The Experience
I have often struggled to put into words even the smallest (if there is such a thing) experience with God. I am talking about the One True, Living God.
I still remember that exact moment when I was introduced to Him. Yes, God. I still cannot explain it. I am not sure that I ever will be able to. It’s an experience. Just something words don’t adequately explain nor describe, it is an experience, The Experience of life.
And once you experience it, you know you have experienced and you are never the same. And you want more; you want to know Him more. Because He is real, He is the living God, and suddenly nothing else matters.
For me, I got saved
Romans 10:9
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
And I jumped in with both feet. There was no more living haphazardly, no more knowingly living in sin, falling short of what God had planned for my life, no more dodging my purpose, I had to have more! And for the next three years that followed, I did get more. I got so much that I abstained from secular television, radio, music, and entertainment. I absorbed myself in the scriptures and all things Christian. I read books, I read the Bible, I listened to television evangelists (I don’t anymore, because I know Him and the scriptures intimately and don’t need to rely on someone else to teach me – my calling is to teach by pointing you the scriptures), went to church every time the doors opened. That was my path to my calling, it may not be yours. Pray and seek Him to find out. Because you don’t want to get caught up in the whole “religious thing”; where you are serving a pastor that does not serve God. We have all seen it and heard about it, the pastors and leaders that are leading the flock astray. Jim Jones literally had people drink Kool Aid laced with cyanide or arsenic, whatever it was, it was poisonous. There were the Mega Pastors in the Atlanta Metro Area (yes, there were several) that were having adulterous (they were married) sexual affairs both homosexual and heterosexual, living the lie of not living the scriptures they teach but condemning you for falling short of the scriptures.
Jeremiah 23:1
23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord.
Jesus said it so well in the 23rd chapter of Matthew:
Matthew 23
23 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Jesus made it clear without fear of reproach or being disliked. His purpose for coming to Earth was to seek and save that (who) which is lost. After all, He said, it is not the well that need a hospital but the sick. We ALL have sinned and fallen short and need Jesus. So it is ridiculous and damnable, to think you have “arrived” and don’t need the saving grace of the blood of Jesus, but yet want to sit high and look low upon those you feel need your shepherding because you are so much better off than them. I shake my head in disgust. And pray to God that He remove you from shepherding His people. I don’t have a church building (to burden you with a building fund – to pay for a structure God didn’t tell me to build), I like Jesus, minister and share where I am, where I am invited, and even as much in home settings. Isn’t that what Jesus did? The mission field is outside of the four walls of the church building. All that display of religion is unnecessary when you are facing a real devil and a hard times. And some of the most needing to be ministered to isn’t coming into a church. They feel they will be judged. And often times they will be. The four walls have greatly lacked compassion. So what else Jesus say regarding this:
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
These are the churches and pastors that aren’t going to make it into Heaven for eternal life, and sadly those that sat under them aren’t going to make it in either. We can speak the truth in love, but by all means – speak the truth! Having homosexuals and unwed mothers COMFORTABLY sitting in the congregation is a clear indication that the Word of God is not being taught, for fear of offending. But if we don’t say and don’t teach it, who will? Now of course, we don’t beat one over the head with it but we show them in scripture, where it is sin and sure to keep them from eternal life.
Jesus said it. They bring you into the church and you become worse than them! “You hypocrites!” is what Jesus called them:
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
Which is better, to focus on and put emphasis on the church itself or He who sanctifies (sets apart for holiness) the church? Going to church in your fancy car, with your best Sunday clothes, and sitting in your specific spot, with a title that says you hold some sort of authority, when in reality you know nothing about holiness and living righteously. It is all a façade and a front for you. Just putting on airs, as they say.
Your experience with God, The Lord, is personal and holy. If you are not getting that where you are – leave! Let me say it again – LEAVE! The 23rd chapter of Matthew in the Holy Bible tells you to do so, you have the permission of the Lord, therefore you don’t need the permission of mankind! Do not allow the pastor of such unholiness tell you otherwise. If you haven’t had The Experience with God where you are – leave! Father wants to have your heart, and that can happen in the privacy of your own home. You are in a “blind leading the blind” situation.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Verses 31-35 tell us, The Lord God gave us the prophets (I am speaking of TRUE prophets, not the so called self-proclaimed prophets that have no anointing nor any Holiness) to warn us and show us the Truth and how to discern the spirits:
1 John 4:1
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
And we must know what is of God and what is not of God, because our eternity depends on it. We are without excuse if we allow ourselves to be misguided by flesh and pride:
Philippians 2:12
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
I am thankful for my experiences with The Lord God Almighty. And it all started with an experience. He came into my heart and introduced Himself to me and I have never ever been the same.
And unlike most, I am not amazed and can’t believe when He does something in my life or in the life of others, because that is how I know Him. I don’t have to wonder or guess if He will do it, if it is His will, because I have an intimate relationship with Him and I know Him. I know His character, His will, His deity. He told me, he told us all, that He is not man that would lie and then have to repent. So I know, since that very first experience 28 years ago and all the experiences since, that He is real and Word is true and I am thankful He introduced Himself to me and changed me from the inside out and made my life for the better!
Get to know Him and ask Him for the experience that opens up the spiritual door to more experiences of Heaven here on Earth!
God bless you richly and abundantly!
Apostle & Prophetess Wendy Connor
©Wendy Connor
