Born to Encounter Him by Robert Ward

There are times when the Lord encounters us sovereignly and other times when we initiate the encounter. What I’m going to share with you is a time when I seized the moment and laid hold of what the Lord has promised to us as believers. There is a reality of the Kingdom of God that is in every believer that I will be conversing about in this chapter.

I was flying from a conference in North Carolina. And I was starting the second leg of my trip from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California. I went ahead and got comfortable to engage heaven and get lost in the reality of the goodness of our Father. I put some worship music on to set my mind on things above (Colossians 3:2). It is here when I forget this world and completely become submerged in my Father’s. I started to engage heaven, started to engage the presence of the Lord.

I began to become enraptured by His presence, a world where there is no awareness of corruption and sin. A world that He has given us access through Jesus Christ; where we can boldly come before the throne because of the blood of our King, Jesus (Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:14–16).

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; no one can come to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). Where is our Father? Our Father is in His dominion, His home, which is heaven. What has Jesus given us access too? I know this is a hard one because He has given us the potential to many things and we could not count them all.

Jesus repeatedly said the Kingdom of God is at hand, it has come near (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 10:9). I want you to think about what Jesus has given us entry into with His death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification. He has appointed us a new home as a believer. This home is mentioned in the Epistles of Paul. One of them is in Ephesians where Paul writes we are seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). This means whether we like it or not we are functioning from a different place, from a contrasting world, a different realm (John 15:19; 17:16)—in our Father’s world, in Jesus, where there is no corruption, no chaos.

It’s important that we understand that when our Father’s Kingdom comes and is released on the earth that something has to move. Both of those worlds cannot have dominion at the same time. In other words, when our Father’s world is displayed, when heaven is released, or the Kingdom of God, either His domain will take over or the chaos will reign. We know that the Father’s dominion takes over wherever it goes. When the Prince of Peace, Jesus, displays Himself and peace touches chaos, heaven touches earth; that peace will dominate. Peace is not an absence of conflict but the residue of the world that our King carries with Him wherever He goes.

It was here that I became immersed in the presence of the Lord, the Father’s world. The Kingdom of God is in the presence of the Lord (Romans 14:17). Whenever we experience one aspect or part of His Kingdom, we are experiencing His nature and who He is. It is highly similar to a friend who is experiencing the daily activities of a person by tasting of their world—where they work, where they go throughout the day, their general activities. When someone does that with another person, they are encountering who that other person is by experiencing their world. It is very similar to us tasting and seeing the Lord is good in His Kingdom and us knowing the Lord through that (Psalm 34:8), because to know Him is eternal life (John 17:3). Any encounter and experience with the Lord or His Kingdom is for us to know who He is, His nature, how His world functions so that we can display heaven on earth.

As I listened to worship on the plane, I knew that I had several hours to feed on the faithfulness of God and remember all the great things that He had done for me and those around me during that conference (Psalm 37:3). I began to feel the presence of the Lord begin to envelope me (Psalm 91:1). This was the beginning of the encounter. I was looking to dive deep into the presence of the Lord, which includes His Kingdom.

Sometimes friends can initiate encounters or meetings with each other (John 15:15). The interesting thing about friends is they choose to be together. And occasionally a friend would say to another friend, “I want to meet you for a meal or tea.” And that friend would invite another friend to be with him or her. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us (James 4:8). Often the Lord is inviting us to initiate the encounter in a sense of choosing to draw near to Him so He will draw near to us. That is what I was doing. I wasn’t waiting around for the Lord to randomly encounter me; I initiated it, like I have done so many other times by drawing near to Him in my heart and then waiting for Him to respond to my invitation.

