Experiencing God

by Henry Blackaby & Claude King

This is a workbook that our church did together during the time when Bishop Jeyakumar was

Pastor In Charge of CGMC. I saw the book in our bookcase and decided to read through the

book a second round and these are some nuggets I gleaned from it.

- We do not find God’s will- it is revealed. God always takes the initiative.

- We do not plan what we want to do for God- our relationship to God is the supreme

important aim in our lives. God wants us to experience an intimate love relationship

with Him that is real and personal.

- The heart of eternal life is to know God and to know Jesus Christ whom He has sent

(John 17:3)

- When we obey God, He accomplishes through us something only He can do, and we

come to know God in a more intimate way by experiencing God at work through us.

- The bible is God’s word to us, with the Holy Spirit as our guide. We love God by

obeying His commands (John 14:21)

- Hebrews 12:6 tells us that God does bring discipline upon His children out of love.

- God wants us to have abundant life. (John 10:10) When God gives us a command He is

not restricting us, He is freeing us and giving us an opportunity to prosper and

experience God’s providence and power because His ways are always right and His

thoughts are higher than ours.

- God will enable and equip us to do everything He asks of us.

- God’s plan for my life is based on what He is doing in His world. If we are experiencing a

time of fruitlessness, it may be because we are trying to do things on our own that

God has not initiated, even if it arises from noble motives or seems to be a good thing

to do from a human perspective.

- God’s assignments come to us on a daily basis. He calls us to be in a relationship

where He is Lord-where we are willing to do and be anything He chooses. We need to

learn to follow Jesus one day at a time. Do not worry about tomorrow (Matt 6:34).

- 1 Kings 18:36 Elijah was acting in obedience to God’s commands and not based on his

own initiative. Elijah was an ordinary human, but he humbled himself in the role of a

servant and God was able to work through Elijah to influence powerfully a nation to

return to God.

7 realities of experiencing God

1.God is always at work around me.

2.God pursues a continuing love with me that is real and personal.

3.God invites me to become involved with Him in His work.

4.God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the bible, prayer, circumstances and the church to

reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.

5.God’s invitation for me to work with Him always leads to a crisis of belief that requires faith

and action.

6.I must make major adjustments in my life to join God in what He is doing.

7.I come to know God by experience as I obey Him and He accomplishes His work through

me.

-A spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit at work through a person in carrying out a

God given assignment.Seeking to identify gifts instead of assignment can be limiting for a

believer who only bases his or her future usefulness to God on his or her past giftings/abilities.

-The focus of a spiritual gift should be on God and what He does through us. God works in and

through us to bear fruit.

-God created us for eternity. Our time on earth provides an opportunity for us to get acquainted

with Him and for Him to develop our character into His likeness.

-The constant presence of God is the most practical part of our life and ministry. Unfortunately

we often assign God to a limited place in our lives. Then we call on Him whenever we need

help.

-It was 10-12 years of preparation after David’s anointing that he finally ascended the throne.

God was building His relationship with David. It was 10-12 years after Paul’s encounter with

Jesus on the road to Damascus before he started his first missionary journey. God always

develops character in His servants to match His assignment to them and this is done by

giving smaller assignments first.

-Prayer is a 2 way fellowship and communication with God. We speak to God and we listen as

He speaks to us.

-If we have been praying and working in one direction and we see God working in a different

direction we need to stop and pray and adjust our lives to what God is doing around us.

-Our experiences alone cannot be our guide. Every experience must be controlled and

understood by the Scriptures. Always go back to the Bible for truth.

-Each time I encounter God’s call or directions I should build a spiritual marker in my life. Over

time I can look back at these spiritual markers and see how God has faithfully directed my life

according to His divine purpose.

-You cannot continue life as usual or stay where you are, and go with God at the same time.

Noah, Abram, Moses, Elisha, David, Peter, Andrew, Jame and John, Matthew, Saul all made

drastic changes in their lives when they were called to follow God.

-God’s commands are not given so we can choose and pick the ones we want to obey and

ignore others. God expects us to obey all His commands out of our love relationship with

Him as Master and Lord. We start by being obedient to what the scripture already tells us what

God expects of us. When God sees that we are faithful and obedient He will give us bigger

assignments which will stretch our faith. Matt 7:21 reminds us of the centrality of doing the will

of God, even when doing acts such as prophecy, casting demons and doing wonders in Jesus’

name.