Prayer & Experiencing God--Part 1

Prayer

Over the past several weeks we have been studying prayer and how we should pray.

For the next two weeks I want to look at what prayer does for us. You see prayer helps us get to know God better. Or to put it another way, Prayer helps us get in tune with God!

Perhaps, one of the more influential Bible studies I ever did was called “Experiencing God” written by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. I’ve worked through this Bible study twice in my life and taught it two other times. In fact, it was a statement in this study that God used to send me back to Seminary.

In this study, Blackaby gives us “Seven Realities of Experiencing God.”

I want us to look at these seven realities in our time together this week and next.

God Is Always At Work Around You

The first reality that we want to look at is the fact that God is always at work around us. Jesus talked about this very fact in .

Philippians 2:12–16 NIV84

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

John 5:17 NIV84

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

All we have to do is look around us and we will see that God is working all around us.

One way God is working is in the beauty of creation that is all around us.

Psalm 19:1-

Psalm 19:1–4 NIV84

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

All we have to do is look around, and we will see God working. He is working in nature. And he is working in the lives of people around us.

Question: Do you see God working around you?

God Pursues A Continual Love Relationship With Us

This is hard for some people to grasp. So many times we think of relating to God as some kind of cosmic game of “Whack-a-Mole.” We believe God is sitting up in heaven just waiting for us to mess up so he can whack us on the head.

But look at , because it presents a different story.

John 6:44–46 NIV84

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.

If that is not enough, God has already demonstrated His love for us when He sent Jesus to earth to pay the penalty of our sin.

Romans

Romans 5:7–11 NIV84

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This is an amazing truth. Yet, the sad thing is many people who profess they know God, have never experienced the reconciliation to God that comes from knowing Jesus.

The reality that we just read hinges on one phrase, “God pursues . . .” The fact is our human nature does not naturally pursue God, so God had to pursue us.

It is important to also notice the kind of relationship that “God pursues.” This reality states that God pursues, “a continual love relationship with us!” There are to key words in this phrase. First is the word, “continual.” God never tires of pursuing us. He never tires of seeking after us. His pursuit is continual.

The second significant word in this phrase is, “love.” His love never fails. Look at .

Lamentations 3:22 NIV84

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Lamentations

Lamentations 3:22–24 NIV84

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

If we look at this same passage in the Message we see even more of the beauty of it.

Lamentations 3:22–24 The Message

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.

I love the last part of this verse in the Message. “I am sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.”

Question: Is the love of God all you have left?

If not, remember that God is ALWAYS pursuing you.

The final reality that I want to look at today is the third reality.

God Invites Us To Become Involved With Him

From the beginning of creation, God intended for man to work with Him. In fact, when God put Adam (man) in the Garden of Eden He did it so that Adam would care for it. Look at

Genesis 2:15 NIV84

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

In the New Testament we are told obedience to God is equal with loving God. And it is how we get to KNOW God. Look at the words of Jesus in .

John 14:21 NIV84

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

God desires that we join with Him in the work that He is doing. It is not our work—this church is not our church. The missionaries we support are not our missionaries. The work that I do for God is not my work!

ALL of this is God’s work which He allows me to join and actually wants me to join. For God loves it when His people join with Him in the work that He is doing!

Question: Are you accepting God’s invitation to become involved with Him?

So What?

We need to see the truths of these three realities:

God is at work around us!

God is pursuing a love relationship with us!

God invites us to become involved with Him!