Six years ago I began going to pray at a house of prayer every day . I knew it would be a challenge for me in the beginning, but I also knew that God was calling me to come. During this time at the house of prayer I learned about encounter. At first, when I had this vision of Jesus, I didn’t know how to handle myself. It terrified me. I had this vision of a hole in what I assumed was a wall, and I was walking through darkness to this hole to see what was in it. At first it was a hole only about the size of a soft ball but grew larger as I got up close to it. By the time I was looking in it it was about the size of my face. I looked through this hole to what seemed like another world. It was a lush garden with trees of all kinds and under one tree nearby was a man sitting there looking at me with a smile. Suddenly, the hole grew larger. It was large enough where I could lift myself up and crawl through if I want to. I journeyed into this same vision a couple of times before I got up enough courage to try crawling through the it. I felt a tug at my heart as if this man’s heart was pulling me in. One time I actually got my leg inside but then chickened out at the last minute. The look on the man’s face was that of a patient amusement. I later described this vision to a friend of mine and she was so excited she said, “Wow, go! What are you waiting for!” It’s funny thinking back on it for some reason I seemed to need permission. The next time I went into this vision during my time at the prayer room, I took the leap and went all the way in. I just stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do with myself. The man looked at me and held his hand out for me to join him under his apple tree. This is where I went every day for six months to talk with Jesus about life, and to ask questions in which he revealed so much to me. I had been a Christian for about 20 years but never had I known Jesus as my friend, more real to me now than ever; to be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t know that I could have access to Him like this. It was like I was born again, again.
If you are reading this and begin to feel that tug at your heart to go into that place with Jesus I just want to say, go! Yes, you have permission!
Allow God’s spirit to lead you to your own personal experience with Jesus.