After your Encounter What s next?

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After your Encounter What s next? We trust that the Encounter weekend was a fulfilling and life- changing event for you as you set aside this time to focus on your relationship with God and to experience His Holy Spirit working in your life. So where do we go from here? Forward and upward! It s time to consolidate the work the Holy Spirit has done thus far and understand that we are always a work in progress. Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Daily time with God Beginning Monday, after your Encounter weekend, make time every day to spend time with God. This devotional is a 7- day project for you to complete in your own time. Use this devotional as a tool to help you be aware of the work the Holy Spirit has done in you during the Encounter weekend. By the Word of God and the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, establish and strengthen yourself in your new- found freedom in Christ. Meet with a leader During this next week, arrange for part 2, which is to have a one on one meeting with your leader the second week after Encounter. (Your Connect Group Leader if you attend a Connect Group or if not in a Connect Group, the leader who was assigned to you for Encounter.) At this one on one meeting, be prepared to share with your leader what you feel the Holy Spirit has done in your life and what you sense He may be doing presently. Give glory to God for what He has done. Share any challenges you may be experiencing and ask any questions you might have following on from Encounter. Pray together over all that you discuss. Should you require any follow on pastoral care following Encounter weekend, please contact the pastoral team at InChurch who would be pleased to arrange a time to meet with you.! 3 Page

Day 1: Doing your part personal responsibility Paul made two statements in his letter to the Galatians that appear to contradict: Galatians 6:2 (NIV) Carry each other s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. Galatians 6:5 (NIV) For each one should carry their own load. Verse 2 brings us hope of help in our time of need. There are burdens in life that are simply too much for us to bear alone - such as divorce, major illness, death, severe financial stress. In these situations we should feel we can depend on the family of God for support. Verse 5, however directs us toward spiritual maturity and personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is essential to maturation. We can t expect others to carry us along or even push us along spiritually. There comes a place when we take hold of God s promises for ourselves and follow after Him regardless of what others do. In the book of Genesis we read that Terah, father of Abram (Abraham) set out for the land of Canaan. We learn later, that God s will for Abraham and his descendants was that Canaan was to be their promised land and permanent home. It appears that Terah may have know this as well but he failed to complete the journey. Genesis 11:31-32 (NLT) 31 One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32 Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran. After his father s death, Abram heard directly from God: Genesis 12:1 (AMP) Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. Go for yourself is what God said to Abram and these words ring true for us today. Go for yourself be self-motivated to follow after God. David and his army suffered tremendous loss at the hands of their enemies. Their village was ransacked and their women and children and all of their livestock had been carried off. It was the lowest point of David s life, yet we read these inspiring words: 1 Samuel 30:6(AMP) David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God. What David did that day was far above positive thinking. David began to rehearse to his mind all the thoughts he knew of God s goodness and greatness. As the events that followed show us, David didn t need long before he was back on top and full of faith and power. We have the power to take personal responsibility for our moods and thoughts, attitudes and actions and the words that we speak. We each can encourage and strengthen ourselves in the! 4 Page

Lord. We need not be controlled by our circumstances; in fact, circumstances often change when we step out in faith. Consider your circumstances and relationships. No one has a perfect life as we do not live in a perfect world. Each one of us has burdens that we must bear and life challenges to negotiate. Write down the circumstances and relationships that concern you most. Now, take a step of faith and declare God s power and goodness over what you have written. Perhaps take a little extra time and discover a few promises from God s Word that are applicable to your situation. Write them in the space below, declare them out loud, if you will and encourage yourself in the Lord your God!! 5 Page

Day 2: God s Unconditional love Sometimes when you are feeling a bit down you might say to yourself What s wrong with me? Often you can answer that question with the negative thoughts already plaguing you and the devil might be able to assist with a thought or two as well. However, as a follower of Christ, washed clean by the blood of Jesus, the question should be what s right with me? In Christ, you have so much more going for you than you ever have against you. Romans 5:6 Phillips Yet the proof of God s amazing love is this: that it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us. Ephesians 1:4 (AMP) Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach before Him in love. Before you ever did a good deed. Before you ever changed your ways or cleaned up your act, God loved you. That doesn t mean He turned a blind eye and that sin did not or does not matter. It cost Heaven the sacrifice of the Son of God to redeem mankind from sin! That s the proof of God s love for humanity and it s the basis now that we find peace and rest in His love. We don t seek to be worthy of God s love. We ARE loved by God. From the basis of His love, God pursues relationship with us and likewise, we can, with Him. The knowledge of God s unconditional love must be the basis from which you desire to please Him and draw close to Him. The lesson God Concepts revealed some of the wrong concepts you might have had concerning our Heavenly Father. You may have needed to repent of some of the wrong ideas, attitudes or emotions you held towards God. Now, some days after the Encounter, in your own words, how do you really believe God thinks about you?! 6 Page

