Do some Christians experience God?

I experienced God the instant He reached down and touched me and saved me on May 18, 1963. The Holy Spirit has been with me ever since.

I think maybe I can speak for a lot of people when I say that I have experienced God much more through his Word.
That's how I reason about experiencing God. It is not something so complicated thing. We are experiencing God daily if we are walking with God faithfully.hitomi

The perfect example of being born again is when the Christian-persecuter Saul was overwhelmed by the holy spirit on the road to Damascus,then changed his name to Paul and became one of the greatest Christians of all.But for most of us,the holy spirit doesn't come all at once like that, rather it trickles into us day by day,year by year as long as we keep seeking The Truth.In modern terms,by seeking God and Jesus we are "logging on" to them,opening a communication link through which the holy spirit begins downloading into us.Prayer is a great way of 'logging on' to God to get a "power download", "After Jesus spent the night in prayer,everybody tried to touch him because power was coming from him" (Luke 6:12-19)It doesn't have to be a long formal prayer, just a chatty few little words will do.For example,Johnny Cash says in a line from a song - "I talk to Jesus every day, and he listens to every word I say, no secretary ever tells me he's been called away, I talk to Jesus every day". Personally I often say "Jesus remember me" any number of times throughout each day if I'm feeling low.In a sense, talking to Jesus is like touching him in much the same way as the woman with a haemorrhage who touched his cloak and was cured - Jesus said - "Someone touched me, I know that power has gone out from me." (Luke 8:46)

It has been my experience that God touches us all every single day. Its us that suddenly wakes up to realize He has been there all along. When we acknowledge that fact and spend more time in his Word or talking/praying with him. We feel him and see him working more and more in our lives and in the world.

(kriss;15161)
It has been my experience that God touches us all every single day. Its us that suddenly wakes up to realize He has been there all along....
Good point, he touches even atheists, but they don't know it because his loving support is taken for granted and therefore unseen by them, and it's only when it's cut off at the point of their death will they experience the awful hellish horror of not having it.I knew a middle-aged lady once who left her husband when the marriage was in trouble, they'd married at 18 and had therefore never know what loneliness was.A few months after she left, their grown-up son came bursting into her workplace shouting "Mam, mam, please come back to dad, he's on the verge of killing himself because he can't live without you!"So she went back to him, they patched things over and have been together ever since.The moral is that when she left him, her love was cut off from him and he experienced this awful terrible thing called loneliness for the first time in his life and cracked up.Maybe that's what hell is, a place where God's love doesn't reach and therefore cannot protect the victim as all the demons of hell flood into his mind..

I believe all believers experience God if they believe what Christ taught us.Some times we meet him at different stages in our lives. As a child I was raised with the knowledge of who Jesus was and I knew God. It is simple faith in Jesus that leads us to know God. When the Lord led me into the word, I knew why I knew the Lord God. Because I tried to love God and my neighbour. 24/7 his presence is with me, and he changes me into the way he wants us to be.Jesus says if you love me you will keep my commandments and I will come unto you and reveal myself to you. And my Father and I will come unto you and live with you.Yes believers should experience the presence of God and this in turn should make them want to walk aright in his sight. Out of love and gratitide for his deliverance and mercy toward us. How can our faith possibly be true if we do not know Jesus or the Father?

(Wakka;15023)
My pastor was talking about how bad today's American Church is. People are too worried about next week and what they are going to do. Then he mentioned that if you dismiss everything, and give your life to God. Then God reveals himself to those people he selects to reveal to. And the people who see God realize the folly of the world, and dedicate their entire lives, they don't fear anything but the Lord.Now, I really want to know God. I want to establish a firm relationship with God. Now, does he reveal himself to people? And has he revealed himself to you? I remember Paul Washer talking about being alone and going out to the wilderness without food to persuade God to show Himself. I really do want to experience God. I want to experience a revolution in my life.
I agree with that pastor, I know a lot of people who claim to be Christian, who walk around with fear in there mind.....they fear losing there job, they fear crime and so forth. I am often amazed how can these people claim to worship the most powerful being in the universe, whom they say is there Father, yet have so much fear in there heart.I have experience God's total protection in my life that fear is not my reality. I could tell of many incidents where in no uncertain terms that God's hands were involved in my protection. I am not saying that things that we would not desire will never happen to us, no, but nothing will ever happen to a child of God, apart from God's will, and whatever He allows is for our benefit. As the scripture says, "all things work for the good for those who love the Lord"......this also I can personally attest to. The problem with many who call themselves Christian spend very little time studying God's word. The more time one spends in prayer and study of the Bible, the closer one will be to God, and the more one will believe/trust God.

