Seek. Worship. Experience.
Come live in me all my life, take over
Come breathe in me, I will rise on eagle's wings
The chorus above from the song “Eagle’s Wings” by Hillsong Worship will always have a special meaning to me. I distinctly remember singing this song in Sunday School and feeling something burning in my heart and tears just started to flow. I knew that no other thing and no one could have made me feel that way - except a touch from God.
That experience changed my perception on what Christianity was about. It was not just trying to be a good Christian kid, accepting Christ and making sure that I secured my place in Heaven. It was about God wanting to have a relationship with me, that He was willing to reach out and give me an experience. From that day, I could no longer say that I knew Jesus based on what I was taught, instead my relationship with Jesus was based on my own personal experience with Him.
Interestingly in Genesis 3:8, we see God coming down to the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve. We can see that God does not simply want us to know about Him as a creator or a distant, unapproachable God. He wants us to know Him on a deeper and more personal level.
When we look in the Bible, one of the most intimate moments was the story of Mary who anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume. What can we learn from that story?
1. Mary was at the feet of Jesus and she anointed His feet with perfume and wiped His feet using her hair. This was Mary’s act of worship and love for Jesus. The act of using one’s hair to wipe someone’s feet could be said to be humbling and meant that Mary was physically near to Jesus, even close to being in a prostrate position. Likewise, when we worship, we need to humble ourselves before God and put our all in front of Him. And as we do this, we draw near to Him and He will draw near to us.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8 (NASB)
2. Immediately after her act of worship, the house was filled with the fragrance from the perfume which mostly likely meant that both Mary and Jesus carried the same fragrance. This fragrance was evidence of Mary’s encounter with Jesus. Likewise when we worship God and dwell in His presence, we will start to carry the same fragrance and have our own evidence of that personal encounter with Him.
Even today, God is still looking to have that intimate relationship with us. I remember asking God to touch me and to show Himself to me and He was faithful and gracious to do just that. This brings to remembrance what Jesus said in Matthew, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 (NASB)
It wasn’t a world class concert or a place with a professional audio visual systems set-up, it was at a weekly Sunday School with us children singing that song. It is not about the venue or the environment, it is all about the posture of your heart.
Let us not be content to just know about God, let us seek to have an encounter and to deepen our personal relationship with Him.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Revelations 3:20 (NASB)
So why not ask God to show Himself to you today?
God bless you,
Ezra Phua
Director, The Encounter