Reencounter with Jesus

Copyright © 2016 Roberto Hernandez.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Originally published 2011

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Names and details of some stories have been changed in order to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 (866) 928-1240

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4668-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4669-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4670-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910103

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/30/2016

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1:    Reencounter With Jesus

Chapter 2:    Do You Believe?

Chapter 3:    The Love Of God

Chapter 4:    Forgiveness

Chapter 5:    What Life With Christ Is All About

Chapter 6:    How Do You Know Him?

Chapter 7:    When You Know Jesus

Chapter 8:    Abiding In Him

Chapter 9:    There Is No Other Way

Chapter 10:    In His Own Image

Chapter 11:    Betraying Jesus

Chapter 12:    The Promises

Epilogue: Prayer of Faith

I have known Roberto Hernandez for four years, and His heart truly seeks God’s calling daily. Reencounter with Jesus is an inspiring book that challenges each of us not only to know about God, but also to know Him personally. Pure hearts, pure minds, and a pure life are the three cords woven throughout the well-written book. Rob’s book is life application and will challenge you to go beyond religion and develop a true relationship with the Lord.

— Rick D. Johnson, PhD

Lead Pastor, New Life Church Atlanta

This book helps you to capture the moments of when Jesus is working in your life. Roberto helps us to see when this happens and gives the readers the vision to have a personal relationship with God.

— Robert Sanicola

Mentor, Speaker, CEO of Sanicola International Inc.

In his God-inspired book, Roberto Hernandez gives an honest, biblical, and realistic perspective [accompanied by] an abundance of personal stories. One of his strongest points is that when we get introduced to Jesus, it’s a great moment in time, but it isn’t until we have a re-encounter with Jesus that our lives truly change. … I enjoyed this read. I believe this second edition will be enjoyed by thousands, if not millions more.

— Justin C. Hart

Author/Coach

Also by Roberto Hernandez

Take Your Sandals Off: A Daily Walk in His Presence

One Flesh: The Secret to a Blessed Marriage

El Secreto De Una Sola Carne

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T o God, thank You for loving me unconditionally; to Jesus, thank You for accepting me and allowing me to have a personal and intimate relationship with You; and to the Holy Spirit, thank You for Your guidance, inspiration, and revelation in writing this book. I could not have done it without You.

The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him. — Genesis 2:18 (NLT)

To my gorgeous wife, Gloria, I thank the Lord for making you my helper. From the very beginning, I knew you were my gift from God. Thank you for being my completer, my supporter, my best friend, my lover, my wife.

To my little princess, Krystin, you are my joy and treasure from above. I am so proud of your strong faith in the Lord and the way you love Him and praise Him at such a young age. May God continue to bless you and keep you.

To my mom and dad, I thank you for leading me in the ways of the Lord at an early age.

To my awesome brother Jorge, my sister Lucia, their spouses, and all my nephews, I thank you for being strong in the Lord, serving God faithfully, and being an example to others.

To all of my extended family, my friends, and all of the leaders and pastors with whom I have come in contact over the years—and everyone to whom God has led me and all to whom He will yet lead me—thank you for your friendship and support. You are God’s creation. God loves you all, and because He loves you, I love you, too.

1

REENCOUNTER WITH JESUS

If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face. — Numbers 12:6–8

R eencounter with Jesus is about having the opportunity to meet Jesus face to face and to develop a close, personal, and intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We all know that in the beginning, after all the rest of creation was completed, God made man in His own image and gave him dominion over all the creatures of the sea, earth, and air. However, the first man, Adam, fell short and sinned against our Creator. Because of his disobedience, we lost it all after having it all. To this day, every time we disobey God, we punish ourselves.

Before Adam sinned, the Lord God warned him, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:16-17). Because of the first man’s disobedience, all blessing was stripped from us, and the earth was cursed. As God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:17, Cursed is the ground because of you.

After their sin, God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, sending Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. God had made man in His own image to live with Him forever, but after Adam and Eve’s disobedience, He said that all men must die (Genesis 3:19).

He came up with a plan to send His Son to deliver us from all sin and make us new creations spiritually. Through the greatest gift—redemption through His Son—we could enjoy what He had originally planned for us. We could live the way He intended for us to live from the beginning: eternally in His presence. God so loved the world that He sent His own Son to deliver us from our bondages, our transgressions and our sins.

As you are beginning this book, you might ask, "Why reencounter and not encounter?" Here is one definition of encounter according to Webster’s Dictionary: to come against face-to-face; to meet; to confront, either by chance, suddenly, or deliberately. You see, we encounter Jesus as soon as we come to a place of worship or when someone shares His gospel with us. When we come to know Jesus for the first time, we sense His presence; that is, we encounter Him. We begin drawing closer and closer to Him, learning about Him, rejoicing in Him, and walking with Him. But that is not the same as completely surrendering to Him. Many times we think we are walking with Him in total obedience and submission, but all we are doing is trying to do the things He has commanded us to do. We are merely trying, not doing.

We have all had an encounter with Jesus, but not all of us have developed a strong belief and faith system. Yes, we can feel Him, but we do not distinguish Him because we have not yet met Him face to face in the Spirit. The Bible says that no one has seen God’s face, yet many saw Jesus when He came from heaven to the earth by the work of the Holy Spirit through Mary. At that time, many were privileged to see God in the flesh in the form of Jesus. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven, He sent us His helper, the Holy Spirit. Today when we encounter the Lord, we encounter Him through His Spirit.

