GOD EXPERIENCES

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven."

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Genesis 28:10-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we continue studying Genesis, Chapter 28, we find Jacob on the way to his uncle Laban’s home to marry one of his daughters. The Scriptures tell us that at "a certain place" between Beersheba and Haran, Jacob decides to stop for the night and as he lays his head down on a rock and drifts asleep, he had a remarkable dream unlike any he had ever had before. Look again at our verses for today again here:

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven."

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Vv.10-19

Here we find Jacob having a God experience as he sleeps in a location between Beersheba and Haran. In his dream, we find him encountering the Lord and receiving a special blessing from Him, an assurance that he would receive the "land on which (he was) lying”. The Lord also adds this:

"Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Can you imagine having that kind of dream?

Perhaps your response would be like his for as he awakes, we find him proclaiming:

"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven."

This was a completely amazing moment for Jacob and as we look at his “God experience”, we learn some great principles to apply to our lives as Christian believers.

First, how often do we have our own God experiences?

We may not have had a dream where we saw angels ascending and descending from Heaven on a stairway and maybe we haven’t had the Lord impart special blessings upon us and our ancestors, but I think I can say with full confidence that we all have had a God experience of a different type.

For example, how many times has your conscience convicted you when you were either about to sin or after you had sinned?

You know what I’m talking about, right?

There was an old cartoon that was more true to real life than a lot of people may have wanted to admit. In it, you had a character having to make a moral decision. In that moment, a little white angel would appear on his shoulder and work to influence the character to do the right thing. Then, just as quick as the white angel had appeared, a little red devil showed up on the opposite shoulder, and I’m sure you can guess was trying to convince the character to do wrong. The exchange went a little like this:

White angel: "Now you know you shouldn’t do this. It’s wrong and you know it."

Red devil: "Don’t listen to them. Do it! Do it! You know you want to do it!"

Well, consider that white angel and the urging to avoid wrong and do right (aka conviction), as a “God experience” with the Lord speaking via the Holy Spirit to guide us the right way, a way that is opposite of what the enemy wants.

Need another example?

Consider how many times you have experienced a miracle of healing or a sudden good fortune or a resolution of a long standing problem or a restoration of a broken relationship. All of these fall under the category of blessings and they are nothing short of a special, loving “God experience”, one where we feel His presence and care in a very personal way.

Need still more convincing?

How about any number of prayers that you have lifted up either for yourself, your family, or a friend?

What do you call it when those prayers are answered?

For me, it’s an awesome, amazing “God-experience”, and it happens all the time.

So there’s no shortage of God experiences that any believer will have in the course of their life. And because of this, we should respond to our Lord with praise and thanksgiving, just as Jacob did in our passage for today. Our rejoicing could even include phrases that he chose such as:

"Surely the Lord is in this place!"

and

"How awesome is this place!", the "place" being wherever we are when our “God experience” happens. We know this could be anywhere simply because our God is with us everywhere.

Today and  every day we are blessed with moving forward, my prayer is that we will be more acutely aware of God experiences when they happen to us, completely tuned in to the possibility of the Lord being at work within any and all situations and circumstances. Ultimately, He is with us and for us, the greatest assurance we could ever have to breed faith and hope within.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.