How do I know?

[Word of Life]

from ©2007 Communion with God Ministries. All rights reserved.

Could someone please delete that from my post and from TonyB's post, because I did not get it from that site.

That remark "all rights reseved" makes me look like a thief.

I can supply you with the link where I got it from. It was not from God Ministries.

Thank you and God bless

 

[Faithful Son]

Done sister Word of Life.

Remember, no links allowed without Chad's permission, but you could say it was from Gotquestions or TheBible interactive (if it exists), but no .com .org etc.

 

[Word of Life]

Thank you teraside, I will amend my post where I copied it from.

 

[andrewnicholas]

Dear sister - if you took time to sit in a quiet church alone in God's company you would experience a peace and sense of ease that is impossible to describe. Just by meditating or reading through the Psalms you will learn how much God loves you. I am a simple person, not a scholar and my prayer each day is Jesus Lord - be for me, a living bright reality.

No prayer goes unanswered - you will receive the blessings you need, not neccessarily what you want.Trust in God's eternal love for you. Have a Happy and Blessed Easter.

 

[Apple]

Dear sister - if you took time to sit in a quiet church alone in God's company you would experience a peace and sense of ease that is impossible to describe. Just by meditating or reading through the Psalms you will learn how much God loves you. I am a simple person, not a scholar and my prayer each day is Jesus Lord - be for me, a living bright reality.

No prayer goes unanswered - you will receive the blessings you need, not neccessarily what you want.Trust in God's eternal love for you. Have a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Dear Andrewnicholas,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Unfortunately, due to my medical condition, I can not do the first one - despite the idea of going to a church ... sounding wonderful.

I'm only just learning that what is written in the Bible is for me. I thought that the Psalms had been written many years ago and were a collection of poems that were just a historical document (with no relevance for me or anybodyelse in 2007).

Everybody on this forum is telling me that I am wrong - which I accept - and that the whole of the Bible is relevant for me today. I understand that in theory, but I haven't got to the point where I have experienced it myself so I suppose that I just need to trust what everybody is saying for the time being.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

 

[Tonyb]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write 2 replies.

However, I've got to be honest with you and say that your first reply is too difficult for me to understand. Sorry - hope that that hasn't offended you - but I really do not know what you mean.

I liked your phrase:

"God is in the miracle business" - because I need big miracles in my life.

I wasn't offended, not even a tiny bit by you not understanding what I said, it was all intermediate stuff anyway and it was directed more towards word of life. It would have been nice if you had understood it though.

I just typed Andrew Wommack into my browser and it took me Andrew Wommack ministries. I had a look at the website and the was a lot of pod cast ministry you could download for free. God wants you well, Eternal Life and Faith building, might be some of the pod casts of interest to you. Another thing that might also interest you is the testimony of 'Ian Mcormack and the Box Jellyfish.' If you type the above title into your browser it should lead you to his website. He died for about 15 minutes and had a person to person encounter with Jesus in his divine glory and then he came back to earth, his body was physically healed, he is now a preacher.

I have Christian contacts who know people in Germany who have been used by God in signs and wonders and miracles. Would you be interested if I was to make inquires on your behalf so that you could talk to someone like that from your own county by email or phone, perhaps. Are you German by the way?

Remember, God loves you with an everlasting love.

Blessings to you,
Tony

 

[Apple]

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I will have a look at the things that you suggest on the internet when I feel a bit better.

Thank you for the suggestion of contacting people in Germany on my behalf. That scares me rather as I have lost a lot of my self-confidence since becoming ill. I don't want to say "No thank you", but I am too afraid to say "Yes please" to your suggestion at the moment.

I hope that that doesn't make me appear ungrateful but that is how it is at the moment. I hope that you can understand that!

 

[Tonyb]

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I will have a look at the things that you suggest on the internet when I feel a bit better.

Thank you for the suggestion of contacting people in Germany on my behalf. That scares me rather as I have lost a lot of my self-confidence since becoming ill. I don't want to say "No thank you", but I am too afraid to say "Yes please" to your suggestion at the moment.

I hope that that doesn't make me appear ungrateful but that is how it is at the moment. I hope that you can understand that!

I can understand you being afraid and I don't think you are being ungrateful. If you have looked at the private message I sent you, you will have seen the website and have the contact phone number and email address of some nice German Christians.

