Experiencing God -- last chapters

I finally finished this book yesterday! It's not that it was so boring that it took weeks to read. Rather lots of good stuff was presented and I felt I really need to read it slowly to "absorb" it all. Now I need to review my notes because I seem to forget stuff so easily! I am glad I took notes on every chapter in this book and recorded those here. A short summary of this book would not have been good enough. Now I will record my notes on those final 3 chapters.

Chapter 17 -- Joining God Requires Major Adjustments

"When God speaks to you, revealing what He is about to do, the revelation is your invitation to adjust your life to Him. Once you have adjusted your life to Him, His purposes, and His ways, you are in a position to obey. Adjustments prepare you for obedience. You cannot continue life as usual or stay where you are, and go with God at the same time." (pg. 147)

The author gives a few Scriptural examples such as Noah not being able to go about his usual activities while building the ark, David having to leave his sheep to become king, Abram being unable to stay in his homeland in order to father a nation in Canaan and the apostles having to leave their vocations (fishing, tax collecting) in order to follow Jesus.

"Enormous changes had to be made! Some had to leave family and country. Others had to drop prejudices [Jonah] and change preferences. Others had to leave behind life goals, ideals and desires. Everything had to be yielded to God and the entire life adjusted to Him." (pg. 148) Even Jesus adjusted His life in order to accomplish God's work. He left the splendor of Heaven and took on the form of a human in order to die for our sins!

The rich young ruler wanted eternal life, but he refused to adjust. He loved money more than he loved God. "Many people may face some of the same struggle today. Prosperity and the love of the things of the world may tempt you to refuse to adjust you life to God. The love for money and things can become a substitute for a love relationship with God." (pg. 149)

The author said God can require adjustments in many ways including circumstances, relationships, thinking, commitments, actions and beliefs.

Keep in mind these things concerning adjustments:

1. Absolute surrender -- God wants to be Lord of your life

2. Total dependence on God -- "The adjustment requires moving from doing work for God according to your abilities, your gifts, your likes and dislikes, and your goals to being totally dependent on God and His working and His resources." (pg. 151) See Scripture to see how we are dependent on God -- John 15:5, I Cor. 5:10, Gal. 2:20, Isa. 14:24, Isa. 41:10, Isa. 46:9-11.

3. Waiting on the Lord --"You may think of waiting as passive, inactive time. Waiting on the Lord is anything but inactive. While you wait on Him, you will be praying with a passion to know Him, His purposes, and His ways. You will be watching circumstances and asking God to interpret them by revealing to you His perspective. You will be sharing with other believers to find out what God is saying to them. As you wait on the Lord, you will be very active in asking, seeking and knocking . . . While you wait, continue doing the last thing God told you to do. In waiting you are shifting the responsibility of the outcome to God -- where it belongs. . . . Waiting on Him is always worth the wait. His timing and His ways are always right. You must depend on Him to guide you in His way and His timing to accomplish His purpose." (pg. 152)


Chapter 18 -- Joining God Requires Obedience

According to the author, what you do is your "moment of truth" re: obedience. What you do will:

1. Reveal what you believe about Him.
2. Determine whether you will experience His mighty work in you and through you.
3. Determine whether you will come to know Him more intimately. (pg. 157)

The author discusses the importance and cost of obedience. He told how our obedience is often costly to us and those around us. Also our obedience often leads to opposition and misunderstandings. One example given was when Jesus was crucified His mother's heart was broken. I suppose even if she knew He would rise again and this was what His purpose was ... STILL! Who likes to see her child suffer the way Jesus did for us?

There are adjustments we need to make in prayer. Following a God-centered approach to prayer "would be to let God lead you to pray according to His will ... Believe that what He has led you to pray, He Himself will bring to pass. Then continue praying in faith and watching for it to come to pass." (pg. 162)

The author reminds us that while God often does give second chances, disobedience is costly. A couple of examples: David's sin cost the life of his infant son while Jonah's disobedience nearly cost him his life!

