God’s truth & my experience

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:3–8)

Every word in this passage is true; I know it because God said it. I also know because it has played out in my experience — which is humbling.

I’ve asked and not received because I asked with a selfish motive. I’ve made friends with the world because of those selfish motives. I’ve experienced the jealousy of God for the Spirit of God that lives in me. He has protected me by grace from my own foolishness.

God has also opposed my pride, not letting me run my own life to the point of disaster. But I’ve also submitted to God and then found it possible to resist the devil and put him to flight. As I draw near to God, He is always by my side, faithful to cleanse and purify my heart. He knows how to turn me from being dual-minded (partly for God and partly for me). He has shown me that I cannot serve Him while I’m persisting in serving my selfish desires.

Today’s devotional reading says that everyone who comes to God knows instantly that the life of Christ is there, instantly. Then the “dominating power of the world, the flesh and the devil is paralyzed.” This is not by what I did, but happens because submission to God and His redemptive power sets me free from the dominion of all other forces.

In this, I rejoice! God never fails to prove the truth of what He says by applying it to my life.

Seeing Jesus

Critics say Christians have great imaginations because all other religions claim to have encounters with their gods. However, theists agree that their religious experiences directly reveal to them a “personal Being who is holy, good, awesome, separate from the subject, and One upon whom the subject depends in some way for life and care.” In other words, the Christian view of God is unique.

However, Christians who claim to ‘see God’ generally do not mean a visual or audible encounter, yet agree this is more than intellectual acknowledgment. Our descriptions are emotional, even mystical, and our experience confirms God’s existence to us. We know that He loves us and desires us to trust Him. This is a subjective rather than an objective revelation of truth. However, we also realize subjectivity is not our only claim to experiencing God. Even Christian religious experiences must be examined alongside verifiable facts.

The Christian faith rests on a solid factually foundation. History and all the canons of historical investigation verify it. At the same time, faith is more than believing facts. Faith and religious experiences also reflect an encounter with God. Objectivity and subjectivity are both vital ingredients of Christianity.

More than any other religion, Christianity confirms its truth-claims through profound, life-changing religious experiences. Jesus’ disciples set the example for countless millions of Christians to follow. The conversion of Saul is another noted example. (For more, read Christianity on the Offense by Dan Story, a Kregel Publication)

So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:17)

When Paul saw Jesus, he was blinded. Later, he regained his physical sight, but that personal encounter with Jesus Christ changed his life. Before that, he zealously focused on putting Christians to death, but after seeing Jesus, he spent the rest of his life “determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Nothing held his attraction except seeing Jesus and serving Him with his whole heart.

A spiritual and godly person is a person after God’s own heart. Those who have seen Jesus never lose the fascination for what they have seen. We struggle at times with other visions and ideas that attempt to turn us away from Him, yet He promises that those who have a pure heart will see Him, and in seeing Him we see the Father also. That vision is life-changing.

Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:19–21)

I long for the day when I will see Him with my eyes, yet as He promised, He reveals himself to all who believe in and love Him. That means even if I had no eyes, He can still manifest Himself to me.

Faith vs. Experience

A few years ago after taking hands-on training in evangelism, I had an opportunity to present the gospel to a woman I had met and befriended through answering an ad. She was needy and had some spiritual background. My evangelism mentors told me that I had a good grasp of how to tell someone about Jesus Christ so I went into the conversation with confidence.

God opened my eyes that day. The first lesson was that as soon as I began talking it was as if I forgot every bit of training that I’d been given. I messed up the entire thing, became very unsure of what I was doing, and was certain that this woman did not understand one word that I was trying to say.

The second lesson was at the end of the conversation; the woman wanted to become a Christian! I was astonished. This was a bigger learning experience than all the prior weeks of training. I found out the difference between my abilities and God’s power. Paul summarized it in these verses . . .

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Corinthians 2:1–4).

That day, the big difference between Paul and my experience was that Paul knew beforehand that his words and lofty speaking ability were not reliable. He already knew that the only power that can open hearts and transform them is the power of the Holy Spirit. For me, my attempt to speak in my own “excellent ability” should have resulted in failure, but God simply thwarted and removed what I could do and stepped into its place.

I learned from that day’s experience that God does exceedingly abundantly above all that I can ask or imagine. But there is more to this lesson. Any time that I try to put my clear knowledge of the way of salvation above confidence in the power of the Gospel, I will hinder others from knowing the reality of God’s saving power. When I rely on the clearness of my speaking or teaching, I cannot expect God’s blessing. When I rely on the Holy Spirit and God’s redemptive power, He can create His life in the hearts of others.

