LOVE

noun

1. An intense feeling of deep affection

2. A great interest and pleasure in something

verb

1. Feel deep affection for (someone or something)

2. Like or enjoy very much

Welcome to the Experiencing God reading plan, based on the book Experiencing God. Over the next seven days, you will discover your unique way of experiencing God personally. How we either experience God or don't experience God has a tremendous impact on our lives.

The premise of this concept is similar to Dr. Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages. We all have a distinct way of conveying and receiving love—our Love Language. In essence, we also have distinct ways of experiencing God and His love for us—a spiritual love language with God, if you will.

Identifying your personal connection point with God will help you experience His love more easily and deeply. You will learn how to connect with Him in a way that allows you to feel His love for you. So let's go.

The 10 Experiences of God I'm about to share may not be an exhaustive list, but I have observed these after working with thousands of individuals.

To clarify, all of the ten ways we express our love to God and how we often receive His love for us have to do with us, not God. God's love is infinite, vast, and more significant than we could ever truly fathom. His passion is in all of the following; He is in all of them; it varies among us, not Him. I want to make it overtly clear that I'm not trying to limit God's love, how He expresses it, or how we receive it. So here is the list I have personally experienced and observed by others: (By the way, these are in no particular order. None of these are more important than any other.)

1. Worship

2. Prayer

3. Community

4. Scripture

5. Giving

6. Serving

7. Nature

8. Creativity

9. Teaching

10. Tradition

Before I jump into each of these Love Languages with God and show precisely what they look like, I want to reiterate that all of the above are ways that God communicates love to us, His children. All of them are important and have deep spiritual meaning. But as you read this list, you most likely resonated with one, two, or three. For you spiritual types, four or five. You also likely read a few of them and thought, "Really? Someone feels closer to God while doing that?" EXACTLY! That's the point!