Experiencing God Unit 6: Week 6

God Speaks, Part 2

Hello eLearners and Virtual Disciples,

We have hit the 1/2 time button--6 down and 6 more to go! And not only that, we are in Part 2 of God Speaks. Next week, our unit topic will be "The Crisis of Belief." Meanwhile, this two-part lesson is an extreme blessing. It talks about how God speaks and why. It goes on to say that God has spoken and continues to speak in different ways-through visions, dreams, symbolic actions, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the Church and other ways too. One of the summary statements

that really pierced me was "That God spoke is more important than how He spoke." My Gawd! Put in my terms, any way you bless me--you know the rest. :) And, the reading under "A Wrong Pattern" was very interesting to me as well. Pictured here is one of the diagrams that caught my attention. It shows the way God speaks through prayer.

Meanwhile, here are the lesson topics for Unit 6:

Day 1: What Happens When You Pray?
Day 2: God Speaks Through Circumstances
Day 3: The Truth of Your Circumstances
Day 4: Spiritual Markers
Day 5: God Speaks Through the Church

Day one gets right to the point, so are you ready for this? Here it is: You must decide whether you will do what you want and ask God to bless it or go to work where He is working. And, if that's not enough, here's another one--God will let you know what He is doing in your life when and if you need to know. But before you go to Day 2, you've got to read about "The Silence of God." The author points out that there are 2 possible reasons for God's silences when you pray--sometimes, God's silences are caused by sin. Other times, God is silent as He prepares to bring you into a deeper understanding of Himself.
Day 2 "Go to God and ask Him to show you His perspective on your circumstances." Beloved, this lesson is a must read. Especially the part in this shaded box that talks about "When Circumstances Are Confusing." Here's one example: Do not try to understand what God is like from the middle of your circumstances. Day 3 "You cannot know the truth of your circumstance until you have heard from God--this summary statement blessed me. Here's another, Don't evaluate you situation until you have heard from Jesus. He is truth. Day 4 "When God gets ready for you to take a new step or direction in His activity, it will always be in sequence with what He has already been doing in your life." Personally, this lesson or should I say any lesson on spiritual markers really blesses me. Because-- it reminds me & reassures me that God has always had a plan for my life. And it encourages me to set aside physical markers of great things or spiritual encounters with God. I hope that you will really take time to get into the reading "A Spiritual Inventory" and create something that shows the spiritual markers that you have identified in your life. And, the last day talks about how we need to "Allow God to Speak Through the Church." One summary statement says--apart from the body you cannot fully know God's will for relating to God's people. Another one says--As I function in relationship to the church, I depend on others in the church to help me understand God's will.

I believe that this is a good time for you to evaluate your beliefs about the church. In our Bible Café we are having open sharing about what people believe about God, Jesus, the Bible and the Church. It's interesting to hear the feedback. For example, one person said that they are the church. Somebody else said that they felt that the church was where you had to go if you wanted to be saved. Another person said that the church is a body of believers and you can't really have church if it's you-by yourself. So, what do you believe about the church? Do you agree with the author?

In closing, I think that this is another power week! I hope that you are still with us and that during this season you will pace yourself and be intentional about getting this work in and Experiencing God. Yes--I said it. It's work.


Love and Blessings

Rev Kyles