Yesterday was the beginning of the third week of Advent, which is the week of joy. Advent is a season of duality, because it is both a time of reflection and repentance, as we wait eagerly for the coming again of the Lord. It is a time of joy where we celebrate the fact that He did come, as He had promised, as the infant Christ over 2000 years ago.
One of the things that we are reminded of in our celebration of his coming and our anticipation of his coming again, is the simple fact that he longs to come to us, that we might encounter him. We were created for his presence and He is the God of intimacy in favor. During Advent, I am reminded that my Lord is not only a God of accessibility, but he initiates fellowship and encounter with me again and again. He is a God of visitation and habitation, and each time there’s a fresh visitation or manifestation of his presence in our life, there’s also an increased awareness of his abiding habitation. It’s not that we get more of him, it’s just that he reveals more of himself, and we become more aware of his presence.
I’ve had thousands of visitations from the Lord over the 43 years that I’ve walked. Sometimes those visitations were extremely dramatic, but often they were just simple moments of revelation and realization as I was alone with him in prayer, or just going about the daily routines of life, but whether dramatic, or simple, each time my life has been changed eternally.
We live in a time in the body of Christ where the idea of personal life-changing encounters with the Lord is spoken of often, and I’m very grateful for that, but I do think that there is something rarely mentioned when people speak about fresh comings and favor from the Lord. When the angel in Luke 2 came to Mary and declared her as favored one, she had a dramatic encounter with the Lord, but he didn’t just come to pour out grace in a new way of life; the result of his coming and her being favored was going to cost her a great deal.
Anytime we experience a fresh coming of the Lord in out lives, it will require us to offer something in response to him. As a matter fact, our surrender offered in response to encounter, postures us for greater encounters, but usually also requires of us, or compels us, to greater offerings.
When Mary heard the favor that was going be on her life, she knew instantly the price that she was gonna have to be willing to pay. She had no way of knowing if Joseph would ever understand her story, or if he might simply walk away from her thinking of her as unfaithful and immoral woman. For most people who knew about her story during her lifetime, she was viewed as someone who was scandalous. All of her dreams and her reputation was at stake, and yet no one who had ever lived was offered such favor as to be the one who would carry the Messiah.
Like you, nothing is more profoundly important to me than to have fresh encounters with God, and fresh releases of his favor and goodness on my life, but never forget that even though you don’t have to earn favor from God; favor will cost you something; actually everything. Fresh comings and fresh favor simply provoke us to worship him with extravagant sacrifices. If you really want “The More” from Him, then cultivate “the more” from you. Listen to Mary’s response at the end of her conversation with Gabriel the Angel; “Behold the bond servant of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.”