How to Experience God Daily
Becoming a follower of Yeshua the Messiah starts with a simple prayer of repentance and faith. But that experience is only the beginning of a full and meaningful life of fellowship with your Creator. Yeshua said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
In this final chapter you will learn the three keys to experiencing God every day of your life. Some have described this new life as a “walk.” In the Garden of Eden God met with Adam and Eve every day. They walked together in the garden. What a beautiful picture! You can walk with God every day of your life too. Here is how.
1. Talk with God daily.
Communication is the key to any successful relationship. Can you imagine having a relationship with someone you never speak to? What would happen if you stopped talking to your best friend or to your spouse? What would happen if you stopped listening?
Now that God has forgiven your sins and made you one of His children you will want to learn to communicate with Him.
Prayer is simply talking with God. Many followers of Yeshua find it helpful to think of four ways to speak with God, easily remembered by the acrostic ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication)
Adoration: Adoration is praising and worshiping God for who He is. Psalm 100 is an example of adoration:
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
One way to adore God is to review what you learned about Him in the first section. Praise God that He and He alone is God; that He created everything; that He is all-powerful; that He is all-knowing; that He loves us even though we don’t deserve it; and that He forgives our sins.
Over time you will learn many other things about God and about who He is. As you do, write down what you learn and use that to praise and worship God the Father and Jesus.
Confession: Confession means to admit your sins and agree with God that your sin breaks His law and His heart, and therefore hinders your fellowship with Him. When God brings particular sins to mind, confess them to Him. Listen to these words from the Psalmist:
Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:16–20).
In the words of the psalm, do not “cherish sin in your heart.” Confess your sins and you will experience God’s forgiveness. John wrote in the New Testament, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness . . . My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Messiah Yeshua, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:9, 2:1–2).
David experienced this after his own sins, as we saw in a previous section. Here is yet another psalm of David describing how wonderful it is to be forgiven:
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:1–5).
Thanksgiving: Expressing gratitude is another component of our communication with God. King David said it best:
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:2–5).
It may be impossible to remember all His benefits, but you can certainly think of some. You can thank God for all He has done for you personally. For example, He has saved you from punishment for your sins. Perhaps He has given you fulfilling relationships in life, or a good job, or an experience of the wonders of nature. Regardless of your circumstances, there are things to be grateful for.
David wrote a psalm of thanksgiving to celebrate his bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Take time to read it in 1 Chronicles 16:1–36. It is a wonderful example of a combination of praise and thanksgiving; you might simply read this psalm to God as you are learning to give thanks to Him.
Supplication, or making requests: Having worshiped God, confessed our sins to Him, and thanked Him for His many blessings, now we are ready to ask for His intervention here on earth on behalf of others and ourselves. In the New Testament book of James, we read, “… pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16). Paul asked the congregations that he began to pray for him (Colossians 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:25) and in turn he prayed for them (Colossians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 1:11). Paul also suggested praying for society and civic leaders:
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1–2).
We can pray for others and for our own needs, and expect that God will act. It may be helpful to make a list of people and things to be praying for. You may want to pray for specific people on specific days, or for some people every day. Pray in expectation that God will answer. And realizing that He is wiser than we are, recognize that sometimes God may answer “no,” or answer in an unexpected way. But He will answer! One good prayer request is that God will help you to “hear” His answer. This doesn’t mean He responds in an audible voice, but if you open your heart to what God wants you to know, over time, you’ll learn to recognize His response.
Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication are the basic
elements of prayer. Prayer is the first key to experiencing God every day of your life.
2. Listen daily to what God has already said
This is the second key. God has already spoken to us through His written word, the Bible, which is also referred to as the Scripture. He has told us what we need to know about living a fulfilling and meaningful life, and it’s up to us to dig in. The Bible is easily available in stores, on the Internet, as apps for mobile devices and even as audiobooks. Several verses show us how valuable the Bible is for us:
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)
Directly or indirectly, the Bible addresses all aspects of our lives. It can be helpful to develop a Bible reading plan that fits you. For example, you might begin with the Gospel of John. Some find it helpful to read one psalm and a chapter of Proverbs each day, or a chapter of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) each day. Consider how what you are reading applies to you. Some parts of the Scripture are easier to understand than other parts, and it is normal to not understand all of it at first. What you do understand will help you grow as a follower of Yeshua and become more like him. As you grow spiritually, you will find that portions of the Bible you didn’t understand at first will begin to make sense.
You can find suggested Bible reading plans at https://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/, or simply google “bible reading plans” for similar sites.
A book such as How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, can help orient you as a new Bible reader. It’s easily available via amazon.com. A book series such as The Bible Speaks Today (published by InterVarsity Press) can help you with individual books of the Bible.
As you read through the Bible, you will find it contains many prayers that might express some of the things you want to say to God. Reading the Bible can help deepen your prayer life, just as praying can help deepen your Bible-reading experience.
In summary, when we pray, we speak to God, and open our hearts to hearing from Him. When we read the Bible with an open heart, God speaks to us. Praying is something you can do throughout the day, but it’s especially helpful to pray before reading the Bible.
3. Spend time with other followers of Yeshua
The writer of Hebrews understood the importance of spending time with other believers.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).\
The first believers in Jesus met regularly for prayer, Bible teaching and fellowship:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42–47).
Whenever people came to know Yeshua, they always met with other local believers in congregations for worship and instruction. Much of the New Testament consists of letters written to congregations of Jews and non-Jews who gathered in worship each week. You should seek to find a congregation that will help you grow spiritually (including helping you in understanding the Bible). If you need a referral to such a congregation in your area, email us at jfj@jewsforjesus.org. Tell us a little about yourself and your religious background and if possible, we’ll take that into account in making the referral.
