Let me make it very clear that I am not saying that experiences are bad. I am saying that supernatural experiences are good. I don’t have any reason to deny the goodness of experiences. I was the person who always trusted his experiences of supernatural miracles more than trusting God. I don’t mean that I didn’t trust God at all but I mean I trusted my experiences more than God. In 14 years of my faith journey and in my ministry, I trusted my experiences and that impacted me negatively. The side effect of trusting experiences was very dangerous for me. My relationship with God and dependence on Him was not that much good as it is now. By this I mean most of the time I recollected my experiences and prayed or acted for my further journey with the Lord. I was praying for others and they got supernatural healings or provisions. Whenever it did not happen, I blamed myself or others for not being capable of receiving the Lord’s blessings. In July 2019, Lord visited me and healed me. This supernatural experience of Lord’s visitation was awesome but that time Pastor Sabu Kc’s words and my friend Asgar’s counseling played a big role in my life, as the Lord used them. This was a new beginning (a fresh faith journey). Pastor Sabu said to Asgar about me- “he is carried away by his experiences.” I understood very little about this statement but my friend Asgar told me that God never wanted that people should depend on their experiences, rather He wanted that they should fully and wholeheartedly depend on Him, for a new experience, each time in a particular context. I realized that Moses was killed by God because he hit his staff to the rock. He hit the rock with the staff because he was able to divide the sea by his staff. He had wonderful experiences with his staff as he was able to perform many great miracles beyond human imagination. One of the miracles of Moses (related to his staff) is mentioned in the following story-Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night, the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak, the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen–the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore (Exodus 14:21-30 New International Version).
Another example is Saint Peter, who was carried away by his experiences and didn’t listen to Jesus’ voice. Peter was not listening to Christ and he was denying the prophecy of Christ because he trusted himself based on his experiences with Christ. Lord Jesus was trying hard to make him understand his weakness and about his upcoming humiliating situation but Peter was puffed up by his experiences. He was trying to prove the prophecy of the Old Testament and Jesus wrong. You can see this in very interesting conversation in the following verses of the Holy word-
Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same (Saint Matthew 26:31-35 New International Version).
There are numerous negative examples in the Bible which explain how those biblical characters were not successful in achieving something because of their dependence on their experiences. This changed my life. Today I depend on God and try to fully depend on God rather than my experiences. I don’t want to be carried away by my experiences anymore.
Hasti- The Testimonyman 