on to it. Agree with what God has said. Keep your faith. How has the Lord described your future? Ask Him to tell you more about these things this week. And don’t give up!
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Rom. 4:19–21 ESV)
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet. (Matt. 1:22 NLT)
Treasure God’s Words in Your Heart
One moment with God has the power to change a person’s life forever. He is like fire and wind and rain, and no encounter with Him is small.
As you go about your life this week, write down what the Lord tells you. Pray about these things and treasure them in your heart.
Does your heart need to remember who God is? Check out these other devotions:
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