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Adjustments, Obedience, and the Joy of Experiencing God
Experiencing God (Part 5)
About this episode
In Part 5 of the Experiencing God series, Dillon and Pastor Drew explore the final step in the journey — making the necessary adjustments, walking in obedience, and discovering the joy that comes from truly experiencing God. You can't stay where you are and go with God. Following Him requires change. It requires surrender. It requires aligning our schedules, priorities, relationships, and comforts with His will. In this episode, Dillon and Pastor Drew discuss why adjustments are essential to walking with God, how Jesus modeled complete alignment with the Father, practical changes that help cultivate obedience, why obedience is God's love language, and how obedience positions us to experience God's presence and power. They also share personal stories of faith, practical habits that deepen spiritual growth, and reflections on how these principles have shaped their lives and ministries.
Key takeaways
- The key theme of this final section is that you cannot stay where you are and go with God, and Jesus is the clearest example: he entered his father's presence in prayer, received God's will, and then adjusted his life to it, sometimes moving on when it looked like he should have stayed.
- Adjustments touch schedule, priorities, relationships, and comfort, and at some point everything has to be on the table, because anything held back limits the relationship the same way holding things back limits a marriage.
- Drew describes filling his schedule as a new pastor with good things done for God, then realizing the person who interrupted his day was not a distraction to God's work but was where God was working, and that he was the distraction.
- Obedience is God's love language, and what God asks is rarely complicated, though it may be difficult or outside our comfort zone.
- Practical adjustments Drew names are waking up earlier, reading, quiet time in prayer where you stop talking and listen, and fasting, which he describes as learning to say no to self and lowering our resistance to God; Dillon adds meditating on scripture continually through the day rather than confining God to a scheduled block.
- Obedience positions us to experience God's presence and power, illustrated by Drew's story of first refusing and then giving away a $50 bill and earning $50 a day for the rest of that week, which taught him God as provider.
- The seven realities are cyclical rather than a one-through-seven path to permanent victory, so walking with God long term means simply continuing to seek him and obey in the little things; more obedience brings more adjustments, and with that comes more joy of experiencing God.
From the conversation
"You can't stay where you are and go with God."Drew Rogers
"What I realized very quickly is that person was not a distraction to God's work. That was where God was working. That was the person I needed to talk to or to help or encourage, or that needed to help and encourage me. And I was a distraction to God's work because I had scheduled out all these things that I thought I was going to do for God."Drew Rogers
"So with more obedience comes more adjustments, and with that comes more joy of experiencing God in our lives."Dillon McCurdy
Scripture referenced
- Hebrews 5 — "in the days of his flesh," cited for Jesus living as a man seeking God's will
- Mark — the account of Jesus doing a great work and then moving on the next morning instead of staying to heal more
- Ezra and Nehemiah — Dillon had been listening to these; the end of Nehemiah, where the people are confronted about foreign wives
- 1 Corinthians 7 — Paul's writing, the text of Drew's Sunday night sermon on priorities in the home
- Matthew 5 — mentioned as an example of a Bible study topic
- Luke 14:26 — whoever does not hate father, mother, brothers, children and his own life is not worthy to be a disciple (paraphrased)
- Luke 2:49 — Jesus at twelve saying he must be about his father's business (paraphrased)
- John 14:15 — if you love me, keep my commandments (paraphrased)
- John 10:10 — I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly (paraphrased)
- Genesis 4 — Cain versus Abel, bringing God an offering instead of what he wants (paraphrased)
- Hosea 6:6 — I desire mercy above sacrifice (paraphrased)
- John 21 — do you love me? Feed my sheep (paraphrased)
- Matthew 6 — Jesus assuming his disciples would pray, give, and fast, saying "when you pray, when you give, and when you fast" (paraphrased)
- 1 Samuel 12 — Samuel's ending, where no one could bring a charge against his leadership (paraphrased)
Mentioned in this episode
- Experiencing God, by Henry Blackaby — the book and workbook this five-part series has been working through
- Dr. Richard Blackaby — guest for the sixth and final episode of the series, discussing the book
- Tim — Dillon and Drew's brother-in-law, whose unconventional path into full-time ministry involved quitting a job and moving states
- A church-planting family in Dearborn — the family Drew gave the $50 to; the surname is garbled in the auto-captions
- Drew's small groups — four men who went through the book together (two are now deacons and one is his assistant pastor), a young adult group of about 15, and an all-ages group ranging from about 18 to people in their 80s
- Marco Polo — the app Dillon and Drew use to discuss the Bible throughout the day
- inthemidstpod.com — the podcast's site for resources, episodes, and updates
Discussion questions
Take it further
- Drew says the pattern of Jesus' life was prayer, receiving the father's will, and then adjusting to it. Where in your week is there actually room for that pattern?
- Dillon says that at some point everything has to be on the table and nothing is off the chopping block. What is the thing you would least want to put on the table?
- Drew realized the person interrupting his schedule was where God was working. When was the last time you treated an interruption as a distraction from God's work rather than as God's work?
- Drew describes the difference between doing things for God and spending time with God, and compares it to a workaholic dad providing for kids who just wanted him present. Which of those two describes your walk with God right now?
- Of the four adjustments Drew names — waking up earlier, reading, quiet listening prayer, and fasting — which one have you avoided, and what is the excuse you use?
- Drew disobeyed first and gave the $50 only after God prompted him a second time. Is there something specific God has already told you to do that you have not done?
- Drew says the seven realities are cyclical, not a one-time sequence ending in permanent victory. Where in the cycle are you, and what would getting back to looking for where God is working look like this week?
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