Looking for HONEST answer from christians

[berk60]

I think what is said in 2 Peter 1:3-4 can be applied to experiencing God, "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, <sup class="versenum"> </sup>by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

God has given us promises in His word and we can claim them because He is faithful. I brings these up in pray and they also build my faith up knowing that what God said He will do. For an example in Philippians 1:6 it says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

 

[Domenic]

I do not believe things are by happenchance. The things in my life had their purpose, all their consequence were for my good (Romans 8:28), the trials of my faith produced their expected effect in the appointed time, and I believe necessary to my growth in Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

No, I do not believe God Who gave us His Son, or Jesus Who died for us laugh at our struggles because we read of rejoicing in the presence of angels; Who do you think it is that is rejoicing?

Luke 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

And our sufferings? 1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Do you think our God is like an old dead fish? Never smiling, or laughs? You think he is an old grump who does not know humor...he invented all our emotions.

 

[Eugene]

I do not believe things are by happenchance. The things in my life had their purpose, all their consequence were for my good (Romans 8:28), the trials of my faith produced their expected effect in the appointed time, and I believe necessary to my growth in Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

No, I do not believe God Who gave us His Son, or Jesus Who died for us laugh at our struggles because we read of rejoicing in the presence of angels; Who do you think it is that is rejoicing?

Luke 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

And our sufferings? 1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Do you think our God is like an old dead fish? Never smiling, or laughs? You think he is an old grump who does not know humor...he invented all our emotions.

Of course I believe God has all the emotions we have, though with perfect righteousness. When God said all things work together for my good, I don't believe He pranks me and sets me up for failure to get a laugh; His giving me Jesus proved that. I have met many Christians that can't seem to smile, or enjoy the life they've been given, and if they are the light, or a reflection of God maybe He is glum.

 

[fishbreath]

The reason I did not have peace is because I had not permitted the Lord to deal with some broken areas of my life

Greetings fishbreath! Nice to meet you and hear your voice here.
Cordially, Sparrow

Bless you Sparrowhawke, it is good to be here with Abba's people! :angel3

 

[for_his_glory]

I usually do not answer with just scripture alone, but I think these ones will answer your questions. Also I'm not sure if the both of you have ever the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and if you have you might need a refreshing of Gods Spirit. Many of us have fallen at times and believed God was no longer with us, but God is always there ready to pick us up when we do.

Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

 

[fishbreath]

continue to call on His name - He will bring you to that place. You obviously have a hungry heart, He will answer your heart's cry - hang on

 

[divinecloud7]

I would first ask that you perform an inner-inventory. Research your life; your lifestyle and the way you live. Taking a righteous account of how you live and what you represent.

Do you contribute to the congregation by what the word of GOD deems necessary?....or are you a bystanders on the sidelines?

Is your life filled with any immoral practices or filled with praise, generosity, love and adoration?

Another thing I always hope to address is materialism.....you cannot serve both GOD the heavenly father and mammon(money)as JESUS CHRIST said in accordance to the scriptures is that we are to sell our belongings and give it's value to the poor and those in need. You cannot live with a heart, mind and life that is burden with worldly goods; which is deceiving yourself and not the principles of Christianity.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor.<sup class="crossreference" value='(A)'></sup> Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven<sup class="crossreference" value='(B)'></sup> that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.<sup class="crossreference" value='(C)'></sup> <sup class="versenum">34 </sup>For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.<sup class="crossreference" value='(D)'></sup>

Are the things in your life necessary?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,<sup class="crossreference" value='(B)'></sup> where moths and vermin destroy,<sup class="crossreference" value='(C)'></sup> and where thieves break in and steal. <sup class="versenum">20 </sup>But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,<sup class="crossreference" value='(D)'></sup> where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.<sup class="crossreference" value='(E)'></sup> <sup class="versenum">21 </sup>For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be answered......

