MY QUESTION:
What
if GOD is talking to you?
There is a story, which I am not correct
on the details, but is has to do with a person being in the middle of the
ocean. GOD sends a life preserver, a life boat, and a ship to save that person.
Believing in the Faith of GOD, that person in the ocean thinks that all things
are from the worldly and refuses to take advantage of them. The ending is
either with sharks or drowning. When this person reaches Heaven, GOD asks why
you didn't receive my gifts of life to save your life…
I
have a Christian friends telling me that I am being, “pushed HARD to take you
to the point where you abandon your faith in God for the worldly answers”.
I
know that there is only one author of confusion and it is not GOD.
Does
anyone else go through this stuff? Please respond, I need your input!
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
I feel that God talks to us in many way but do we
listen?
By Fran A. B
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
Gail, what an amazing and inspiring testimony! The
peace and joy that is evident in your words is living proof of the wondrous
sufficiency of our God.
Steven, I love your statement, "faith doesn't
stand still. Faith is more vibrant and changing than life itself. Our faith is
being refined and tested by fire as we grow in the Spirit...No matter what we
face or go through, we must remember His Grace is sufficient."
I often ponder how anyone can endure life without
God and make it to adulthood, let alone old age. How can anyone endure such
tragedy and grief as Gail has endured and not be bitter? How can anyone endure
the hard time that John has been going through--homeless, with all he has ever
known of success stripped away--and still be holding onto his faith that God
will provide? How does anyone survive the onslaught of physical infirmity that
many in our group have faced? The answer is right here in both Gail's and
Steven's testimonies. Our God is sufficient--His grace is sufficient--to carry
us through the deepest and darkest moments of our lives and we emerge full of
His peace that passes all understanding. It is our peace, our joy, our faith
that shouts to His greatness, often causing those who don't know Him to begin
their own journey of faith because they want what we have so desperately.
Also, when we overcome in Christ Jesus, I often
think of the distress that our victory must be causing in the enemy's camp--if
we could see the impact in the spiritual realms of what is happening with each
victory we experience in Jesus we would probably be astounded.
I thought I was finished, but the words of the old
hymn popped into my mind:
Encamped along the hills of light,
Ye Christian soldiers rise,
And press the battle ere the night
Shall veil the glowing skies;
Against the foe in vales below
Let all our strength be hurled;
Faith is the victory, we know,
That overcomes the world.
Faith is the victory!
Faith is the victory!
O glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.
By Barbara P
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
The way I heard the joke is the man finally drowns,
stands before God and says why didn't you answer my prayer for help, God says
"what did you want? I sent a row boat, a motor boat and yacht and you
didn't take any of them" There are times when God answers; it's right in
front of us and we are looking for some miraculous sign! If you think you see
an answer, but that answer is unethical, immoral, against scripture, then yeah
that answer is NOT from God. If we move forward and it's not from God, he will
tell us that also.
I am not sure if that answers your question, I hope that
I understand what you are asking there.
By Steve P
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
Love your testimony Steve. My only concern with the
let go and let God statement is that it can't allow us the excuse to remove
ourselves from taking action because "we'll let God take over."
Learning how to be God's hands and feet is an art to living the Christian faith
so we don't as you said, "Get busy with our own agenda." But it's an
art we must learn for the entire experience of Him He so desires of us. This is
why daily communication (talking AND listening (in His word, in silent
contemplation, and through others) is so vital. It can keep us in check that we
are in fact walking in His will and not chasing our own agenda.
I love what you said here about trusting and not
losing heart, which is, as you said, a gift from the Lord. And the more faith
He gives us, the more opportunities to potentially lose heart present
themselves, only because God needs to build it up like brick to really use it
in someone. We cannot let anyone or anything happen to us that will make us
lose heart. He is the faithful One and just can't forget it no matter what
things might look like in the moment!
By Gail P
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
This is a great discussion!!! I know from personal
experience that faith itself is a gift from God, not something I earned or even
chose. I didn't believe until I was 33, and when that hour came, and for a few
years after, I felt like God gave me more faith than anyone else on earth. I
had absolutely NO DOUBTS that God was real or that He takes an active part in
our lives. He was moving in my life with Old Testament miracles and pouring out
His wisdom and knowledge hidden from the foundation of the world (and still
hidden from unbelievers).
But my personal experience has also shown me that
faith doesn't stand still. Faith is more vibrant and changing than life itself.
Our faith is being refined and tested by fire as we grow in the Spirit. God
brings us new challenges every hour of every day to move us to where He wants
us to be. The challenge for me, as it must be for others as well, is to
understand that His challenges and His discipline are for our own good, without
losing heart or faith. No matter what we face or go through, we must remember
His Grace is sufficient.
When I was younger, I remember the older people
saying "Let go and let God." It didn't mean much to me then, but now
that I'm older, it makes perfect sense to me now. But getting there is still a
challenge for me. I'm still learning after all these years to "trust
God." Because I am still living and moving in the world, my agenda doesn't
always sync with His agenda, but there is no peace or happiness like the peace
and happiness that comes when I allow my agenda to sync with His. How many
times will I relearn this lesson before I "let go?"
By Steven B
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
Hi John! It is with absolute confidence that I
say--if you are being, “pushed HARD to take you to the point where you ABANDON
your faith in God for the worldly answers.” God's not doing the pushing. Even
Jesus was tempted in the dessert to turn from faith and trust in His Father
toward Satan, the tempter. We'll be tempted & tested too. Why not? We're
easy targets!