Many times when we feel God’s presence, we do not believe or are not sure of what we have experienced, so we deviate from His ways. We don’t grow in Him, and we live our way rather than His. We do what others are doing, and as a result, we sin. If it seems that nothing bad happens, we commit the sin again and again. But the Spirit of the Lord lives within us, and when we sin, He will tell us. We will be prompted by His Spirit. We will feel something funny inside, like butterflies in our stomachs. However, we will not recognize it as coming from God if we have not developed knowledge of Him and how He operates in the Spirit. Instead, we will only keep building sin upon sin upon sin. You will read more of this in future chapters.

But when you make a decision to live according to God’s commandments, when you take up your cross and deny yourself, when you leave everything behind and surrender completely to Jesus and when you seek Him and meditate on His Word day and night, you are laying down a stepping stone to having a reencounter with Him. And once you have a reencounter with Jesus, everything changes because God reveals Himself to you. You meet Him face to face and thus come to know Him.

When that happens, your faith in Him is one-hundred percent. Now you know that God is real—that He is there and always has been. He has opened your eyes to understand His Scriptures, His mysteries, and all His wonders. You are now walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh. He leads all your steps, and He communicates with you through His written Word and through other people. He takes you places to learn what He wants you to learn. Whenever you do something that is not in agreement with His will, He convicts you; and whatever does not align with His will, He will take away from you.

When you walk with God, He leads you through revelations, dreams, and other people. The anointing of the Lord is with you so that you may glorify the Father. It is written, But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him (1 John 2:27). Jesus said, For a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 12:33) and you are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). These statements means that wherever you go and whatever you do, you will do His will and glorify Him.

As a child of God, you cannot say one thing and act another way. You must be the same person everywhere you go, and you should glow in Him.

Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. — 1 John 3:6–9

In this world, you will experience temptation, and evil thoughts will indeed come your way; but because you abide in Him and because He lives in you and through you, He will protect you and warn you so you will not fall in the day of temptation. You will not fall, for you have become strong in the Lord. When you live in the Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord in you will take dominion and protect you from all evil.

Old Testament Encounters with God

Throughout the Bible there are many examples of people who lived righteously in obedience to God and had a reencounter with Him. Let’s take a look at a few of them

Noah

In the time of Noah, the people of the earth had turned their backs on God. They were disobedient to Him; they corrupted the land, and much violence reigned. When God saw the condition of mankind, He was sorry that He had ever made man. He was ready to destroy all creation. But Noah was a man who knew God and lived for Him—a man who loved, obeyed, and praised God: Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9).

Because of Noah’s pure heart and righteous living, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God told Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth (Genesis 6:13). Because of Noah’s righteous living, God communicated with him about the things to come; because Noah walked with God, he and his family were saved; and because of righteous Noah, we too were given a chance to live.

Enoch

There was also a man named Enoch, another righteous man in the Bible. Not much is written about him, but he was faithful to his maker and was righteous in the sight of the Lord. When it came time for him to die, God miraculously took him to heaven with Him: Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him (Genesis 5:21–24).

Abraham

Abraham was a great servant of the Lord, but before he had a reencounter with God, he deviated a bit from God’s standard. Let’s take a look:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. — Genesis 17:1–7

From this passage and from the rest of Genesis chapter 17, we clearly see that Abraham had an encounter with God. Why do I say that? Well, he went to his wife, Sarah, and told her what God had communicated and promised. However, when he told her how numerous their descendants were going to be, she did not believe him. Actually, Abraham did not believe, either. Both he and Sarah wondered, How can we have descendants, when we do not have any children and are now old?

At this time, Abraham was ninety years old, and Sarah was eighty years old and barren. Knowing she could not bear a child, Sarah came up with the bright idea of having her husband sleep with her maidservant in order to conceive a baby. When the baby was born, she said, they would both raise him as their son. The little boy would be Abraham’s flesh, and then God’s promise could come true. Without careful consideration of his wife’s suggestion, Abraham ate of the fruit she gave him and committed adultery. He had a baby outside of his marriage.

To this point, all Abraham had experienced was an encounter with God. Because he had not yet seen God but had only heard His voice, he fell into sin and disobeyed God. However, once he had a reencounter with God, he believed one-hundred percent.

Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant. They said, Do as you have said. — Genesis 18:1–5

This passage paints a clear picture of Abraham’s reencounter with God. As we can see in this picture, there were three other men present. Could it be that Abraham reencountered the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Abraham, able to see the LORD, ran to greet Him. He asked to wash the men’s feet and offered them food to eat to refresh their hearts. Of course, God did not need food, water, or rest, but I think God agreed in order to show Abraham that He was real and all-powerful.

Let’s take a look at what happened next:

So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes. And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. — Genesis 18:6–8

No matter how great or small your sin, you can learn from it and grow in God. Just remember that He uses the simple to lead the strong and that He came for sinners, not the well. All you need to do is repent and ask for forgiveness. When God has given you a dream and made you for a purpose, He will manifest Himself to you, lead you, and give you all the resources you need to do His will. Abraham was ninety-nine years old and his wife was ninety when she gave birth to their own son, Isaac. Who would have thought that a couple that age could have a child? But with God, all things are possible.

After his reencounter with God, Abraham did all that God asked of him. When God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, he did not question God. He did not even consult with his wife on the matter because he did not need to ask for anyone’s opinion. Abraham had developed trust and faith in God, and that was all he needed. He had learned to trust the Lord for everything in his life. After that, all things changed.

When you know God in a personal way, like Abraham did, God will communicate with you and reveal things to come. God communicated with