“She’s (he’s) gone over to the experiential side.”
I’ve been accustomed to that terminology since my first Bible doctrine class at 27 years old. The language might be dated for many of you but you get the gist. My teacher (in the presence of the Lord now) whom I loved and whose passion lit a fire in my own bones often used the delineation. Something was either “Scriptural” or “experiential” and ne’er the two could meet. It made perfect sense to me.
For a little while.
I’ve never lost my esteem for my teacher. I could get tears in my eyes just thinking about him. He taught under a powerful unction of the Holy Spirit and with a love for the Bible that I had never seen. I suppose some 90 percent of what he taught me I still believe with all my heart. No one made a deeper investment in my love for the Word of God.
But I’ll share with you the teaching in that first Bible doctrine class that I couldn’t accept for long. I couldn’t accept that a believer must fall cleanly into one category or the other: the Scriptural or the experiential. Of course, that’s why I had critics counting me among the experiential crowd 15 years ago but I’ll be forthright with you. The criticism, no matter how mean-spirited it got, was worth enduring because I was not about to let somebody convince me that Scripture and experience were always mutually exclusive. I wanted them both. I wanted to thrill to the Word of God with everything in me AND I wanted to experience the presence of Christ as palpably as He’d permit me.
I would not deny for a moment that there are people in the wide stretch of Christendom who rely strictly on experience and rarely if ever open their Bibles. I also have no doubt that many study their Bibles but never have what they’d qualify as an “experiential” encounter with the Holy Spirit. But there is another category and it is chock full of people who have devoted their entire lives to the study of Scripture and could also testify to rich experiential encounters with Christ. They are not the either-or’s. They have known both.
They are people who would not dream of giving their experience the same weight as the Scriptures. They know full well that it doesn’t mean everything. But must it mean nothing??
Does the Word of God itself not validate experiencing the presence of God?
Every time the living words of Scripture seem to leap off the page into the reality of our present challenge, are we not experiencing God?
Every time our pastors or teachers bring a word that causes the blood to flow hot through our veins – in the terminology of 1 Thessalonians 1:5 “in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” – are we not experiencing God?
Every time we are overwhelmed with fresh conviction and we experience true repentance, are we not experiencing God?
In those moments when we’re brokenhearted and bewildered and we suddenly feel embraced by His love and assured of our chosenness, are we not experiencing God?
In our worship when we feel moved inside with the sense that His thick presence around us in that place is a greater reality than anything we can see or touch, are we not experiencing God?
When, after striving and seeking and praying, we suddenly know with astounding clarity what God wants us to do in a situation or relationship, are we not experiencing God?
When we have encounters with people that only God could have ordained and had appointed conversations that become pivotal to our callings, are we not experiencing God?
Was the Holy Spirit Himself not given to us so that we could continue to experience the presence of Jesus on this earth??
And do we not keep our Bibles wide open and study them all our lives and every day so that we can even recognize what could be a valid Holy Spirit experience?
No story I’ve ever told publicly has gotten me in more trouble than the one that occurred in an airport many years ago when I felt a profuse stirring of the Holy Spirit to go over to an old man in a wheelchair and brush his tangled, matted hair. Nothing has thrown me into the “experiential” category with my critics more than that story. But here’s the ironic part: I had my Bible wide open in my lap actively memorizing John 1 at the exact moment the Holy Spirit moved on me to stand up and walk over to that man. In fact, I was nearly annoyed by the inconvenience of having to get up and go serve somebody while I was busy with my memory work. They weren’t two separate things. They were happening simultaneously.
Despite the discouragement that being stereotyped can bring, if I thought I’d “experienced” God for the last time, I’d be ready to pack up this whole earthly existence and go home. I live to experience God – in my Bible study, my worship, my restoration, my personal revival, in the laughter of my family that has endured against all odds, in the burst of color in an autumn sunset, in a praise song blaring from the speakers in my car, in church service after church service, in the love I still feel for one man after 36 years, and in a walk all by myself in the country.