Chapter 19 -- God Accomplishes His Work

Oftentimes we want a sign from God before we do something, but the author shows us from Exodus 3:12 that "God's affirmation that He had sent Moses was going to come after Moses obeyed, not before." (pg. 166)

What? You mean we have to do something by faith!! (Okay, that was just me talking...I like signs to come before! :-) )

The author discusses what to do if it seems a door closes. "When you begin to follow and circumstances seem to close doors of opportunity, go back to the Lord and clarify what God said. Better yet, always try to make sure on the front end of a sense of call exactly what God is saying. He most often is not calling you to a task only, but to a relationship." (pg. 168)

What he said to someone who thought the door closed: "Then I said, 'Keep that sense of call in place. Because one door closed, don't assume that the assignment is over. Watch to see how the God who called you is going to implement what He said. When God speaks a word of direction, He will bring it to pass. Be very careful that you do not let circumstances cancel what God said.'" (pg. 168)


And with that, I conclude my notes, but definitely not my thoughts! Wow! I have so much to consider from what I've read and learned in this book. I am so thankful I "crossed paths" with this book and was lead to read it. I was reluctant when I saw Andrew had brought it from his parents' house, but then decided, "Eh, why not read it?" I'm glad I did!

Now I will go rest my weary wrists from typing all this. I think a walk and talk with God is in order.

Experiencing God -- chapter 16

God's Invitation Leads to a Crisis of Belief

"Faith is confidence that what God promised or said will come to pass. Sight is an opposite of faith. If you can see clearly how something can be accomplished, more than likely faith is not required." (pg. 135)

When God lets you know what He wants to do through you, it will be something only God can do. What you believe about Him will determine what you do. If you have faith in the God who called you, you will obey Him; and He will bring to pass what He has purposed to do. If you lack faith, you will not do what He wants. This is disobedience.

Jesus questioned those around Him, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Jesus frequently rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith and unbelief. Their unbelief revealed that they really had not come to know who He was. Thus, they did not know what He could do. (pg. 136)

In the Bible you will see how God asked people to do something in faith. The task was always bigger than they were. HIS presence was required. When we are given a task by God, but then think "Oh, I can't do that. It's impossible," then we are limiting what GOD can do through us. When God speaks, He reveals what He wants to do through us. We aren't supposed to see if our talents and abilities match the assignment. He works in and through us to accomplish His purposes. Don't be self-centered. Be God-centered. "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God, all things are possible" (Mark 10:27).

Sometimes people say that God won't give them an assignment that they cannot do. The author points out that if he senses God is giving him an assignment that he probably can handle, then that assignment probably is not from God. In the Bible, God always gave God-sized assignments. "They are always beyond what people can do because He wants to demonstrate His nature, His strength, His provision, and His kindness to His people and a watching world." (pg. 138)

God wants people to know Him and when He works through us, He wants people to see Himself. If all people see is what I can do then they won't see God. This is why God often gives tasks that only He can do through us. He wants to reveal Himself to a watching world. If the world sees us and sees only a dedicated group of people serving God, we are not attempting anything that only God can do.

True faith requires action!

The disciples were caught in the middle of a storm on the sea. Jesus rebuked them, not for their human tendency to fear, but for their failure to recognize His presence, protection and power (Matthew 8:23-27). In this case their actions revealed their unbelief rather than their faith. When the storms of life overtake us like this storm overtook the disciples, we often respond as if God does not exist or does not care.

When a centurion sought Jesus' help to heal his servant, he said, "Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed (Matt. 8:8). Jesus commended the centurion's faith in His authority and power, and He healed the servant because of the faith of his master (Matt. 8:5-13).

In each of these biblical examples, what the people did indicated to Jesus what kind of faith they had or did not have. What you do, rather than what you say you believe, reveals what you really believe about God. (pgs. 143,144).

Great chapter! Reminds me to chase those lions!

Experiencing God -- chapters 12-15

These chapters were fantastic! I jotted down many things I simply wanted to quote from the book. GREAT stuff!


