What is the key to truly experiencing God?

Answer

Although highly popular among Christian circles, the concept of “experiencing God” is not explicitly found in Scripture. There are numerous commands in Scripture regarding how we are to relate to God, but experiencing Him is not one of them. We are to love God with all our hearts “and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”, (Deuteronomy 6:5), obey God (Deuteronomy 27:10;1 John 5:2), trust God “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”, (John 14:1), fear God (Ecclesiastes 12:13;1 Peter 2:17), etc. But nowhere does the Bible tell us to “experience God.” The dictionary definition of experience as a verb is “1) to participate in or undergo, 2) to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by, or 3) to learn by experience.”

What, then, is meant by experiencing God, and how do we go about it? If we begin with the dictionary definitions of experience, put them together, and apply them to our relationship with God, we come up with something like “participating in the nature of God, being moved by Him, and learning of Him by familiarity.”

Before we can participate in God in any way, we have to fully come to terms with two inner conflicts. First, each of us is a hopeless sinner in a pit from which we cannot escape by our efforts “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not one.”, (Romans 3:12)

Second, nothing we do on our own is acceptable to Almighty God—not giving our money to the poor, not volunteering at the hospital, not church attendance, nothing. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6). Scripture tells us that, to resolve these conflicts, we must receive Jesus Christ in our hearts as our Lord and Savior and turn our lives over to Him. Only then are our words and acts acceptable to God (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). So the first key to experiencing God is to be a “partaker of the divine nature” “whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4), and that is done only through faith in the shed blood of Christ on the cross for our sin.

The second part of our definition of experiencing God is being moved by Him. The movement of God in the soul of man is one function of the Holy Spirit. From the very beginning of creation, when the Spirit of God “moved on the face of the waters” “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2), to the movement of the Spirit in the hearts of unbelievers, drawing them to Christ, the Spirit is actively involved in moving us. We are moved by God in His drawing us to faith “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Reference).

(John 6:44); the Spirit moves in our hearts to convict us of sin and our need for the Savior (John 16:7-9), and within believers, He directs, guides, comforts, and influences us, as well as produces in us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). In addition, the Spirit moved the authors of all 66 books of the Bible to record exactly what He breathed into their hearts and minds «For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.», (2 Peter 1:21), and through the Scriptures, He moves within us to testify to our spirits that we are His children «The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: », (Romans 8:16).

The third part of experiencing God is the lifelong process of learning about Him, becoming so intimately acquainted with Him that we joyfully yield our lives to Him because we have come to know Him and trust Him completely. This involves understanding that He is faithful, good, holy, just, unchanging, omnipotent, and sovereign over all circumstances. One very joyous aspect of experiencing God is the intimate knowledge of His love. The Bible tells us that “God is love” «He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. », (1 John 4:8, emphasis added). As we experience His love, we can begin to share our Christian love with others, regardless of circumstances, and this, in turn, will produce more and more love as others experience His love through us.

The key to experiencing God, then, is not expecting

an “experience” or an emotional boost. Instead, it is a lifelong journey of belonging to Him through Christ, being guided by the Holy Spirit through whom we are sanctified, and maturing in the understanding of Him.