I write these words to you today who have devoted your lives to the study of God’s inspired Word and make it your daily bread. You don’t have to choose between the Scriptural and the “experiential.” You can have a devout study life and esteem the Bible more than any other tangible possession on this earth and you can also validly experience the presence and palpable activity of the Holy Spirit. You don’t need human permission to do so. You have the Bible’s permission.
Don’t let anybody take that right from you.
Yes and Amen!
Thank you for writing this! I admit I have not read your blog in a long time, but by a series of events I was lead to it. God knew it was exactly the affirmation I needed. He used your writing as confirmation to me that I’m not crazy for wanting to experience him. I have a degree in Biblical Literature, minored in Biblical Languages and have studied the Word of God. However, I have always been afraid of experiencing God because maybe it isn’t Scriptural to experience him. I have always been afraid of the experiencing God in the wrong way. Anyway, the Holy Spirit has been working in my life and gave me a picture. I have followed Jesus around and witnessed many miracles in small crowds, medium sized, and large crowds. I have been in the back, middle and front of the pack. These events have changed my life! I always wanted to know Jesus more. He would invite people to come forth for healing and people came. I would start to come and as I walked forward fear, doubt and worry would creep in. I never made it to him. I stepped aside and let others pass by falling prey to fear and the idea that maybe it wasn’t my time, maybe Jesus wouldn’t heal me, maybe he would curse me or hurt me. I wanted to stay near him and learn. I have followed him for many years, but been afraid of true full hearted surrender in fear of rejection or him not coming through. How will experiencing God change me? Is his love safe? Will he provide, no matter what he calls me to? I’ve asked many questions with answers I can give from a Scriptural (head knowledge) basis but have limited experience. I want more of God. I want all him for my life. I’m thankful he is teaching me he is a good God, with good gifts, who loves me and wants to take care of me. He wants me to see his power is good not evil. I’m learning how to stay rooted in Scripture and be open to the the Holy Spirit’s leading and experience what God wants to give/show me.
I would love to hear more on this topic. Somewhere in my mind still floats the message that faith and feelings are mutually exclusive. For me, it’s a combination of culture (german born/ raised= not much emphasis on emotions if you are willing to stereotype) and church. The denomination I grew up in places a high value on scripture.( with an even higher value on their understanding of it:). I got a lot of theology in my bones but it’s taken the better part of my adult life to move towards the center. I know it’s my right to have both and I have definitely experienced God at times. I am not completely free from whatever is holding me back to experience more. Fear of deception being one barrier. I know that most of my obstacles (in the way of experiencing more) are on my end. Trying to co-operate with Jesus in the rescue but it is not an easy journey.
Astrid,
Thank you so much for your transparency. I am praying for you as you seek more on this topic. I am praying that the Lord will reveal truth to you and you will fall more in love with Him because of what He reveals to you. You are so right, the journey is never easy, but it is so worth it. We love you!
Beth,
Thank you so much for this post! I am right there with you, Sister! I love the Word of God! I know in the depths of my heart that God’s Word changes lives! It changed mine! And it keeps on changing it. But I too have had some deeply personal times when i felt His presence, and prompting, and there was no doubt. And it took me deeper into relationship with Him! Your Bible studies and books have blessed me repeatedly, and I am so thankful to be sharing this time on earth with you as one of my beloved teachers! Thank you again! Keep on letting God speak through you! You are in my prayers regularly! I love you! But more importantly, God loves you! Pam K
AMEN!
It can become disheartening when others don’t get the connection. There is no seperation from the experience and The Bible as you call it. They are the same. You can’t have one without the other. It’s like God’s Word becomes alive and active and you’re walking around with Him in your mind not yourself. I was just told yesterday Yanna, not many know The Lord like you do so we have to do such and such by a Christian organization. I want to weep. I am doing it as of the LORD. HE is controlling me like a consuming fire and I have no choice. Every breath is His breath, every though, heartbeat. I am pressing on in the race of time to do His work, obey Him, say what He is telling me to say. Then there are walls of humanity that don’t get it, that want me to separate the experience into category God the Bible and the whatever. For me there is no seperation! It’s impossible. Everything is of and in and for and living and dying and being and a wink a nod a bug a breeze is One. As I write this and try to explain I think of a person with multiple personalities. I can almost relate. It’s not just me, it is Him. I love the LORD my God with all if my heart soul and mind His Spirit is in me, and loving others consumes me. Father help me.
