God Experience – 2014-12-21
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How many of you Remember the study “Experiencing God?” As I was driving back and forth to the lodge, I listened to a chapter from the book The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, The chapter I was listening to this day was “Apprehending God.” First, the chapter I listened to opened with Psalm 34:8 – our 2015 verse
Somehow I don’t think that is coincidence. It talks about experiencing God as not just head knowledge, not just filling out minds with pages from a book, but as a total body experience.What is Experience? “direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge; the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation; something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through; the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality.” Miriam Webster
If you think about it, isn’t that truly experiencing relationship? I can KNOW about someone from letters, pictures, facebook, etc. But the face to face is when it becomes real – a true relationship.
Sending God a “wish list” isn’t a total experience. The apprehending God comes from two way conversation, touching, tasting, smelling… presence. Sometimes that looks like reading His letter, sometimes like stepping out in faith, sometimes like humble submission, sometimes like celebration, sometimes like quiet prayer and meditation, sometimes like hands and hearts raised, sometimes like fasting, sometimes like feasting… experiencing God isn’t rote or routine, it is alive, dimensional, variable, just like any relationship, experiencing the complete presence, not just a single dimension without presence.