I was speaking to a Christian friend recently who said that he wished he could have more direct experience of God. He said that he reads things in Scripture of people encountering God and being filled with the Holy Spirit. He’s part of a Bible study and prayer group at church where people seem to speak about a closeness to God that he doesn’t have. He said “I wish that could happen to me.”
I wonder if that is not an uncommon experience, and I wonder if it’s not connected to our lack of evangelism.
Perhaps you think the link is tenuous at best. However, do you remember the great promise that Jesus gives at the end of the Great Commission? He said “Go into all the world and make disciples”, and concludes “and surely I will be with you until the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). The promise of the presence of Christ is given in the context of evangelism!
In Acts 2 the apostles are filled with the Spirit and they go out and they preach the gospel on the Day of Pentecost. It happens again in Acts chapter 4, where the apostles met to pray and “The place where they were meeting was shaken, they were filled with the Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31). In Scripture encounters with God seem to be tied to mission. That’s my experience too – I’ve observed that people have their most profound, deep, and life-changing encounters with the Spirit of God in the context of going forward in mission.
It shouldn’t surprise us that mission is where the Spirit of God is moving, and if we’re to keep in step with Him, that’s where we will be. Maybe we will encounter God more closely and more profoundly when we step out with Him in his mission, when we ‘keep in step with the Spirit’ (Gal 5:25). Maybe it’s when we take a risk for Him, step out in faith and rely on Him more, that we will experience Him more deeply.
Prayer: Father, send us out in mission full of your Holy Spirit we pray. Amen
