“Genuine Christian experience always includes an encounter with God Himself.” AW Tozer

The definition of witness is to “have knowledge of (an event or change) from personal observation or experience.” When Jesus told His disciples to be His witnesses, He meant for them to share their personal God encounters with others.

And did Thomas ever have a story to tell! History called him, “Doubting Thomas.” Why?

The day Jesus rose from the grave, a group of women saw angels who said Jesus was alive. They told the 11 Apostles, including Thomas, who didn’t believe them.

A few hours later, two men were walking away from Jerusalem when Jesus showed up. They returned to Jerusalem and told the 11, “We’ve seen Jesus!”

While still talking, Jesus showed up. Their first reaction? Doubt. Jesus showed His scars from the cross. They still refused to believe. Jesus finally eats food and opens their minds to the prophecies about Him. Now, they believed!

Thomas, though, appears to have slipped out of the room. When the 10 saw him again, they said, “We have actually seen Jesus alive with our own two eyes!” His reaction? “I don’t care what you say about what you thought you saw, I won’t believe until I actually touch Jesus’ scars.” Jesus obliged him. Now he believed.

You can’t be a witness of something you haven’t experienced. People want to know, “Religion has let me down and kept me entrapped. How is Jesus any different?”

Thomas would say, “I not only doubted, but rejected what people said about Jesus. Then Jesus showed up to me in the flesh! I went from doubting to believing. So much so, I am willing to die for what I know from experience to be true.” Thomas was actually killed for being a witness.

Do you have personal Jesus encounters? If you do, be ready to be share them. As there are others who need to hear about this encounter. If not, isn’t it time to have some?  Ask Jesus to change your life and not just save you from eternal separation from God.

Jesus wants you to experience His resurrected life today. Talk about change and something to share!

You may not completely understand what God did, but you can completely praise Him for doing it.

On Passover, which starts at sundown on April 12, real human flesh and blood – Jesus’ – hung on an execution stake. One of the reasons was to give us the ability to come into the very presence of God…with confidence. Hold onto that word, confidence.

Let’s be honest. We know we sin. We hurt the Father. We dishonor Jesus. We suppress the Spirit. Because of this, we should be ashamed of ourselves. And with shame comes cowering, not confidence. With shame comes running away from and hiding, not confidence.

Scripture, though, reveals that by Jesus’ human blood shed on Passover, we can enter the Father’s presence with confidence. We can shout for the entire universe to hear, “Daddy, here I am!”

Mind you, this is not in heaven when we become like Jesus. No, it is here on earth where our human and stored flesh still battle with the Spirit. Are there things we are currently doing that we are not very proud of? You know the answer.

Yet, the Father sees the blood on the door frame, which took place on Passover (Exodus 12). I find it interesting, though, the ancient Hebrew pictures the upper part of the door frame as a window.

Therefore, God’s answer to your answer is, “I see everything in your life. Everything. Not some, but everything…including the blood of Jesus, my Son. His blood covers everything, I mean everything. Am I emphasizing “everything” enough for you? So, let go of your shame and enter My presence with confident assurance. Come on. Come into My presence with thanks.”

Why not spend more time thanking Jesus for what He did for you than feeling shame for what you did to Him?

You can start right now. Ask forgiveness for what you did. Thank Him for what He did; and then, acknowledge your Father’s presence in your life. Here’s a hint. Talk less to yourself and more to Him.

The Father knows more about the cost of freedom than we give Him credit.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was in charge of all Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, knew that freedom – others – came with a price paid by still others.  

It was his decision whether or not to send over 13,000 paratroopers into battle on D-Day. He knew full well that as many as 75% of them would never return home. And yet, he still sent them into battle anyway. The others were depending on them.  

Eisenhower wrote to his troops, “The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you” in “the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe and the security for ourselves in a free world.”

The Father saw our need for freedom from an evil oppressor. Yet, He knew full well that our freedom would cost Him the death of His Son, whom He loved with every fiber of His personhood. Remember, they are one inseparable being knitted together as they make up 2/3s of the Single-Plurality of God: One God three persons.

