Claude V King-Experiencing God 30yr Anniversary/Return To Me & More Ep 58

My guest today is Claude V King. We talk about the 30th Anniversary of Experiencing God, and his new book Return to Me which is a resource to help a church encounter God. Here is his biography that I took from his Amazon page:

Claude King serves as Discipleship Specialist at LifeWay Christian Resources. He and his wife Reta are natives and current residents of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. After attending school in New Orleans, Claude began work as an editor at the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee. After a writer cancellation, he coauthored his first book (“WiseCounsel: Skills for Lay Counseling” with John Drakeford) out of sheer necessity to meet a deadline. He met and began working with Henry Blackaby in 1986. That relationship led to their developing “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God” which was first released in 1990. The popularity of that book led to opportunities to write others, first with Blackaby and then with a number of other authors. His special contribution to many of those resources has been his style of interactive writing that engages a learner in understanding and applying truths from a message to his or her life. In his current job at LifeWay, he speaks, leads workshops and seminars, and consults with pastors and church leaders to help them and their churches obey Jesus Christ’s final command to make disciples of all nations. (From Amazon.com)

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Resources Mentioned in this Episode

Claude King Website

Claude King Vimeo Videos

Return To Me Book

Experiencing God

You will never have all that you want in Jesus without this

Working in my ministry for the last 10 years has been mostly a one person thing. Don’t get me wrong at some point I would love to have a part time administrative assistant. I actually started researching five years ago. I have put together job descriptions. I have even had people prophecy over me the importance of this position to the ministry.

Then a few days ago I came across this website that allowed you to outsource 25 tasks to an assistant overseas for US $79 a month. I figured it was a low cost experiment and signed up for a month. After only a few days I have learned a lot. I learned things I like and don’t like that I never would have figured out in 5 years of research. Whether I use this service again or not again after the first month I am further ahead than those five years of research.

It got me thinking about how this true in our spiritual life as well. Sometimes it is easier to adjust a moving vehicle than one that is in park. Maybe this is why Jesus called his disciples to follow Him and then explained it as they went along. As Henry Blackaby said Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He didn’t give them a map. Some things can only be learned in the doing.

Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He didn’t give them a map.-Henry Blackaby

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There are so many applications of this to our spiritual journey. Maybe you need some mentors in your life. Rather than worry about finding the perfect mentor who is someone you could email or call today with a specific question you are struggling with right now? After a few emails, phone calls and lunch meetings you will know a little more of what you are looking for in a group of mentors (note I say group rather than just one mentor).

We want to start a Bible study plan. Start with reading a few verses every day. It is later on down the road that you can figure out if you should add Bible memorization or word studies or something else. A prayer life will grow, but it is easier to see areas to that need growth after the conversation has started. Then you can buy a book on prayer. Okay you can do that now. Has God put in your heart to start a ministry or write a book? Action is important. As I shared in a video it is important to start somewhere. The little actions make all of the difference.

As I mentioned at the top about my assistant I am still in the process of learning. I may get a month in and need to take a step back to start over. But going back at this point is still progress because I will have learned a path I don’t want to go down again. What action will you take today?

5 Surprising Results of Not Praying

These things may be surprising but they are each a result of not building your prayer life:

1. You will not appear as smart.

James says that if we lack wisdom we should ask God for wisdom and He will give it. The reverse of that is that if we don’t ask for wisdom we may not get the insight we need. Are we not getting the benefits of asking for wisdom?

2. You have to overcome more temptation than needed.

This may seem surprising, but it seems clear from Jesus’ teaching on prayer. He encourages his disciples to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” This would imply that if we don’t pray that we may face more temptation than if we had. I think I will pass on unneeded temptation, thank you very much!

3. You have less of the things that you need in life.

With the same teaching on prayer about temptation Jesus teaches them to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” As Mark Batterson says, “The greatest tragedies in life are the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.” We shouldn’t miss out by not asking.

4. Your life will be more boring.

Again this may be surprising but true prayer helps to prevent boredom in life. Part of the life of prayer is listening prayer. When we pray God promises, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalms 32:8 NIV) I have found that when I listen He often sends me on an adventure that gets my heart pounding. What adventure in life will we miss by not giving Him that space?

5. God may seem further away.

It should be no surprise, but sometimes it is, that spending time in prayer makes us more aware of the presence of God. Henry Blackaby in his classic book Experiencing God says that, “True prayer does not lead to an encounter with God; it is an encounter with God.” How often has God seemed far away when He wouldn’t if I have pressed into a time of prayer?

This post is not to make you feel guilty, but rather encourage you to take advantage of turning each of these negatives around by building your prayer life.

If you want to build your prayer life, why don’t you sign up for the blog?