“The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name. (John 20:30-31 NLT)
What does it mean to experience ANYTHING? “I went to the amusement park and had a great experience.” Or “I had a date, and it was an experience that changed my life.” Or “Someone took me to a malt shop, and I experienced the best flavor ever!” What do all of these and every other experience you’ve ever had have in common? YOU WERE THERE! YOU were present and interacting in and through the whole experience. If you weren’t there you couldn’t have had the experience.
Why does that even matter? Because you can’t “EXPERIENCE” God without being conscious of His presence with you. “Yeh, but isn’t God everywhere?” Yes, of course He is, But God can be present with us without us being present with Him. Because I have an electric outlet and a cord to charge my phone doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll charge my phone unless and until I plug the cord into the outlet.
Churches are full of people believing they’re walking with Jesus, but who never have a conversation with Him, read His Word (one of many ways He speaks to us), or set aside specific time to learn how to know He’s real, with them, and constantly speaking to them. Does God have an audible voice? Yes, of course He does, but His most effective conversations with us are non-verbal.
In John 20, just a few verses before the ones above, Jesus said to Thomas after offering him the opportunity to touch the wounds in His side and hands: “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me.” Today it takes faith to “see” Jesus, but it also takes faith to hear Him.
The Psalmist wrote that the heavens themselves declare or give visibility to the God of heaven. We don’t see God because we’re not looking for Him, and the same is true regarding hearing Him. You can’t experience God without knowing He exists and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. I was five when I had my first experience with God.
The sermon escaped me, I don’t remember a single word, but when the preacher gave the invitation everything in me wanted to go forward, but it’s like I was frozen in place. I was standing on the pew without any knowledge of God, Church, or virtually anything of spiritual value, but in those brief moments I experienced God. The second time, I was a bit older and in a different church, but God came to life to me when I heard my Poppa John pray. I didn’t know why or what it meant, but God was using those “experiences” to prepare my heart to receive Him when I was a teen.
You may have said a prayer many years ago and you’ve been “walking with Jesus” all these years, but you’re still not “hearing His voice” except through the written word or someone else’s words. And hear my heart, that was me for the most part until recent years.
But now I can’t get past John 10:27: “My sheep listen to My voice.” Why would the Lord say that if we can’t “hear” Him? I’m reading a book entitled “Experiencing God” by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King. Please read this book, then get the workbook and begin working your way through it.
There’s more I want to say about what God’s doing in my life now, but I had to tell you about the book. And by the way, God started working in and through me, as I suspect He has in you, many years ago, but I wasn’t able to see or hear Him nearly as clearly as I can now that I’m reading Blackaby’s book.
Let’s look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 