How did you come to know the Lord Jesus?

Some don’t know, others have never thought about it and some don’t care. You can be sure, it will affect the way in which you look at Christianity and the way in which you look at your fellow Christian. It will even affect the way in which you look at and approach the harvest field.

Jesus said for us to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel and make disciples of nations. How can we do that if we don’t know what has happened to us?

I met a young man once and as we were talking I asked him, when did he meet the Lord? He didn’t know which surprised me! He had grown up in a Christian home with Christians values and he just seemed to fall into his Christianity.

I am not God but I’m not sure he had met with Jesus. He proclaimed Jesus and he knew about some of the teachings of Jesus, but that doesn’t make a person a Christian. Now some may at this point be challenged by that, and that’s OK, but let me explain some of my thoughts first. I will ask three questions before I open up my thoughts.

1/ How many ways are there to God? All the Christians I hope will say only one way and that is through Jesus. For He is the life, the way and the truth and no one can go to the Father but through Him.

2/ How many ways to find Jesus? Too many to mention, because ALL even if they don’t know it, are on a quest to find something and we know what they are looking for.

Acts 17: 23

3/ How many ways to get to know Jesus intimately?   Two

John 4:23

God is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth. We can come the Lords Jesus through many different experiences in our life and some of us who are stubborn take a longer time to come to that place where we call out to the Lord to save us. I personally would have liked to come to God in a family that worshiped Him with all their hearts and followed all His precepts, line upon line and day by day but that wasn’t the way I walked. I came late in life after many failures. I have seen children of Christians behave worst than those who are not from a Christian family, but that is not the norm.

1 Corinthians  1: 22

I am going to separate the Spirit and Truth for a moment in this explanation and then bring them back together later.

Truth

For many who are born into a Christian family and some who are not but they are looking for God, come to know Him through the studying of His word.

No one can be born into a Christian family and be a Christian from day one. What is needed is a revelation of who Jesus is and what He has done for them. If we are in this group of people we will come to a full knowledge of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus and the make a decision to become a Christian by following the word of God.

Spirit

For many who are not born into a Christian family and for some who are they are looking for God through a mystical experience.

A mystical experience or encounter happens when something takes place that is out of the ordinary. It is something that takes hold of you in a manner that can’t be explained at the moment. It is where the spiritual world and the natural world collide in a person’s life and it is at this point that some make a decision to become Christians.  

Mystical or Scholastic (Word)

I have changed the two words and the order I used above from Truth to Scholastic (Word) and Spirit to Mystical. Don’t freak out because I used the word Mystical it is quite OK. The enemy has used this word in a negative connotation.

Mystical

The mystical experience can be found from cover to cover in the Bible and as I have stated above it is when the two worlds collide. One example is Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.

Acts 22:5-11

The mystical experience is a profoundly powerful experience which shouldn’t end there. Some come to Jesus through this experience and stop because they think they have arrived, which may be true but there is much more to be experienced.  

Danger

The danger of stopping here is that the person can become very spooky and instead of bringing others to Christ they in fact frighten many away. They become so spiritual that others feel they can’t get to that place. We need to ask ourselves are we trying to impress others on our ego trip.

Recommendation

Get into a Bible study and seek God in His Word with all your heart so that you can best understand what has happened to you before you send others off in the wrong direction. A Christian who has come through mystical experience needs to understand and come to the knowledge of God.

2 Timothy 2:15

Scholastic (Word)

The growing knowledge for the word of God that brings some to salvation can be a profoundly powerful experience too. This experience is not the end of the matter, there’s more. What happens here is that the mind is renewed and reformed to the knowledge of God and there are many examples in the Bible. One example is Ethiopian eunuch reading the word of God and coming to the knowledge of God.

Acts 8:27 -39

Once we have come to the knowledge of God through the reading of the word of God we shouldn’t stop there and think we have arrived. There is more!

Danger

The danger of stopping here is that the person can become very legalistic and instead of bringing others to Christ they in fact frighten many away. Some become so legalistic, others feel they can’t get to that place and feel condemned. We need to ask ourselves are we trying to impress others on our ego trip.

Romans 3: 20

Recommendation

Seek God with all your heart so that you will have mystical encounter with God so you will know the experience of a tangible relationship.

The Marriage

If you came to God through the Word seek the mystical experience, but if you came to God through a mystical experience, seek the Word to understand what has happened. By oscillating between the two poles you will have fun and know why you are having fun. By understanding the two perspectives of coming to an intimate relationship with Jesus should bring more harmony in the Body of Christ.  

Philippians 1:9

The epiphany of one’s Christian life is the marriage of the Spirit and Word. Don’t be mistaken that you can be one without the other you are only deluding yourself. Don’t live half of a Christian life because of fear. The fear of the other side of this teaching you don’t like. Embrace both, while guarding against extremes. It is possible that those who have had a mystical or just a Word experience may only have been introduced to Jesus and they don’t know him.

I don’t like seeing all mystical with no Word. This is too fluffy and soft. Spooky

I don’t like seeing all Word with no mystical. This is too dry and hard. Authoritarian

Blessings to all: there’s more

Be filled and empowered by the Spirit and the Word.

Go into all the world and preach His Gospel.

Will you die for Him?

Will you go on the mission field for Him?

To our Lord Jesus be all the glory