We have about 80 adults in our church taking Experiencing God right now. This is the first time for most of those folks. They just completed the week that talks about how God pursues a love realtionship with us. Two concerns tend to surface about this time in the study.
First, how can I be sure that God is speaking to me? The study asks me to write down testimonies of how God has spoken to me and led me in the past, but I'm having a hard time. Is there something wrong with me? As I shared with the group last night, God has spoken to you and still does. Usually the issue is our attentiveness to the voice of God or our ability to know that it is God speaking. We have doubts, not about God, but about our ability to hear and know God's voice. Sometimes we have experiences which we believe were of God but we have a hard time putting it in words. First, keep asking God to reveal Himself to you - to speak to you in such a way that you will know it is God speaking and you will know what He is saying. Then pay attention to what happens next and expect God to speak to you. My second piece of advice is this: write down what happens. Keep a written account of your walk with God. You'll need it down the road when you are struggling and mad at God and you are listening to those voices telling you that you can't hear God, He doesn't speak to you, there must be something wrong with you. Pull out your journal and remind yourself that God has spoken, you did hear it, and God is consistent in revealing Himself to you. Our laziness is no excuse for not keeping an accurate record of our walk with God. That record, that testimony, will be a source of encouragement to ourselves throughout our days and will be part of a spiritual legacy we leave behind for our children. Our children need to hear our stories.
The second question is, "Why isn't my experience with God like Henry's?" As I said last night, many of us choose to live by sight and not by faith, effectively moving us out of God's will and causing us to miss out on the kinds of experiences with God that would fill spiritual journals with amazing stories. We make safe, selfish choices about how to live our lives to keep things controllable and predictable. The Blackabys made different choices, and have great stories to tell. They chose to risk and lose everything to follow God's leadership, they took Him at His word and took reckless steps into the unknown as God led, and they experienced God in amazing ways. Too many of us never have the chance to make those kinds of choices because we are not open to the possibilities. For instance, let's say we had openings for children's Sunday School teachers and we ask people to pray about the possibility that God will lead you to teach. How many actually pray and ask God to show them whether or not they should volunteer? Instead, we often assume that God is not going to call us to do it, so why bother praying about it? After all, I'm too busy, too old, too incompetent, too impatient, etc., so God won't call me to do it. And we're right, God won't ask us to do it because our hearts are too small and self-centered - we are closed to the leading of the Lord. God will call someone else whose heart is open to Him - they will get the work done and they will receive the blessing.
The people in scripture lived extraordinary lives because they abandoned themselves to the reckless, raging fury that is the love of God. It is not safe, it is not easy, it is not comfortable, it is not convenient, it does not make sense, but it is wonderful and miraculous. It is a walk with God, who promises His presence, His protection, and His provision, but it is a life to be lived by faith.
First, how can I be sure that God is speaking to me? The study asks me to write down testimonies of how God has spoken to me and led me in the past, but I'm having a hard time. Is there something wrong with me? As I shared with the group last night, God has spoken to you and still does. Usually the issue is our attentiveness to the voice of God or our ability to know that it is God speaking. We have doubts, not about God, but about our ability to hear and know God's voice. Sometimes we have experiences which we believe were of God but we have a hard time putting it in words. First, keep asking God to reveal Himself to you - to speak to you in such a way that you will know it is God speaking and you will know what He is saying. Then pay attention to what happens next and expect God to speak to you. My second piece of advice is this: write down what happens. Keep a written account of your walk with God. You'll need it down the road when you are struggling and mad at God and you are listening to those voices telling you that you can't hear God, He doesn't speak to you, there must be something wrong with you. Pull out your journal and remind yourself that God has spoken, you did hear it, and God is consistent in revealing Himself to you. Our laziness is no excuse for not keeping an accurate record of our walk with God. That record, that testimony, will be a source of encouragement to ourselves throughout our days and will be part of a spiritual legacy we leave behind for our children. Our children need to hear our stories.
The second question is, "Why isn't my experience with God like Henry's?" As I said last night, many of us choose to live by sight and not by faith, effectively moving us out of God's will and causing us to miss out on the kinds of experiences with God that would fill spiritual journals with amazing stories. We make safe, selfish choices about how to live our lives to keep things controllable and predictable. The Blackabys made different choices, and have great stories to tell. They chose to risk and lose everything to follow God's leadership, they took Him at His word and took reckless steps into the unknown as God led, and they experienced God in amazing ways. Too many of us never have the chance to make those kinds of choices because we are not open to the possibilities. For instance, let's say we had openings for children's Sunday School teachers and we ask people to pray about the possibility that God will lead you to teach. How many actually pray and ask God to show them whether or not they should volunteer? Instead, we often assume that God is not going to call us to do it, so why bother praying about it? After all, I'm too busy, too old, too incompetent, too impatient, etc., so God won't call me to do it. And we're right, God won't ask us to do it because our hearts are too small and self-centered - we are closed to the leading of the Lord. God will call someone else whose heart is open to Him - they will get the work done and they will receive the blessing.
The people in scripture lived extraordinary lives because they abandoned themselves to the reckless, raging fury that is the love of God. It is not safe, it is not easy, it is not comfortable, it is not convenient, it does not make sense, but it is wonderful and miraculous. It is a walk with God, who promises His presence, His protection, and His provision, but it is a life to be lived by faith.
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