Remember that Jesus washed his disciples feet despite the fact He is Lord of the universe. It those days that was the job of a slave. He set it as an example for all Christians to follow, there are Christian who will serve you after the same fashion
in both a literal and idiomatic sense, if you take courage and offer them the opportunity to help you.

These words of Jesus are as true of us today as they ever were:

John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

I hope I'm not being too pushy, I don't mean to be. It's up to you now.

God bless you,
Tony.

 

[Apple]

Thank you so much for your kindness.



I can assure you that I have not received a private message from you. This is not the first time that PMs that have been sent to me have not arrived, but I don't know what I can do about that!



You are not pushy, just very kind - Thank you!

 

[Apple]

Confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry folks, but I'm back again.

In another thread, I had been advised to read Psalm 91, so I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to try out what you all have been saying.

I decided to use Kenwyn's advice as a basis for reading this Psalm, which was:

Good Bible study involves answer at least three questions about any passage of scripture

• What did it mean for the original audience in their situation?
• What does it tell us about God?
• What does it mean for us in our situation now?

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!

• What did it mean for the original audience in their situation?

Don't know

• What does it tell us about God?

Don't know

• What does it mean for us in our situation now?

Don't know



While reading the Psalm:

Did any words jump out at me? No

Did any words or thoughts come into my mind? No



Ummmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you ask God to speak to you? Yes



Now I have read the Psalm 5 times and nothing has happened.

Do I give up or wait?

How long should I wait?


Now to be honest with you all, I LIKE the phrase:

"You will not fear the terror of the night"

That gives me comfort when the nights are so terrifying at times for me.

Now is that God speaking to me or me putting my own agenda into the reading of the Psalm and taking from it what I WANT to take from it, rather than what God wants to give me?

I hope that you can see my dilemma and I hope that you can understand what I mean.

 

[ladylovesJesus]

That is one sentence speaking to you. So I would say that God has shown that to you as you need it to give you comfort.

God bless you sweet sister

Love in Christ :rainbow: :rose:

 

[Apple]

Please believe me when I say that I am not trying to be awkward, but how do I know that that is God and not just me wanting those words to be from him? Remember I chose those words because I liked them. They didn't jump out at me or anything.

 

[Tonyb]

Please believe me when I say that I am not trying to be awkward, but how do I know that that is God and not just me wanting those words to be from him? Remember I chose those words because I liked them. They didn't jump out at me or anything.

One of the main key to being blessed by scripture is to acccept as a small child. A small child does not come to the scriptures with a doubting or critical mind set. But acccepts things at face value. So when the scriptures says, "You will not fear the terror of the night" You accept it with the simplicity of a small child and thank God for it.

Mark 10:15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

When you start to receive the good things the Bible says with the simplicity of a child you are at the beginning of a journey of great discovery and blessing.


Bless you
Anthony.

 

[Word of Life]

Keep reading your Bible Sadeyes and God will reveal all sorts of things to you. Stay focused, speak to Him too when you read scriptures, if you don't understand the scripture tell Him you don't understand and ask Him to reveal them and open them up to you.

One needs to remember, God reveals in His time and not ours, so you can read things and it won't always be clear to you right at that very moment.

One question I am going to ask, but through a scripture.

Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Look at the first part of that scripture.

If I have got this wrong and please forgive me, but as far as I can read from your posts you have only just accepted Jesus as your saviour. There is a big difference with accepting Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit.

The above scripture refers to the disciples, they walked with Jesus and believed in Jesus and his teachings, but they had not received the Holy Spirit yet. It's the Holy Spirit that helps us, comforts us, guides us, teaches us and leads us into the truth.

But just read that whole chapter of Acts 19 from the beginning to bring it to life.

Just remember though, there is no rush; just take your time, because He knows your heart.

 

[SpiritLedEd]

SadEyes:

Here are a couple of Scriptures to contemplate on the topic of understanding God and his works:

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see (understand)."
(Hebrews 11:1)

There are many things about God and his works that we will never understand with our limited human mental capacities. But, when we decide to believe in spite of not understanding, we find out in time that God's Word is true and he is faithful to keep his promises.

SLE

 

[Apple]

Please believe me when I say that I am not trying to be awkward, but how do I know that that is God and not just me wanting those words to be from him? Remember I chose those words because I liked them. They didn't jump out at me or anything.

Thank you for the replies, but have you answered my question?

I take Tony's point that you need to come as a child and accept it as a child, at face value. I can assure you that I didn't read this Psalm deliberately with a doubting or critical mind set. I WANTED IT TO WORK - AND I STILL DO!!