We are not only physical beings, we are spiritual as well. However, do to our fallen and cursed nature our mind has difficulty processing our sence of our spirit. As a result our communioin with God is hindered. This is why we were given a writen record of God word so that we can experience him at least to some degree. He also works in our lives reveiling things about himself through the way he treats us.Also, from my personal experiance, God works in our lives to repare the problems caused in us through the curse. Part of this is our ability to percieve the presence of God in communion with our spirit. Though the communion will not be fully restored until we gain our perfect bodies in heaven, a spark of a connection can be made in this lifetime. Pray to God to do this in you and to teach you to hear his voice (for me, I do not often hear spoken words but a sence of communion and comunication that my mind canot describe). Have patience and listen. God will work this in you when you are ready for it.

Well, I'm gonna probably seem way out in left field, but i can't keep quiet. I experienced the presence of the Lord in the most powerful way I ever have tonight at a church i visited. It was one of those line em up and lay hands on you type churches.. But i got knocked down by God and the guy didn't lay a finger on me. When I got up, I had trouble walking as if i was wobbly from drinking alcohol but better! I felt the presence of the Lord real heavy during worship. I was crying out to the Lord for more of Him and let Him know I wasnt satisfied with my current relationship with him because I want more and I want to go deeper. God was all over me while I was waiting in line.. i was already literally slightly trembling because God's presence was so heavy there before the guy even got to me. Now that I seem way off in left field, I will attempt to provide a biblical premise for what happened, and let you guys and the Holy spirit inside of you be the judge. Before I show you verses on ushering in the presence of God, I am shocked that noone here mentioned the baptism of the Holy spirit to wakka.This is something that everyone has preconcieved notions of, but explain these verses away if you can. There is something that is like adding turbo boosters to your walk with God that you are missing out on if you havent experienced. It's referred to as the "baptism of the holy spirit" by the pentecostal, charismatic, word of faith denominations although I dont call myself either of those. But i'm telling you, it works and its outlined blatently in the bible. Acts 8:14-19 14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into[c] the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." ok. Notice how these people recieved the Holy Spirit after they were already saved. Notice they recieved it through the apostles laying hands on them.Acts 9:17So Ananias left and went into the house. And he laid his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you along the way by which you came here, has sent me that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.I think it was safe to assume that Paul was already saved from literally having Jesus speak to him on that road. Notice also that Ananias laid his hands on him to recieve the Holy Spirit.Acts 19:1-6While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[c] and prophesied.Again, they were just saved and afterwards Paul laid his hands on them and they recieved the Holy Spirit.The only times you see the Holy Spirit being poured out on people without the laying on of hands was on the day of pentecost, and when the Holy spirit first fell on the gentiles from Peter's preaching in Acts 10:44.. Those were both pretty special events and seperate from normal Holy spirit baptismal through the laying on of hands in my opinionI had a little mini book by Keneth Hagen that seemed to have allot more scriputres than I could find and showed all the cases of the baptism of the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Although every case where the baptism of the holy spirit shown does not show them speaking in tongues everytime, the verses I read in his mini book gave me the faith I needed to be baptised in the holy spirit, and speak in tongues immediatelly afterwards. In the praying in tongues thread that was debated on here, i mentioned the distinction between speaking in tongues as a personal prayer language and the "gift of tongues" that is used in christian assembly where an interpreter is required. The bible does not show every case of holy spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues, but everyone I know who recieved the holy spirit this way speaks in tongues as a result of following that teaching that was circulating through the years.. whether it was just faith that manifested speaking in tongues, or if it is a set evidence immediatelly after holy spirit baptism is unknown by me.. sorry for the tangent on tongues by the way. I'm gonna post this and dig up scripture for ushering in the tangible presence of God tomorrow and also attempting to explain what exactly happened to me in my opening paragraph with scripture. I think it is best to see the reactions on this post first. I also want to add that I dont believe that baptism of the Holy Spirit is required to experience what happened to me in my opening paragraph but the two are so closelly related because it involves the ability to recieve everything God has for you. He can only give you what you can recieve. Preconcieved notions and fears of seeming weird to peers can limit Gods ability to pour himself out to you in a way that you might never have experienced before and I think that is the answer to Wakkas question.

