The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 

If you have been a Christian very long you are familiar with the passage quoted above from the prophet Jeremiah. Many preachers have used this text to warn against subjective spiritual experiences. I was part of a fellowship for twenty years that consistently warned against “experience-based faith.” The underlying presupposition was that all we needed for faith was the written Word of God and that spiritual experiences could be used by Satan to lead us astray. We were warned against seeking spiritual experiences, prophetic words, healings, chasing after miracles, or judging things based on what we felt in our hearts. It was if head-knowledge about God carefully derived from scripture was the only safe way to God. Jeremiah’s words were the proof text for staying away from experiential religion.

There is some truth to the warning, however, experiences are also crucial to our faith. An experience with God can be more faith building than the written word alone. Think of all the great stories in the Bible. Noah hearing from God that a great flood was on the way.. Abraham encountering God outside his tent with a promise that an impossible child was on the way. Jacob wrestling with an angel who represented God. Moses seeing a burning bush that was not devoured by the flame. David being supernaturally empowered to overcome the lion and the bear. Every person in the gospels who was given a miracle or who witnessed a miracle. Paul on the road to Damascus, etc.

Each of these stories was an example of a man or a woman who did not just read about God or hear about God but experienced God. The experience was transformative in their lives. The heart, if that equals emotionalism, can certainly lead us astray, but Jeremiah’s words were written before the Holy Spirit took up residence in God’s people. Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts though faith” (Eph. 3:16-17). We are also to love the Lord with all of our heart. Remember the disciples who were walking on the road to Emma’s after the resurrection. They encountered Christ (unknown to them) who walked with them and opened up the scripture so that they understood the necessity of Messiah being crucified and raised on the third day. After they recognized him, he disappeared and they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road…” (Luke 24:32). In this instance, the heart confirmed the truth that was being shared with them.

In addition, Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus that, “the eyes of your heart might be may be enlightened in order that you may know the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19). Although the unregenerated heart can easily be deceived, the heart enlightened by the Holy Spirit can also discern truth and the nature of God through experiences.

It is my personal experience and my observation that lives are transformed to a greater degree when people not only read the Word of God but experience God as those in the Bible experienced him. Whether a powerful answer to prayer, a moment of supernatural provision, a prophetic word that strikes home, his overpowering presence in a worship setting, a profound healing, the experience of tongues, a demon cast our after decades of torment, a still smallll voice in the darkness, or a rescue from an impossible situation. Could it be that scripture is not just to give us information about God but to also prepare us for encounters with him?

Spiritual gifts are another way we experience God. They are God working through us. These gifts were abused and misused in Corinth, but Paul did not forbid their exercise. He simply taught them how to use the gifts as God intended. Experiences are the same. I cannot seek God without experiencing him. I cannot fully know him without experiencing him.

Of course, experiences can lead us astray. Experiences must be weighed like prophetic words and tested like spirits to see if the experience lines up with the Word of God, reflects his nature and character, and bears fruit that glorifies God and points us to Jesus. My heart can be deceived but it can also be enlightened and made fit for Jesus to dwell there. Paul said that he wanted to “know Christ” (Phil. 3:10). The word he used means to know him experientially, not just intellectually. Our desire should be the same, Test and weigh your experiences with God, but do not fear them or avoid them. They are transformative.