Experience of God

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Scripture stresses the importance and also the possibility of a true experience of the living God. This is contrasted with the more academic knowledge about him. Experiential knowledge of God comes through personal encounter, through the witness of the Holy Spirit, through reflection on his past goodness and through the shared experiences of others.

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Personal experience of God

Contrasted with academic knowledge

Job 42:5 ESV
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
See also ; ; ;

Experience of God’s blessing

Psalm 34:8 ESV
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
See also ;

Experiencing God through Scripture

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Knowing God through the Spirit

Romans 8:15–16 ESV
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
See also ; ; ; ;

Examples of personal encounter with God

Deuteronomy 11:2–7 ESV
And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did.
See also ; Jacob; Moses; Isaiah; Saul of Tarsus; Paul; John

Sharing experience of God

Experience of God through his people

Zechariah 8:23 ESV
Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”
See also ;

Leaders with experience of God

Joshua 24:31 ESV
Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.
See also ; ; ; ;

Speaking to future generations

Deuteronomy 4:9–10 ESV
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
See also ; ; ;

Speaking from personal experience: OT

Deuteronomy 7:18–19 ESV
you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
See also David’s experience teaches him to trust God.

The exiles’ confidence is based upon God’s deliverance in the past:

;
Jeremiah 16:14–15 ESV
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

Speaking from personal experience: NT

John 3:11 ESV
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
See also ; ;
John 9:25 ESV
He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
See also ;

Confidence based on past experience

The disciples’ experience of Jesus Christ’s provision should have taught them not to worry about food;
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