And like He does routinely, He responded to my heart’s desire to encounter Him and know Him further. My original intent to encounter Him was to give thanks to Him personally for the copious things He had done over the handful of days at the conference. As I felt the Lord overshadow and envelope me, I began to become more and more lost in the presence of the Lord; and it was as if my consciousness was submerged in Him and Him in me (John 14:20; 1 John 4:15). It seems like I was 95 percent in the Father’s world, in the presence of the Lord. And I was conscious only 5 percent on this earth. I began to feel the love of God surround me like I was in a deep ocean and every water molecule was His love (1 John 4:16). I began to focus on the presence of the Lord that was surrounding me. As I did I became increasingly lost in His goodness and kindness (Romans 2:4). It is far greater than anything on the face of this earth. His love is pure and undefiled, and I felt there was no requirement from me to pay Him back in some way for what He was releasing to me. In other words there was no room for “I will do this for you, so you will now do this for Me.” It was pure and alive (Hebrews 4:12).

When the Lord encounters you or you experience Him in some way, He is inviting you into a place where you realize that you abide in Him, abide in His love (John 15:10). He is ushering you into a place where you realize that He loves you and to come into the revelation that “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NASB); not through head knowledge but through an encounter of the person of Jesus, where the experience of the love of God, through encounter, changes and transforms us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). And we are moved into who the Father says we are; not our personal beliefs, which are dictated occasionally through what others have said about us or events or circumstances in our lives. The Lord wants His world to be an actual reality to us so we can do what the Father is doing (John 5:19).

It is through experiencing Him that we better know who He is and His nature to display it on the earth, to display heaven on earth. But this happens through encountering Him. As I was getting lost in the presence of the Lord, His being began to completely surround me. And I began to see, though my eyes were closed and I had my headphones on engaged in worship with the Lord. I began to see a white tunnel in front of me; and I was catapulted into it, moving through it for several seconds with numerous turns and movements. As though I was on a rollercoaster, it moved exceedingly fast through the turns; and I was in awe as I was being moved through this white tunnel. Then I realized that it was coming to an end and I was shot out of it.

It was as if I was being shot out of a cannon, the movement was so fast and seemed very precise. I was thrown into an open area where there was a purple mist that was two or three feet high. And there was a feeling of homage and royalty as I moved into the purple mist that was on the floor, which seemed it had no end as it stretched from all corners till I could not see into the distance anymore. This feeling of majesty was so tangible. I was in a sense tasting of it, experiencing it. It was more than just a normal episode; the feeling penetrated every part of my being. In a way I became a part of the royalty that was surrounding me and it became a part of me.

As I looked at the indigo mist, I became enraptured in the goodness of our Father, feeling and tasting of the glory and majesty of our King. I heard once that a picture is worth a thousand words. This experience was so vivid and unmistakable that it had a substance and emotion not common to this world. As though my senses were overloaded, the intensity was so strong that I could not focus on one thing as it engulfed me—Jesus standing in the indigo mist, having weight and movement, foreign in the natural. He stood gazing at me with an intense love that overpowered me to bow in His presence. The authority that enclosed Him was mighty, and it seemed everything and anything moved at the sound of His word or thought. This atmosphere encompassing Him understood His kingship and supremacy. It was waiting for the very command of its Maker, with an uncanny knowing Jesus was the Author and Creator. He was in charge but did not have to show or display it outwardly. Everything around Him recognized it, including me. There were feelings of peace, tangible yet light in weight. The King of Glory was present and the whole of creation seemed to be bowing to Him in every possible way. His love was strong it crippled me to the floor, and the honor He carried was heavy in weight but it was invisible and yet evident.

As I was being overwhelmed by the love and glory of the environment that I was in, I looked up gazing in astonishment at the King of Glory, Jesus Christ, standing just a short distance from me, maybe ten or fifteen feet away. He was standing in the mist wearing a white robe that went down to His feet. And at that moment I could do nothing but fall on my face because of the glory and love that surrounded Him; it was so overwhelming, so robust. I was at a loss for words, absent for action. I was in complete awe now of His kingship, His authority, His duty, His royalty. And coupled with all of this, His love permeated every part of those characteristics. I could do nothing but worship the Lord in His glory, in His love for me. I was without words as I set my desire to express my adoration to Him merely through thought and intent. As I was there for a few moments, I was lost in the majesty of our King.