Chapter 12 - God Speaks Through the Bible

Some thoughts that stood out to me:

"A person cannot understand spiritual truth unless the Spirit of God reveals it. In fact the Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17). When you come to understand the spiritual meaning and application of a Scripture passage, God's Spirit has been at work. . . . When God speaks to you through the Bible, He is relating to you in a personal and real way." (pg. 103)

"The Spirit of God knows the mind of God. He knows what God is ready to do in my life. The Spirit of God then begins to open my understanding about God and His purposes and His ways." (pg. 104) -- This happens through reading the Scriptures. When the Spirit reveals truth to you, adjust yourself to God's revelation and obey. Also watch to see how God may use that revealed truth in your life during the day.

Chapter 13 - God Speaks Through Prayer

"The Holy Spirit reveals truth. Truth is not just some concept to be studied. Truth is a Person. Jesus did not say, "I will teach you the truth." He said, 'I am . . . the truth' (John 14:6). . . . [The Holy Spirit] is leading you into a relationship with a Person. He is your life! When God gives you eternal life, He gives you a Person. When you became a Christian, Jesus didn't give you some thing; He gave you Himself." (pg. 109)

"Prayer is two-way fellowship and communication with God. You speak to God and He speaks to you. It is not a one-way conversation. ... Prayer includes listening as well. In fact, what God says in prayer is far more important than what you say. Prayer is a relationship, not just a religious activity. Prayer is designed more to adjust you to God than to adjust God to you." (pg. 109)

"You have to decide whether you are going to do what you want and ask God to bless it, or go to work where He is working." (pg. 113)

Spiritual concentration -- "Our problem is that we pray and then never relate anything that happens to our praying. After you pray, the single greatest thing you need to do is turn on your spiritual concentration. When you pray in a direction, immediately anticipate the activity of God in answer to your prayer. I find this all the way through Scripture; when God's people prayed, He responded. Here's what happens if you pray and then forget about what you have prayed. Things start to happen during the day that are not normal for your day. You see them all as distractions and try to get rid of them. You fail to connect them with what you have just prayed." (pg. 113) Pray and immediately watch for God to work. Prepare to make adjustments to what God brings into my life.

Silences of God -- "Sometimes God is silent as He prepares to bring you into a deeper understanding of Himself. Whenever a silence comes, continue doing the last thing God told you and watch and wait for a fresh encounter with Him." (pg. 115)

Chapter 14 - God Speaks Through Circumstances

The author uses this summary of how to respond when we face difficult or confusing circumstances:

• Settle in your own mind that God has forever demonstrated His absolute love for you on the cross. That love will never change.
• Do not try to understand what God is like from the middle of your circumstances.
• Go to God and ask Him to help you see His perspective on your situation.
• Wait on the Holy Spirit. He may take the Word of God and help you understand your circumstances.
• Adjust your life to God and what you see Him doing in your circumstances.
• Do all He tells you to do.
• Experience God working in and through you to accomplish His purposes.

"Remember God is sovereign. You may face a situation like Job experienced where God does not tell you what He is doing. In those instances acknowledge God's love and sovereignty and depend on His sustaining grace to see you through the situation." (pg. 121)

"The most difficult part of your relationship to God is being God-centered. If you were to record a whole day in your life you might find that your prayers, your attitudes, your thoughts, everything about that day is radically self-centered. You may not be seeing things from God's perspective. You may try to explain to God what your perspective is. When He becomes the Lord of your life, He alone has the right to be:

• the Focus in your life
• the Initiator of your life
• the Director of your life.

That is what is means for Him to be Lord." (pg. 122)

Remember that Truth is a Person! "You never know the truth of any situation until you have heard from Jesus." (pg. 123)


Chapter 15 - God Speaks Through the Church

We are interdependent on fellow believers just as the head, ears and feet are interdependent on each other in the physical body. "All the members of the body belong to each other, and they need each other. You can and should depend on God to speak through other believers and the church to help you know what assignment you are to carry out in the ministry of the kingdom." (pg. 132)

By sharing what God is doing in our lives, we may help others encounter God in meaningful ways. I can vouch for that. God often speaks to me through Christian authors, publications and friends. That has happened to me a couple times this week while reading things others have written. One was from my friend, Leslie, about moving forward with faith and the other was from a Charles Stanley magazine where an author wrote about sins of omission. He challenged us to "chase the lion," and what a needed lesson that was to me and Andrew both this week! (We liked this guy's challenge so much, we ordered the book. :-) )

Interesting thing from this chapter: "One of the problems evangelical churches face today is that they have so emphasized the doctrine of the priesthood of believers they have lost their sense of corporate identity. . . . Christians think they stand alone before God and that they are not accountable to anyone else, including the church." (pg. 129) Hmmmm.