Amen Sista!!!!!!
I can’t imagine having to choose. Coming from a Methodist tradition, Scripture combined with experience is where I live. When the intellectualism of study takes over in my desire to learn more about God and how best to walk in God’s ways, I feel the loss of relationship. Everything gets so mechanical, and I lose my purpose for study. In short, my walk suffers.
That’s one of the things I love about your studies. You provide in-depth well researched information, but you also keep the experience of a personal relationship with the Lord front and center.
I am currently guiding some lovely ladies through your Stepping Up study, and I have to tell you that the palpability of my relationship to the Lord has never been greater.
This has come to me at the absolute most perfect time. I was just asking God about this this morning. I’m serious not just 2 minutes before I opened my email and read this. That is experiencing God. I will be speaking to a group of women in Jan and some of what I will be sharing are those experiences with God and I was questioning this very thing. My thoughts were even though my family are some of the characters in the true stories I tell make no mistake that God is the Main Character. It is all about Him. They are His Stories, not mine and they burn within me to shared. To tell of HIs goodness. To be the witness He has called me to be. Thank you Beth for your obedience to write this. God is so good and to Him be all the glory. 😉
Amen! Thank you so much for this post, Beth!
Beth,
You were instrumental in sparking a love for God’s Word for me over 10 years ago in the simplest form–you broke it down for me and made it to where I could really grasp it. I’ve learned to dig deeper and I really enjoy your teaching. The deeper you go, the better I like it.
Please let me say this: keep being who you are, sharing your stories no matter what the “public” says. You are going to have your holier-than-thou-pharisees who will try to rob you of that experience and put out your fire.
Some of us need a teacher who is authentically human and genuine and struggles with some of the same things we do and is not putting on so many airs that she pretends they don’t exist.
Love you to pieces and thank you for sharing your life with us. Keep going.
You go girl! I’m with you no one can take away those special times I’ve had with my Lord. I know they are scripturally sound.
Thank you for this post! I’m fortunate that no one taught me that the two had to be separated (or if they did, I must have ignored it lol). Digging into the Word has brought me experiences clearly led by God. And experiences have brought me back to the Word. Our God is amazing! I absolutely love your teachings. I had fallen far off the path from God, when I was invited to participate in one of your Bible Studies, Breaking Free. It changed my whole life and helped me break free from a toxic relationship. God bless you for following His calling for you, Beth!
I can’t imagine a distinction. The two go hand-in-hand. God’s Spirit lives in us! The Scripture is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12). That’s a lot of stuff happening on the inside, so how can our faith not be experiential?
Thanks, Beth.
Beth, thank you so much for this message. I LOVE the Word of God, and I LOVE to feel His presence.
YES! YES! A THOUSAND YESES!
This post just lit me up. There is nothing I love more than when scripture and life collide into one beautiful, wild experience with my saviour. Henry Blackaby turned me onto this years ago when his Ëxperiencing God study came out. It was the first time I had ever heard that I could really experience life with God that way. I embraced it and never looked back. Isn’t this the very essence of relationship anyway?
Beth,
I could not imagine a life where the 2 did not go hand in hand.
How could I know God if I did not experience Him? How can I experience Him if I do not spend time in His word and talking in prayer with Him? How can I be His beloved and He be my beloved in we do have relationship?
Wow!! Thank you for sharing this message Beth! The division that is experienced within the body of Christ over this truth is heartbreaking, separates ministries and steals the “everything” God has for us from many believers who are STUCK in religious fear! God has anointed you with a voice and the position to break this lie and set dancing feet free!!! Yes!
