How to Enjoy God
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- Experiencing God: Moving Beyond Head Knowledge to Heart Reality
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy for our spiritual journey to become confined to intellectual understanding-knowing about God without truly experiencing Him. Dennis Clark’s teaching on how to enjoy God challenges us to move beyond this head knowledge and invites us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Lord. This teaching emphasizes the importance of engaging with God through our spirit, rather than relying solely on our minds.
Pastor Dennis introduces the concept of **dual awareness**, which is the practice of maintaining spiritual peace and awareness in our hearts while navigating the complexities of daily life. This dual awareness allows us to stay connected to God’s presence, regardless of external circumstances or mental distractions. It’s not enough to just think about God or know scripture; we must learn to “drop down” into our spirit, where true communion with God takes place.
One of the key ideas in this teaching is the distinction between head knowledge and *heart reality*. He uses the analogy of the human body’s organs to illustrate how we often attempt to engage with God using the wrong “organ.” Just as we cannot hear with our eyes or see with our ears, we cannot truly experience God by using only our minds. Our spirit is the organ designed for encountering God, and it is through this spiritual awareness that we can substantiate our faith, transforming it from mere belief into a lived reality.
Dennis Clark also explores the idea of *life joy**, a deep, enviable joy that comes not from our circumstances but from our connection to God. This joy is described as *Makarios in the Greek, a state of spiritual prosperity that is independent of external factors. The teaching encourages us to move from simply knowing about this joy to truly experiencing it in our daily lives, through a constant, conscious connection to God’s presence.
In addition, the teaching emphasizes the importance of *substance* in our spiritual life. Faith, according to Pastor Clark, is not a vague hope but a tangible substance that must be experienced and substantiated in our spirit. This is where true transformation happens-when the things we know in our head are experienced in our spirit, becoming part of us and enabling us to express God’s life and love in everything we do.
Finally, Pastor Clark challenges us to engage in **spiritual eating and drinking**, a metaphor for absorbing God’s word and presence in a way that it becomes part of us, just as food becomes part of our physical bodies. This process involves marinating in God’s reality, allowing His initiative to lead our lives, and experiencing His provision in every aspect of our existence.
Dennis Clark’s teaching is a powerful reminder that the Christian life is meant to be one of deep, personal experience with God, not just intellectual understanding. By learning to engage our spirit, maintaining dual awareness, and substantiating our faith, we can move from a surface-level relationship with God to one that is rich, fulfilling, and transformative. This is how we truly enjoy God-by experiencing His presence in a way that saturates every part of our being and overflows into every aspect of our lives.
This a blessing it is what I need to hear over and over. My spirit is drinking and eating. Thank you for feeding us the Lord Jesus christ.
This was VERY helpful; thank you for going granular... and for the excellent info in the Description Box as well.
You are so welcome!