Experiencing God Personally

There are Christians who hold on to biblical truths, but they are not enthusiastic about spiritual experiences or strong emotions.

It is true that our feelings cannot be a reliable basis for our faith, but God is love. Without strong feelings, love is just an abstract theological idea.

The foundation of our faith is the Bible. The Holy Scriptures are from God himself. We must understand the clear theological statements in the Bible as authoritative, but it is a big mistake to focus only on theological statements.

In the Bible we also find the experiences of faithful Jews and Christians who loved God. These experiences are just as important as theological statements. They belong together, like flesh and blood, like truth and love, like light and life.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Ps 42:1–2 NIV

When we try to separate feelings and experience from truth, we go completely wrong.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control… Gal 5:22–23 NIV

This is a theological statement. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not feelings, but virtues.

Love is also a virtue, but not just a virtue. Love without feelings is not love.
Peace without feelings is not peace. Joy without feelings is not joy.

In Psalm 42, the psalmist speaks of his longing for God's presence in the services in the tabernacle or in the temple. Where God reveals his holy presence, we experience something.

There is a big difference between a map and a beautiful fertile landscape. Theological statements are our indispensable map, but God's direct presence is our promised land.

I have experienced wonderful blessings in church services. Hopefully you have too, but we no longer live in the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, God's tangible presence was mostly found in the temple, but 50 days after his death on the cross, Jesus sent us his Holy Spirit from heaven.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jn 7:38–39 NIV

It's wonderful when you experience a fresh refreshing of the Holy Spirit in a blessed worship service, but sometimes it's even better when you can feel and enjoy God's glory in your daily life at home or on a walk in the park.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Rev 3:20 NRSV

This is not just an invitation for the unconverted, but an invitation for Christians to enjoy a tangible communion with God in our everyday life.

Feeling Love and Experiencing God

We read in the Bible: ‘’God is love‘’. We believe this, but often only in theory.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Ro 5:5 NIV

How is it possible to receive strong love without experiencing tender feelings?

We hold to the truth of the Bible with conviction and determination, but when it comes to experiencing God's love, feeling His tenderness, many Bible-believing Christians shy away.

... to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find him. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us, Ac 17:27 LEB

According to the Bible, we may find God by feeling around.

This should shake Bible-believing intellectuals out of their theological world of thought.

The Holy Scriptures tell us in plain language that we can feel God.

O God, you are my God; I will seek you diligently. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you as in a dry and weary land without water. Ps 63:1 LEB

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Ps 84:2 NIV

Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. Ps 34:5 NIV

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Ps 34:8 NIV

They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. Ps 36:8 NIV

The Song of Solomon is intended to illustrate the love of God.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. So 1:2 NIV

We also read in the New Testament that extreme emotions are quite all right.

You have sorrow now, but I will see you again and then you will rejoice; and no one can rob you of that joy. Jn 16:22 The Living Bible

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 1 Pe 1:8 NIV