At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” — 1 Kings 18:36-39

(NIV)
It’s one thing to know about God.  It’s a completely different thing to really know God.  To truly know God you must experience His power firsthand.

In the book Experiencing God, author Henry Blackaby lays out the steps to experiencing God firsthand.

1. Pray.  Ask God what He wants you to do for Him.
2. God speaks.  Scripture tells us God is eager to give us guidance.  God speaks to us in many ways including through scripture, through the counsel of wise Christ-followers, and through thoughts the Holy Spirit places in our minds.  We could do a whole series on how to listen to God but three key elements are to be quiet, be patient, and then to test what you sense God is saying to you by making sure it is consistent with the Bible.
3. Crisis of belief.  Once God speaks to you, you have to decide whether you really believe God is who He says He is.  God will ask you to do something you cannot do on your own.  If God does not help you, you will fail.  Do you believe He is willing and able to come through?
4. Adjust your life.  If you decide you believe God is willing and able to help you do what He’s asking you to do, then you have to choose whether or not you will do what He’s asked you to do.  God almost never does His part until after you take action.
5. Experiencing God through obedience. Once you obey God’s calling, He will accomplish His work through you and you will come to know Him firsthand through experience.

In 1 Kings 18 God told Elijah to challenge the prophets of Baal to a duel.  Whoever’s god sends down fire from heaven lives, whoever’s doesn’t get their throats cut.  Talk about a step of faith!  He asked Elijah to do something he obviously could not do on his own.  Elijah had to choose whether He believed God would come through or not.  Then he had to choose to whether he would act on that belief – would he challenge the 450 prophets of Baal?  Would he show up for the duel?  If he hadn’t done so, Elijah never would never have seen God come through firsthand.

Chances are God won’t ask you to challenge 450 prophets of Baal to a fiery duel, but maybe He wants you to walk across the room and have a spiritual conversation with a neighbor or co-worker.  Maybe He wants you to go downtown to feed the homeless.  Maybe He is calling you to lead a small group, a ministry team, a missions trip, or something bigger.

Questions to Ponder

• Am I listening closely for God to speak by making myself quiet and reading scripture?
• Is there anything I already know God is asking me to do, but I’m not doing because it’s too big for me?  (Remember, that’s the point.  God wants you to do things that are too big for you so you can see Him do what only He can do.)
• Am I ready to experience God for myself by taking my faith beyond “head knowledge” and following His leading?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 1:22 am and is filed under Week 1: How to Start a Fire. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.