Experience - necessary? real? - part 2

In my last post, I concluded that experiencing God's truth in our lives is very necessary. God does not call us to blind faith. There are promises in His Word that MUST come true when we follow His ways... and come true on THIS earth in THIS time (see Mark 10:29-30). Otherwise, God would be a liar, and He cannot bear false witness to His Own Word. However, there is a point where what we experience, especially in the supernatural sense, has nothing to do with God and has no basis in God's Word.

I've heard people talk about their experiences as if it was God's Word and THE truth. Now, I do not deny that what people experience is a reality to them. It is real to them and it is true to them. But to equate that to God's Word and truth is dangerous. And Man has been doing that since the beginning of time. We've added, or we have tried to add, stuff to God's Word based on our experiences and what we think based on what we observe. But it doesn't work that way. God's Word is the same yesterday, today and forever!

It is dangerous to believe and trust in our experiences out of the light of the Gospel. Without the lamp of God's Word lighting our path, we simply stumble around in the dark.

Here are some examples of experiences that may or may not be from God, and do not necessarily have any Scriptural reference:

- When you come under the power of the Holy Spirit, you shake and tremble.
WORD Truth - though there are many examples of people trembling when in the
presence of God's power, nothing is specifically said about shaking or
trembling under the power of the Holy Spirit.
- God speaks through me in
my dreams every night. WORD Truth - though there are examples of God speaking to
people through dreams, if we were to make a statistical study of the ways God
speaks, dreams would not be a the top of the list. God often openly and directly
speaks to people; He speaks to their hearts; He speaks through OTHER people
often; He speaks through His Word; He speaks through our own God-given
intelligence and wisdom; He speaks through His apostles, prophets, pastors,
teachers and evangelists.
- God needs to confirm His Word to me, or He always confirms His Word to
me. WORD Truth - He does NOT. The book of JOb is proof positive that sometimes,
we have no idea why something happens, and God will not give us a reason. That's
why it's called faith. "NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title
deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and
the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not
revealed to the senses]" - Hebrews
11:1.

And there are a million other examples, these are just the ones I've come across recently in my dealings with people. However, like I said, we need to keep the light of the Word as our guide. Here's what I know about how our experiences and God's Word should work together.

First and foremost, the Word says that we must test every spirit. (1 John 4)
Second, everything should be established by two or three witnesses, (Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16, 2 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Timothy 5:19, Hebrews 10:28) that includes Scripture. What I mean by that is if something is mentioned once in Scripture, it should not become a doctrine or something necessary for our faith.
Thirdly, like the apostle Paul wrote, not everything is beneficial for us, though it may be permissible. (1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 10:23)

So much more can be said about this, but, really, my point is that too many Christians try to make their Christian walk overly "spiritual", when our spirituality is really strongly based in much practicality. In other words, most things spiritual have a real, practical, visible outcome in this world. And many of our practical day to day actions have a very real significance in the spiritial realm. Things do not have to have a "supernatural" phenomenon to be spiritual.

Be blessed!