OBEY and EXPERIENCE GOD
Experiencing God–part 7
Take some time, right now, to email me the answer to this question: what has struck you the most so far from Experiencing God?
Reality #1: God is always at work around you.
Reality #2: God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
Reality #3: God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
Reality #4: God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
Reality #5: God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
Reality #6: You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
Reality #7: You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.
DAY 1: Obedience, Part 1
1. To really experience God, you must obey Him when He speaks to you. Then you will come to know Him better and see Him accomplish His will in and through you more.
2. In the following passages, circle the words “obey” or “obeys.”
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
2. From the verses above, jot down the answers to these questions:
a. What relationship is there between obeying God and loving God?
b. What relationship is there between our claim to be a Christian and obedience?
c. In the 1 John passage, John writes, “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.” What do you think he means, that God’s love is made complete in us?
Matthew 12:46-50 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
3. How does Jesus’ summary in this little passage add to the blessings of obedience?
DAY 2: Obedience, Part 2
Review: See if you can number the 7 Realities below, in order… (if you need help, look back at DAY 1).
___ God’s invitation for you to work with Him leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
___ God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
___ God is always at work around you.
___ You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
___ God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
___ God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
___ You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.
1. One of the major principles of obedience and God’s direction is this: Am I doing what He already told me to do? Is there something that comes to your mind, here? Jot it down.
2. What is keeping you from obeying? Sometimes we’re doing all we know to do and don’t seem to be making progress. WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!! How do we then progress? The fastest way is to involve a trusted Christian brother or sister.
a. Tell them your story and your struggle to obey what God says to do.
b. Ask them to pray for you.
c. Ask them if they have any counsel for you.
d. Ask them to hold you accountable for your next small step.
3. In the next passage, underline what strikes you about Jonah’s disobedience:
Jonah 1:1-17 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
DAY 3: God Works Through You
See if you can put the seven realities in order. If you need help, look back at DAY 1.
___ God’s invitation for you to work with Him leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
___ God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
___ God is always at work around you.
___ You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
___ God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
___ God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
___ You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.
1. In our day-to-day life, God works through our obedience. He protects, He provides, He speaks to others and a whole lot more. We may not see any fireworks in our day-to-day life, but over a lifetime, God builds a testimony in our life that becomes more powerful through the years.
2. Sometimes, God does let us see His fireworks, as we’ll see in today’s story!
Exodus 7:1-6 Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
3. What was Moses commanded to do?
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But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
4. What things did God say He would do?
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And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.
5. What will be the results….
a. To the Egyptians?
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b. To the Israelites?
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6. What obedience do you need to do?
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DAY 4: You Come to Know God
Realities #1-4: God works; God pursues; God invites; God speaks.
Reality #5: God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
Reality #6: You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
Reality #7: You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.
1. Today will be quite simple! Below is a list of the SOME of the wondrous character of God. UNDERLINE the ones that God has particularly taught you!
A faithful God (Deut. 32:4)
A forgiving God (Neh. 9:17)
A refuge for His people (Joel 3:16)
A shelter from the storm (Isaiah 25:4)
A stronghold in times of trouble (Psalm 9:9)
Father (Matt. 5:16)
God Almighty (Gen. 17:1)
God my Rock (Ps. 42:9)
God my Savior (Ps. 18:46)
God of grace (1 Peter 5:10)
God our strength (Ps. 18:2)
Great and powerful God (Jer. 32:18)
Holy One (Rev. 16:5)
Lord who makes you holy (Heb. 2:11)
Lord who will provide (Gen. 22:14)
Love (1 John 4:18)
2. Which one of the names of God means most to you?
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3. Why? What is the story behind learning God as you underlined? Jot down some important details.
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4. What strikes you as you write your story?
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DAY 5: Questions and Answers
We’ll look at four questions this study may have regarding experiencing God.
#1. WHY DOES GOD SEEM TO WORK SO SLOWLY IN MY LIFE?
Questions to ask yourself:
a. Am I already doing what I know He wants me to do?
b. Am I willing to wait until He gives me a bigger assignment?
c. Perspective: God is fiercely committed to building maturity in us. This is the difference between raising a plant or an giant redwood.
#2. WHY DOESN’T GOD GIVE ME A BIG ASSIGNMENT?
Luke 16:10-13 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
What kinds of things might God be doing in your life?
#3. WHAT IS HAPPENING WHEN I OBEY AND THE DOORS CLOSE?
Acts 16:6-10 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
a. What was God doing in this episode?
b. What was Paul’s responses?
c. God directs, but His direction is not always clear to us. Look for any of the following:
(1) God wants me to seek Him more, and for more direction.
(2) I need to remain yielded to do what He says to do.
(3) Sometimes, difficulties come when we follow God. In such cases, we persevere.
(4) Sometimes, difficulties come when we follow God. In such cases we do #s (1) and (2), above.
#4. HOW CAN I KNOW WHETHER THE WORD I RECEIVE IS FROM GOD, MY SELFISH DESIRES, OR SATAN?
In the early years of being a Christian it is sometimes difficult to distinguish which voice is “in your head.”
We more learn God’s voice by staying in the bible, and talking to trusted and wise brothers in the Lord.
Here are some telltale signs of Satan’s voice:
(a) It is accusatory: “Who are you to think God would love you? Are you ever going to share your faith? Who are you to step out in faith?”
(b) It is tempting: “Oh, go ahead. No one will know. What could that hurt?” It is the next step in compromise or disobedience.
(c) It focuses on your past or future, not on the present/now! Past: “Why can’t you forgive so-and-so? God’s can’t use you; remember when you did ____________?
#5. DOES GOD HAVE ONE PLAN FOR MY LIFE FOR ETERNITY?
If God gives you specific directions like He did Noah, great. Many times, however, the direction God gives is not that specific. Why? Consider any or all of the following reasons:
a. He wants me to take the next step.
b. He knows I may “freak out” if I knew the long-range play-out.
c. He wants me to keep seeking Him, looking to Him, depending on Him and not on “the plan.”
d. From our point of view(!) the plan may “change.” We need to stay open to His direction and not “lock on” to a specific plan if He has not spoken specifically.