Do you need to renew your mind regarding God s thoughts toward you? Take a few moments to meditate on Psalm 139. You might find this uncomfortable, but do it anyway! Use the space below and write at least 5 things about yourself that are good, admirable and worthy of respect.! 7 Page

Day 3: Power to live strong On the Encounter weekend you experienced God s power at work in your life. You can be certain that His power is available to you every day through His Holy Spirit. God will enable you by His grace for any and all situations you might face. The Apostle Paul endured many difficulties and found he could rely on Christ s strength within him. Philippians 4:13 (AMP) I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]. Take a moment and write a few sentences on the lines below that describe the areas of your life where you know you require additional strength and help from God. Include thoughts from any area of your life - spirit, soul or body. Read the list of items out loud to yourself and preface each item with the phrase I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me to In verse 11 Paul states: I have learned how to be content. Similarly, in verse 12 he was able to say I know how What Paul shows us is that there was a growth process that occurred as he matured in his faith. He did not become a spiritual giant overnight. Think of a skill you have learned at some stage perhaps learning to drive a car. As you started to learn to drive you were required to have an experienced driver with you and displayed your L plates on the front and rear of the vehicle. After a a year or so you no longer needed to assistance and soon didn t even have to display L or P but could say for yourself I know how. Walking strong in God is a spiritual skill. There may be days when you take matters into your own hands and begin to rely on your own strength. Learn how to continually receive God s grace and power for every day and every circumstance. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you when you are relying more on yourself than on His mighty power. Once again, look at the list you just wrote. In which areas does it seem you are still on your L plates? No shame in that remember it s a learning process. Joyce Meyer said: Choose to do what you can do, and God will help you to do what you cannot do. Philippians 2:13 (NLT) For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.! 8 Page

Day 4: Think on these things A vital element of change is the renewing of the mind as described in Romans 12. This is a Christian discipline that is fundamental to experiencing a transformed life. It is an active choice that you can make the choice to think God s truth, positive life giving thoughts that have their basis in His Word. You can choose to follow the thought patterns of the world follow the crowd, be swayed by the majority or negativity OR you can experience a higher way of living by choosing your thoughts and rejecting thoughts that are contrary to God s Word. Romans 12:2 NKJV And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 Phillips Don t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. In the lesson: What could keep you bound? we discussed strongholds in the mind, inner vows and negative judgments. Perhaps on the Encounter, the power of these thoughts has been broken and you now know freedom in this area. The next step is, to replace these negative thoughts with God s truth. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians gave us a description of God s truth categories that we are to fill our minds with. These categories can serve like guards over our minds. We can use them to measure our thoughts against and if our thoughts don t meet God truth criteria, we should dismiss them and re-adjust our thinking. Fill your mind with God s truth: Philippians 4:8 (NIV) Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. For the remainder of the day, or if you are reading this at bedtime all day tomorrow, keep this list of whatevers with you. When you have a negative thought, take the list out and ask yourself, how does my thinking measure up? If it does not meet the standard of God thoughts then dismiss it and replace it with a positive, life giving thought from the Word of God.! 9 Page

Day 5: Emotions follow faith C.S. Lewis said: Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive. On the Encounter you may have discovered God s grace to forgive someone maybe someone in your past or in your present. But soon, a few days later, you might find that negative thoughts about the person start to creep in, your emotions engage and soon enough you feel that maybe you have not been able to forgive after all. Some have said but I just can t seem to forget the incident. Forgiveness does not produce amnesia. The memories will still be there. Trust God to help you. Ask Him to remove the sting from your memory. It is quite normal that our emotions take time to catch up with the act of the will. The more times we choose to do this, the closer we come to the painful sting being extinguished. You have made the choice to forgive well done. Your choice was a step of faith towards God and towards freedom. Now trust in God to help your emotions catch up with your decision. Your tongue, which is the words you speak, is a strong director for your life. James 3 describes it like the rudder on a ship but explains how unruly our tongues can be. Our speech can cause us no end of trouble but if we can control it, we can virtually control everything else about ourselves! Forgiveness presents a huge emotional challenge. The verses below tell us to use our words and prayers to move from a natural, human response to a God-like, supernatural response towards those we have chosen to forgive. Matthew 5:44 (NKJV) But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Luke 6:28 (AMP) Invoke blessings upon and pray for the happiness of those who curse you, implore God's blessing (favour) upon those who abuse you [who revile, reproach, disparage, and highhandedly misuse you]. One definition of the word bless means to speak well of. In the days ahead, you might be tempted to speak ill of the person who hurt you. Instead, use your tongue to bless and speak well of them. This doesn t mean you give your approval to their behaviour or deeds. It may be in an appropriate setting, such as while you are receiving pastoral care that you may need to re-tell the event to someone. This would be appropriate and important. However, what deciding to bless means is that you are directing your heart towards healing by no longer stirring up anger and vengeful thoughts. Emotions are a major hurdle in the forgiveness and healing process. It has been said Time heals all wounds but that really isn t true. What heals our wounds is directing our emotions with faith and the words we speak, then waiting upon God for His healing power.! 10 Page

