7 Steps to Consistently Experiencing God
You Can Do These Every Day If You Want
I’m not a naturally a spiritual person. I’m much more of a thinker than a feeler and more logical than intuitive. Typically, people like me have a harder time on the “experiencing God” path than intuitive, artistic types.
The good news, though, for people like me is that you too can experience the reality of God, His presence, His love, and His joy on a consistent basis.
These 7 simple steps are no formula, but following them or at least some of them on a consistent basis helps me not just know about God in my head, but to experience at least a measure of His life in my own soul.
1. Consistent God Appointments.
Have at least one set time to sit down with God each day. I’ve been surprised how many prayer teachers, both in history and today, strongly recommend having a set time to meet alone with God.
2. Stand Strong in God’s Grace Gift of Righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that God gave us the very holiness and righteousness of Jesus Himself as a gift. As soon as I make coming to God a matter of how sinless or good I’ve been recently, I put up soul blocks to coming to God and interacting with Him.
Why? Because I can always find some area where I’ve messed up. If I haven’t yelled at someone or eaten junk food or been lazy, I can always find thoughts I’ve let roll around in my head that I shouldn’t have.
I can ALWAYS find some area of failure or lack of faith or love or obedience if I just look for it.
As soon as I find it, if I’m not really clear that the ONLY way I’ve ever been worthy of coming to a perfect, holy, sinless God is by the PERFECT ONE, JESUS; then I close the door of my soul to God and don’t experience Him.
But if I know that I’m coming to a perfect, holy God in the perfect, holy Savior’s own righteousness, then I really can come with boldness and confidence right into His presence. (Ephesians 3:12)
3. Consciously Surrender to His love, leadership, and life.
God is big on this “keeping Him first” thing. He knows if anything else jumps our priority list and He drops to 2nd or lower, then everything else in our life gets off base.
When I say in my heart, “Jesus, YOU are my Lord, YOU are my #1. I live both from you and for you….my desire is to live Your plans”, then I am in a great place to connect with God, receive from God, and be guided by God.
4. Sit Down and Open Up.
In Revelation 3:20 Jesus said He stood at the door of our lives and knocks. If we open the door, He will come in and fellowship with us. It is absolutely amazing to me that the King of Kings takes the initiative, comes to my door, and knocks….but that is what the Bible teaches.
Jesus Himself wants to have warm interaction with me. Incredible!
But, Jesus doesn’t pound the door. He doesn’t scream and blow an airhorn. He knocks and waits. When we say, “Jesus I have time for You. Thank you so much for taking the time and making the effort to come visit me. Come on in and sit down with me.”
You’re on the way to experiencing the One who loves you more than anyone in the world loves you and thinks you are worth spending time with.
Sit down and open you soul as wide as you can today.
5. Open Your Bible and Interact with Jesus in His Words.
God and His words are one. If you want to interact with God, interact with Him in and through His written words. The Holy Spirit will take the written words and turn them into living words when you do the previous steps.
God will give you insights and thoughts and ideas and feelings that are not directly in the Bible sometimes; but they will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be in perfect alignment with the written words.
This is not only our safeguard to make sure our experiences are actually from God, because the devil can appear as an angel of light, but since God and His words are in perfect alignment; they will actually impart to us a measure of His reality and life.
6. Pray God’s Words Back to Him.
Prayer, at it’s most basic level, is consciously interacting with God. We can use prayers from our heart, Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs and we can take passages of the Bible and pray them back to God.
Why do that? Often, we don’t know what to pray. As we take Scriptures and start saying them, singing them, thanking God for them, asking Him to move in that way…..to God, we are fellowshipping with Him in perfect alignment with His will & His heart.
A little bit at a time, God interacts with us taking His life giving thoughts, feelings, and ideas deeper and deeper into our souls, thoughts, and emotions.
We experience God and His words are one of the biggest means God uses to impart His life and love to us. In John 6:63 Jesus said, “My words are spirit and are life.”
7. Use Your Imagination.
God gave us the ability to see things in our minds that are not actually close to us. We can see scenes from nature, even though we have not physically seen them for years.
We can see future plans in our minds, years before we actually do them.
God gave us this ability and we can use it to “see” aspects of God. That’s why there are so many passages in the Bible that describe in detail what was going on or what God’s throne looks like or what God’s actions look like.
Reading those words can help us “see” their reality in our imaginations, if we’ll let it.
Since we are such visual creatures, learning to see aspects of God by using our sanctified imaginations can make God more and more real to us.
Again, keeping our imaginings in line with Scripture keeps us from making things up about God and helps us experience the true God, the God found in Scripture.
You can do this every day if you want. I’ve found doing so, helps even a “non-touchy, feely” type experience God’s love and life on a consistent basis.
If you want more resources on living a Jesus-centered, Jesus-empowered life head over to www.TruVineMission.com
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