Christ followers count the cost and choose to pay it. What does it cost you to be a follower of Jesus Christ? 

God has not called us to do the reasonable, the possible or the attainable, but He has called us to see into the realm of the invisible, to invade realms labeled impossible, and become the un-predictable people of God. 

To do what God has called us to do, we need to live in high levels of faith and hope.

Encounter 319 is taken from Ephesians 3:19: that you may know the love of God beyond knowledge - through Encounter - so that you will be fully filled and flooded with God himself.

Why be filled and flooded with God himself?  Not just for ourselves, but for all of those around us.  Our sphere of influence.  We must have more of Him and mature in our walk in order to impact our sphere.  Our mandate is to follow Jesus Christ and equip the saints to love without limits and grow into maturity in Jesus. 

When you identify as a Christ-follower people observe you especially when they see you in a ‘wilderness of life’, time. They want to see if you handle this crisis, this difficulty any differently then they would.  People need to know that we can step into the darkness and come out stronger than we were when we went in.

The Father has a dream about us, his church: on earth as it is in heaven.There has been one unyielding thing in the Father’s heart, one single purpose in His mind that He has held true in spite of everything humanity has done. One purpose, and one purpose behind everything He has done, and that was to provide an eternal companion for His Son.

Isaiah 26:3: God will keep you in perfect peace, when your mind, your soul, your emotions are fixed upon him. So, how do I find this inner peace? How do I live in the peace my soul is desperately searching for?

It comes through intimacy with the God who created you.

Thanksgiving is one of the most profound and powerful weapons that God has put into our arsenal.

Living with gratitude and thanksgiving as a default must be a core-value in your life.

King David declared his standard for how he relates to the Lord in giving. 1 Chronicles 21:24: I refuse to give anything to God that does not cost me something.  

Here are three standards that we see in scripture for giving, and I am not just talking about money, I’m talking about surrender, praise, thanksgiving and worship.

Singing, worshipping, adoring the Lord is really important for us as we gather for a couple of reasons. The Lord has told us that we can bring him a gift, a song. He loves this gift that cannot be expressed in any other way. Come and rejoice over me with singing.

Every day the Holy Spirit is leading you into experiences that will reposition you for thinking like Christ.

You can tell you are living with the mind of Christ when every impossible situation you face looks possible and your response is immediately to invade the situation with the Kingdom of God.