Genesis 32:26 "And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."
What does it mean to experience God? Several years ago I was asked to compile quotations that somewhat mirrored the chapters in the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. I hope you are blessed in reading these gems from great Christians of the past centuries. I will slowly add more resources in this area.
“Not only are we to commit our lives to God, but we must also allow Him to have His way with them. The committal of all things must be accompanied by the submission in all things. When we yield our lives, we yield our plans concerning our lives, and accept God’s dealings with them. Not only “commit your way unto the Lord,” but “trust also in Him.” Not only take your hands off, but let Him put His hands on, however He may see fit. Many mistakes are made here. We commit the clay into the potter’s hands, but we do not remain under those hands. We commit the marble to the divine sculptor, but we do not relish His use of the chisel. We commit our ship to the broad ocean of His will and purpose, but we do not like the way He directs at the helm. Therefore when the potter begins shaping with painful pressure, the sculptor hammers and chisels, and the helmsman steers into the teeth of a dispiriting, heart-rending, tempest, we shrink from the pressured hammer blows and turn from the turbulent, unanticipated, swells.”—James McConkey, The Surrendered Life
“He who loves Christ the most will do the greatest amount of good. There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, by putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. If men will endure the necessary discipline, without complaining or fainting by the way, God will teach them hour by hour, and day by day. He longs to reveal His grace. If His people will remove the obstructions, He will pour forth the waters of salvation in abundant streams through the human channels. If men in humble life were encouraged to do all the good they could do, if restraining hands were not laid upon them to repress their zeal, there would be a hundred workers for Christ where now there is one.”—Desire of Ages p 250, 251
“He has a place and a use for you, but you must surrender yourself to His disposal. Refuse to be bound by customs, circumstances, or the conventions of the shore. Make Christ Captain, whilst you take to the oars. At His bidding, launch out into the deep, and remember that yonder across the waters, is the coast-line of Eternity, where in the morning-dawn the Fire and Provision of Divine Preparation await the obedient soul, and the unbroken net shall be dragged to shore, ‘full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty and three.’” F. B. Meyer, Peter p 22
“When the Spirit enters into the heart, He fills it entirely, so that the world finds no more room or place in it, because this Guest makes Himself sole Lord and Master of it. The first disciples and believers were so entirely taken possession of by this blissful dominion of the Pentecostal Spirit that they were no longer masters of their own tongues or any other member. They were compelled, as it were, to speak, even as the Spirit gave them utterance. They could not long speak according to their own judgment, knowledge, and learning. No! They were constrained to do and speak as the Holy Spirit would have them. Thus it is with every one with whom the Holy Spirit takes up His residence. He then experiences the blissful dominion of our Lord Jesus Christ in his heart. The Holy Spirit is then the scepter which is sent forth out of Zion into our hearts. He takes possession of all our will and desire, .... Gerhard Tersteegen
“What then is the secret of (the Holy Spirit’s) fullness, of His abundant life of Peace, Power, and Love? We answer: The absolute unqualified surrender of our life to God, to do His will instead of our own. Thus, when we surrender our sins and believe, we receive the Holy Spirit; when we surrender our lives and believe, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The receiving of the Spirit is God’s answer to repentance and faith; the fullness of the Spirit is God’s answer to surrender and faith. At conversion the Spirit enters; at surrender the Spirit, already entered, takes full possession. The supreme, human condition of the fullness of the Spirit is a life wholly surrendered to God to do His will.” —James McConkey, The Three-Fold Secret of the Holy Spirit, p 43
(Abiding in Christ)
“The clearer the insight into this great purpose of God, the more will the need be felt to enter very truly into God’s presence in a spirit of humble worship and holy adoration. The more we thus take time to abide in God’s presence, to enter fully into His mind and will, to get our whole soul possessed by the thought of His glorious purposes, the stronger will our faith become that God will Himself work out all the good pleasure of His will through our prayers. As the glory of God shines upon us, we shall become conscious of the depths of our helplessness and so rise up into the faith that believes that God will do above all that we can ask or think.”—Andrew Murray, The Secret of Adoration, p 16, 17