FOR A SEASON [caps mine]
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Be willing to drop all concepts of God. Be willing to admit, “Father, I really don’t know you. But, I want to know you, to have an experience of You.”

Don’t be afraid FOR A SEASON [caps mine] to put aside all books, even this one, to come to God empty handed, with a clean slate, to let God reveal God to you. Go within, become still and be receptive to God’s wisdom instead of man’s thoughts. Refuse to borrow from anyone’s thoughts about God. This is the Way.

When it happened to me, it was disconcerting for a time. There was the feeling “They have taken my Lord away.” But it really wasn’t the Lord at all, only dozens of borrowed, worn out powerless concepts. I had to go within, and sit, and sit, and wait. And sometimes I felt nothing. I would go about my business, and then return at night or the next day to meditate again.

Eventually something began to stir within me. There was a quickening. The Spirit of God Itself began to make Itself known to me as an experience. But this God experience, this mystical experience, was alive and had power to heal, and no man could take it from me. Neither was there any need to prove it to anyone. There was a natural tendency to keep it secret and sacred so that it could grow, rather than have discussions about it.

Once we have had this experience, it will come again and again until we have our own understanding, our own knowing of what God is. And it will lead us to the right scripture or the right book which will corroborate our experience.

~ Bill Skiles