I had understood everybody saying that God speaks through the Bible in different ways eg small voice, words jumping off the page at you etc. I had got that, but when I tried it, nothing happened.

I'm still very concerned that I chose those words because I liked the sentiments behind them rather than God having chosen them for me.



PS - Thank you Tony for the PM and the information. It did arrive finally but took over 6 hours to get here!!!!

 

[Word of Life]

The only way I can reply to your question. You will just know it's from God or not, but I can't explain it, you will just know.

There are days, when I feel God doesn't speak to me. Then suddendly He speaks and gives me the answers.

Some times He disciplines me and I don't want to hear it. But we must remember, He will also discipline us, if we are not being obedient to His Word. He loves us so He will discipline us, as like our parents did.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

So to clarify, only you will know if it's from God or not. He will speak to your heart.

Just keep reading your Bible for now, and allow Him to reveal Himself to you. It takes time.

As Tony said, go to Him as a little child. That's not easy either, I know, because I fall short there, many a time.

 

[ladylovesJesus]

Originally Posted by Sadeyes View Post
Please believe me when I say that I am not trying to be awkward, but how do I know that that is God and not just me wanting those words to be from him? Remember I chose those words because I liked them. They didn't jump out at me or anything.

Dearest sister

The Bible is God's love letter to us so that scripture is there to bless and help you anyway. God says it I believe it, that settles it.

Keep that scripture handy for when you need it in the night.

Turn it into a prayer too.

There is a good thread in scriptural answers about choices.

The way to change a habit of negative thinking is to choose to change that negative thought for its opposite. The Bible calls that "overcoming evil with good" (Romans 12:19-21). For example, if a Christian finds himself ready to repeat some negative gossip about a brother or sister, he should choose to say something nice about that person instead. Very quickly, the habit of repeating negative things about other people will be broken.

The Lord wants to save us from tragedy, sickness, fear, anxiety, and the turmoil of this world. These things come upon us because of our bad choices or through ignorance or chains of iniquity. Instead, God wants us to walk in the Spirit of life so we may have His love, joy, peace, and victory (2 Corinthians 7:1) over every trial and temptation.

Bible Choices Bring Blessings

Our future is determined by all the choices we are making today. Let us bring God into helping us make our decisions. In doing that it will determine whether our future will be secure and will have God's blessing on it. Let us be as Joshua was and declare: "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." God promised Joshua good success if he obeyed the words of the Bible and chose to follow Him. Joshua and his family were blessed because he made the right choices even though he went through many battles God was with him. He was an overcomer!

You can find more here: http://www.talkjesus.com/scriptural-answers/2665-choices.html

God bless

Love in Christ :rainbow: :rose:

 

[Apple]

Thank you for your kind replies, but ... I'm still suffering from frustration because I don't understand.

Word of life, thank you for your honesty when you said:

"You will just know it's from God or not, but I can't explain it, you will just know."

The problem is that nothing happened last night to indicate to me that it was God speaking, so therefore if you are right with your words 'You will just know', then very sadly, I have to conclude that it wasn't God, it was just me liking those words.



What I had understood would happen when God spoke to me was that there would be "a sign" eg a small voice, words jumping out of the page at me etc.
There was no sign. It was just me and Psalm 91.

LLJ - I understand:

" The Bible is God's love letter to us so that scripture is there to bless and help you anyway."

Am I now to understand that anything that I read in the Bible is there for my benefit regardless of whether there is a "sign" from God showing me that he is speaking to me or not?
That is very different from what I had understood yesterday. I thought there was always an accompanying "sign".

In other words, should we believe that God is speaking to us from any verse in the Bible regardless of an accompanying "sign" or not?

I really, really hope that you understand my question and that you are not cross with me.

 

[ladylovesJesus]

I would not get cross with you sister for needing to get answers to your questions.

Everything we need to live our lives right is in the Bible. There are times when something will particularly speak to us as we read it. It is all there to help us and He is speaking to us when we read it.

Do not get frustrated as that will not help you.

Just have an open heart and ask the Holy Spirit to help you when you read. Chew over the words you read and read a little at a time. Better to understand by reading a little than to read a lot and get nothing out of it.

Have you tried listening to the Bible online?

To help you learn to pray read the Psalms as David did a lot of praying in them.

God bless you dear one.

Love in Christ :rainbow: :rose: