Fear Not - Divine Encounters
Scripture Reading - Matthew 28:3-7 KJV
(3) His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: (4) And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. (5) And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. (6) He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. (7) And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
Greetings fellow believer in the Awesome Name of Jesus may God’s Grace smile upon you this day while he fills you with all Peace. Today we will continue in our “Fear Not” series. In a previous lesson we highlighted the fact that worry comes from fear. If we can remove the fear from the situation, event, circumstance, sickness, government, leadership, person, etc. . . we will also remove the worry associated with that fear. Thank God through Jesus Christ we can remove the fear. According 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love but perfect (mature, sincere, pure, untainted, developed) love casts out fear.” In another previous lesson we mentioned that we don’t need to fear protection primarily for two reasons: one - God is always with us and two - The Lord’s ministering spirits known as the Angels of God are encamped round about us continuously. The key is knowing divine help is always available and acknowledging God in all our ways so He can direct our paths. In a previous lesson we looked at not fearing a lack of provision because you are a child of God. Yes, your Heavenly Father greatly delights in you because He loves you so much. His desire is to not only feed you naturally but His Will is that you are well fed both spiritually and physically having more than what you need for that specific meal. In another lesson we discussed not fearing the curse(s) of the Law because The Blessing(s) of God are promised to the children of God. Yes, in Christ Jesus we are redeemed from the curses of the Law. The Blessing of God is twofold: 1) - We inherited all The Blessings of the Law as children of God while at the same time 2) - We were (and are) promised complete deliverance from all the curses of the Law, so there is no need to fear. We also shared about not fearing relocation because God is with us and we can communicate with God anything and everything that concerns us. In these times of trouble and conflict we covered not fearing war. This means even the threat of war should not make us afraid because we have God with us individually before, during and after war. We then looked at not fearing your enemies which could be someone in your own family or someone at work on your job or maybe a neighbor who really doesn’t like you, etc . . . The key is knowing how to treat them and keeping a positive attitude so that they can’t steal your joy. We also spoke about not fearing your assignment (career, calling, ministry, occupation, project, etc. . .) which basically means pray about the task at hand looking for God’s guidance. Allow The Good Lord to help you by ordering your steps such that His Will is done then you can guarantee success because the work is pleasing to God which pleases your heart and gains you favor with both God and man. In a previous lesson we taught on “Not Fearing” False God’s because the True Living God we know is All Powerful, All Mighty and Greater than any spirit or man living in Our God’s Universe. No need to fear what God, our Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ has already defeated. Remember greater is He that is in you then those that are in the world. In another lesson we had discussion about not fearing bad bosses because your Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus can influence your bad situation for good, if you do things God’s Way using His (God’s) Wisdom. In another lesson we talked about not fearing man in a general sense. That basically means don’t fear all the bad things going on in the world around you as reported by the media because God is our strength and refuge, our rock and fortress. In a previous lesson we discussed not fearing having a baby because God has promised you complete preservation all during your pregnancy and complete deliverance when having (giving birth to) the actual baby. In this lesson we will look at “not fearing” any “Divine Encounter” you might experience while walking with God. Let us first discuss what we mean by a “Divine Encounter”. Although there are many times a believer can sense (some say feel) God’s Presence while doing praise and worship we are not talking about that. Nor are we talking about drawing closer to God during special times of prayer when you experience more of God’s Spirit being present with you. There are also times during corporate prayer where the Presence of God can be felt through the moving of the Holy Spirit and although those times are wonderful that is not what we are discussing right now. In the context of todays reference scriptures we are talking about the ministry of angels. We are also including when you know the Lord is giving you a personal visitation. Notice that in the reference scripture for this message that this encounter effected the atmosphere and the natural surroundings. We know this because his brightness was very noticeable to the keepers and the women. However, the unbelievers fainted (the keepers) while the believers (the women) received divine information from God. We know in general when something unusual is going on around us and we are seeing the responses from others around us too fear is usually present. The purpose of the fear is to keep you away from the things of God as we see with the keepers. In their case fainting stopped them from receiving from God. However the women that were present had a “divine encounter” with God’s angel that they could share with others for the rest of their life and even in Heaven. We know fear was present with the women too because the first thing the angel said to the women was, “Fear Not”. Please also notice that this “divine encounter” wasn’t all about them. No, The Lord gave them an assignment to share with other believers to encourage their faith. We don’t always know what parts of “divine encounters” we should share with others so it is always better to share what He (The Lord) says you can share and keep all other parts private (just between you and The Lord) It is said if you can control your tongue concerning talking to others it is very probable that God will share more with you. These types of encounters are rare but we never want to be close minded when it comes to receiving divine instruction from God. It is also understood that we shouldn’t glorify any experience, including divine encounters, but rather glorify God by sharing the purpose or intent of the experience only if The Lord leads you to share. We (ihlcc) do believe that God is looking to have more divine encounters with His children but we must be open for them. We must be ready to listen more with less talk, so God can help us and others who need to know Him more. Remember God is an expert on helping many through the voice of one. We just need to do our part of giving Him all the glory, honor and praise that is solely due Him in the Awesome Name of Jesus. Amen!