Christians, how does God speak to you? (prayer, Bible, baptism)

[irishmom]

Originally Posted by kaykay

LOL! Absolutely! But with the amount of people trying to get through, we'd probably get a busy signal or get parked on HOLD by some angelic receptionist!

Oh or even worse a computerized angel voice...."for urgent requests press 1...for spiritual enlightenment press 2...para espanol....etc..."...LOL

[HGONZ001]

He crawls at night next to me, and whispers in my ear....."I see dead people".

[Pathwalker]

Originally Posted by kaykay

I'm glad to see you back posting again, and true to form, as you might expect, I would emphasize that while I do believe God can speak to us in ways that might seem "like a sign," we need to be exceedingly careful about this kind of guidance. I know from a couple of personal experiences in the past (which I don't want to share here) that if I had heeded an experience as "a message from God" I would have been making a huge mistake. I can see only from hindsight. Thankfully, God intervened in those instance to keep me from real spiritual peril when I seriously considered taken action on the "sign." (Sorry to be cryptic but I really am not prepared to share the details on this board.) Just suffice to say...what I've already said. Blessings to you, Rob!

Thank you.

I understand what you're saying, and what you are thinking about with respect to what I've said, and I appreciate it. I'm simply trying to figure it out. I know that we can be deceived - even by those who perform miracles. But we can be deceived by a LOT of people that we think we can trust. So how do you know that you really can trust them - your church pastors, elders, contemporary Christian authors, friends, and others (particularly among the multitude of different Protestant confessions) - when they each claim the Holy Spirit is guiding them in their beliefs, and those beliefs tend to be supported by Scripture?

For a long time, I was thinking maybe God was giving me signs about wanting me to be friends with a particular person. But something happened within the past couple of days that has led me to believe otherwise. In fact, if I had followed what I thought were those signs over the years, I could have ended up in a very confusing, unhappy mess in my life. I mean, without going into great detail, it was just yesterday that God intervened and brought a complete end to the whole confusing mess and FINALLY opened my eyes to see clearly that this person was quite possibly the WORST person that came into my life 20 years ago. I mean, it really is true what they say about hindsight being 20/20. I CANNOT BELIEVE it took me so long to finally see things clearly. Only after God finally stepped in was I able to do that.

Originally Posted by Ruralgalnebraska

I not only feel the things you saw and wondered if they were God...WERE from God but I also feel you will be seeing much more of this way of communication from him in the near days to come!

Out of idle curiosity, why do you feel that way?

[kaykay]

Well, Rob, we do "see through a glass darkly" as the Bible says. As irishmom said it would be so much easier if God had a "batphone."

For me, in situations where the Bible is clear, I let it speak to the situation. However, sometimes two principles seem in conflict with each other and true wisdom is needed to discern God's way in the situation. Yes, we can't always count on even Godly pastors, priests, friends etc. to always have the right answer. However, scripture does tell us that in a "multitude of counselors there is safety." Proverbs 24:6 ASV In my own life, though, I trust Godly counsel way above a "sign." In fact, sometimes I think the "counsel" is the true sign if you know what I mean.

Sounds like God may have given you some clarity by closing a door so to speak. Someone (I think it may have been arguy) that said he continues to pray about a situation until he either "knows" the answer or has peace about "not knowing." I thought that was good.

[Ruralgalnebraska]

Quote:
Out of idle curiosity, why do you feel that way?


How do I explain? It's actually more of a knowing the a feeling.
God gives spiritual gifts to his people. You can read about this in the bible.

[Pathwalker]

Originally Posted by kaykay

Well, Rob, we do "see through a glass darkly" as the Bible says. As irishmom said it would be so much easier if God had a "batphone."

For me, in situations where the Bible is clear, I let it speak to the situation. However, sometimes two principles seem in conflict with each other and true wisdom is needed to discern God's way in the situation. Yes, we can't always count on even Godly pastors, priests, friends etc. to always have the right answer. However, scripture does tell us that in a "multitude of counselors there is safety." Proverbs 24:6 ASV

I can agree with that, but I don't believe those counselors will all be giving a multitude of differing opinions. If they aren't all in accord, it wouldn't be beneficial.

Originally Posted by kaykay

Sounds like God may have given you some clarity by closing a door so to speak. Someone (I think it may have been arguy) that said he continues to pray about a situation until he either "knows" the answer or has peace about "not knowing." I thought that was good.

Yeah, I think that may be what happened yesterday. Well, actually I got really flustered and simply told God I was SO tired of not knowing what to do. So He resolved the situation for me!

Originally Posted by Ruralgalnebraska

Quote:
Out of idle curiosity, why do you feel that way?


How do I explain? It's actually more of a knowing the a feeling.
God gives spiritual gifts to his people. You can read about this in the bible.

So you're saying you feel I have a gift?

[lookingforsomething]

I drive a school bus and up until most recently I would have played the "pop" music stations. Well, recenlty since I have been trying to become closer to God and live my life for him, it's really been weighing on me that I should not be playing that music on my bus. So, this morning, I was playing the christian channel before I had picked up any kids. All the time thinking, I know their going to ask me to change the channel, what will I do? I was really torn, between what I thought was right, and what I knew the kids would want. So, anyway, just as I was pulling up to the first stop, I changed the channel,(feeling guilt about doing so).......only to find that out of all the 6 presets on my radio, the only ones that would come in was the christian station and the country station. HA! I just smiled! None of the other ones, which I play EVERY DAY......would come in. I'd been praying about what to do, and that certainly settled it!

God bless!
Nichole

[lookingforsomething]

bump...

for some reason, my post wasn't showing up!

[Ruralgalnebraska]

So you're saying you feel I have a gift?[/quote]


The gift I was referring to was one the Lord has given to me. That being the gift of knowledge. (where I knew you would be hearing from God more like this in the near days to come)
I am also sure you yourself have spiritual gifts.
Jean

[Pathwalker]

Originally Posted by Ruralgalnebraska

The gift I was referring to was one the Lord has given to me. That being the gift of knowledge. (where I knew you would be hearing from God more like this in the near days to come)

Oh, I gotcha!

Now I'm curious about what you mean by "the near days to come".

Originally Posted by Ruralgalnebraska

I am also sure you yourself have spiritual gifts.

Thank you for the encouragement. I do sometimes wonder if maybe I have the gift of discernment. Or perhaps compassion. (Are those gifts?) How does someone know what their spiritual gifts are?