Experiencing God

Alan Hermann

Experiencing God

What is the first emotion that you experience when you think of God?
There are many answers to this question. Some are helpful and some dangerous but none are neutral.

Probably the most dangerous place of all to be in, is to answer, ‘nothing’. If the thought of God brings nothing to our heart then we desperately need to spend time with Him strengthening our relationship.
There are two seemingly opposed answers that are in fact complementary. They bring together apparently differing emotions to build one glorious whole. Neither is greater than the other. Both are important on their own but together they make a far greater whole. In no particular order they are ‘awe’ and ‘love’.

Awe by itself can, if misunderstood, lead to servile fear or a sense of worthlessness. We can begin to see God as mighty but distant and lose the precious truth that we live from within His eternal hug.

Love by itself can become seen as sloppy sentimentality as we lose sight of the fact that God is our friend but not our mate. Together they show the awe filled grandeur and power of the One who loves, as well as the tender Father heart of the Creator and King.

To live the full life we need to experience the fullness of God. His hug is warm and His arms are strong.

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2013 update: 

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Call unto God so that He can answer you

To Lydia

"'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'"

Jeremiah 33:3, New International Version

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For those who think that God does not hear them. And for those who think they can not hear God because He would have disowned them .

    This was originally spoken to Jeremiah about the fate of Jerusalem. However, this promise is true in special ways for us as well. God wants us to call to him. God often waits for us to ask before he blesses us with what he longs to give us. Yet we lack the ability to comprehend and receive all the great truth about God. He is simply too big and too glorious for us to fully comprehend him and his grace.God wants us to seek him and call out to him. He wants to answer us and tell us about things beyond our human comprehension. He longs to draw us close so that we can know him. Like a scared child calls out to a loving father in the next room, we too can call on him knowing that our Father will answer, protect, and comfort us. Even more than that, our Father will reveal to us things that would be impossible for us to know without his grace.

    Almighty God and Abba Father, I do want to know you and to be known by you. Yes, there are things in my heart and my life that I wish were not there. But I know your grace and I am confident that you know my heart and its desire to reflect your glory, share your grace, and display your character.Father and Almighty God, you are breath-taking and beyond my ability to comprehend. Dear Father, please bewilder the world by coming on a day everyone least expects it. I do long to know you better, dear Father.Thank you for the gift of being your child and having my future secured. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Phil Ware and Marcus Ampe

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Roep tot God zodat Hij u kan verhoren

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2016 link update

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God doesn't call the qualified

"God doesn't call the qualified,
He qualifies the called."
- Unknown

God doesn't call people who are qualified.
He calls people who are willing,
and then He qualifies them.
- Richard Parker

God examines both rich and poor,
not according to their lands and houses,
but according to the riches of their hearts.
- St. Augustine of Hippo

We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts,
for it is impossible to live one way and pray another.
- William Law

"May you be strengthened with all power,
according to his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience with joy,
giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified us to share
in the inheritance of the saints in light."
Colossians 1:11-12

Creator of heaven and earth,
make me clean, physically and mentally healthy,
and pure of heart.
God make that I can be justified to be selected
to enter into Your kingdom.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > God roept de gekwalificeerden niet
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A viewpoint on creation

TO MARK the 150th anniversary of what they believe is a flawed theory – the publication of Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species – Lichfield Christadelphians are inviting people to hear an alternative presentation on where life on Earth came from.

Cover via Amazon

"Darwin's theory does not have a convincing explanation of how life originally came about," said a spokesman.
"Even the simplest imaginable self-sustaining life form would have to be so incredibly complicated that it is inconceivable that viable life could emerge, by chance, from a 'primordial soup'. Also, despite claims to the contrary, no believable transitional species have been identified in the fossil record even though many diligent searches have been made since Darwin's time."

Christadelphians firmly believe that life was created by an intelligent creator.
To review some of their evidence they are holding a special presentation, God's Creation, Not Darwin's Evolution at the Christadelphian Hall, Station Road, Lichfield, U.K., on March 24 at 8pm.

English: "A Venerable Orang-outang", a caricature of Charles Darwin as an ape published in The Hornet, a satirical magazine Deutsch: Man sieht Darwin als Affen dargestellt, was eine Anspielung auf seine Evolutionstheorie sein soll. Seiner Meinung nach entwickelten sich die Menschen aus den Affen, was damals eine völlig neue Vorstellung war. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go.

Dutch version / Nederlands > Wij vinden door te verliezen. We houden vast door te laten gaan.

"We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go.

We become something new by ceasing to be something old."
- Frederick Buechner


"And He was also telling them a parable:
'No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment;
otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.'"
Luke 5:36


I realize that the temple of the Creator of the earth can not have a covenant with idols.
Let me find You as the True-one,
and let me cast away the bad things in my life and let me stick to the correct values.
Let me be a temple of the living God.
Jehovah, come living among us and be my Lord God the Almighty.

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