Experiencing God -- chapters 10 & 11

Chapter 10 -- God Speaks to His People

I will quote from the summary the author provides at that chapter's end.

God has always been speaking to His people. Today, He speaks by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will use the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and other believers to speak to you. The method, however, is not the key to knowing God's voice. You learn to know the voice of God through an intimate love relationship that He has initiated. God may choose to speak to you in a way that is unique to you. You can be assured, though, that He will be able to convince you that you have heard a word from Him.

When God speaks to you, He will do so with a purpose. When He speaks is God's timing for you to begin adjusting your life and your thinking to Him. He will be working in you to develop your character for the assignment He has for you. Let God take all the time He needs to prepare you (pg. 96).

Chapter 11 -- God Reveals Himself, His Purpose and His Ways

From the author:

"His goal always is to reveal Himself to people to draw them into a love relationship with Himself. His ways are redemptive. He acts in such a way to reveal Himself and His love. He does not simply wait around in order to help us achieve our goals for Him! He comes to accomplish His own goals through us - and in His own way" (pg. 100).


Lesson I've learned -- The love relationship with God is important! It's the key to everything else. It's like the roots of a plant. I need strong roots - the love relationship - so I can be pleasing to God and used by Him. Instead of focusing on doing something for the Lord and trying to figure out what that is, I should focus on Him, fall in love with Him, abide in Him. Let Him accomplish what He wants to do through me.

Experiencing God -- chapters 8 & 9

God Takes the Initiative -- The author gives examples of those who lived God-centered (Joshua and Caleb) vs. self-centered lives (the ten spies), and urged us to focus our lives on God's purposes not our own plans. We should see things from God's perspective instead of our own distorted ones. When God wants to do something in the world, HE takes the initiative and comes to talk to somebody. Look at the examples of Noah and Moses, Gideon and Paul. "You never find God asking persons to dream up what they want to do for Him." This is helpful to me: I don't have to figure out what to do for God. I can abide in Him and wait for HIM to instruct me if He chooses. Since God is God and we are not, we should adjust our plans to suit Him instead of thinking that God is going to adjust Himself to suit our desires. We will only be fulfilled when we get this straight and follow His ways.

We should look around and see where God is working. When He opens our spiritual eyes to recognize this, we should assume God wants us to join Him. Don't start getting self-centered, but ask God to reveal what HE wants you to do. Be careful to distinguish God's initiative from our selfish desires. "A selfish life will have a tendency to confuse its selfish desire with God's will. . . . In seeking God's direction, check to see that prayer, the Scripture, and circumstances agree in the direction you sense God leading you." Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit's leading will never be contrary to the Word of God.

From George Mueller we learn things that helped him distinguish God's will: sincerely seeking God's direction, waiting patiently on God until he had a word from God in the Bible and looking to the Holy Spirit to teach him through the Bible. The things that lead him to mistakes in knowing God's will were lack of honesty of heart and uprightness before God, impatience in waiting for God and preferring the counsel of men over the teaching of Scripture.

The author suggests we should get our hearts into such a state "that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the knowledge of what His will is." Next he doesn't "leave the result to feeling or simple impression," but seeks the will of God in connection with the Bible and takes into account providential circumstances.


God Invites You To Join Him -- The author reminded us that God is at work around us and reveals Himself to us when He is ready for us to join Him in His work. He tells us not to fret because sometimes God takes years preparing our character and developing our love relationship with Him. Because we often want to DO something, we get impatient, but God is not in a hurry. I have a hard time waiting so this was a good reminder.

We should remember things that only God can do and identify those things happening as God working around us.

