Experiencing God Lesson 4 

Week 2 Part 1 

1.      Open with prayer 
   1.      Begin keeping a prayer journal                                              i.     
   2.      Suggested prayer for tonight’s lesson. 
      • That God would guide them to a more God-centered life.
      • Romans 12:2 (NIV) — 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

2.      Testimony
   1.      What spoke to you? 
      • How have your daily devotions been going? (repeat) 
      • Any personal testimonies? 
      • Memory verse
        • Psalm 20:7 (NIV) — 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
          1. How would apply this to your daily life? 
          2. How should a church apply this to the way operate. 
3.      Review the Seven Realties 
   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,
   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 you.
4. God Centered Living 

A Self-Centered Life Is focused on self Is proud of self and self’s accomplishments Is self-confident Depends on self and abilities Affirms self Seeks to be acceptable to the world and its ways Looks at circumstances from a human perspective Chooses selfish and worldly living

A God-Centered Life Places confidence in God Depends on God and His ability and provision Focuses on God and His activity Is humble before God Denies self Seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness Seeks God’s perspective in every circumstance Chooses holy and godly living

 

 

 

4. 1. King Asa 
      • 2 Chronicles 14:11 (NLT) — 11 Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “O Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!”
      • 2 Chronicles 16:1–3 (NLT) — 1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa’s territory in Judah. 2 Asa responded by removing the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace. He sent it to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message: 3 “Let there be a treaty between you and me like the one between your father and my father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”
      • How is both self-centered and God-centered displayed in both passages? 
   2. The subtle trap
      • Self-centeredness is a subtle trap because it makes sense from a human perspective.
      • John 12:23–25 (NLT) — 23 Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
5. George Muller 
   1. When one person prays 
      • Muller pastored a church of defeated people. 
      • Müller wanted people to learn that God was a faithful, prayer-answering God. 
      • God led Muller to pray and then to this passage. 
      • Psalm 81:10 (NLT) — 10 For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
      • The power of one man being willing to listen and be God-centered led to a ministry that touched thousands. 
      • The orphanages had provided for more than 10,000 children. He had distributed more than eight million dollars that had been given to him in answer to prayer.
   2.  God always takes the initiative. 
      • He does not wait to see what we want to do for Him. 
      • A self-centered life tends to confuse its selfish desire with God’s will. 
      • In addition, circumstances do not always indicate a clear direction from God.
      • Open and closed doors do not always indicate God’s guidance. 
      • Check to see that prayer, the Scriptures, and circumstances agree on the direction you sense God leading you.
   3. Some ways God reveals His plans or purpose to you. 
      • He lets me see where He is already working around me.
        1. Muller saw a discouraged people. 
      • He speaks to me through Scripture and impresses on me a practical application of the truth to my life.
        1. Ps 81:10 Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
      • He gives me an earnest desire that grows stronger as I pray.
        1. Prayer is critical to a strong relationship with God. 
      • He creates circumstances around me that open a door of opportunity. 
        1. There a ton of examples.