They loved each other in a way we can never truly understand this side of eternity. Therefore, the pain He experienced must have hurt deep when He sent His Soldier to fight and die for our freedom.

So, when the Father asks you to make the hard decision to die to yourself so you can experience true freedom, He knows what He’s asking of you.

So instead of ranting and raving, “You don’t understand what You’re asking of me!” Trust in the fact that He does and will walk with you every painful choice along the way to freedom.

“Rest tonight knowing that whatever is on your mind is in God’s hands!”

A relatively new discovery about the brain has gotten me very excited and trusting God’s Word even more!

Research shows that we start the life change process by introducing new thoughts into our brain – either good or bad. This is why we need truth that sets us free from thought patterns that lead us away from Jesus. Therefore, we must start with truth – His.

We are then told to meditate on His truths day and night (Joshua 1:8), even as we put our heads on our pillows (Ps. 63:6). This constant thinking about and acting on this new thought drives the new neuron/truth thought deeper and deeper into our brain.

Research also shows that as we get into REM sleep our unused thoughts/neurons are washed away; and our short-term memories are transferred into our long-term storage or hippocampus.

In other words, getting proper rest is absolutely crucial for life change, which is exactly what Isaiah 30:15 states, “Repent and rest is your salvation.”

Repent is being exposed to a truth that shows we’re heading away from and how to stay in God’s presence.  

But notice what comes next, rest! We must stop inputting data and then go to sleep so the brain can properly store its new thoughts – truth – deeper into it.

As the new day’s information enters our brains, it will be matched with what is stored in it to make today’s decisions. As we keep repeating this truth obedience and sleep cycle – awake truth-based decision and sleep storage – life transformation takes place in the area the Spirit desires to change.

Therefore, the more we act on the new information and then “sleep on it”, the deeper the truthful thought will go into our brain, which leads to life change (Rom. 12:2 – “transformed by the renewing our mind”).

This entire process takes total reliance on making the hard decisions (see Hard Faith) in God’s power as “we” would rather stay in our comfort zone (see Uncomfortably Comfortable). Remember, Hebrews 11:25 tells us that sin choices are much more pleasurable in the short-term than faith choices to become more like Jesus.

Repent and rest. Input and act upon truth and sleep leads to continually being saved or life change. Ponder what you’ve just read; and then go take a 30-minute nap!

“Faith is like a muscle; it must be exercised to get stronger.” Billy Graham

My workouts have been pretty much spotty at best over the past couple of months. No excuses, just reality. However, it would have been much easier on my body if I didn’t have the big gaps between them.

You all know it. The day after you start back up again, your muscles scream at you, “What in the world have you done? Why do you want to hurt me again?”

In my case, I have to stay in good physical shape to do what the Lord called me to do. So, if I love Him, I’ll do these workouts with and for Him no matter how I feel (last week’s blog) or uncomfortable I am, which is what we’ll see today.

I once read that “success is being comfortable while being uncomfortable.”

And success for the Jesus believer is not what you do for Him. It’s what He does in you: Transforming your way of thinking, choosing and living into His way of thinking, choosing and living. What does this require? Strengthening your faith muscles.

If the Father doesn’t choose to do a miraculous instantaneous life change (believe me, I’ve asked for it!), which by its definition is rare or it wouldn’t be a miracle, He uses a process of daily and sometimes hourly hard faith choices to walk into His arms.

And this process by its definition is uncomfortable! You’re letting go of what you’re comfortable being (“the known”) into being uncomfortable (“the unknown”) while the Spirit’s transformation process does its job.

Living by hard faith choices, then, means learning how to be comfortable while being uncomfortable, which is not a contradiction and easier said that done.

It’s not that you don’t have faith. It’s that your faith is being stretched like a muscle causing “good soreness” or uncomfortableness while your faith is being increased.

Life change is a process, not a one-off event. And those hard faith choices will be very uncomfortable. And, who wants to be uncomfortable? The person who loves Jesus while being uncomfortably comfortable.