(verzanumi24;15336)
I agree with that pastor, I know a lot of people who claim to be Christian, who walk around with fear in there mind.....they fear losing there job, they fear crime and so forth. I am often amazed how can these people claim to worship the most powerful being in the universe, whom they say is there Father, yet have so much fear in there heart.I have experience God's total protection in my life that fear is not my reality. I could tell of many incidents where in no uncertain terms that God's hands were involved in my protection. I am not saying that things that we would not desire will never happen to us, no, but nothing will ever happen to a child of God, apart from God's will, and whatever He allows is for our benefit. As the scripture says, "all things work for the good for those who love the Lord"......this also I can personally attest to. The problem with many who call themselves Christian spend very little time studying God's word. The more time one spends in prayer and study of the Bible, the closer one will be to God, and the more one will believe/trust God.
Hi verzanumi24, I was reading your post and I had this picture in my mind of you facing a man eating lion in the wilderness and seeing you run for shelter from fear. As human beings we do not stand in the wilderness where there is a man eating lion because we know God is with us. He gave us fear and adrenalin which prepares the muscles in our body to run at such times, because there is a rational element about us to understand and react when danger about us.If God has given me a mind to apprehend danger and adrenalin to run from lions and get to a place of safety. I am not going to stop using it because I want to replace what he has given me by making him do it.When I saw you with the lion I saw the funny side and I could see why some people if redundancies were coming up as a believer would feel for themselves and others. Even if they stay someone whether believer or not and their family will suffer unless the redundancies cancelled. The believer is never concerned just about themselves or their family, they are concerned about others too.We tend to generalise and see concern or anxiety to be always about fear or lack of trust in the Lord. When sometimes it is God giving them a heart and concern for other. We must remember never to become like the world." I am alright so forget about everyone else." It is posts like yours written totally unintentionally that make people feel they have failed if they feel concern about anything in their lives or for their fellow workmates. So often they will not seek help because the enemy tells them, "you do not trust God your worrying so he isn't going to help you and don't ask for help from others because they will know you have failed." True Love does not see failure and success, they see God is always faithful and will hear us when we call not matter how afraid or small our faith. Honesty is something we must all have, to face failure and mistakes, not hide them in fear.We have all fallen at some stage and some are so ashamed they feel they cannot tell others. But if they are ashamed then their repentance is sincere and God has already forgotten about it and remove the stain.Confess our faults to one another. I confess mine to others, because it does help and no one not even the devil can use them to bind us up.I think we need to just love and trust God that he is working everything for good in the life of believers.God has provided in different ways, so if you meet the lion verzanumi24,use what God has already given you and get out of there.:angel1:

(Faithful;15998)
Hi verzanumi24, I was reading your post and I had this picture in my mind of you facing a man eating lion in the wilderness and seeing you run for shelter from fear. As human beings we do not stand in the wilderness where there is a man eating lion because we know God is with us. He gave us fear and adrenalin which prepares the muscles in our body to run at such times, because there is a rational element about us to understand and react when danger about us.If God has given me a mind to apprehend danger and adrenalin to run from lions and get to a place of safety. I am not going to stop using it because I want to replace what he has given me by making him do it.When I saw you with the lion I saw the funny side and I could see why some people if redundancies were coming up as a believer would feel for themselves and others. Even if they stay someone whether believer or not and their family will suffer unless the redundancies cancelled. The believer is never concerned just about themselves or their family, they are concerned about others too.We tend to generalise and see concern or anxiety to be always about fear or lack of trust in the Lord. When sometimes it is God giving them a heart and concern for other. We must remember never to become like the world." I am alright so forget about everyone else." It is posts like yours written totally unintentionally that make people feel they have failed if they feel concern about anything in their lives or for their fellow workmates. So often they will not seek help because the enemy tells them, "you do not trust God your worrying so he isn't going to help you and don't ask for help from others because they will know you have failed." True Love does not see failure and success, they see God is always faithful and will hear us when we call not matter how afraid or small our faith. Honesty is something we must all have, to face failure and mistakes, not hide them in fear.We have all fallen at some stage and some are so ashamed they feel they cannot tell others. But if they are ashamed then their repentance is sincere and God has already forgotten about it and remove the stain.Confess our faults to one another. I confess mine to others, because it does help and no one not even the devil can use them to bind us up.I think we need to just love and trust God that he is working everything for good in the life of believers.God has provided in different ways, so if you meet the lion verzanumi24,use what God has already given you and get out of there.:angel1:
If we have fear it is not from God.2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV) 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Trusting God is more than lip serving; true faith requires you to demonstrate it in the face of danger.....faith without works is dead.James 2:18 (KJV) 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. We can all make excuses when we find ourselves lacking or we can go to God and ask Him to give us more of what we need....the choice is ours.