My wife and I relocated to eastern Washington state five years ago. We believed that God was calling us to an entirely new location after spending nearly ten years living in Portland, Oregon, where my wife was born and raised.
We didn’t understand God was bringing us really deep healing until we were here. There would undoubtedly be some highly challenging circumstances for us, but our lives required significant work.
Learning how to experience Jesus was one of those works.
Up until this time, the majority of my religion had been fundamental. There are numerous lessons to be learned concerning the Holy Spirit, God, and Jesus. But everything had gotten boring.
We saw a new dimension to our faith after my wife, and I experienced a move by God that caused us to move. I discovered that I felt cut off from Jesus at this new level.
A Word about Feeling Far From God
I discovered something significant about my faith early on, but until this stage of my life, I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.
I recall learning in that first lesson that our feelings of separation from God were more about us than they were about him.
He wants to be in a relationship with us. Therefore, if there is a gap, it is frequently the result of internal conflict.
“If God feels distant from you, he isn’t. He is just calling your deeper.”
Steven Furtick, Elevation Church
The distance I am experiencing is a challenge for me to go deeper with God, as I have often discovered. When my wife and I relocated, such was the situation.
The distance was more on my end, in my heart, because God was calling us into more profound things. Although I wasn’t actively resisting what God was calling me to, I also wasn’t pursuing it.
What it’s like to have Coffee with Jesus
I had a couple of meetings with a pastor after we had moved. Although it seemed like a fortuitous encounter, it was a divine encounter.
We would talk about various subjects throughout our time together, including marriage, fatherhood, and our faith. I eventually admitted that I didn’t feel close to God.
He related a similar account of what transpired in his case. He couldn’t find any pastoral posts when he and his wife moved to the area.
He had the impression that his ministry was losing steam. However, he began a routine that would transform his life.
In a very concrete way, he began welcoming Jesus into his morning devotions. I began the practice after he explained what that looked like to me.
I love having Coffee with Jesus.
HE ENCOURAGED ME TO BREW TWO CUPS OF COFFEE when I woke up to have my morning quiet time. For me, it would be the first cup. For Jesus, there was a second cup.
He instructed me to take the additional cup and sit down wherever I would spend my quiet time. Then, after becoming comfortable as Jesus, invite yourself over for coffee.
I carried out these directions and began to watch for Jesus.
Then, about a week after I began, I sensed God’s presence enter the space one morning. This is a great feeling I’m expressing.
Essentially, it feels like goosebumps that won’t go away and flicker like fireplace flames. As soon as I felt this sensation, I turned to where I had set the coffee cup.
When Jesus shows up, something amazing happens.
Jesus didn’t show up physically, but I could feel his presence, and it was as if he was there. And I heard him say:
“I am with you. Right here. Right now. Whatever you need, however you are feeling, share your burden with me.”
Over the next hour, I poured out my soul before Jesus. And what I heard him say brought healing, peace, and comfort that has changed my life.
You can have Coffee with Jesus and Experience Him
I kept up the routine for the next 30 days and had more meetings with Jesus that were similar to this one. The encounters I had helped me escape the gloom and dismay I had been experiencing for such a long time.
Most importantly, it allowed me to enter that space with Jesus anytime. The mercy I experience in these circumstances extends to everyone, not just me.
I explain this approach to everyone who confides in me that they experience a sense of separation from God. It may seem foolish to invite Jesus for coffee, but the real purpose is to turn our hearts toward him.
When you do something in the physical, the spiritual will follow.
The spiritual realm sometimes follows a physical action we take in obedience. That is what took place in this case. I set my heart in a position to see and encounter Jesus, and He appeared.
Not that he is not present. But unlike before, I could now welcome him into my environment. I needed a spiritual experience provided by my physical compliance in allowing him within.
Numerous situations call for this. Sometimes, it seems as though God is urging us to take bodily action. Perhaps it is to give more, to engage in conversation with the homeless guy on the corner, or to hug someone.
Something in the spiritual world occurs when we respond to these demands on our hearts, benefitting us and those around us.
I want to leave you with this…
To let Jesus into your area today, I want to encourage you. Invite him to join you on a walk outside or ask him for a coffee. I want to encourage you to meet with him right now, wherever there is a place where it may be just the two of you.
Then repeat it tomorrow. Likewise, the following day and the day after that. Sting together for 30 days and monitor the results. I promise it will alter your life and your encounter with Jesus.
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and helping writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!
Check out his bible study devotional on Proverbs, the Gospel of John, and the Gospel of Matthew!
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