Encountering God
Memory verse: He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. (John 8:47)
When God spoke to Moses and others in the Old Testament, those events were encounters with God. An encounter with Jesus was an encounter with God for the disciples. In the same way, your encounter with the Holy Spirit is an encounter with God for you.
Because you have the Holy Spirit, He guides you into all truth and teaches you all things. You understand spiritual truth because the Holy Spirit works in your life. You cannot understand God’s Word unless the Spirit of God teaches you. When you read the Word, the author himself is present to instruct you. Truth is never discovered; truth is revealed. When the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you, He is not leading you to an encounter with God. That is an encounter with God!
Respond to these questions/statements
Has God been speaking to you during this course?
Take a minute to think about and summarize what you sense God has spoken to you during this course.
Have you responded to what God has called to your attention?
What do you sense is your greatest spiritual challenge now?
When God spoke to Moses, what Moses did next was crucial. After Jesus spoke to the disciples, what they did next was paramount. What you do immediately after the Spirit of God speaks to you through His Word is critical. Our problem is that when the Spirit of God speaks to us, we want to debate. Moses engaged in a long discussion with God (see Exodus 3:11-4:13), and it limited him for the rest of his life. After that discussion Moses had to speak to the people through his brother, Aaron (see Exodus 4:14-16).
Regularly review what you sense God has been saying to you. If God speaks and you hear but ho not respond, a time could come when you do not hear His voice. Disobedience can lead to a “famine of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11-12).
The Gospels indicate that when Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James, and John to abandon their fishing careers and follow Him, they did so immediately (see Mark 1:16-20). Strive to be like the disciples and instantly obey every word from God.
In Luke 8:5-15, Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seeds. The seed that fell on good soil represented someone who heard God’s word, retained it, and produced fruit. Then Jesus said, “Consider carefully how you listen. Whoever had will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8:18). If you hear God’s Word and do not apply it to produce fruit in your life, even what you think you have will be taken away. Be careful how you listen to God! Make up your mind now that when the Spirit of God speaks to you, you will do whatever He says.