Experiencing God
O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psalm 34:8
Do we experience God in our lives? If so, how do we experience God in our lives? If we want to experience God in our lives and we want to experience his presence more in our lives, then how do we do this? By reading the Word, praying, fellowshipping, obeying, and meditating?
It is necessary to do all of the above in order to truly experience God. Feeding the mind alone doesn’t help to experience God, only following the Holy Spirit to live the life of Jesus will enable us to experience God’s presence and change our hearts. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. (John 2:3)
We will describe how we can experience God in three ways. The first is through the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) If we are spiritually growing, the fruit of the Spirit will fill our minds and souls. The Holy Spirit lives in the believer so the fruit of the Spirit is always with us, if we live in the Spirit.
The second way we experience God’s presence is through faith. We trust the Lord to lead our lives through the Holy Spirit, making Godly choices, and being a light for Christ in this world. When we live as the Lord’s servants, motivated by love, and giving God control, then we experience God’s blessings in this world. We experience much less fear and worry, and our lives our better because we trust God in all things.
The third way we truly experience God in our hearts is through his compassion. When we experience compassion we are experiencing the deepest presence of God’s heart. When we reflect God’s love, we are experiencing his love and compassion flowing through us to other people. Knowing God’s compassion causes us to love him from the deepest part of our souls. We are experiencing the life of Jesus, and nothing will connect us to the Lord more than experiencing his love and compassionate heart. Experiencing his compassion changes our hearts for eternity.
In summary, we experience the presence of our Lord in three ways: (1) through the fruit of the Spirit, (2) through his blessings arising from our faith, and (3) through his love and compassion. We experience all three together, because without love and compassion we will never fully experience the fruit of the Spirit or the fullness of his blessings. With Spiritual growth, we increasingly experience the Lord’s presence as our individual relationships with the Lord become more intimate.
Today open your heart to reflect God’s love and compassion to others. Pray for those you see hurting or troubled, and offer an encouraging word. A compassionate heart cares about others and seeks to help. So today live the life Jesus lived, and note in the Word where it says, “He had compassion.”
Let’s pray: Father in heaven, fill my heart with your love and compassion so that I may reflect it to others. Keep molding me to have the heart of Jesus so that living like Jesus consumes my heart. Keep Satan away for he tries to make me self-centered. I choose to be centered on Christ and on others through your power of love and compassion. In Jesus name, Amen