How to Experience God Today

How does someone living in the 21st century experience God? It is easy to read the Bible and make a mental checklist of how we haven’t experienced God. I have not seen an angel, haven’t heard any deep baritone godlike voices, haven’t seen fire come down from heaven, and no holy dreams or visions.

Perhaps God wants us to enter into a relationship with Him instead of wait for some action-packed dramatic revelation. Maybe God wants us to carefully listen for the “Still Small Voice” instead of plugging our ears out of fear of a possible divine lightning bolt.

So what do we anticipate as we wait to experience God?

1. A God who desires to be experienced, wants a relationship; He calls us friends, and even says we are His children.
2. Most often God uses the ordinary things in life to draw us to Him, a beautiful sunset, the kind word of a friend, giving or receiving forgiveness, the devotion of a pet, the love of a child. Our minds just need to be fine-tuned to experience God’s touch in the everyday.
3. The Bible is a collection of smaller books that tell stories of how humans have experienced God. Reading sacred text provides an unparalleled glimpse into how people and God do relationship.
4. Getting together with others who want to experience God through community and worship has helped seekers from millennia. Learning from others can encourage and move us to know God better ourselves.
5. The words and creativity of people throughout time found in books, art, music, and other expressions has let individuals to encounter God.

The bottom line is we only need to have a heart to experience God and a willingness to focus on Him. His presence is all around us and He is drawing us to Him.