Things Only God Can Do -- draw people to Himself, cause people to seek after Him, reveal spiritual truth, convict the world of guilt regarding sin, convict the world of righteousness and judgment.

Remember what God initiates, He completes.

Some Thoughts

Experiencing God has been around a number of years, and I remember when it was wildly popular as a Bible study, but I never bothered reading the book ... until now. Andrew had a copy at his parents' house so he brought it home knowing I'd been reading a number of spiritual books the last few months and more recently been wondering out loud to him what - if anything - God wanted me (us) to do in life. Was this all there was to it? Or was there something more? I wanted to be content, and I am, but I also felt this longing for something more. So, I saw the book lying around the other week and thought, "Eh, maybe I should read this one so I can let Andrew take it back to his mom's house." I wasn't overly-enthusiastic, but willing.

WOW! Has it ever spoken to my heart! First off the thing about spiritual gifts from the other day was awesome because I never have really been able to identify mine and I felt kind of inadequate because of that. It seemed most everyone else KNEW they were gifted to teach or preach or help or whatever. I never quite fit any of the molds. And I felt some underlying frustration from that ... what was I supposed to do??

Recently at church my pastor talked about Ecclesiastes and how Solomon came to the end of his life and talked about how life apart from God was vanity. Brian told us that if we didn't use our lives wisely then one day we would look back and realize how we wasted our time doing nothing for our Lord. I remember how sad I felt because I could see ME being that way. Always having a desire to do something, but never knowing WHAT exactly. I feel as if I am willing to go somewhere, do something for the Lord, but WHAT? and WHERE? I want to have faith like Abraham and just leave home not knowing where to travel, but, unfortunately, I have neither Abraham's faith or freedom to go since I AM married and since flying requires purchasing tickets and sometimes visas!

When I read the chapter the other day about our spiritual gift being God Himself working through us for the task, I felt liberated from having to identify my gift so I could find work that fit it. Instead I need to simply abide in Him, yield to Him and allow Him to work through me! He will supply whatever "gift" I need for whatever task He chooses for me. Quite possibly my spiritual "gift" then could change! He may want me as a teacher at one point and as a minister or administrator at another time. I love the example of Moses. God called him to do a task and Moses said his speech wasn't good enough. But GOD worked through Moses so that GOD got the glory. If Moses had been a brilliant speaker, people may have credited Moses for talking Pharaoh into freeing the children of Israel. As it happened, God used the "weak" things -- Moses' lack of good communication skills -- and worked through Moses to accomplish His will. The Bible tells us clearly that God uses the foolish things to confound the wise and He uses the weak and despised things so that He will get the glory.

This really spoke to my heart, and I have found it to be true just within this past week when God called me to disciple someone. I've never had much discipling experience ... probably none actually, and I really felt inadequate for this task! (Still do quite often, to be honest.) But God showed me that if I submit to Him, that HE will teach through me. He will give me the words to say and lead me in what to teach about Himself. Wow, how wonderful and freeing is that?!

And then I read this chapter on love, and how God pursues that love relationship with us. It spoke to another need I'd had lately of feeling useless and without purpose. Now I know to focus on abiding in and strengthening that love relationship with my Father to find fulfillment.

I am really joyful when I remember these things and live close to God. I am so happy He pursued me and loved me enough to show me these things. He has made me glad.

Experiencing God -- chapter 7

God Pursues A Love Relationship With You


This chapter focused on the love relationship that God pursues with us. He is always the initiator since none of us seek after God on our own. This chapter made me stop and ask if I really love God. I want to love Him, but how do I do it?

The author points out that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength. Everything else in my Christian life really goes back to this love relationship with the Father. This relationship will satisfy and fulfill our longings to DO something for Him. As we nurture this love relationship with Him, He will call us to obey whatever He has for us to do. If our relationship is strong, we will trust Him and obey without question just as we trust our earthly parents will not give us something to do that will harm us. I really liked this:

We are a "doing people. We feel worthless or useless if we are not busy doing something. The Scripture leads us to understand that God is saying, "I want you to love me above everything else. When you are in a relationship of love with Me, you have everything there is." To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the highest achievement, and the highest position in life.