Allow me to share an event that happened a few years
after I became a Christian. My late husband & I wanted to sell our home to
pursue a modest lifestyle and be more available for whatever God might have had
for us.
We fixed the house to sell, got it ready and put a
for-sale sign out front. Two people made an offer we agreed upon but didn't
come back to sign the contract. Frustrated this happened twice, I remember
being very frustrated with God. In my prayer time I remember saying one
morning, "I don't get it? We're doing this in obedience. It's a worthy cause.
Why are you making this house sale drag on so long?"
I remember thinking a moment about the whole ordeal
and while silently thinking, I suddenly heard a command, like in my head, not a
real audible voice. It said, quite clearly, "Turn to Job 38". I had
no idea what Job 38 said but I went straight to my Bible. Turns out that Job 38
is the exact turning point in the book of Job where God basically says,
"Who are you to judge what I do, when, where, how or why?" The
passage sent me into an immediate tail spin to my knees! "Forgive me,
Father, you can do what you want with this house!" The house sold a month
later.
The point to this story is that I believe (hopefully
the Holy Spirit giving me the discernment) that God used the circumstance to
teach me something. While His goal is not to push us to ABANDON our faith
(Satan does that), He does ask us to EXAMINE the depth of our faith. God does
ask in different forms of our lives, "Am I really Lord in your life?"
Faith is not a mental "belief". It is
acceptance that He's Lord, Sovereignly leading us in that which is His will.
Why? Two reasons: For His glory and for our good (and greatest joy, by the
way.) Even Jesus only did what He saw His Heavenly Father do. If we want to me
more like Him, we'll do the Father's will also. When we pray and then put our
trust in Him, we'll know that the ship or lifeboat IS from Him. And even if we
think they arrive "by chance" or coincidence, we'll still thank God
for them and get in the boat!
The other important factor in the story you told is
that the person prayed. When we pray for rescue (or provision, or whatever), we
express a need. While we might think or even pray for what we think is the best
way to meet the need, we must be open to whatever and whenever God answers the
prayer. We get most stumped when we are tempted to wonder where God is in the
midst of prayer that SEEMS unanswered. Faith, trusting God, knows beyond doubt,
that God ALWAYS answers prayer! So we must be open to His answer knowing it is
ALWAYS for His glory and our good (and greatest joy because He is a loving
Father)--ALWAYS! The imaginary person in your story didn't recognize God's
answer to His prayer because he had his own agenda as to how his prayer would
be answered, "IF there really is a God" which is already a
demonstration of one who had no faith to begin with!
Life can be terribly difficult like the year we lost
a business & home but God provided basics each weekend in surprising ways.
In 2008 I lost twin grandbabies, my husband, step-son, 5 friends-one to murder,
and an aunt & uncle. Tragic? Yes! But God's used all of it to shape my life
into a vessel to help others in our broken world!
My dad has two words that help him when
tempted--STOP LOOKING (or considering ANYTHING outside of God's way)! Look to
God and NOT anything else! This demonstration of faith will change your life
and keep you from ever being tempted again by the evil one!
By Gail P
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Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
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Great point John--we have to listen and can't expect
to do all the talking. Just imagine what a relationship would be if one person
talked all the time and never listened, while the other one never got a word in
edgewise. We could easily describe that person as a nag. How often do we nag
God?
By Barbara P
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
As I read, I discern that prayer is part of our
communion with G-d. The "co" part of "communion" implies
there is mutuality. Prayer is not supposed to be a monologue. You don't build
much relationship that way. In fact, if my wife didn't respond to my speech to
her, I would begin to doubt she was listening. I also was not listening to her,
kind of vice or versa.
Do I hear audible voices from GOD? No, I haven't yet.
But I know He has responded.
I don't believe G-d pushes us to give up on our
faith. What He has done in my life, however, is to push me until I can no
longer hold onto my faith without Him, without His help.
By John B. T
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
Good comments and questions John. Just know that
every mature Christian has their faith tested in one way or another, and
sometimes often.
James 1:2-4: 2 Count it all joy, my brothers,[b]
when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your
faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
1 Peter 1:6-7: 6 In this you rejoice, though now for
a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so
that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes
though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and
honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
By Barbara P
Discussion:
What if GOD is talking to you?
John, I am confused on one point. Is your Christian
friend feeling pressured to take you to where you abandon your faith in lieu of
worldly answers? That sentence confuses me. That said, I wholeheartedly agree
with you that God is not the author of confusion. God does really talk to us,
although for me, not usually in a audible voice. I hear Him through His word
and I had Him give me answers from Scripture that in the natural defy logic. I
can be reading the Word about one subject and all of a sudden, I have an answer
about something else. Don't know how He does it, but it happens. He also speaks
through impressions and, for lack of a better term, a gut feeling or check in
my spirit. Sometimes something just doesn't sit right. I can't put my finger on
anything blatantly wrong but I don't have peace. That is my way of knowing to
step back and wait. What I'm contemplating may be totally fine but just not for
me at that time.
The best part is this. If we miss it, He is able to
work with us and get His directions to us. He is kind, patient and willing to
work with a seeking heart and mind.
Hope this helps.
By Mary A