Praise be to GOD the heavenly father and his son lord JESUS CHRIST forever>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Comprehender]

My husband and I have both been struggling, because we do not feel the peace of God in our lives. We were both saved, or so we thought. My husband is the most commited person, and he has told me time and time again that he has cried in search of God, and has done it since he was a young boy, and never felt God. As for me, I believe, but i am not sure that i have really felt God myself either. My husband also has doubts because he does not understand how the same God who ordered to have women children and animals killed in the old testament, could be the loving God described in the new testament. My question for you all is, is there anything true about feeling God in your life? About having the changed heart and peace that God promised in his word? I am looking for honest answers, I want to know if I am just expecting God inmy life to feel like some fairy tale, or if God really does show himself, because he has yet to for me.

There is evidence of God/Love all around us. Sometimes we don't realize it though.
"There must be opposition in all things." If you never knew loneliness, you'd be less likely to appreciate the company of others.
If you never felt down/discouraged, you wouldn't appreciate times when you feel hopeful and encouraged. I think God is in everything, even the times when we are wondering about the reality of God.
In fact, some say, that God is in the void... "Be still and know that I am God." When I'm too busy going going going both mentally & physically - I'm less likely to sense Godly peace.
For most of my life, I've written goals... I need to put off my cynicisum and get back into that habit. It's powerful & also a way of connecting with God, who is Love/active faith.

 

[Comprehender]

Well said. I had sort of a hard time learning to hear God speaking to me but am getting better at it. Mostly, my mind and inner voice would be high activity so much that I couldn't or rather wouldn't be quiet long enough to hear Him. Me and my know it all self, pfff.

Be still and know that I am God...there it was for me. A clearing of the mind with an effort towards no thought, almost like meditation with a heavy dose of patience and focus on God. Be still and know that I am God...and the Spirit will at times speak.

I thought I was the only know it all-self!
Thank you for your response, Edward. Reading that, helped me feel God's spirit. I think it's in little things like that - especially in communicating within or with others.

 

[Comprehender]

You're welcome, Comprehender. The spirit was with you on that. When reading, some things just ring the bell of truth within oneself immediately, and yours was such a post. Bless you.

Funny how I have a high(ish) IQ but the more I learn, the less I feel I know, enter God. I feel like a little kid in elementary school again, when searching for God and His grace and truths.

Thank you, Edward. You're sweet. Bless you too.

I know what you mean about feeling like a kid again.
It's humbling to really exercise faith, even in the face of searching for truth.
There are so many things I want to do - to make this world a better place - but I'm scared to get in over my head, or to fail.
Young kids don't think too much about failing - they toddler around, falling all over the place, and just get up again & again with a big smile, or even laugh. :D

I like what you mentioned in one of your posts about acknowledging God's hand.
It increases our faith and confidence in God and his ability and willingness to help us.

 

[Drew]

My question for you all is, is there anything true about feeling God in your life? About having the changed heart and peace that God promised in his word? I am looking for honest answers, I want to know if I am just expecting God inmy life to feel like some fairy tale, or if God really does show himself, because he has yet to for me

My opinion will probably seem like a "good news - bad news" statement:

The Bad News: I do not believe that the Bible really promises us any kind of experiential sense of God's presence and reality, at least not in the sense that most people use when they refer to "feeling God". Many people claim to have such experiences. In all candor, I believe they are fooling themselves (not intentionally, but they are still fooling themselves).

The Good News: If I am right about this, you and your husband are in the same boat as the rest of us.

The even better news: Even though I do not believe in the kind of "touchy-feely" sense of God's presence, I certainly believe He is real and at work in the world. Although I would need to explain this in much more detail, I would say we "feel" God not in any kind of "mystical / transcendent" sense, but in a more "this worldly sense": In other words, and by way of examples, to "feel God" is not to have an unseen power give you magical signs of His presence. Instead, when you get to the point when hearing of the suffering of the poor causes your heart to ache with compassion - this is something more "this-worldy" - then you are indeed "experiencing" God.

I suspect many here will disagree with my skepticism about the "mystical transcendent" stuff. So be it.

 

[Txmom2]

I will pray for you. I know what you are going through, it is difficult for lay people to answer. Have you spoken to a clergy member\ pastor? They can help you , along with God, to feel fulfilled.