That does not mean you will never do anything as an expression of your love for Him. God will call you to obey Him and do whatever He asks of you. However, you do not need to be doing something to feel fulfilled. You are fulfilled completely in a relationship with God. When you are filled with Him, what else do you need?

In the Biblical examples of Adam and Eve, the prophets, the Apostle Paul -- God always took the initiative. He sought out these people for fellowship and to use them.

I think I may write a post now of some ways these last couple of chapters have spoken to recent situations.

Experiencing God - chapters 5 & 6

Chapter 5 -- Seven Realities of Experiencing God provides a summary of what the author will speak of in the next chapters. I won't say much about this chapter since it will be covered more thoroughly later. One thing worth mentioning is the three similarities noted concerning the men and women God used in the Bible.

1. When God spoke, they knew it was God.

2. They knew what God was saying.

3. They knew what they were to do in response.

Chapter 6 -- God Is At Work Around You

I absolutely love how God is speaking to my heart through this book! The author reminds us that God didn't create the world and then leave it alone never involving Himself. I didn't doubt that as I see it evidenced in the Bible and in my own life. God is at work redeeming the world, and His desires is to use His people to do that task. He wants us to be His hands and feet, so to speak. What a privilege to work with the Father in such a glorious task! He doesn't send us off alone to do this job because He knows more than we do that we accomplish nothing on our own! He works through us and equips us with the gift of Himself ... wow!

Jesus recognized this when He stated in John 5 that He did nothing on His own, and that the Father worked through Him. He even summed it up by saying "I and my Father are one."

Instead of trying to do a task that seems good to us and then pray that God will bless it, we should see where God is working, where He is blessing and yield to Him as He works through us.

Another wonderful thing -- God is working all around me and in my life, but, sadly, God's people don't always recognize it. We may have a deep longing to experience Him, but we don't recognize that we are already experiencing Him day after day. I hope to learn how to recognize God at work in my life! The author reminds us to make the love relationship with God our priority. We often look for an assignment and bypass the love relationship. It is only by abiding in Jesus that we have the power and ability to do the assignment!

Instead of trying to identify our spiritual gifts so we can find suitable assignments, we should ask God for the assignment and then wait for HIM to do the task through us. So, in essence, the spiritual gift is the Holy Spirit. This is shown in the life of Moses. God gave him an assignment. Moses thought, "I don't have the gift of speaking," but what did God say, "Have I not created your mouth...I will speak for you!" Praise the Lord! What He asks me to do, He will equip me to do it. I don't have to go about wondering what is my spiritual gift and then find my own tasks to do in order to build the kingdom of God. I just need to focus on abiding in the Vine and the Vine will bear much fruit through my life!

Wow! How true it is ... where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!

Experiencing God -- chapter 4

Being God's Servant

Jesus is our example and He came to serve others and to give His life for our salvation. To be involved in God's work, we must be servants. Our human idea of a servant is that the servant asks, "Master, what do you want me to do?" And then the servant goes off by himself and does the assigned tasks. Being a servant of God is different. Instead of working for a master, God works through His servants. Remember Jesus' words were "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men," not "go there by yourself and see how many men you can get to follow me." God works through us and with us.

The author likes to think of us as the Potter and clay illustrated in Jeremiah 18. "To be useful the clay has to be moldable, and once made into a vessel it has to remain in the hand of the potter to be used." If we aren't moldable and flexible, we are useless clay. If we are formed into a cup for instance, but then do not remain in the Potter's hand and Him to use us (the cup) as He pleases, what good are we and what purpose do we have?

God uses ordinary people. Elijah was an ordinary person, but he humbled himself and was moldable and God used him greatly. Anyone who will take the time to enter into an intimate relationship with God can see God do ordinary things through his or her life. (see Acts 4:13 -- the people marveled because they realized Peter and John had been with Jesus.)

"When you believe that nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have said about yourself. You have said that God is not capable of doing anything significant through you. The truth is, He is able to do anything He pleases with one ordinary person fully consecrated to Him." ---- WOW!!!!!!! What a wonderful thought!

