Luke 24:31-32 “Then
their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their
sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he
talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?
If the Holy Spirit is flowing like a river, splashing
over your banks in power and grace to save, heal, and deliver others, I hope this
article will serve as energizer for you to do much more for God.
If you are like me, you may be feeling a deep need to see
God and meet him daily in your day to day routine. If there’s restlessness, an
unfulfilled hunger, a desperate desire, and an unsatisfied thirst for a fresh
encounter with God, this article will you have a supernatural way in which you
might encounter a powerful God.
God met two disciples at their lowest hour on the Emmaus Road. Two disciples encountered God, and so can you.Luke records that on the afternoon of the first Easter Sunday, Cleopas and a fellow disciple were walking to Emmaus only a few days before Jesus had been betrayed, tried, mocked, flogged, and crucified. The seven-mile trip was an escape from Jerusalem. The thought of just relaxing and being rejuvenated in body, mind, and emotions was something worth doing for the couple.
They had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah. The disciples had been hiding in fear behind locked doors. Then there were the “rumors” of an empty tomb and the disappearance of Jesus’ body. The reports were confusing. Their disappointment had turned to grief. Both of these disciples were in the pit of depression and hopelessness. Their hopes were dashed. They wanted a break from the stress and strain and from the tragedy of the past few weeks. So they are getting out of town to Emmaus, but in reality going nowhere. More than anything, they needed a fresh encounter with the living God they now thought was dead.
Just like these two disciples, most of us are working out a theology of God through the tragedies and trials of our life. The working out of problems, suffering, crises, and grief will teach you more than you will ever get out of a book or a school. You must come to know how God relates to this world and the way He works through secondary causes to reach you. Troubles of life will make you bitter or better.
Countless times in my ministry to the sick, I have met patients who once believed but after a prolonged suffering start doubting the existence and benevolence nature of God. While this is human nature, we should realize that it is through tough times we build our faith and strengthen our walk with God. Isaiah 38:17God uses personal trials to rewrite your spiritual agenda and to bring you into a new relationship with Him.
The calamity will make you desperate for God. It’s not the fierce trials that will change you, but a passionate pursuit of God. God is determined to use those difficult circumstances to bring you into a faith encounter with Him. Out of this encounter will come a revelation, an understanding, a salvation, and a freedom with God as He transforms your character into His image. Romans 8:28-29.
When you are born-again, you move into the supernatural realm. Scripture affirms that hearing God’s voice is natural to a child of God .John 10:4. To a spiritual person the supernatural moves into the natural.
God met two disciples at their lowest hour on the Emmaus Road. Two disciples encountered God, and so can you.Luke records that on the afternoon of the first Easter Sunday, Cleopas and a fellow disciple were walking to Emmaus only a few days before Jesus had been betrayed, tried, mocked, flogged, and crucified. The seven-mile trip was an escape from Jerusalem. The thought of just relaxing and being rejuvenated in body, mind, and emotions was something worth doing for the couple.
They had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah. The disciples had been hiding in fear behind locked doors. Then there were the “rumors” of an empty tomb and the disappearance of Jesus’ body. The reports were confusing. Their disappointment had turned to grief. Both of these disciples were in the pit of depression and hopelessness. Their hopes were dashed. They wanted a break from the stress and strain and from the tragedy of the past few weeks. So they are getting out of town to Emmaus, but in reality going nowhere. More than anything, they needed a fresh encounter with the living God they now thought was dead.
Just like these two disciples, most of us are working out a theology of God through the tragedies and trials of our life. The working out of problems, suffering, crises, and grief will teach you more than you will ever get out of a book or a school. You must come to know how God relates to this world and the way He works through secondary causes to reach you. Troubles of life will make you bitter or better.
Countless times in my ministry to the sick, I have met patients who once believed but after a prolonged suffering start doubting the existence and benevolence nature of God. While this is human nature, we should realize that it is through tough times we build our faith and strengthen our walk with God. Isaiah 38:17God uses personal trials to rewrite your spiritual agenda and to bring you into a new relationship with Him.
The calamity will make you desperate for God. It’s not the fierce trials that will change you, but a passionate pursuit of God. God is determined to use those difficult circumstances to bring you into a faith encounter with Him. Out of this encounter will come a revelation, an understanding, a salvation, and a freedom with God as He transforms your character into His image. Romans 8:28-29.
When you are born-again, you move into the supernatural realm. Scripture affirms that hearing God’s voice is natural to a child of God .John 10:4. To a spiritual person the supernatural moves into the natural.
It is in our weakness and need for wholeness and
fulfillment that most of us desire an encounter with God. Emmaus is not so much
a place as it is a state of mind. For the two disciples on the road, it was an
escape from suffering and stress. It’s a place where you want to go to “get
away,” where you are likely to say, “Forget it. The pain, rejection,
loneliness, and failure are not worth it. All seems lost and hopeless. It does
not matter anymore.”
The road to Emmaus is that place where you think you can
escape the demands of life, an ungrateful family, betrayal of friends, and
self-rejection. The desire is that the “warm springs” of Emmaus may help you to
relax and get revived.
At your darkest and most desperate hour, when you have
come to the end of doing it for yourself, when you are unable to conceive of
any way out from your problems, God meets you. This is when you are most able
to recognize your need for Him. This is the moment that you most desire God in
His infinite grace to rescue you. You are hungry, thirsty, anguished,
desperate, and desiring. This is the perfect opportunity for God to meet you.
In that encounter God comes and confronts your hang-ups
and confusion. 1 Corinthians 11:32.
You learn from the Emmaus Road that at your point of need
you encounter God. John 8:32.
WATCH FOR PART 2
Work cited:
The encyclopedia of the Bible
The Gospel of Luke according to Dr Luke( commentary of
the Gospel of Luke)
New King James bible