I love you,
Pat
Amen! And our great and mighty God is still in the business of working miracles TODAY. Those who exclude the experiential often exclude present-day miracles. Do we seek these things? No. We seek to know, really know, Him and He reveals Himself through His Word, by the power of His Spirit, in the midst of the gathering of 2 or more if His saints, and in the still small voice. Our God is not bound by space or time. He is active, alive and fully present with us as He speaks through Scripture, through life’s circumstances, in the still small voice and through miracles. What an awesome God we serve!!!!
Amen! You go girl!
With the combination of the two, it shows just how wonderfully multi-faceted our Lord truly is. He not only speaks through the freshness of his words written in black and white, but also, through our experiences he nudges us along to do his bidding and will fulfilling in a magnificent partnership.
It’s his very breath in those moments as we stop mid aisle to pray for an obviously ill elderly man or when rolling down our window to give alms to the poor. He is every place we dwell, and to divide the two would be a travesty. We would short change ourselves every time. I want to be rich with balance, but never poor from missing any single moment he ordains. OUR God is personal and oh so wonderful!
Oh, I had no idea of the background of drama surrounding the hairbrush story! I teach a class to college students about the topic of Benevolence. The point of the course is to learn what the Bible says about being Benevolent and how we can apply that in our lives. The class is based on scripture and asks the students to determine how we can live out the scripture in our lives. I always show the hairbrush video! It is a perfect example for some of our coursework. And I’m always amazed that, at the end of the semester when the University asks my students to anonymously review me, that particular lesson is always at the very top of the list of things that really impacted them. In fact, when the students are writing their papers, they sometimes reference that specific video. To hear that it has caused so much grief for you… my mind is just blown. I had no idea. And I kind of feel bad because I always excitedly tweet you when I’m showing it in class — ha!
AMEN, sistah!!!
I’m so thrilled to read this. I have long felt that if there were no personal, tangible experience with God both in studying His Word and interacting with His people what would be the point? There are no greater moments in life than when I read the Word and suddenly it jumps off the page and into my spirit and changes me…or when I have an encounter with someone and suddenly I know that Holy Spirit is doing something for them or me or both…and WOW what a privilege to be a part of it. It takes my breath! The infinite, eternal God who spoke the universe into existence is moving through me to bless someone or vice versa or both! It is indescribably exciting, humbling and makes me fall in love with Him all over again. It’s the abundant life Jesus talked about and died for…being used by Him to bless others and as an added bonus, being blessed in return!
Amen. I’ll never forget the story of the man in the airport. You didn’t want to, but in obedience, you did it! I recognized that same tugging on two separate (and less dramatic) instances. Thank you for teaching the lesson!
Beth,
I have no idea why sharing your airport experience got you into trouble. It’s a story that resonates over and over in my mind.
Your story of obedience to the call of God touched me profoundly and helped me to be more fully aware of my surroundings and God’s call to humbly obey regardless of the situation.
I’ve since had many experiences with God calling me to do things others might find odd. The most profound was also in an airport. It was a simple request by God for me to tie a young mothers’ shoe. I will never forget that moment of saying yes to something my human side thought would be uncomfortable. It wasn’t. Not for me, nor for the young mother who was so thankful God sent someone to confirm He was still watching out for her and her infant son. Praise God for those moments! And, Beth, to all who may have criticized you for sharing your experience, shame on them! Your willingness to share your life with all of it’s ups and downs and God moments is what makes you someone incredibly special to me and to countless others. But, none more important than the God we serve and love so very much.
Thank you so much for who you are Beth!
In His embrace,
Toni
Thank you Beth as you always do, for encouraging us. Each of us has our own unique experience with God WHEN we read the Bible or WHEN we are in a crowd or WHEN “___”.
You Are Loved
My Siesta Mama,
Thank you so much for these encouraging words. Just yesterday morning in the pre-dawn hours, the Lord broke through the silence that I’ve been in for a few months now. His mercy has taken on a much deeper meaning for me.
