Your Very Own Experience of God

“They said to the woman, ‘No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the world.’” (John 4:42, NET).

What an exciting moment this was in the history of the gospel! I have often heard it said that this woman, a Samaritan, was the first missionary in the New Testament. As soon as she came to know Jesus as Savior (Messiah), she immediately went and gathered the people of her city to come experience Him. In essence she exclaimed to them, “Come see the Man who just utterly transformed my life!”

What I want to focus on here is their response after they came out to encounter Him. “We have heard for ourselves, and we know…”

Their words describe what God wants for each one of us. Maybe we first were drawn to the gospel by someone else’s words, as this crowd was. But their experience quickly transitioned from hearsay to personal encounter. “Our belief is no longer based on what you told us about Him. It’s now based on hearing Him for our very own selves!” Notice they asserted, “[Now] we know.” This knowing… this was experiential knowledge they had gained. This is the kind of knowledge Jesus wants to lavish on you and me too… where we hear Him for ourselves.

Also notice the contrast with what He points out about the Jewish leaders in the next chapter: “And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time,” (John 5:37, NET). These leaders had no personal knowledge of God. They had not perceived Him, neither by hearing nor by seeing.

This is the opposite of what He offers us in Him. He affirmed His disciples with this joyful proclamation, “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matt. 13:16, NIV). Just like them, you and I get to see Him and hear Him for our very own selves. Everyone who wants them will receive seeing eyes and hearing ears from Holy Spirit.

What happens when we experience Him this way? Back to our original passage for today about the people of the Samaritan city, “And because of his word many more believed” (John 4:41, NET). When they heard Him for themselves, they believed. Faith rose up in their hearts. They were able to put their trust and confidence in Him.

Days when our faith feels weak are the days when we most especially need to hear God for ourselves. When we seek His face, we will find Him. We will begin to perceive Him with our spiritual eyes and ears. Hearing and seeing Him will have this result: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17, NKJV).

In that phrase “the word of God,” the Greek for “word” is rhema. It refers to the spoken word of God, the utterances of God. It refers to the way He makes His Word come alive inside of us by His Spirit. This is what the two men on the Emmaus road experienced when they described, “Did our heart not burn within us?” (Luke 24:32, NKJV).

Of course, we will not always have a dramatic experience of God’s overt manifest presence. More often than not, it will come in a “still, small voice.” However His presence comes, it will unfailingly produce faith on the inside of us. We will see Him and hear Him for ourselves, and we will believe.

*******************

What does God’s voice sound like? How do you experience hearing from Him?