Sovereign Encounters or Living in the Spirit

Sovereign Encounters or Living in the Spirit

A sovereign encounter or experience with the Lord is usually and experience which we do not trigger or initiate, it is sovereign.  Many christens have one or two or a few encounters with the Lord during their life time. There does not appear to be any reason or rationale why these encounters occur other than Gods sovereign intervention in our lives in order to protect us or communicate something to us.

Wilderness Encounters

The children of Israel had encounters with the Lord in the wilderness, they experienced the Lords presence in the form of a fire by night and a cloud by day, they saw God bring water out of the rock and they saw a miraculous provision of food via the manna and the quail. The interesting thing is this, all this stopped happening when they finally got into the Promised Land.

Josh 5:12

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna anymore; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

The miracle of the daily manna ceased when they entered the Promised Land. We can experience the provision of God without walking in it. It was not Gods intention for Israel to live the rest of their lives in the wilderness even tho there was provision healing and a level of protection. The wilderness represented Pentecost because the children of Israel went for fifty days journey in the wilderness after they had experienced Passover which represented salvation through the Passover Lamb. The disciples had to wait fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus before they experienced Pentecost in the upper room. One whole generation experienced Salvation and Pentecost while still in the wilderness where they died without entering the Promised Land. It was never Gods intention that they would die in the wilderness. This was not the place that they were supposed to live; they were supposed to move on into the Promised Land which was their rest, or the place where they would finally live.   God said that in the wilderness they had not arrived yet in the fullness and purposes of Gods plan for them.

Deuteronomy 12:9

For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.

The Apostle Paul reiterated this in reference to New Testament believers when he said,

Hebrews 4:9

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

When Israel crossed over into the Promised Land the Pillar of fire and the cloud disappeared.

The provision was no longer up in heaven coming down to them in the earth they were now walking in the provision and eating the fruit of the land, they moved from manna coming down from heaven to walking in a land of milk and honey.  They moved from sovereign encounters, to a walk with God in a land of milk and honey or in other words they moved from a wilderness experience into a constant walk with God. It has always been Gods intention that we walk with Him daily in His realm that of spirit. We must move on from the occasional encounter or experience with the Lord to a constant walk with Him.  It is not Gods intention to occasionally visit us, it is His intention that we walk with Him daily. It is possible for you to have a sovereign encounter with the Lord and not have a walk with Him. In the Old Testament in the Tabernacle of Moses the high priest had a once a year encounter with God in the Most Holy Place this is in contrast to the Tabernacle of David where the Glory and the presence of the Lord was open to all. In the wilderness God came down in fire and a cloud, In the New Testament we have an opportunity to live and walk in an open heaven, an open heaven within us. We can now walk in the kingdom of God within us in a reality undreamed of.  God now walks in our land, or His kingdom within us.

An open heaven

The Bible clearly states that the Kingdom of God is within us,

Luke 17:21

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

We tend to look above for an open heaven when in reality it is within us. Our spirit is joined to the Lord and lives in a realm or world where there are no limitations, the realm of spirit. God does occasionally and sovereignty enter our world or realm, but this is not where He wants us to live in occasional encounter with the lord, He wants us enter His world His realm the kingdom of God, which is within us.. The Promised Land is within us and it is there that there is an open heaven. When Jacob encountered God at the top of the ladder with the angels ascending and descending, God was at the top of the ladder.

Genesis 28:12	And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
13	And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

Note: God said that He was the God of Abraham and Isaac but He did not say He was the God of Jacob, Jacob did not know God. When Jacob woke up he was still under the anointing and presence of this encounter and began to speak prophetically.

Genesis 28:17	And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18	And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

Jacob took the stone and said this is the house of God the gateway to heaven

He then poured oil (the anointing) onto the stone. He called the place Bethel which means the house of God. God’s house was now down on the earth where He God dwells. This profound revelation of Jacob is a corner stone of understanding our relationship with God. God now lives in us the house of God, He lives in our spirit which is joined to Him,

1 Corinthians 6:17

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

God is not up there somewhere He is in us. He lives in another realm within us, that of spirit and in that realm within us there are no limitations, time as space as we know it do not exist in that realm and His kingdom within us is the gateway to the heavenly realms. You can only know and experience this by revelation,

Psalms 42:7

Deep calleth unto deep.

John was in the spirit on the Lords day when he heard the voice which said come up, that up was not geographical it was a higher dimension, when John was in the spirit he was in the reality of the Kingdom where time and space does not exist, that’s why he could see the past and the future as a reality and sway people who had not yet been born.

Revelation 7:13	And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14	And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

These are those who came out of the end-time great tribulation, however these were not alive in John’s day.

The Kingdom of God is within us, heaven is in your heart, the two worlds exist in the same space, one is physical and has physical limitation one is spiritual and has no limitations.

Revelation 4:1	After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
2	And immediately I was in the spirit;

That door is in you, the Kingdom is in you. A door opened within John and he heard a voice say come up, or come up into a higher realm that of spirit and immediately he was in another realm that of spirit.  God has given us the capacity to walk in both realms daily with Him. 

John 3:13

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

While on this earth Jesus walked in both realms, the physical and the spiritual.

We can have the occasional sovereign encounter with the Lord or we can walk in this on a daily basis. Understanding this is the key that enables us to begin to live this way.

Ephesians 1:17	That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18	The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
2:1	And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:
6	And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Blessings
Neville Johnson   June 17, 2009