"If you feel weak, limited, ordinary, you are the best material through which God can work!" -- see I Corinthians 1:26-31 -- God uses the weak and despised things because it is from them that He can get the greatest glory.)

I recognize that I can do nothing, but God can do anything. I want to be an ordinary person used by God to accomplish whatever He wants to do for His glory.

What a wonderful lesson!

Experiencing God -- chapter 3

This was the best picture I had of a branch bearing fruit. :-)

Doing God's Will -- Incredible chapter that spoke directly to some current questions that I have!

Instead of concerning myself with "What is God's will for my life?" which focuses the attention on myself, I need to ask "What is God's will?" God is doing things in the world, and I need to become involved in what HE is doing.

In reviewing examples from the Bible, we see that God does not always provide detailed instructions initially on what He wants people to do. (See Abram's story in Genesis 12:1-5 as an example.) Instead He wants us to walk with Him in a relationship -- day by day, hour by hour. Jesus simply told His disciples "Follow me" and He made those fishermen into "fishers of men."

The relationship with God must come first. Jesus said in John 15,

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

a·bide /əˈbaɪd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[uh-bahyd]

1.	to remain; continue; stay: Abide with me.

2.	to have one's abode; dwell; reside: to abide in a small Scottish village.

3.	to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc.; last.

So really all I need to do is abide in Him ... every day, every hour.

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).


Instead of trying to figure out what to do, where to go and what steps to take, I should abide in Jesus and let Him produce fruit in me in His timing.

Experiencing God - chapters 1 & 2

This year I have been posting a bit about books I have read in order to remember what each of them taught me. Last night I started a book that has been around for several years, but one that I never chose to read until now. It's called Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. It says "How to live the full adventure of knowing and doing the will of God." Sounds like exactly what I need!

Instead of waiting until I read the entire book to post lessons learned, I may post after every chapter or two so I can keep straight some of the things that stood out to me. I finished the first two chapters and wanted to reflect on them now.

Chapter 1

Knowing God By Experience

The authors say that we don't come to know God until He reveals Himself to us. Just as God was not called "The Lord Will Provide" until He provided a ram for Abraham so he wouldn't have to sacrifice Isaac, we don't really know God as "Comforter in sorrow" until He has comforted us in times of grief. In other words, we know God in a relationship, not just a name. He's not some abstract name, but REAL to us. He "reveals Himself with purpose," and "The Scripture is a record of God's revelation of Himself to man. Each of the many names of God is a part of that revelation."

There are many names and descriptions of God in the Bible and "to focus your attention on His name is to focus attention on the God of the name." The authors present us with a list of some of God's names, and I want to pick out a few that are real to me about God because He has revealed Himself to me in these ways.

• Comforter in Sorrow
• my hope
• our Father
• a sure foundation
• God of all comfort
• Prince of Peace
• my stronghold
• refuge and strength
• my help
• my song
• my salvation

Chapter 2

Knowing God's Nature and His Will
1. God is love; His will is always best.
2. God is all-knowing; His directions are always right.
3. God is all-powerful; He can enable you to accomplish His will.

Things that spoke to me. God's very nature is love. Nothing He does is apart from His love. Even when He disciplines us for disobedience, it is because of His love. I only have to look at the awfulness of the cross to see how much God loves me.

God's commands are for my good. Since I know He loves me, I can safely trust in the plans He has for me. God wants me to have life and have it abundantly! No need to go through life "under the circumstances." I can be more than a conqueror because of God's great love and His will for me!

God enables me to do His will. I don't have to look at myself and see how unqualified I am. God qualifies the called, and He wants to work through me. I am not to do things for me and in my power so it is fine that I am weak and not very talented or knowledgeable. If I am yielded to God, HE can do great things through me. Moses told God that he was not a good enough speaker to go in front of Pharoah. God's reply was that HE made Moses' mouth, HE knew Moses' limitations, but HE would be the One Who spoke through Moses. This gives me hope! Whatever God calls me to do, I can do it through Him.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

I should not lean on my own understanding, but trust in the Lord! I can rest in the fact that He loves me, He calls me according to His will and what He calls me to do, He will enable me to do through Himself.