Experiencing God (2008 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God, Revised and Expanded Paperback – September 1, 2008

"Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!" -Psalm 34:8This book teaches how to live a healthy and wholistic Christian life. How to really, but REALLY have a relationship with God. Did you ever wonder whether there was more to Jesus than just going to church on sundays, reading the bible for easter and summer camps, or praying before dinner? then read this and you might find something completly new and refreshing to add to your religion (and probably more). And if you are more the type who prays every day and reads the bible a lot, even if you are really close to God; READ this. It will refresh, organize and strengthen your thoughts about your relationship with the person you think you worship. Try to get through the initial "I know this already" thoughts and you'll find something that you haven't learned before... I assure you.Now, on a more review-like note (spoiler alert):After telling you rather calvinistically that you are not the center of the world, that God is, and that it's all about him, the writer makes his case for an experience with that God based on what he calls the "Seven Realities", which are:1. God is always at work around you.2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.5. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through youIf you flinched at the mention of Calvin, you'll be delighted to know that he presents what to me is a continuationsit approach to experiencing God. I might be biased on this, but then reviews usually are. And if you flinched at the thought of continuationism, you'll be pleased to know the writer manages a thoroughly crafted balance based on scripture. Like A.W Tozer's idea that truth flies on two wings (as if saying "while it's true that A, it is also true that B"), Blackaby also compensates covering everything you need to know to have a balanced yet radical, healthy, scripture-faithful, world-impacting experience with God.

I recently purchased this revised edition. However, I have taught this life-changing study a number of times. First, it changes a person's world perspective from inward self outward to God. It changed me! I am not the center of the universe--God is! Yet, God wants to have a personal relationship with me (and you). During the course of teaching this wonderful study, I cannot recall one person who made any rash selfish claim that they said, 'God made them say'! As one starts down the journey of the seven realities talked about in the study, and you start joining in what God is doing around you, through his son and the Holy Spirit, you truly come to experiencing God!A person who makes rash, self-centered 'revelations' about what they think God wants them to do--didn't get it. Most of the time, God may only give you an initial 'door' to go through. You 'go through it' in faith. Then He reveals the next step, and so on... Billy Graham got it. He would be the first to tell you--I am just an ordinary man that focused on God, not himself, and saw where God was working and joined in. Not with any selfish motives, but faith that God, working his plan through his Holy Spirit would lead him where he wanted him to go. BUT, God does this all the time with ordinary people like you and me--completing His Plan to the end.This study, with the fundamental shift in perspective from me, to God, working through the seven realities talked in the study got me to see and experience the love relationship God wants to have with me (and you)! Once you shift from inward to outward you start to see where God is working. All you need to do is accept His invitation, have faith, making the necessary adjustments in your life to action in obedience to Him. WOW, what joy and contentment you realize, even if you don't know what's next. You do know whatever it may be, you know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.

I first read this book in 1997 and it was a life changer for me. I had been a Christian since 1979 and already considered my faith to be a relationship with the living God, rather than a religion. While my faith is entirely Bible based, as opposed to, relying on the doctrine of a domination or particular pastor, I discovered that I had created my own little box for God. I was reading the book with a group of men and we were encouraged to come back each week with quotes or portions of the book that we considered new realities, significant to our relationship with God or quotes that we questioned or disagreed with. There were a number of times I said, "he can't say that", only to find that in the light of scripture, I was wrong. I found Blackaby's writings to be very inspiring and completely consistent with the Bible. The book helped me to see where God was at work, how God worked and how He wanted to use me in that work. The book also helped me to see that God cared about every aspect of my life and He was there for me at any time that I found difficult times. This book and the Experiencing God devotional helped me to go through some of the most difficult times of my life with peace and a closure relationship with the God of the universe. I is an easy, fast read and incredibly stimulating. If you wish to know God in a more personal way, outside of the Bible, I cannot recommend a better book.