Experiencing Jesus

Do you believe that Jesus still speaks to humans? David Kinnaman shares his opinion as well as his personal experience with Jesus.

Questions for Discussion and Personal Reflection

  1. Have you ever felt that Jesus has communicated to you in a real, personal way?
  2. Do you believe that our human lives sometimes intersect with the divine?

As a researcher, you know, 56 percent of Americans say that Jesus speaks to them in a way that they feel is real and personal. I am one of those 56 percent. I believe that, that Jesus has, has helped me think about life and think about my purpose. I find him in the pages of the Bible. Um, I've experienced, um, times when I would literally say he was leading me or encouraging me or challenging me or correcting me or just, just loving me, uh, and, and all the best parts of me and all the worst parts of me. Um, I see, um, even in my own family's life, you know, times when our, our lives seem to intersect this divine world in a way that's really interesting. I was next to my daughter not too long ago, um, and I was asking her, "Why do you believe in Jesus? You know, we're— we go to church and we love being Christians, but why do you believe in Jesus?" And she said, um, "I believe in him because we read about him in the Bible, dad." And I said, "Well, that's a great answer, but we read about hobbits and trolls and wizards and other things. Like, why do we believe that Jesus is real?" And, um, she thought about that. I could tell she was really, really processing that question. And then she says, "Dad, do you remember when we were praying for some families and, and we prayed for some friends, um, Darcy and Kimball, and their kids, and then you remember how we saw them at Home Depot, like, just a few minutes later?" Like, 15 minutes after this drive we had taken, we had been praying about this family, "and, and, and remember, dad, how we looked at each other, and we felt like that's an answer to prayer?" And, and she said, "That's why I believe in Jesus." And to me it was this really, really cool moment, um, not only because, like, my child had faith but because this idea of, you know, maybe there really is some, some sense of, of, of meaning and purpose, and our human lives intersecting with what, what's happening in a spiritual way in a, in a, some other kind of dimension, and, and because our, our lives were being put out there to try to pray for the, the good of this family, um, that we had experienced Jesus in a, in a personal way. Uh, that was a, that was an incredible moment for me as a dad.