ENCOUNTER: An Encounter with God Changes Everything

by John Peter Overholt

I was there when it happened. Singing and lifting my hands in praise to the Lord, I suddenly found myself taken up to join a multitude of Heavenly host (people and angels) gathered around the throne of God. This was not a dream or a figment of my imagination. I was in the middle of a worship service and then, all of a sudden, I found myself standing with a multitude, in the very presence of God.Worship at the Nanoose Bay camp on Vancouver Island was good, but this heavenly place was so glorious that I remember thinking to myself, “This is so incredible that I just want to do this forever.” I had the revelation that simply worshiping the Lord would joyously fill our time for eternity, even if we did nothing else. Needless to say, my perspective on our church worship has forever changed. I know that we have but touched the hem of His garment when it comes to encountering the glory of the Lord. Over the past decade our society has become super saturated with podcasts, blogs, YouTube and TikTok videos, Facebook and Instagram posts, Twitter tweets, Snapchat moments, and the list goes on. We have access to an incredible amount of information but my concern is that we are developing a generation of Christians who are becoming reliant upon what they know more than who they know. My hope, in writing this book, is to stir up that longing, deep in our hearts, to know Him. I have experienced enough of church life to discern between times where I have grown and encountered the deep things of God, compared to times where it seemed like I was drifting in shallow waters. I have discovered that drifting is easy but certainly not fulfilling. Many in the church have been gathering in the safety and comfort of the shallow waters, but there is a call to come deeper. There is only so much that we can learn by wading in water up to our ankles. Come with me, as I share some of my encounters with God, as He led me into rivers that were over my head. These personal encounters have shaped who I am and influenced what I have done as a follower of Jesus. I also include biblical accounts of people like, the apostle Paul, whose encounter with God on the road to Damascus certainly changed his course in life, as well as, testimonies of leaders throughout church history, such as Charles Finney, who have had their lives transformed by an encounter with God. Highlighted, as well, are the impacts made upon people as they encountered God in more recent awakenings, such as the revival at the Brownsville Assembly in Pensacola starting in 1995. This carried on for over five years and was said to have been the largest local church revival in the history of America.I am aware that encounters with God can and have produced controversy in the church, and so I want to look at the road blocks that can come with a move of God, and then conclude by looking at how we can develop a healthy church culture that welcomes His presence.Overall, I desire to bring balance between the values of having a solid biblical foundation that also includes “…times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3:19).

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 17, 2020