Encounters of The Divine

Encounters Of The Divine Part One...

Knowing His Presence by AJ Butel

For me personally, there is nothing I long for more than to abide in God's courts, and dwell in His presence. I live and breathe for deeper fellowship with Him, to behold His beauty, and to be transformed from glory to glory. And God is wooing, tenderizing and challenging me like never before!

How about you? Are you craving for the things of God and His Kingdom? Ravenous for deeper revelation? Thirsting for intimacy? Yearning for a personal touch from Heaven?

My most cherished moments, desired sensations, retrieved memories, and sought after experiences are of being in the presence of the Lord. And I feel that I can somewhat relate to the passionate sentiment of the writer declaring:

Better is ONE DAY in your courts than a thousand elsewhere... - Psalm 84:10 (NIV)

'The Message’ translation clarifies it so eloquently:

ONE DAY spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. - Psalm 84:10 (MSG)

The Psalmist apexes his point with...

I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. - Psalm 84:11 (MSG)

As a PK, I was raised within the Church, and although I watched and heard many reports and descriptions of people's phenomenal encounters with the Lord, I never experienced God's undeniable presence for myself. I wholeheartedly believed in God, knew His gentle embrace, and loved Him with all my young heart… yet I longed for my own story. As much as I enjoyed hearing other's testimonies, all I wanted was a first-hand ‘kairotic moment' with the Creator of the universe—an encounter I could call my own. I believed for, and imagined and dreamed of this experience.

That is, until a day in 1995...

His Rapturous Burn

I was attending a staff retreat for the church where I worked. Lying prostrate across timber floorboards, we were enjoying an intimate time of worship and soaking in His presence, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon me in a new way, and I felt as though I was literally being baptized with liquid fire. My entire face quivered and tingled. My lips were numb, and my eyeballs felt as though they were vibrating in their sockets.

My hands pulsated prickly hot pins and needles up to my elbows —and my scalp bristled with electrified goose bumps. I couldn't quench the burning!

Talk about my own encounter! This sure was tangible! And admittedly slightly strange. I must have looked a sight… with my hands all twisted and face contorting! Although, to be honest, I really didn't care how I appeared to others. This was my turn… I was experiencing God! I was in emotional wonderment, physical discomfort, and spiritual ecstasy!

I remember crying out, "Oh God, thank You for manifesting Your presence over me! I love to finally FEEL You… so intensely. But it's too much... Owwweeee, that hurts... WOOOOAH! This is so uncomfortable, but please, pleeeease don't take it away from me! Don't stop."

I wanted it to last for as long as my body could bear. And I committed to embedding this long-awaited divine appointment into my memory forever! I was absorbing the experience with all my might, determined I would never forget it. The sensations continued for a couple of hours until they eventually subsided, but the memory remains.

Undone & Addicted

Later on, I lay across those floorboards in shock… I was feeling outright exhausted, astonished, grateful, and completely undone! I can't say I saw in the spirit, or heard the audible voice of God. Neither was I swept up into a heavenly visitation, or felt an inarguable inward transformation (although I was, and am always open to all this and more). But I can say that ever since that arresting personal experience, my desire for the Lord has been accentuated. I have a dramatically new level of expectancy in Him. I hold close an increased reverence of His greatness. I have my own uniquely undeniable point of reference to His power and tenderness, His desire to connect with me, and His ability to surprise and overwhelm me. And I know that after that week (where I had another similar encounter follow the first), I felt commissioned and mandated to my very core!

As for experiencing His presence, needless to say, I am now utterly rapacious! I breathlessly covet His touch. Whether His unmistakably fiery invasion, or His sweet still peace, I long to sense and hear Him wherever I am. To recognize His voice, His presence, His hand and His power in the signs, people and creation round about me.

Always anticipating the supernatural to manifest in my reality, I have developed a spiritual appetite that consistently craves the presence of God.

My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. - Psalm 84:2 (NKJV)

You and I will not be satisfied, and cannot be consoled outside of Him. Not just a 'touch' of Him here and there... a 're-charge' to keep us going. I consistently anticipate my relationship with the Lord to be an authentic walking encounter with the King of Kings.

God-the-Powerful, God-the-Loving is searching the earth for a home to tabernacle. Is that you? Are YOU a settling place for the Spirit of God?

End of Part 1

This article is an adapted excerpt from AJ's book, 'Overshadowed' - E-book available online at www.ajbutel.com