“I want to experience God,” a woman in our congregation announced. I was teaching an adult discipleship class and heard this comment from several people. None of which were involved in any type of in-depth discipleship. Nor would they accept any invitations I gave to study the scriptures. “I think I might visit,” was as close as she came.
It’s a noble sounding comment that I’ve heard thousands of times over the years, but is our declaration to experience God as noble as it sounds? How many times did I say this in my own life only to have the words fade into the forgotten past? For so many years, I struggled to get over that spiritual hump only to see my progress slip away as I began sliding down the hill of my own weaknesses.
Jesus warned his disciples that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The Apostle Peter declared that he would boldly stand with Christ, even to the point of death. Yet, a few hours later, he couldn’t keep himself from falling asleep when his only mission was to watch and pray with Jesus as the hour of affliction drew near. This was followed by Peter, cowering in fear, when a servant girl pointed at him and said, “You are one of his followers.”
The man who inflated his shoulders and proclaimed, “I will never deny you,” was now trembling and saying to a servant girl, “I do not know that man.” The great irony is that Peter saw himself as a conquering hero, battling Roman Soldiers and defending Jesus, but his final defeat came before a girl whose social status would not even qualify her to give a legal testimony in that culture.
Peter’s battle was not lost during the moment of trial; it was lost when he could not watch and pray for an hour. He didn’t recognize his need for strength, because he didn’t recognize his own weakness. He approached God’s will on his own terms. He was strong, he was charismatic, he had been successful before, and he thought himself as invincible.
He may have been sincere in his proclamation, but Peter was proclaiming his faith on his own terms. He soon found out that his flesh did not have the power to rise above his weaknesses. This is what most people are standing upon when they declare that they are selling out for Christ. Most people seek to experience God by inviting him into their world instead of leaving their self-centered world to enter his Kingdom.
The reason someone cries out to know God, and never experiences him, is because they simply don’t understand what it means to experience God. I know, because I have been such a person and wondered for years why my life continued its rollercoaster ride when I had committed my life to him. Consider this passage from 1 Peter 1:15-16
5 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
Also look at Hebrews 12:14
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Holiness means to be set apart for God. God is set apart from and above all his creation. So when we see the holiness of God, it is a declaration that there is nothing like him. He is set apart, distinct, and above all. Beside him there is no other God. When we are holy, we are set apart from the rest of creation, reserved for God alone. Sanctification is the cleansing process for something or someone that is set apart for God. We are sanctified through the Spirit and made holy for our God. However, we must understand that to be set apart (made holy) means that we have to be separated from the flesh that remains unholy. As I explain this, keep in mind that to be set apart for God, we have to be separated from that which is contrary to God.
We cannot experience God without first experiencing the separation from our life in the flesh. Look at Luke 14:26-28
26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
27 "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it --
…
33 "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
If you are not willing to forsake all, you cannot be a disciple of Christ and cannot fully experience God. To experience God is not a mystical experience that occurs and then is gone until we find the next experience. We must be in communion and fellowship with God. If our experiences are not driving us to our knees, teaching us to forsake the flesh, and conforming us to the image of Christ, the experience is not of God. Emotional responses can be conjured up through the flesh. Many religions have methods that get them to a state of euphoria, but none can change the human nature within them. Once the feelings fade, their human condition reemerges, as strong as ever. If you are dependent on the experience, the feeling has become the object of your worship. If you cannot walk with God and see his life-changing power without having to depend on an experience, it is a false faith.
When God touches our lives, He creates within us the desire to be holy, and if his Spirit is the power within us, our lives will be changed, and we will see him calling us out of a life centered on the flesh. Anything short of that is a counterfeit, and is no different than what the world religions experience. Even satanic cults have methods that get them into a state of euphoria. There has to be more than a moment of exhilaration.
If our faith can’t give us peace during hardship, it is not of God. Only the Spirit of God can give us joy when we fall into various trials (James 1:2). Only the life grounded in Christ can rejoice and be exceedingly joyful when our name is cast out as evil, we are mocked, reviled, and excluded from relationships (Luke 6:22-23). Only the person set apart for the kingdom can be joyful when our possessions are plundered by our enemies (Hebrews 10:34). If your life doesn’t have peace that surpasses all human understanding, your religion is built on human faith and not the gift of faith provided to us by the Holy Spirit.
We endure and have joy because we have counted the cost, and valued the spiritual things we are gaining as far greater in value than what we are losing in this world. Until I (and you) realize that faith in Christ is worth the cost, we cannot forsake all and become his disciple.
Does God want to bless us with good things in this life? He certainly does; however, he will not sacrifice your eternal good for your temporal comfort. Human nature focuses on the things that are passing, and quickly turns from the eternal. The fact is that all your possessions are worthless in the eternal picture. Does God care if you have a two-car garage, or does he care that you learn how to grow into the image of Christ? If you can have both, I believe God will bless, but the truth is that things quickly choke our lives and make us unfruitful. Put this to the test. How much time do you spend investing in your spiritual life? Now compare that to how much time you spend watching television, playing games, in recreation, hobbies, work, and all the other things in our lives. If you are like most people, you don’t have time for God because your life is too crowded with other things.
When we say that we want to experience God, most likely, what we are saying is, “I want to experience God under my own conditions.”
We want God to change who he is and conform to our standard so he can meet us under our terms. Our plan is to have an enriched life, not a changed life. Most people think of ‘life more abundantly’ as a promise for materialism instead of a life rich toward God. If possessions were the abundant life, why is
If we are demanding God to change in order to meet us, we are exalting ourselves above him. Our spirituality is then based on human pride. We will never experience God because the Bible makes it clear that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
The truth is that God reaches down to meet us in our weaknesses, but then he calls us to conform to his image so we can approach his throne. Without holiness, being set apart from our life in this sinful flesh and walking in the Spirit, we cannot see the Lord. We can’t see or experience him. Unfortunately, we are powerless to set ourselves apart by our own efforts. God does indeed reach out to us by condescending to our level through the person of Christ; however, he redeems us and then leads us into a life in the Spirit. Galatians 5:18 tells us:
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The Spirit of God transforms our lives so that we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and then leads us into the paths of righteousness. The law of sin no longer has the power to control us – if – we are led by the Spirit. The Bible says that God has foreordained our path so that we will be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). We conform so that we can draw nearer to God. Our quest for holiness is the examination of our lives as we study the scriptures. God reveals himself to us through the scriptures as he reveals things about ourselves that we need to separate from. Those who love their lives in this world cannot be his disciple because they cannot grow into Christ while holding to that which opposes him, or crowds him out of being the first love of our life.
So we are faced with a choice. Do we yield to the Spirit and conform to Christ as God commands, or do we demand God to conform to our likeness so he can have fellowship with us? One says, “Take me Lord, as I am,” and lays down their life. The other says, “Lord, accept me as I am,” and holds on to their life. The first will experience God and grow closer as they learn how to overcome the flesh, one step at a time. The second will never experience God and will have to find substitutes and counterfeits in an effort to fill the emptiness in their life. One is dependent on circumstances; the other is dependent on Christ and has joy despite even the most difficult circumstances. One is building his house on the sand; the other is building upon the rock.
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