It is an amazing thing that God has actually invited us to know His heart, the secret things of God that He desires to make known only to those who pursue Him wholeheartedly.
We are told in I Corinthians 2:9-10 that "'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him' - but God has revealed it to
us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." What an amazing thought that the Spirit of God searches out and knows God's deepest secrets
and then desires to make them known to His people!
Why then, are we often times content to settle for religious exercise and ritual without ever really experiencing God at all? It is so easy to fall into a rut, thinking that
as long as we attend church, read the Bible, pray, and claim to believe certain things about God, that we will somehow experience the life God intends. This could not be
further from the truth! God wants so badly for us to devote our lives to seeking to know Him intimately, to know the things on His heart and then to do His will here on the
earth!
Proverbs 25:2 tells us that "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." God has hidden certain things about Himself from us
so that those who are truly hungry will never grow bored with seeking to know and understand the beauty of the Lord - there is always more to discover! Our desire is to seek
out the hidden things of God so that we might know Him more fully and find our glory only in knowing and understanding Him (Jeremiah 9:23-24). That is our prayer, for you as
well - that you would know and understand God and His heart for the world around us, and in that knowledge, that you would find meaning and purpose for your life!
On the surface, encounterGOD ministries may appear to be just another mission or outreach ministry; however, it is my sincere hope that that is never the case! Although we do
focus a great deal of our efforts on outreach to the community and to the world, it all starts in the place of intimacy with Jesus. My experience has been that any ministry
that is carried out apart from spending time in the "quiet place" results in frustration, burn out, bitterness, and an assortment of other unhealthy emotions. Jesus tells us
that the most important commandment is that we love God with everything that we are, and that the second most important commandment is to love those around us. The second cannot
be carried out apart from the first, and anyone who says they are living out the first apart from the second is a liar (I John 4:20). That is why we have embraced Matthew
22:36-40 as our foundation for all that we do. We actively embrace God's heart for reaching the world, but we will never emphasize that calling at the expense of simply embracing
extravagant devotion to Jesus!
We invite you to join us for any of our times of prayer, outreach events, or any other ministry in which we are involved, and we pray that God will move in your heart deeply as you
pursue Him. May your heart be "rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17), and may God "fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and
understanding" so that "you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way" (Colossians 1:9-10).
Grace and peace,
Kyle McNutt
Executive Director
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