Personal Encounters with Jesus

 Many people think they are Christians, but they don't know Jesus. True Christianity means knowing God personally and voluntarily allowing him to change your life from the inside out.

For God took the sinless Christ and poured our sins into him. In exchange, he then poured God's goodness into us! 2 Corinthians 5:21 (TLB)

God wants to do all this for you and then take you on a journey through a new life that never ends.

It all begins with a supernatural personal encounter with Jesus, the Son of God. He is here with you now. He died, but he came back to life and his love now fills the universe.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Re 3:20 NRSV

A Muslim woman in Iran was watching a Christian television program and heard this message. She heard a knock at her door, and when she answered it, she saw Jesus standing there, a glorious man in a brilliant white robe. She invited him in and offered him something to eat.

That night, Jesus came into her life.

Whether you see Jesus with your natural eyes or not, makes no difference to the spiritual reality of his presence and his love for you.

When Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sins, but he did not remain dead. As a real man, Jesus sacrificed his life for us, but as God he could not remain dead. God is eternal, and his supernatural life is an unquenchable fire.

When Jesus returned to life, he appeared to his disciples. Thomas was not with them and did not want to believe the story.

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Jn 20:28–29 NRSV

Near Death Experiences

 I love reading testimonies of near-death experiences. Medical science has advanced so far in recent times that many seriously ill patients are being resuscitated who would not have come back in the past.

Many of these patients had clear memories of their experiences in the afterlife, but many had none.

There are many sceptics who declare such experiences dubious or impossible on theological or scientific grounds.

Some claim that the extremely dramatic narratives must be symptoms of brain damage. 

Anyone who is clinically dead for more than a few minutes will suffer serious brain damage, but there are people who have been clinically dead for 90 minutes, 8 hours or two days and functioned normally after recovery.

After returning to life, many resuscitated patients tell how they have spoken with God or Jesus. Many tell of encounters with deceased relatives.

One reads again and again in these testimonies that the clinically dead person wants to remain in the wonderful afterlife. Sometimes the person has to make a decision and sometimes not.

Again and again we read that the clinically dead person has a God-given task on earth. This task has not yet been fulfilled and they must therefore return to this life.

After their return to earthly life, many near-death patients have had a new awareness that their life has a meaning.

They have experienced the immeasurably deep love of God in the afterlife. They know that pure love reigns at the centre of the universe. They know that they themselves are loved beyond measure.

What is the meaning of your life?

Many people don't know. Maybe you don't either.
Do you have to die and come back to find the meaning of your life?

The God who radiates love, who many have met in the afterlife, can also be found here in this life.

Have you met God yourself?

For many, the Bible is just a religious textbook, but if you read the Bible with the intention of meeting God yourself, you can find God in the Bible.

An Indian woman attended a church service. Afterwards she started reading the New Testament. She found it interesting, but she didn't understand much.

One evening after reading the Bible, she wanted to go to sleep, but then Jesus himself entered her room.

He spoke to her and she believed. She was no longer a Hindu.

Jesus died on the cross, but he came back. He is with you right now. You can talk to Him.

Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; Is 55:6 NRSV