How to Encounter God: A Supernatural Experience

I was watching His only Son the other day and got to thinking about Abraham’s encounters with God. Lot’s of people in the Bible had such encounters. So, it made me wonder how people could have an encounter with God today. So, I went exploring.

We can have an encounter with God when we have a spiritual mindset and are having some sort of problem in our lives. People who have had such encounters have a variety of different experiences such as: visions, light, wind, and overwhelming feelings of love or deep emotion. These encounters with God typically result in increased faith, a sense of healing, and improved mental health.

What is an Encounter With God?

An encounter with God is a specific experience in which God acts unexpectedly in our relationship with Him. He might do this to remind us of His love, bring a sense of comfort and peace to our lives, or convict us of our sin.

We can define an experience of God as an understanding of how to relate to God that is based on past encounters with Him.

Say, you have an experience of a close friend or family member. You know what it is like to experience them, to deal with their personality based off of past encounters you’ve had with them. You might even say, “That’s just typical ____ (fill in the blank).”

When we have experiences with God, we can say, “That’s just typical God.” It brings comfort to us because we are familiar with how God relates to us.

However, an encounter with God would be a single instance where we relate to God independently of our past experiences with Him. It brings comfort to us because it deepens our understanding of who God is and how He relates to us.

These encounters may reveal more of who God is, more or His plan, or more of His love to us. They can shed light on news ways of relating to and understanding who He is.

We experience God in familiar ways, but we encounter God in new and exciting ways.

Abraham’s Encounter With God in the Bible

Let’s look at some examples in the Bible to better understand what an encounter with God may look like.

First, let’s look at Abraham. God called Abraham out of the familiar, out of his comfort zone to a new land, filled with hope and promised blessing. We don’t see much of this actual encounter with God, but we do see its results in Genesis 12. Abraham obeyed God.

Where we do see an actual encounter with God is when God makes a covenant with Abraham. Genesis 15:17 describes this encounter. It happened at night, a deep sleep fell over Abraham and,

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.”

Genesis 15:17

This encounter Abraham had with God brought new important information and a new way of relating to God. Abraham learns that God is going to keep His promises that He made long ago. And now Abraham is bound in an intimate working relationship with God in a way that he wasn’t before.

Abraham’s encounter with God happened at night and included feelings of deep emotion, fire, and smoke. Abraham had a previous relationship with God, but was needing God to fulfill His promises and it wasn’t looking like that was going to happen. So, we see that Abraham was in a spiritual mindset and had a problem that God addressed.

Disciples Encounter with God through the Holy Spirit

Now, let’s look at an encounter the disciples had with God in the New Testament. After Jesus ascended into heaven, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2 describes this encounter with God when the Holy Spirit came.

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Acts 2:2-4

Again, we see the elements of fire and wind. I’m sure they also felt strong emotion.

Again, we see that this encounter with God brought something new. The disciples were empowered and filled with the Spirit to do great things for God. They have a new way of relating to God.

Historical Encounters with God

In Augustine’s Confessions he talks about his first encounter with God. He describes how he heard the voice of a child singing a song, “Pick it up and read it. Pick it up and read it.”

At first, he thought that the song was related to some kind of children’s game. Then, realizing that this song might be a command from God to open and read the Scriptures, he located a Bible, picked it up, opened it and read the first passage he saw. 

Augustine’s encounter with God transformed his life. It saved him.

Let’s look at one more historical example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When Dr. King was at a moment of great need he had an encounter with God.

He sat there, his head still bowed in his hands, tears burning his eyes. But then he felt something—a presence, a stirring in himself.

And it seemed that an inner voice was speaking to him with quiet assurance: “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And, lo, I will be with you, even unto the end of the world.”

He saw lightning flash. He heard thunder roar. It was the voice of Jesus telling him still to fight on. And “he promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No, never alone, No, never alone. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone . . .”

Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., 85

Dr. King’s encounter with God renewed his strength. It was filled with a deep feeling, light, thunder, and a new understanding, a deeper understanding of who God is and His faithfulness to His promises.

Modern Encounters with God

Encounters with God still happen today. People who claim to have encounters with God today, interestingly, experience similar things to those both in Bible times and in history. Here are some things that people say they experience when they encounter God today:

• A deep surreal feeling
• A wind inside them
• A clear and powerful memory
• A fire or oil pouring down the head
• A glimmer of white light
• etc.

Some people even say they experience nothing at all. Often these experiences seem to happen at a time of great need in one’s life.

A study was done back in 2006 that looked at experiences of spiritual transformation in America. An initial analysis of the data is presented in Tom W. Smith, “The National Spiritual Transformation Study,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45 (2006), 283-296. The case-level data from the NSTS is available from the GSS from www.gss.norc.org.

This study determined that spiritual change, that is an encounter with God, most frequently occurred when two things were a factor:

• there was religious participation
• there was a personal problem

A newer study in 2016 looked at people who had a “subjective God encounter” experience. These researchers compared and contrasted spontaneous religious experiences with drug-induced religious experiences.

The John Hopkins researchers found that the majority of people who had a “subjective God encounter” had lasting positive changes in their psychological health. Also, interesting to note is that the researchers found that more than two-thirds of self identified atheists shed that label after their encounter.

Now, both of these studies are not Christian focused or based. But they do reflect the results and reality of encounters with God found in the Bible. Specifically, the idea that encounters with God often came at a time of personal need and resulted in improved well-being.

How to Have a Supernatural Encounter with God

So, how can we have a supernatural true encounter with God? I don’t believe it is something we can force. But it is something we can recognize when it occurs.

True encounters with God can resemble encounters people had with God in the Bible. They may come at times of great personal need or after times of intense prayer, etc.

These encounters with God will result in a deeper understanding of who God is and what He is like, like we saw in Abraham’s encounter with God.

These encounters can, also, provide increased faith, encouragement, and empowerment for a specific task, as we saw with the disciples at Pentecost. We see all of this in the Bible, encounter after encounter.

People encounter God and their knowledge of Him grows. And not only their knowledge, but also their relationship.

As Christians, when we immerse ourselves in the study of God’s word, spend time in prayer, and fellowship with other believers, we will find ourselves in places where we can encounter God.

This especially true of Bible study. So, check out these Bible study methods that will help you learn to experience the Bible in a way that you encounter God.

We encountered God the moment we turned to Him for our salvation. More encounters with God are on the way. You’ll experience the deep love God, His patience, His forgiveness, His holiness, and so much more as your relationship with Him continues to grow.