 

[ZHarner83]

I had a night when I sought God and I climbed to a level that I had not been with him... The next day I went back to worship and I felt nothing. ABSOLUTELY Nothing. If it wasn't for the night before, I would have lowered my hands and walked out of the service frustrated. But this night was different. This was a night of realization.

This night I learned that God isn't always going to give me a warm and fuzzy or a treat for doing what I am supposed to do. This was the night that I learned how to praise God and give Him glory for all that he had done, not just praising with the expectation of getting more. This was a life changing night for me. My relationship with Him has gone deeper than ever before!

Sometimes you have to realize all He has done for you and take a break from asking for more.

 

[Comprehender]

I had a night when I sought God and I climbed to a level that I had not been with him... The next day I went back to worship and I felt nothing. ABSOLUTELY Nothing. If it wasn't for the night before, I would have lowered my hands and walked out of the service frustrated. But this night was different. This was a night of realization.

This night I learned that God isn't always going to give me a warm and fuzzy or a treat for doing what I am supposed to do. This was the night that I learned how to praise God and give Him glory for all that he had done, not just praising with the expectation of getting more. This was a life changing night for me. My relationship with Him has gone deeper than ever before!

Sometimes you have to realize all He has done for you and take a break from asking for more.

I like that.
It shows that our experience with God is personal.

 

[Johann!@#]

My husband and I have both been struggling, because we do not feel the peace of God in our lives. We were both saved, or so we thought. My husband is the most commited person, and he has told me time and time again that he has cried in search of God, and has done it since he was a young boy, and never felt God. As for me, I believe, but i am not sure that i have really felt God myself either. My husband also has doubts because he does not understand how the same God who ordered to have women children and animals killed in the old testament, could be the loving God described in the new testament. My question for you all is, is there anything true about feeling God in your life? About having the changed heart and peace that God promised in his word? I am looking for honest answers, I want to know if I am just expecting God inmy life to feel like some fairy tale, or if God really does show himself, because he has yet to for me.

Read Romans 6-7 and 8 jlecrone018 then Ephesians and the little John's.
Make it a habit to listen to praise and worship music and sing along.
Johann.

 

[Tenchi]

My husband and I have both been struggling, because we do not feel the peace of God in our lives. We were both saved, or so we thought. My husband is the most commited person, and he has told me time and time again that he has cried in search of God, and has done it since he was a young boy, and never felt God.

What do you mean by "never felt God"? What sort of feeling has your husband expected to have of his Creator?

As for me, I believe, but i am not sure that i have really felt God myself either.

I'm not clear on what "feeling God" - whatever this means - has to do with being one of His children.

My husband also has doubts because he does not understand how the same God who ordered to have women children and animals killed in the old testament, could be the loving God described in the new testament.

Does your husband know why God ordered such a thing? Does he have a well-informed (that is, biblical) understanding of the context within which God issued such commands? As you've stated things here, God sounds capricious and incredibly vicious, but a careful inspection of Scripture paints a very different picture of God in His dealings with the enemy nations surrounding (and often attacking) His Chosen People.

My question for you all is, is there anything true about feeling God in your life?

I don't know what you man by "feeling God," but the Holy Spirit acts in my life daily in just the way the Bible, God's word, promises that he will. The Holy Spirit:

- convicts me of "sin, righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8)
- teaches me God's truth (provided I'm in the Bible studying it - John 16:13; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16)
- strengthens me in times of temptation and trial (Ephesians 3:16; Romans 8:13; Philippians 2:13; Philippians 4:13)
- comforts me in seasons of trouble and sorrow (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)
- transforms me, making me more and more like Jesus (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11)

By doing these things in my life every day, the Holy Spirit "bears witness with my spirit" that I am a child of God (Romans 8:16). This is what "feeling God" means, as far as Scripture is concerned. Keep in mind that all of these things are enacted by the Holy Spirit in ways that are distinct from demonic, or fleshly, counterfeits of his life and work in a child of God.