I know that it is only through His great mercy that we have been blessed to experience Him in the various forms and ways you listed and many, many more. I know the pain of criticism from where someone close wants to give you a label and dub you as too radical because you choose to believe in both Scripture and experience. But through all of that, regardless of the labels and hurtful things others say and do, I’ve found that God will show us His exponential mercy when we let Him.
Sister, keep pushing the envelope of your faith. Never settle. Never compromise for anything less than God. Don’t ever back down. He is faithful to shower you with His great mercy.
Much love,
~Elaine
A big AMEN! I, too, experience God in EVERY aspect of my life – while studying scripture, attending church, praise & worship, AND dealing with the struggles of sick and aging family members – and just life in general. God is EVERYWHERE at ALL times. Being able to experience Him in ALL things is what it’s all about, sisters!
I don’t know if I’m naive or uneducated in the “doctrinal” side of religion, but I didn’t even know this was a thing. (for real) I thought that the Scriptures were God telling me that I could experience Him fully through Christ and revealing Himself to me so that I could experience His grace, love and mercy. And yes, we attend a precious church with Jesus lovers and a Scripture teaching pastor.
Beth, I once read the story of you brushing that man’s hair in the airport to our youth group. I’ve never seen them cry so hard or be so moved by a story. We talked about you that day, girl, with teenagers who had questions about what it feels like to be moved by the Spirit and do something that maybe you aren’t comfortable with but you know…KNOW…that God has a task for you that’s for His glory and for His kingdom. Our teens experienced God that day and we got to teach them Scriptures about loving others, sacrificial giving and laying down our own ideas of what our lives should look like.
I’m sorry you had to endure gossips and hurtful words because you loved on someone who needed to be loved on, too. I’m pretty sure that was Jesus’ MO and that we’re supposed to be Jesus with skin on so others can know Him and see Him in this harsh world we live in. They can know Him and see Him and be saved. Thanks for loving the Scriptures and desiring above all to experience the very God who wrote them.
I SO agree, Beth!! Thank you!
I love the telling of your airport experience and how it encourages me to act in situations (which are normally out of my comfort zone) that I have a “sense” I have a part to play. As of yet, I’ve never been disappointed and often God allows me to see part of the impact He’s made in that dear one’s life! I know why you endure the criticism! I want all God has too both in Word and experience!
Bless your heart! It never occurred to me that you’d be criticized for your hair brushing story. How sad that those critics didn’t see Jesus in that experience. I trust that if my feelings run astray, I’ll be corrected like John was in Revelation 19:10. What an experience he had because of the true words of God! I want both, too!
I just signed up for this blog yesterday, but have been reading some of Beth’s books for the past four years. They have been a great support to me and I love her interpretations of Scriptures and her willingness to act on divine impellings, even when it’s seen as radical or unusual. This is what always has brought progress for our world, and always will.
Beth fights for us all and doesn’t leave anybody out. A huge thank you to her and her ministry.
“fights for us all and doesn’t leave anybody out.” Those words nearly send me to the floor. Oh, Jesus, I want that to be true so badly. Make it true, Lord. See to it. You are the good that dwells in me.
I so appreciate you, Sister. We are so glad you’ve dropped into this community. It is a lovely group of very diverse women. You will find kindness here.
That just brings tears to my eyes. It is so true. How many times have I felt left out by my family, by people at church at times. Beth, this ministry has never made me feel like that. We are all welcome. That blesses me all the way down to my toenails! Sure do love all you ladies at LPM! Lord bless you!
Beth,
You have offered generous encouragement to me over the last few years and I stand now to affirm what our friend, Susan, has shared. You do fight for us all – your heart pure before the Lord as you serve us… You don’t leave anyone out. I believe that is what drew me to you – the transparency, the honesty of your own daily journey and growth spur me on as I pursue our glorious God with you from a distance. I love you to pieces, my sister – my friend.
