Every Encounter With God is Unique
Encounters with the Lord have happened all throughout my life. Each one uniquely and fundamentally changed me, though some encounters I haven’t discerned.
I grew up in a baptist Christian home. Growing up I would see in the spirit, or sometimes know things. Sometimes patterns of behavior would stand out to me or I would just know how to go about things. I didn’t have the biblical foundation or support I needed while going through all of these various things at the time. Add a heavy dose of puberty and I started to dabble and explore wherever I found answers.
I felt like I was crazy, besides everyone said I was imagining things. A friend at school then introduced me to Christian “witchcraft.” If only I knew what the Bible said about the matter I wouldn’t have taken that step! (Leviticus 19:26; 1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 9:22; Isaiah 57:3; Micah 5:12; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Galatians 5:20; etc [seriously, go research it]) If only someone told me I would have sought scripture and encounters with the Lord in prayer.
Going into witchcraft opened the door to a level of warfare I wasn’t prepared for. A simple search online regarding what the Bible says about witchcraft would have made it abundantly clear and help guard my heart from a putrid unholy mixture. I went through so much pain, and the darker I felt the deeper I delved into darker things in order to find relief. I had to claw for peace, and when peaceful moments occurred, they were short-lived.
The Pivotal Encounter That Took Me From A Witch To Child Of God
Finally one night late January 2006, I heard the cats suddenly go quiet and stop doing their late night zoomies. That eerily still quiet that felt like a heavy foreboding woke me. It was in that brief moment I had to choose.
I heard a voice behind me say “Choose NOW whom you will serve“….and I noticed a demon at the foot of my bed coming to collect. I heard that voice behind me say again only 2 seconds later, “Choose NOW whom you will serve“, …I tried to wake the guy I was with up. It was like trying to wake the dead. The final time I heard “Choose NOW whom you will serve“,…and the demonic figure launched at me. What felt like time stood still in that brief second, I curled up closing my eyes bracing for impact, and cried “Jesus“!
To this day I don’t know why I opened my eyes in that brief moment. The blazing sword of fire effortlessly parried the demonic being into a cloud of smoke, leaving me awestruck. The strong feeling of the fire, the substance, the waves of power and the presence of God. I blinked and it was all gone. I still felt the imprint of the heat that emanated from that sword.
In that moment I gathered up every bit of incense, statues, crystals, charms, and spellbooks, and trashed them that night. I didn’t know what the pursuit of Jesus was going to look like. All I knew was that I was willing to fail forward and I could never look back. I would cling to Him with all I had.
I Began To Learn What It Meant To Live A Biblical Lifestyle
Over the years I began to learn what it was to walk as a new creation and the beauty of a relationship with the Lord. I never trusted myself to hear clearly because of my past in occultic things so I relied heavily on biblical confirmation. During this time I spent a month crying out to the Lord to speak to me. This is when I learned to discern His voice.
Every resource I could get my hands on regarding hearing His voice I bought or checked out from the library as well as reading my Bible. I even researched those who had encounters with the Lord. During this phase of my life, I grew increasingly frustrated because I couldn’t access most of the teaching I needed, either due to paywalls or my own lack of understanding. I vowed before the Lord to overcome these barriers for myself and for others. Anything He freely gives me I am giving freely. There will NOT be a paywall between someone and their freedom if I can help it.
In 2016, the Lord gave me the name The Abiding Way. I knew He wanted me to blog yet I felt severely underqualified. I didn’t understand what I would be talking about, I mean sure abiding but what else? Now, nine years later I’m repenting of fear and delayed obedience and choosing to follow regardless of the appearance or outcome.
I’m choosing to be a living example of what abiding in Christ Jesus, His Word, and His Spirit can do. Hopefully, it will inspire you to dwell in Him and see first-hand the fruit that will be evident in your life. I humbly invite you to have your own encounters with the Lord.