A biblical foundation for stewarding God-encounters
What does stewarding God-encounters mean? Stewarding God-encounters is the process of what we do with an encounter with God after we experience it. An encounter with God can be a dream, a vision, a trance, somebody gives you a prophetic word, God highlights something in the scripture for you, God highlights something in another book for you, you hear His whispers in your heart or mind, you hear something in a movie that catches your attention, and the list goes on.
God-encounters come in all shapes and sizes but it is what we do with the encounter after we receive it that qualifies as stewardship. But what do we do? Should we do anything? Wouldn’t it be great if we had some insight and even examples in scripture about these things?
The good news is that we do! Scripture has a lot to share with us about what to do with such experiences. So in order to gain some insight and biblical accountability for this idea, let’s turn to the scriptures now.
An abundance of scripture
There is an abundance of guidance in the scriptures for this topic. In order to stay focused in this article, I’m going to use two sections of Paul’s letter to Timothy. Let’s take a look at these two sections now with a stewardship lens.
“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith”.
1 Timothy 1:18-19 ESV
It is clear in Paul’s words to Timothy that Timothy received prophetic words (a God-encounter for Timothy) prior to Paul writing this letter. When did he receive these prophetic words? We do not know exactly how much time passed between Timothy receiving these prophecies and this letter but we can get pretty close.
Timothy’s history with Paul
At the point of Paul writing this letter to Timothy, about 13-15 years had already passed since Timothy received these prophetic words that Paul was referring to. We understand from Acts 16 that Paul met a disciple named Timothy and wanted Timothy to come with him. This was at the beginning of Paul’s second missionary journey as we call it, and Timothy agreed to go with him. It was around A.D. 49 when Timothy began going with Paul to spread the gospel. Paul likely wrote this letter to Timothy at A.D. 64.
Paul is writing this letter to Timothy as an older man. He knew that it was time to leave his earthly body and for Timothy to step into his identity and purpose at a fuller level than Timothy ever had before. The call of God on Timothy’s life was crystal clear to Paul and he had a high value for Timothy’s personal prophetic words. We don’t know what Timothy’s prophetic words were but we do know that Paul wrote this letter with Timothy’s personal prophetic words in mind.
We also do not know the exact content of the prophecies about Timothy but we do gain a little bit more insight in the next section of scripture I want to share from the same letter.
Timothy’s prophetic encounter
In the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to Timothy, we discover that Paul and Timothy were present in the same prayer meeting that turned prophetic.
“Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”
1 Timothy 4:14-15 ESV
This text is rich with background information. We shouldn’t gloss over what’s happening here. We know that Paul is writing a personal letter to Timothy. Paul reminds Timothy of the prayer meeting they both attended. It was at that prayer meeting that the elders prophesied over Timothy. Timothy received his first prophetic words at that prayer meeting.
If you are part of a prophetic church culture then you have most likely received personal prophetic words. What I want to establish here is that just like you and I receive personal prophetic words, so did Timothy! We have a very clear picture painted for us in how Timothy received personal prophetic ministry. This is important to understand because it makes the bible and the idea of God-encounter stewardship relatable.
We can imagine the prayer meeting Paul mentions was not unlike prayer meetings that we have today. Their prayer meeting turned prophetic. Our prayer meetings often turn prophetic. Paul says that the church leaders laid their hands on Timothy and spoke prophetically to him. This is when Timothy received personal prophetic words and these are the words Paul refers to earlier in this letter in the first chapter (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
In fact, the message translation translates it this way,
“So Timothy, my son, I am entrusting you with this responsibility, in keeping with the very first prophecies that were spoken over your life, and are now in the process of fulfillment in this great work of ministry, in keeping with the prophecies spoken over you.”
1 Timothy 1:18-19
Paul is referring to “the very first prophecies” Timothy received. The Passion Translation makes that clear. No matter what translation you read, if you read in the context of the whole letter to Timothy, it is already clear that Paul is referring to the prophetic words Timothy received at the prophetic prayer meeting (1 Timothy 4:14).
An apostolic anointing
We need to know that when we choose to engage our journey of stewarding personal God-encounters, that we are tapping into an apostolic anointing. Paul was called by God as an apostle of Jesus. That means that as Paul wrote this God-inspired letter to Timothy, everything he told Timothy has his apostolic anointing. So Paul’s command to Timothy is not just a good suggestion but it carries an apostolic strength. That, in turn, means that when Timothy engages his life in alignment to Paul’s command, Timothy will have Paul’s apostolic authority and anointing backing him. And as we, in turn, align ourselves to the prophetic calling, gifts and identity God has given to us, then we too can come under an apostolic backing.
In conclusion, the context of these scriptures alone give us insight into what stewarding a God-encounter is. This is an example of a prophetic word being given but the scriptures all completely full of all types of encounters with God.