Lesson 2

Experiencing God LS 2

Study Guide 

Week 1, Day 1 & 2

 

Review the Seven Realties 

  • God is always at work around you.
  • God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
  • God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
  • God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
  • God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
  • You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
  • You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.

Jesus is Your Way

Following Jesus is key 

  • As you follow Jesus one day at a time, He will keep you in the center of God’s will.
  • John 17:3 (NLT) — 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.
  • Real Christianity is not merely a religion; it is a relationship with a Person.
  • It is an intimate love relationship with God.
  • The purpose of this study is to have that kind of relationship with God.
  • John 10:10 (CSB) — 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. 

Looking for more? 

  • What drives us? What motivates us?
  • Maybe your Christian walk is new.
  • Maybe you have become like Ezekiel’s vision: a valley of dry bones.
  • Maybe just an earnest desire for God’s direction for your life and ministry. 
  • My prayer is that during this study you will be able to - 
  • hear when God is speaking to you;
  • clearly identify His activity in your life
  • believe Him to be and do in your life everything He has promised
  • adjust your beliefs, character, and behavior to Him and His ways
  • recognize a direction He is leading in your life and identify what He wants to do
  • clearly know what you need to do in response to His activity in your life
  • experience God accomplishing through you what only He can do
  • These things can only happen through the power and working of God’s Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will be your personal Teacher.

  • He will be your guide 
  • John 14:26 (NLT) — 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
  • John 7:17 (NLT) — 17 Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.
  • The Holy Spirit will always confirm what you are hearing to be the truth. 
  • “Therefore, your intimate relationship with God, cultivated through prayer, meditation, and Bible study, will be an indispensable part of this course.”
  • God’s word is our final authority. 
  • Don’t rely on your experience, traditions, or opinions. 
  • Allow God to work in your life and watch as God uses your availability. 
  • Ephesians 3:20 (NLT) — 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Jesus will lead the way. 

  • John 14:6 (NLT) — 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
  • If you do as Jesus tells you, you will always be in the Father’s will.

Abraham is an example

He followed one step at a time. 

Jesus is our Model

Lean not on your own understanding. 

  • This should be your guideline:
  • Always go to the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of your situation.
  • Don’t deny your experience or tradition. 
  • Just make sure they line up with what the Bible teaches.

The Bible will be your guide.

  • It is always tempting to follow the ways of the world. 
  • Many sound reasonable. 
  • But they often will lead us to dead ends.  
  • Following God is often done from blind trust. 
  • It doesn’t make sense at first. 

What is God’s will?

  • “What is God’s will for my life?” is the wrong question.
  • The correct question is what is God’s will. 
  • Once I know God’s will, then I can adjust my life to Him.
  • This is really profound. 
  • Jesus set the example for this. 
  • John 5:17 (NLT) — 17 But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”
  • We want to see where God is working and adjust our life and join him there. 
  • John 5:19–20 (NLT) — 19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.

Reality One 

  • God is always at work around you.
  • The problem is we don’t see it. 
  • To experience God in full is to recognize his activity in your life. 
  • This is the purpose of this study.