Divine Encounter 2

*BE INSPIRED END-OF-THE-MONTH FASTING AND PRAYER FOR JULY 2019*

*THEME: DIVINE ENCOUNTER*

*TEXT: ACTS 9:1,4-6*
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Acts 9:1‭, ‬4‭-‬6 KJV

Glory be to God in the highest once again. The Lord has been gracious to us in preserving our lives up to this moment. We therefore bless the name of the Most High.
Our theme for this month's programme is Divine Encounter. We know that when something is divine, it involves God. There are many definitions of the word 'encounter' in the dictionary, but the one that seems closest to the context of this message is: 'An unplanned or unexpected meeting.' This means that we can explain divine encounter as an unplanned or unexpected meeting between a person and God. Divine encounter happens when divinity visits humanity.
Through the ages, whenever God visits man, there is usually an exchange. He may decide to give faith in exchange for your fear. He releases fruitfulness in exchange for barrenness. He replaces poverty with prosperity. He gives joy where there once was sorrow. A divine encounter is never empty handed.
In the Scriptures, there were some people that had an encounter with God. In 1 Samuel, Hannah was a barren woman until God visited her. The encounter produced Samuel who went on to become a mighty vessel in God's hand as a prophet and leader. Hannah's barrenness was exchanged for God's fruitfulness.
In 1 Kings 17:8-16, we read the story of a poor widow who had a divine encounter that forever changed her life and her story. She had given up hope on life due to her penury and had concluded that the end had come. Using Elijah the prophet, God visited her and exchanged her poverty with abundance.
Solomon, the son of David, had a divine encounter in his dream. He confessed his weaknesses to God. Hear what he said in 2 Chronicles 1:10 (KJV): _Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?_ It is safe to assume that Solomon was not always so wise and fearless before the encounter, being a very young man when he became king. But he had a divine visitation and God exchanged his fear and foolishness for faith, courage and uncommon wisdom, in addition to unparalleled wealth.
Another person who experienced a divine encounter was the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:24-34). She was determined to touch the hem of the garment of the Son of God because she knew that such an opportunity might not come her way again. During that particular divine encounter, her bondage and shame were exchanged for freedom from the ailment and glorious rejoicing.
In our anchor text, a man named Saul of Tarsus had an intriguing encounter with the Son of God. Before the encounter, he was an avowed enemy of God and the preachers of the Gospel. When God visited him, many things changed in his life. For the first time in his life, he heard God speak to him. His spiritual ears were opened. He also had a change of name - Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle. A life of pleasing the priests and scribes and the rulers of those days was exchanged for a life that only wanted to obey and please the almighty God. The one that was responsible for putting many into jail and bondage and even death was transformed into a new man being used by God to set many free from the bondage of sin and sickness and to lead them to the path of eternal life. What a transformation! What a touch! What an encounter!
Anyone can have a divine encounter. Indeed, everyone should desire a divine encounter if they want to move from their present level to a higher and better level. However, there are some things that may trigger a divine encounter. Some of them are:
✅ The person should have a relationship with God. So if you are yet to know God, it would be wise to surrender to Him.
✅ The person should forsake the way of sin and the way of the world. The Bible says friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). You don't want to become God's enemy!
✅ The person should desire it. You should earnestly pray for God to visit you and exchange all your negatives for His positives.
✅ The person should be obedient to the instructions of God. The poor widow obeyed what Elijah told her before she got her miracle.
✅ The person should have faith. We cannot receive anything from God without faith. The woman with the issue of blood exemplified this.
✅ Finally, the mercy of God triggers a divine encounter. When God decides to show mercy to anyone, He will visit such a person. A good example is the case of Paul the Apostle.

*Let us pray:*

Ancient of days, we thank you for your Word that you have released to us once again. We pray that you will visit us in your own way. Exchange our weaknesses for your strength and turn our lives around for the better.
Thank you because we know it is done.
In Jesus' name we have prayed.
*Amen.*

*_(Written by Bro Tokun @⁨Tokun Bi⁩ )_*