You cannot have an encounter with God and not be changed

I thought I knew what it was to be a Christian, I thought I knew what the bible said, I thought my sinners prayer when I was small saved me, I thought all Christians were hypocrites, I thought that God was all loving and all forgiving, I thought I was going to heaven.....I was wrong! So very very wrong!
Then I had an encounter with the "Living God!"
I'd like to tell you about someone else that had an encounter with the "Living God" his name was Isaiah...

Isaiah 6:1-8

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:

“ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:


“ Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:


“ Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:


“ Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isaiah was Changed! He saw the Lord,...God IS Goodness, He IS Love, He IS Unique, He IS Separate , Our CREATOR, Our Maker, Our Sovereign Lord.

Isaiah saw his own depravity before a just and holy God. We can no more stand before God and proclaim our goodness than a wax candle can stand before a blast furnace and maintain its structural integrity.

We have broken every one of God's laws. He gave us those laws as a mirror to show us we have no goodness, we are born depraved, children of disobedience, monsters of iniquity , we do nothing but sin and love it, we drink down iniquity like water.

Isaiah said "Woe is me...I am undone!"
Isaiah was undone, wrecked, ruined, unclean, unworthy, cursed, he could not justify himself before God! He felt filthy before Him!

There are other accounts in the bible of men having encounters with God and they (fell down as dead, pronounced curses on themselves, did not want to be in His presence because they felt the stain of there iniquity, told the Lord they were not worthy,etc...)
All those men humbled themselves before a righteous and holy God.

Isaiah humbled himself before the Great and Almighty God and God took away Isaiah's sin.

He was CHANGED! renewed, re-made, re-born, converted, regenerated. His sin was purged, he was cleansed. Isaiah was re-created.

That's what should happen to us when we are saved. We become a new creation, old thing have passed away, behold all things have become new. Our desires change, our habits change, our focus changes off the things of this world and onto the things of God. We desire His word, we desire to spend time with Him in prayer, we desire to do His will. That is regeneration.


The Lord then asks “ Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”
and what does Isaiah say? ....“Here am I! Send me.”

We too WANT to say "Here am I! Send me."

If these things have not taken place in your life, If your counting on the sinners prayer that you prayed years ago to save you, if you go to church because you feel you have to, if you read your bible because that's what is expected, if you give to charity or do good deeds to try and balance the sin in your life, if you see yourself as a good person....then you need to examine yourself in the light of God's Word to see if you are in the faith.

You cannot have an encounter with the Living God and Not be changed!