Hebrews 6:12 (NKJV) That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Waiting on God requires faith and patience for which there is a great reward. Psalm 27:14(NIV) Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. When you wait upon God and depend upon His help, He will see you through your most difficult emotional challenges. There is no sin so great that Christ s blood cannot cover. There is no deed so wrong that God s grace cannot forgive. There is no heart so broken that Christ s love cannot heal. If today, you are still challenged by painful emotions, take them to the Lord in prayer. Commit this all to Him once again. Commit it to Him a hundred times if need be. You have made the choice to forgive. Reinforce this choice by the grace filled words you speak.! 11 Page

Day 6: Walk humbly before the Lord What is it God wants us to do? It seems our human nature requires an answer to this question. Religion seems to demand that we do something. When it comes to forgiveness of sin and right standing with God, our part is to ask and then accept God s gracious gift. But when it comes to other areas of spiritual growth and practice, there is direction from the Word of God. Micah 6:8 (AMP) He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? Matthew 18:1-4(AMP) At that time the disciples came up and asked Jesus, Who then is [really] the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2And He called a little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them, 3And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. 4Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. There is a common thread that runs through these Scriptures: humility. I am sure that there are many Christians who will confess that their experience has been very much like my own that we had long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart should be the distinguishing feature of the disciple, as they were of the Master. Such humility is not a thing that will come on its own. It must be made the object of special desire, prayer, faith and practice. -Andrew Murray, renowned Scottish minister. We often complicate our walk with God. We feel we need to do this or that. God s requirements are profoundly simple: faith, love, humility. These are attitudes and motivations of the heart from which should flow all that we do. It s not possible to say one is more important than the other however, humility before God and others seems to be the secret to maintaining your relationship with God and others and opens the way for every work of God in your life and through your life. Humility of heart serves you well as it allows you to not be blinded by pride and self-focus. It enables you to quickly admit when you are wrong and to seek forgiveness. Sincere repentance is an important part of humility. It is a precious gift to have a heart that is tender and continuously responsive to God.! 12 Page

Charles Spurgeon once said: Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day. Every other sorrow yields to time, but this dear sorrow grows with our growth and it is so sweet a bitter (herb) that we thank God we are permitted to enjoy and suffer it until we enter our eternal rest. Pray: Consciously humble your heart before the Lord. Ask God to continue to work in your life in such a way that you will always have a tender heart before Him, a simple child like faith and an ability to always respond to His direction and His correction.! 13 Page

Day 7: Who I am in Christ Each of us has a cultural identity. Whether you were born in Australia or overseas, you have a culture that you are a part of and it is a part of you. When you were born-again, however you become a part of the Kingdom of God you have a new culture and a new identity. You are in Christ. In the ancient world where the first believers lived, people were very aware of their culture and Jews in particular held a superior religious attitude. Paul preached that whatever their physical heritage, it was superseded by a new nature and a new identity in Christ. Colossians 3:10-12 (NLT) 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Printed in your Encounter manual and also available to you as a laminated copy is the page entitled Who I am in Christ. This is taken from a book entitled Living Free in Christ by Dr. Neil T. Anderson. In his book, Dr. Anderson devotes an entire chapter to each of these faith filled declarations from the Word of God. We encourage you to make this page a part of your daily devotional life for a season. Maybe read just one or two a day. Take time to look up the supporting Scriptures and allow God s Word to soak deep into your heart and into your beliefs about yourself. Someone remarked to Dr. Anderson regarding this list: I would be prideful if I believed all these verses about myself to which he answered: No, you would be defeated if you didn t. You are not who you are in Christ because of the things you have done, you are in Christ because of what He has done! These declarations are divided into three categories: I am accepted I am secure I am significant Each of these phrases speak to the deepest needs of the human heart. Human wisdom has identified these as important but cannot really supply the answer to these needs. Thank God, through Jesus Christ, all our needs are met! Renew your mind with this wonderful truth. Renewing your mind with the Word of God is an important practice for the believer. The rewards are great. This doesn t come naturally; it is something you must deliberately do.! 14 Page

Some of the phrases on this list along with other wonderful truth in the Word of God will speak more specifically to you than others. You might consider memorising these as they speak most deeply to your heart. Replace old negative thoughts about yourself with God s perspective. What you believe often determines what you do. Soon you and others will notice the change, as you consciously believe the truth of who you are in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (PHILLIPS) This means that our knowledge of men can no longer be based on their outward lives (indeed, even though we knew Christ as a man we do not know him like that any longer). For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new.! 15 Page