Being an encounter with God

Yesterday I heard a great sermon about the different ways we encounter God. At one point, the speaker, Glenn Burris Jr., said, “Someone else’s God encounter could be found through your life”.  For instance, someone may be praying for encouragement, and you look that person in the eye and speak a timely and encouraging word. To you it may be a simple, forgettable, expression—to them it is the God-moment they truly needed.  That statement really impacted me. How can I be aware of the people around me and be open to truly express God’s touch to them just where they might need it most?

Then, this morning I read 2 Corinthians 1:3—“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

There is a theological truth that says when we are blessed, it is so that we can be a blessing. Here we see that when we are comforted by God, we can in turn be a comfort. My mom is currently being treated for cancer; she has been comforted by people who have gone through the same treatment. While their experience was painful and difficult, they now have the authority to truly comfort someone who is going through a similar experience.

As I thought about all of this together, I realized that our pain and confusion today is likely the foundation for the encounter with God that someone else will have in the future. I shouldn’t despise my struggles, not only because they will produce good things in my life (Romans 5:3 & James 1:2-4), but also because they will be exactly what God uses to touch and speak into someone else’s life in the future.

I want to train myself to pray the following prayer as I start each day, “Lord, open my eyes that I might see and respond to an opportunity to provide a God-encounter for someone who needs it today. “