Much love,
M
Amen sweet sister
I loved your story of the older man whose hair you brushed. It encourages me to think outside of the norm in search of “giving a cup of cool water” to those I encounter. It almost makes it a better example for the fact that you got yourself in some trouble over it. I thank you for your courage in your transparency!!
Thank you Beth! It is so encouraging to hear someone say this out loud! Because of a crazy off-kilter “experiential” church background where the words of a man were uplifted and not the word of God, I must cling to the Word of God – and I will probably *lean* to that side… but to experience God? I *live* to hear him, speak with him, be moved by him, love Him. It is *through* His word that I do this more, and more clearly. But it is not strictly exclusive to the Word and when I am in the Word – it is all day, every day, and nighttime too, and in the middle of conflict and in the middle of peace and in my neighbourhood and in my home. I am so puzzled when people speak as if you must have one or the other – a living God, or words on paper. Don’t they come together?
I’m with you on so much of what you said, Naomi. Nothing shuts me down like the words of man exalted over the Word of God and for the sensational to take the place of the Spiritual. We’ve got to keep our Bibles wide open at all times. May God help us all and guard us all and grant us much wisdom with His gracious revelation.
I thought the whole point was for us the experience the Holy Spirit. That is what I read in my bible, that we are to experience God and want to know God as He knows us. We could read all we want about our family and our friends but if we did not spend time with them and experience them, it would not mean much. I do not put family and friends on the same level as God and His Holy Word but the knowledge without the experience just does not make sense to me. Reading my bible and praying are both spiritual experiences. Maybe I am missing something by thinking I would have to choose one over the other.
Amen! Thank you, Beth, for putting into words what I’ve been trying to express for years! We can have both! I want more and I often ask God to “fill me with all the fullness of God” while I’m reading through the Ephesians 3 prayer.
PS: I LOVE the airport story. It has inspired me to open my eyes to the people around me every day. Oh that I might be obedient if I would be called upon to do something so bold. I just love you!
I cannot imagine my life without experiencing God and responding to Him. My life would be so boring. I love talking with God in prayer, and yes He answers. The Holy Spirit gives us the gift of hearing God.
Thank you, Beth for showing us that we can experience God.
I love this post. I feel like people ask me this question (in their own words) all the time, and I just feel like I have a blank stare back at them. How can we separate heart and head, or challenge and comfort? They go together. They represent an incarnational approach to scripture: that our Savior King was both humiliated unto his death and honored in his glory. Part of our role as teachers, I believe, is to hold these two things together, carrying the tension of them and always seeking God’s word as our final authority, as the place where we confirm our experiences, and allow our experiences to confirm the presence of God. And I love the airport story, btw.
YES!!! Ms Beth, I too have had experiences with the Holy Spirit that absolutely made the hair all over my body stand up in attention!!! Years ago I made wrong choices and I got off path. Thanks to God’s great grace and mercy, He got me back on path – through the Bible studies you have wrote. But those experiences – that I’ve NEVER forgot, have brought me through soooo much pain and hard times. I so yearn for them again!!!
Let’s pray for the people who don’t know the Lord in this way, that He will make Himself REAL to them. He longs for intimacy with us.
I so love you Momma Beth! Let’s keep going on this wonderful journey, it’s going to better and better.
I agree 100%. The veil was torn, He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him. He’s not dead, not unreachable. He shows me in ways I can understand. He is a loving Father who does talk to us in ways we can hear.
Thank you so much for writing that!! As a writer and teacher I needed this confirmation! Recently the enemy has been trying to stir up strife regarding this very matter in my Bible study. Several women stopped coming because they couldn’t stand with the experiential and the biblical truth. I have really been struggling in the last couple of weeks. Praying as to whether the Lord wanted me to step down and stop teaching or not. This truly was written for the body right now, especially me! Thank you and thank our Lord!
