Spiritual

EXPERIENCING GOD

 
Last night as I was googling some words, I stumbled upon the phrase “Experiencing God”. I clicked on it and ended up googling the very phrase, and I came up with over 141,000,000 references. Wow!

It reminded me of our 13 faithful Saturdays of "Experiencing God." I can say I have learned so much about being a true Christian. It has changed my life. I had not realized that God is always at work around me. All I needed to do is to join him in what he is already doing and that He accomplishes it through me.

We started with the four introductory chapters about knowing God’s nature, doing His will, and being a servant. The rest of the chapters in the book expand on the seven “realities” which appear to be so simple yet so profound.

This is the focal point of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. We were reminded throughout the book that we are to be captive to the Word of God and that we are to regulate our relationship to God by its teachings. As I quote, “The Scriptures will be your source of authority for faith and practice. You cannot depend on human traditions, your experience, or the experience of others to be accurate authorities on God’s will and ways. Experience and tradition must always be examined against the teaching of Scripture.”

The seven realities are:
1. God is always at work around you.
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
5. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

It was inculcated in our minds that there is no method or a formula for divining the will of God. “Knowing God’s voice,” as Blackaby wrote, “comes from an intimate love relationship with God.” A vital love relationship with God is vital to knowing His will. He advised that “doing something for God” is not the Christian’s primary task. God desires to have a relationship with His people. He desires for them to know Him intimately and to be joyful in knowing that they have been saved and that they are His children. “Sometimes individuals and churches are so busy doing things they think will help God accomplish His purpose that He can’t get their attention long enough to use them as servants to accomplish what He wants. . . A time will come when the doing will be called for, but we cannot skip the relationship. The relationship with God must come first.”

It was stressed to us that it is always God who takes the initiative in a person’s life. As humans, we are helpless without God. God will make the first step to let us know He exists. “God always takes the initiative to establish a love relationship with you.”

Learning that God created me to have an intimate relationship with Him gave me the self-worth I had been lacking and the emptiness I have been trying to fill up in my life.

Aileen D.
March 2013