Yet there is more. Any learning from experience can also be unreliable, even the lessons described above. The reason for this is that experiences can change. I could share my faith with another person and do a poor job of it with the result that person turns and mocks me. This reverses what happened on that profound teaching experience. It also shows me that I need to rely on the Word of God. He says that in myself I can do nothing; only the power of Christ can reach and save souls. I need to be rooted in that reality because it is based on His Word. My experiences can go one way or another and upset my faith if I base it on them instead of what God says.

Nothing can upset God or the reality of His Redemption. If I base my faith on Him and His power, then I am secure and cannot be moved. If I base my faith on “this happened to me” then my faith is shakeable.

Human experience can be a great teacher, but if I cling to my experiences, I can become closed to the teaching of the Bible. I must give all that happens to me to God and let Him do with it as He wills, remembering that I walk by faith and not by what I can see or by what happens to me.

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Last night, I was praying about a particular experience and how I should deal with it. Lord, You lined up today’s devotional reading so that I could understand the limited value of experiences. If I make choices based on them, I could be right, but I could also be in error. Far better to make choices based on Your eternal Word.

In this case, my choice is clear. I’m to act in faith, trusting You. If I base my actions on my experience, the outcome could be a disaster. Thank You for directing me. Sticking to faith in You is always the best choice.

Established in history, not in myth

Occasionally someone comes along with the idea that the Bible is only a religious document without historical veracity. They say that the Old Testament is largely myth and the New Testament is about the “idea” of Christ, not about a real person or real events.

For me, this is interesting, but totally without value. If Christ is not real, and if He did not die for my sin, I’ve no assurance of forgiveness. If Christ did not actually rise from the dead, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, my faith is useless and my experience meaningless.

Instead, I’m firmly convinced of the reality of Jesus. I believe His Word, and have also experienced what He said would happen. He said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin. This happened to me. He also said that if we confess our sin and receive Him as Lord and Savior, we will experience a relationship with God, removal of guilt, victory over sin, and the assurance of eternal life. All that happened to me. Those who talk about the Bible as myth do not share stories of a real relationship with a real God. How could they if He is just an idea?

Today, I am reading about another promise related to my Christian experience. This one concerns the Holy Spirit. When Jesus talked to the disciples, He said that out of the heart of believers would flow living water and then John explains . . . 

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39)

At that time, the disciples did not know the Holy Spirit’s presence or power. Only after Jesus ascended to heaven would the Holy Spirit come. He told them later to be on the lookout . . . 

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

This power was the power of the Spirit, unknown to them prior but as soon as Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit came into the world and is available to all who believe. This would be a real experience, not a mere notion. In fact, the Word of God is clear that the Spirit lives in everyone who knows Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9–11)

This incredible reality was also part of Jesus’ prayer before the crucifixion. He prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Jesus made it clear that eternal life is about knowing God. Christianity is about a personal relationship made possible by the power of God and the Spirit of God who lives in all who believe.

In the very beginning, after Jesus died and rose and went to heaven, the disciples had to wait until the day of Pentecost until the Lord was glorified — an historical event. Then, as soon as that happened, the Spirit was given in that room where the believers gathered. Their experience was an historical event also.

As the Bible says, this experience marked the arrival of the Holy Spirit. It is not repeated in the lives of believers now because the Spirit is already in this world. As said, He came as soon as Jesus was glorified in His ascension and has been here ever since.

Daily, I need to remember and embrace the Spirit as a fact of my new life in Christ. I need to always maintain an attitude of relying on Him who is my life link to the living God. I can be filled with the Spirit or filled with myself at any given moment, but it is the filling of the Spirit that gives me the ability to live as I ought. It is also evidence of the ascended Christ. This Christ, who came into my life, changes me by the power of His Spirit. I need no other “events” because I already have all that I need to live a godly life of obedience.

A personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit also describes eternal life and explains to me why my mind is seldom on the past or even thinking about the future. The presence of the Holy Spirit pushes aside human thoughts of time and turns life into a glorious NOW. Just as Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.”

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Lord, knowing You is life eternal. Wow. I am continually amazed by what You have done and are doing in my life and the lives of Your people. All of these things are real, historical events. We do not exist in a nebulous and mythical idea of ‘the Christ’ but in the reality of changed lives because we have a personal relationship with a very real God. Thank You, thank You, thank You.