Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success. The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful. Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. In Jerusalem he made devices invented for use on the towers and on the corner defenses so that soldiers could shoot arrows and hurl large stones from the walls. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.- 2 Chronicles 3,5,8,11-15 His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful. But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. -2 Chronicles 26: 16-19,21 Isaiah had an encounter with God that changed His life. That encounter with God had a direct effect on Israel. When the presence of God came Isaiah’s first words were… "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips." The presence of God shook the temple, filled it with smoke or cloud, and brought the fire of God to burn up the impurities of Isaiah’s words That encounter propelled him into his ministry to Israel… Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Facts Regarding An Encounter With God Unscheduled by Man The word encounter conveys the idea of an unforeseen meeting. When Isaiah went to the temple that day, he had no idea that something life-changing was about to happen. The Presence of God Will Come “Suddenly” Man can not schedule a suddenly of God. We cannot manipulate this kind of experience, but we do have something to do with it. We need to be hungry for Him and put ourselves in a position for Him to encounter us. Still Happening Today Bible accounts describe God having unexpected, life-changing interactions with people. Since the Lord never changes, He continues to deal with humanity in powerful, unanticipated ways. Our hunger for Him, our pursuit of Him, our faith in Him attracts Him What Hinders An Encounter With The Lord? Too Many Distractions We need to position ourselves and hunger for Him. When He comes in a dramatic way it will produce in you an overwhelming awareness of His presence. When you encounter God there will be an awareness of His holiness. When the Lord appeared to Isaiah, He was accompanied by angelic beings who covered their faces and feet in utter reverence for His absolute purity and perfection. They cried out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." This glimpse into the spiritual realm overwhelmed Isaiah with an awareness of God’s glory and holiness. Too often we attempt to bring Him down to our level, but an encounter with God opens our eyes to recognize His holiness and we elevate to His way of being. Think about it. Every great leader in the Bible is someone who had a Life-Changing encounter with God! The apostle Paul was transformed from a legalistic Pharisee into an anointed Apostle of Christ, why? An encounter with Jesus! One God encounter changed timid Gideon into a warrior leader. A burning bush encounter with God changed Moses from a directionless shepherd into a leader of millions. Their vision, their faith, their authority, and their anointing all came from an encounter with the presence of God! The Apostle John had a post-resurrection encounter with Jesus that gave us the book of Revelation: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. -Revelation 4: 1-2 This Is An Invitation!
The door is now open in Heaven. Jesus is the door. (John 10:9) The door to Heaven has been open since Jesus reconciled us to the Father. That’s an invitation to all of us! Immediately, John was “in the Spirit”, going farther into an amazing God encounter. Every Bible passage is an open door – an invitation – to your next encounter with God. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."- Matthew 7: 7-8 Be Blessed, Pastor Dave Comments are closed.
|
AuthorPastor Dave White is Senior Pastor of WOLCC, founded in April of 1995. Archives
November 2015
Categories |
RSS Feed