“Experience Jesus. Really.” with John Eldredge

6 snips

Jun 13, 2025

John Eldredge, a psychologist and New York Times Bestselling Author, discusses the challenges of experiencing God in today’s fast-paced world. He invites listeners to embrace their inner mystic, exploring what it means to cultivate a personal relationship with God despite modern distractions. Eldredge emphasizes the healing power of Jesus' presence, especially in dealing with trauma, and encourages everyone—not just the spiritually elite—to seek a deeper, experiential faith rooted in wonder and communion.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Internet Hardens Against God

Our souls are conditioned by the internet to expect instant answers and to fear mystery.
This conditioning hardens us against experiencing the presence of God properly.

INSIGHT

We Are Amphibious Beings

We are amphibious beings created to live both physically and spiritually.
Life with God is meant to be richly experiential, involving an inner encounter with the living God.

ANECDOTE

Brother Lawrence's Kitchen Communion

Brother Lawrence was a clumsy Carmelite friar who found God’s presence in everyday kitchen work.
He practiced the presence of God as an inner communion while performing ordinary tasks.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

We’re living in a time that’s quietly—but profoundly—reshaping our souls.

Formed by a world of speed, efficiency, and endless information, most of us have been trained to seek quick answers, avoid ambiguity, and live with the belief that if we just do X, then Y will happen. It's not our fault—we’ve been discipled by our cultural moment, where data is king and mystery is often treated with suspicion.

In the process, many of us have come to approach faith with an overdeveloped left brain—craving clarity and control, while growing uncomfortable with the unknown, the mystical, the experiential. And yet… something deeper in us still longs for more.

In this episode, Dr. Dan Allender is joined by psychologist and New York Times Bestselling Author John Eldredge to explore the themes of John’s new book, “Experience Jesus. Really.” Together, they offer a timely, tender invitation: to recover a life with God that is not only true, but felt—a life rooted in presence, wonder, and communion.

This conversation explores:

Why our modern world makes it hard to access the presence of God
The invitation to become an “ordinary mystic”—someone who experiences God from the inside out
What it means to live as an “amphibious” being, rooted in both the physical and spiritual
How the presence of Jesus brings refuge, healing, and integration—especially in trauma
Why this isn’t just for the spiritual elite—but for all of us, here and now

John draws from the wisdom of Christian mystics, scripture, and his own story to illuminate what it means to truly walk with Jesus today—in your body, your story, and your real life.

If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I want to experience more of God, but I don’t know how”—we invite you to listen to this episode.

Listener Resources:

Be sure to check out John Eldredge’s latest book, “Experience Jesus. Really.” here: https://wildatheart.org/books/experience-jesus-really
Revisit the webinar, “The Power of Jesus in Therapeutic Practice” with Dan Allender and John Eldredge, to discover how to authentically integrate best practices with the healing power and loving care of God in your therapy practice: https://online.theallendercenter.org/courses/stories-that-shape-us-the-power-of-jesus-in-therapeutic-practice