torsdag 25. august 2016

It is about knowing, as in…. #2

NORSK
The second aspect of 'knowing' in the sentence:

“Be at rest and know that I am the Lord!”
is in the meaning of ‘experiencing’. This is when a person knows as a result of a personal experience of the Lord. If I have had a personal experience of him, I will for sure know that he is holy. I have shared many personal experiences of this kind here on the blog, but today I will share from my ministry.

The first time I can recall remarkable testimonies of the effects of encounters with God’s holiness is from the autumn of 1994. We had a time of strong visitation of the Holy Spirit. It first happened to a lot of the young people in the corps. They met the Lord in a completely new way and he filled them with power, laughter, tears and strange physical manifestations. They were taken by surprise and were thrilled over what they experienced. They wanted more.

When we on the next gathering entered into his presence, several of them had a revelation of God's holiness. The result was that they individually came to me in tears with the same desire: “Jostein, I need to confess my sins!”

Over the years since, this has happened again on different occasions with people of all ages. The strange thing for me is that it has not been in connection with focus on the subject of confession, but rather with a focus on entering into God’s presence. Sometimes the confessions have come as a surprise to the person who confessed, and it has been wonderful to see the “rest” that comes over the
person as this is happening. Holiness is resting in the experience of being included in God’s holiness.

I think this is similar to what happened to Isaiah in the Temple when he met the Lord and his holiness. He felt lost and unclean until he has been touched with fire from the altar:

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Isa 6:6-7
‘Manna’ for today:
Let’s enter into his presence!
---------------------------------------

Ingen kommentarer: