Going deeper in God

Sometimes we say we desire to increase in our experience of God, and we long to go deep yet we are stopped or hindered by many factors. One major factor that affects most in experiencing God’s fullness is seen in Acts 10.

Acts 10, our daily reading of the day portrays Cornelius a devout gentile, seeking for more of God. Peter is used as a divine instrument to bring Cornelius and his household into a spirit filled life. Cornelius had requested that Peter would come to visit him in his home and possibly bring the gospel message to him. Peter though willing to be used by God however knew it was against Jewish ritual laws to associate with a gentile. For Peter, the barrier preventing him from experiencing God was his tradition.

Tradition is often very prominent in limiting us from experience God’s power. Peter knew associating with the gentile Cornelius could include visiting his house, eating ungodly food, conversing with unclean people, etc. For him, these acts were forbidden, and his normal inclination would have been not to go at all. Yet God broke through Peter’s mindset via a vision. In this vision God is able to instil a new paradigm, one of inclusiveness in Peter’s psyche. Thus Peter is released to obey God in ministering to the Gentiles and witnessing God’s power at work.

Mindsets, often induced by our culture and traditions are often hard to overcome. For some it might be their church tradition has never experienced God in a certain way. While for others it could be their personality trait tends to be more conservative and thus emotionalism in spirituality is foreign to them. Yet still, others through intellectualism and rationalism legitimize their reasons for not being open to deeper things of the spirit.

Let’s learn from Peter. See how he was challenged by the spirit to deviate from the ways of his fathers. Notice though Peter at first was unwilling, yet through openness, he was persuaded to try a new path. Ask God to give you a new thought, a different vision, let him introduce his paradigms to you, so that you can fully experience God’s best.