When I wake up, I start my day saying, “Good morning Father (God), good morning Jesus, good morning Holy Spirit, good morning Host of Heaven.”
Then I say, “Father, I come to your Throne of Grace and I ask for abundant life grace for today. I receive it freely, thank you”. Then I wait for about two minutes before I get on with other things.
But a few days back, as I did that, I immediately sensed Papa God embracing me. He was giving me a hug. I was amazed and thought, “Wow! this is really happening. I didn’t see this coming.”
This was a spiritual encounter. I could distinctively sense a tangible embrace in the spirit. Instead of hurrying up, I stayed locked in the embrace for a while.
I said, “Father, I love this, I value it. I know you love me and are always with me. But I truly treasure surprise encounters like these. You’re the greatest, a little of this is too valuable to me.”
Before this, I was feeling disappointed with myself over something. I thought God might be disappointed too. But He surprised me that morning. I felt rested, loved, and freed in His embrace.
I went through the whole day feeling calm and refreshed. It’s a feeling of being transported to a beautiful scenic place of rest and wonder.
Ever since that encounter, I feel much closer and more conscious of my heavenly Father. That spiritual experience did something in me. It has increased my capacity to overcome things that would hurt Him.
Draw near to the Father even in your shortcomings
Romans 2:4 says that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. When we encounter the goodness of His love in the midst of our failures against resisting sin, it will eventually lead us to change our ways.
God wants us to draw near to Him even in our imperfections. In the parable of the prodigal son, we see that the father wasn’t judging or rejecting his wayward son. He showered grace and love upon his son when he returned to him. That’s God’s heart for you and me.
Years ago I told God, “Lord, even in my shortcomings, in my struggle with sin, I am still going to come after you. I am hungry for you. I have no other place to go. I want you. I am fascinated with you.”
We try to fight sin or change our behavior without growing in our intimacy and enjoyment of God. The truth is that the more we enjoy and treasure God, the less we would want to sin. Because you don’t want to hurt Him, but please Him. That becomes our joy.
There will come a time when we choose to sin no more because we have learned to value a superior pleasure over an inferior one.
You’re dearly loved by God
The cross is the evidence of the Father’s loving embrace. Jesus took away our sins and we can enjoy closeness with the Father. When we mess up, He wants us to draw near to Him, not hide or run away
God’s love is not partial. He knows deep inside we all crave for love, significance, and affirmation.
He makes each one of us feel special as if we’re His favorite child. He wants each one of us to feel secure and confident in His love.
When you know you’re loved and accepted, it gives you the confidence and the boldness to draw near to God and enjoy Him.
If you say to Him, “Father I want to feel your embrace tangibly”, He might give you that experience. If you don’t feel it tangibly, it doesn’t matter. At times He may surprise us but He wants us to live by faith rather than tangible sensations or by physical sight.
The Father’s eagerness to fellowship
When you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you are adopted into God’s family. It’s not based on your works or performance but by His Grace, it’s a gift. You now have free access to His Throne of Grace.
The Father is inviting you to pursue a closer intimacy with Him. More than your desire, He is much more eager to have fellowship with you. You can have conversations with your Creator God your Heavenly Father.
Your new recreated spirit can commune with His Spirit. Engage Him in the different aspects of life. You can be honest with Him. He is real, so treat Him as real. Trade your unbelief with simple childlike faith.
God’s love and grace towards us will never change or diminish. But how deeply we get to experience real intimacy with an invisible God in this life depends on our hunger for Him. He won’t force us to come closer.
Treasure God’s words in the Bible. These truths are seeds that when sown in your heart produce faith to expect and pursue a real friendship with God. That’s how I got started.
Later, I remembered a couple of lines I had written in my poem ‘Here comes Grace‘. It feels great that God played out those lines from my poem in this encounter.
