Encountering Jesus: Finding Grace by Committing to the Future
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Premise: the issues that determine who we are and how we live are found in how we relate to Jesus in our past,
present and future. All three provide keys that shape us and unlock our heart.
B. Jesus desires to unlock our heart that we might be fully alive. We encounter Him is issues related to our past as we
discern the bitterness and wrong paradigms from negative experiences in our past as well as discerning how God’s grace
was manifest to us in positive ways. We encounter Jesus in the present as we grow in active intimacy with God. We
encounter Jesus related to our future as we believe the right things about our future and make godly commitments to it.
II. ENCOUNTERING JESUS RELATED TO OUR PAST
A. Our past can affect us negatively – it is often emphasized that what we are today is a result of how we have been
conditioned by our past. Many emphasize how our past experiences have shaped and molded us to be who we are today.
Some conclude that we are trapped by the past.
B. We are partially the product of what has happened to us. Taken to an extreme, this relieves us of the responsibility of
our negative responses. We are both victims who have been mistreated and agents who have contributed to our bondage
by wrong responses. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us the places where we are chained to the past by bitterness and
shame. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us our wrong paradigms of God, ourselves and others (significant to us).
III. ENCOUNTERING JESUS IN THE PRESENT: ACTIVE INTIMACY WITH GOD
A. God invites us to experience the deep things of His heart (emotions and thoughts about us). Thus, to enjoy active
intimacy with Jesus includes understanding and feeling His heart.
You may be able to comprehend….the width and length and depth and height-- to know (experience) the
love (affections or emotions) of Christ... (Ephesians 3:18-19)
B. This proactive focus of our heart protects us from increased spiritual dullness and defilement. Intimacy with God is not
an optional luxury that merely enhances our spiritual experience. It is an issue of life and death to engage with Jesus in a
deep way as a lifestyle.
C. Intimacy begins in seeing our identity in Jesus. Our identity is the way we define ourselves or the way we measure
our value, importance and success. We are valuable because God has passion for us. The natural way to see value and
success is from people instead of from the Lord. Our identity must first be established in our relationship to God, or in
understanding that we are loved by God and then in being a lover of God. We confess “I am loved (by God) and am a
lover (to God/others) therefore, I am successful.” We first see ourselves (our primary success) spiritually as before God,
then in a secondary way we see who we are “as before men.”
IV. ENCOUNTERING JESUS IN THE FUTURE
A. What we believe about our future and the commitments that we have made to it dynamically influence our present.
What we believe about where we are going forms how we live today.
She (Israel) did not consider her destiny; therefore her collapse was awesome. (Lam. 1:9)
B. Without a clear picture of what we want to be and do tomorrow, we live careless with our time and money. Without a
vision or clear plan, the people perish or live undisciplined without restraint in their passions, time and money.
Where there is no revelation (life vision), the people cast off restraint (discipline). (Prov. 29:18)
C. The lack of commitment to the future brings an identity crisis in the present. Our commitments define who we are.
The way to get young people disciplined and focused is to help them establish a clear picture of what their future can be
in God.
D. We are concerned not only with where we have been, but where we are going. Hope transforms us. Hope is to be
anchored in the future. The power of hope is neglected by many. What we commit ourselves to in the future dynamically
effects who we are now.
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the
power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
2 We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him... 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him
purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)
E. Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), a Vienna born psychologist rejected Freud’s over emphasize on the past as being the
primary force that formed us in the present. He was a survivor of several Nazi concentration camps (Theresienstadt and
Auschwitz). After the war, he analyzed holocaust survivors, categorizing them into two broad categories: those who were
emotionally stable and those who were not. The predominant factor was not what they experienced before or during the
concentration camps, but rather what they believed about their future.
F. Our vision for the future includes our spiritual development, not just our careers and ministries. People with a vision
or goal to grow spiritually, use their time and money very differently than those without such vision. The lack of clear vision
for our future spiritual attainment is detrimental to our present spiritual condition. To be ambivalent about the future has
negative effects that lead us to passivity and lethargy. Without clear commitments, the only alternative is bitterness or
self-centeredness. Indecision in this, causes us great hindrances today.
G. What are your future goals for your spiritual development? Most usually have no concrete goals. Without vision
any road will get you there. Many cannot form a picture in their minds of what they want in the future. Those without a
vision for their future are stifled spiritually. What are your commitments to? What are you determined to be in God, now
and in eternity? What are your desires? What do you believe about what you can be spiritually? What are you committed
to being? What do you want to be a part of in the future?
H. I get asked often if the establishing and growth of IHOP is the fulfillment of my biggest dream. I greatly rejoice in the
reality of IHOP, but my primary life dream concerns the size and quality of what is happening in my heart, not my ministry.
IHOP is my divine assignment. To live with the anointing of love and meekness is my greatest dream in this age.
I. Paul prayed that the saints would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will for them (Col. 1:9-10; 4:12; Eph. 1:17-18)
because he knew the power of having a vision for our future.
9 We do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding... (Colossians 1:9)
17…give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation…18 that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened;
that you may know what is the hope of His calling… (Ephesians 1:17-18)
J. Our specific action plan to attain these spiritual goals includes time in the Word and prayer with regular fasting. I
recommend reading 10 chapters of the NT everyday (thus, completing the NT once a month), praying in the Spirit one
hour a day and fasting two days a week.
K. Our future is a vast subject. It includes making decisions now that affect our eternal destiny.
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct
and godliness, 12 looking for...the coming of the day of God...13 Nevertheless we…look for new heavens and
a new earth…14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace,
without spot and blameless... (2 Peter 3:11-14)
L. Many dream of their future as if eternity is not a reality. In their future plans, they replace reality with their fantasies
of life in this age that consist mostly of honor and comfort without pressure.
12 Hope deferred (shattered dreams) makes the heart sick.... (Proverbs 13:12)
M. This common false thinking leads people to inevitable disappointment as their misguided dreams and expectations
are shattered. One of the biggest set backs in our lives comes when we mishandle our disappointments.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
N. In Stephen Covey’s book, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders, one habit he highlights is to the need to have
a clear picture of the end product before we begin to act. According to this, Jesus is the ultimate highly effective leader
with a purpose driven life as He planned the entire End-Time scenario. As a boy in Nazareth, Jesus looked over the area
of Armageddon with understanding that He would rule Israel after the conflict that started there.
O. Summary: our past, present and vision for the future conditions the way we live and feel today.