Jesus said nothing, He had no need to; who He was resonated from His being. The King of kings the Lord of lords was present. No one needed to explain it; there was a knowing in that realm—a knowing that Jesus was “I AM” (John 8:58; John 18:5). He seemed to vibrate the concept “I AM the Alpha and Omega” without saying any words (Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). The indigo mist was gorgeous; it was like a garment that surrounded Him, somehow connected to Him though He was not wearing it. I had a sense that it moved and followed Him wherever He went in this place. The glory He carried was magnificent and was interlaced with His kingship. There are not enough words to describe what was happening in that world; His presence was beautiful, heavy, and glorious. He is the King and it seemed to flow from His surroundings—more in a sound, movement, and weight; not in language.

I discovered something there I never knew before. It was the kingship our Lord Jesus carries. I could not have learned this in a book. It seems it would have taken years for me to learn the knowledge that I received from that experience. It happened in merely a few seconds in the natural but felt like an eternity in that realm. Our Lord carries an authority He gave to us also, that we may display His world here on earth. I tasted of it knowing this is the same authority He gave to His believers, His children, so we may transform this world from His world; this is what the Lord has assigned to us. Through encounter, the release of His presence within every believer, we will change the world together with Him. It is not that He needs our help, but it is the fact He chose to partner with humanity to transform the world, bringing the realities of heaven here on this planet.

I had a knowing that I was in the presence of the Lord before I saw Him. His love, reputation, and splendor preceded Him. It was enough to be in His company. There was a satisfaction that was not of this world. In the presence of our Almighty King, I bowed and worshiped Him; not out of obligation but because I couldn’t help myself, His love was so potent and mighty. It was a fierce and seemed to say, “When you come near Me you will taste of My affection for you.” Lost in the beauty of our King, the presence that surrounded Him was so sublime that I just basked and bathed in it. As I waited, I was suddenly taken out, and I became more conscious of the reality on earth than the Kingdom of God within me.

There was something that I tasted, that I could not learn just by knowledge. But through the encounter, I stepped into a greater knowing of who He is and His realm. Whatever Jesus did He empowered His disciples to do likewise. He said He was the light of the world while He told His disciples, “You are the light of the world” (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14). He healed sickness and disease and casted out demons. Then He gave His disciples power and authority over every kind of sickness and disease and over all demons (Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:1). Whenever the Lord demonstrates something to me, such as His love, His healing nature, His grace, His mercy, whatever it may be; He always tells me, “Go and do likewise. Now go and display this to others and show them what I have shown you by giving that to them (Luke 6:31). Love as I have loved you. Give as I have given to you” (Matthew 10:8).

The Lord is ushering His people into encounter, a posture and position where we can taste and see the Lord is good. He is saying to us that sometimes He will initiate the encounter but He wants us to know that we have the ability and permission to draw near to Him; to come boldly before the throne because of the access we have through Jesus Christ. He is saying, “Come and see what friendship looks like with Me.” And in that friendship we have influence and permission to His heart. Not because He had to, but because He chose to allow us to have influence. Today I want you to know that you were born for encounter; you were born to experience the Kingdom of God, that is His world which is within you (Luke 17:21).

Sometimes when I have an encounter with the Lord I do not learn as I do in the natural through knowledge first; it is more knowledge gained through an experience. I believe He showed me the authority and majesty that every believer carries because of how Jesus empowered us. I feel strongly, one of the best ways for us to come into the fullness of all He gave to us is realized by us understanding His nature through experiencing Him. The Lord has set us up for encounter as a disciple of Jesus. You were created to know Him as a friend knows another friend (Exodus 33:11).

Activation Prayer:

Father, I pray You would open the realms of Your world to us; that we would know You more intimately so we may display Your heart and Your Kingdom on this earth. Lord, may we see from Your perspective the authority and majesty each believer carries as a child of God. Father, may You show us what it is like to be a friend of God and how a friend interacts with You. I thank You, Lord, You no longer call us servants but friends. I thank You, Father, we are not of this world as You are not of this world. Show us, Jesus, what it means to be in You and to have You in us. Father, I surrender to all You have for my life and the full inheritance that we have in Christ Jesus.