About having the changed heart and peace that God promised in his word? I am looking for honest answers, I want to know if I am just expecting God inmy life to feel like some fairy tale, or if God really does show himself, because he has yet to for me.

A "changed heart" is the by-product of daily fellowship with God, the reward of living before Him in knowledge, faith, love, submission and holiness, enjoying constant, intimate communion with Him. Such a heart does not - in practical experience, anyway - form in an instant, developing radically and explosively, altering a person forever in a single moment. Instead, God transforms His children over time, gradually, day by day, like a branch growing out from the trunk of a tree (John 15:4-5).

In what other human relationship we might have do we expect an immediate, profound and total transformation of our heart and mind in reflection of the relationship? We don't balk at the idea that the development of a human friendship within which we are greatly influenced may take many years of persistent investment of time, energy and money. Though the Twelve disciples lived with Jesus for three years, only at the very end of their time with him did they begin to see with any real clarity and understanding who he was and what he'd come to do. Paul the apostle was nearly two decades in preparation by God for the ministry to the Gentiles that he eventually had. Moses waited on the "backside of the desert" 'til he was eighty before God used him to lead the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. Only after many years of marriage intimacy do a husband and wife strongly reflect one another, thinking alike, even using the same phrases and mannerisms. In light of these examples, why do so many people think God has to change their hearts in a single, dramatic moment, rather than progressively, as the consequence of continual, daily fellowship with Himself?

God has "shown Himself" in Nature (aka - Creation), in your possession of a Moral Sense (conscience), and in the special revelation of Himself in the Bible. Why aren't these ways in which God has "shown Himself" sufficient to persuade you that He exists and can be known personally and directly? Why is a "feeling" of God also necessary?

 

[Free]

Note that this thread is from 2013 and almost all these users aren't here anymore.

 

[Tenchi]

Ah. Nuts. Necro-posting. Phooey.

 

[Josef]

Hey All,
Jlecrone018, thank you for your honesty. If you know you are saved, but have doubts because of God's silence you are not alone. If you are not saved, then you must start there. I am going assume you are saved because you struggle. The struggle, by the way, is one of the ways we know we are saved. Unbelievers do not struggle. They have no reason to. So the struggle is one way we know we are saved.

We are allowed to have doubts as believers. Thomas, s disciple, had doubts. You can have doubts and still believe. Search for answers to your doubts. There are answers.

Paul starts almost every letter he wrote with, " Grace and peace be unto you . . " That is not just a greeting. If you can understand what grace is, you will aquire peace in your heart. Grace can be defined as "unmerited favor." You did not earn it. You are not, by your own accord, deserving of it. But God bestows grace upon you when you are saved. Understanding grace brings peace. Peace is defined as, "a state of quiet or tranquillity freedom from disturbance or agitation applicable to society, to individuals, or to the temper of the mind." (From my KJV dictionary.) In one word, peace is freedom; freedom from sin as it relates to grace. Jesus put it this way.

John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

If you continue in Christ's word, the truth makes you free (at peace) because the truth brings grace.

Yes there is something you can do to feel God's presence. Find a way to serve God. Maybe its helping out in the kiddie's Sunday School. Maybe its volunteering to help at the local soup kitchen. Find a way to bless others with the talent you have been given. This is called putting your faith into action, or ministry--doing for others. My first ministry was making coffee for the folks who came to church. Our first service was at 8:00AM. So you can understand why s good cup of coffee might keep somebody awake during the service. Seeing someone drink the coffee made me happy, because I made a very small difference in their day. Ministering to others will bring you joy if you are doing it for the right reason.

There is no fairytale moment. God doesn't come riding up on a white horse. So how does God reveal Himself in a way that is real? Well there is the struggle we talked about earlier. The struggle is evidence of your faith. You struggle but you are still here. You have overcome. You still believe. Why? Because faith overcomes doubts and fears. And there is your proof that God is active in your life. I hope this helps you Jlecrone018.
Keep walking everybody. May God bless,
Taz