Dear sweet Beth,
I hope you never ever let anyone discourage you as you tell your encounters with God. I could tell you a truck load but it would be too long for this blog. I will tell you that I was saved as a child (1966) and from that time until today the Lord has never left me. He has made sure I’m aware of HIS presents every day in some way. It may not be a huge display like a Christmas store window, and I don’t have tangible evidence all the time. BUT HE IS HERE, ALIVE AND ACTIVE!!!!! AMEN!!!!!
You are brave, courageous and right on target Beth! Thank you for sharing how experiencing the power of God’s Word has sustained you all these years. This is the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. I commend and applaud you today for standing up for what you know in your heart because you’ve experienced in your life.
God Bless you Beth!
Thank you for Truth. I too believe the one of many jobs of the Holy Spirit is to taste the Lord – and that to me is by experience, and knowing it is possible is by His Word!
How Sad for those who are stuck in their muck of choosing one or the other. Jesus knew about that with those Pharisees.
Interestingly the story of such compassion, dedication to God, and humble serving is attacked by certain people … heart issues show up in what is said by word, type, blog, etc. “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45b Thank you for sharing your story of the sweet old man and a humble young woman.
Love to you sister!
Hey can I say that if all those who Love Beth prayed for those critics that they too experience the Joy of Jesus and not just see Him on pages… Could you imagine the quick change of heart!!! (I am just picturing their shocked faces!)
LOL!!!!! :0
Maybe they would reach out to you on their new road!!!
Here’s a comment from a guy. Thank you for sharing from your heart. My faith has grown both through the Scriptures and experiencing His presence. Paul put succinctly when he said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” (Philippians 3:10) Well, you cannot know Him without experiencing Him. For me the walk of faith has become walking hand-in-hand with Jesus as a child (even though I am 72 years young). Also, I have come to love what the Lord told Abraham, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) I am claiming that promise for myself by faith based on Scripture so I can experience God—excuse me, I am experiencing God already and the best is yet to come. It’s like faith and works, you cannot have one without the other, thus Scripture and experience and must go together. Just my humble two cents worth! God bless!
I believe the experiential goes hand in hand with the scriptural. It is why we see it on others, because they can’t help but bear visible fruit, instead of being afraid of the experience, we embrace it. Because along with growth and fruit comes pruning, didn’t Paul tell us the trials would come? Rejoice in all things. Peace be with you, ALL!
My heart and head are nodding throughout
Separating the two is a confusing thought for me. The reality of experiencing Him is a great deal of my testimony of the last several years of my life
I was raised in a Christian home and married a Christian man. I had Christian friends and either was in a Bible study or leading a Bible study
Then life turned on a dime. Our child became a very high level medical patient and has been for the last four years. Suddenly my life was stripped away and I was living in LA often on my own with much loneliness, daily needs, and trauma with our son. Going weeks without my husband at a time put me further in the need category
One of the sweetest things about this season of my life has been experiencing the One of whom I had been long learning of. It wasn’t that i never had before. But because I was surrounded with a cushion I often didn’t attribute His care as coming from Him
I knew He could but didn’t know if He would
And then there was the streets of LA.
I never went to college. I moved straight from my fathers home to a home with my husband. Not until I was dropping my daughter off at college did I realize that I was alone for the night for the very first time in my 45 years
LA is not a place I would pick to learn of the sweet reality of Him but it will forever be a touchstone for me because it was here that I began to experience Him in living color
I had read of Him as Provider, Sustainer, Comforter, Defender….The I Am….all of those things He has revealed Himself as
It was as though He moved off the pages of the word and into my daily existence. It makes me choke up to speak of it. I knew a need so great and in so many areas of my upturned life and He met me there in the fullness of Who He is
Experiencing Him amidst the study of Him is to be immunized against the attack of the enemy on my life
All my experience of Him has to bow before His word. My experience is safe-guarded through His word. I can only interpret my experience through the lens of His word
But oh to have Him only tucked into the pages of my Bible and into the regions of my mind is to miss His companionship on the road of life
All that to say….I agree wholeheartedly with you Beth 🙂