"How do I tell if God is saying something to me?"

What I hear you asking is "How do I tell if God is saying something to me?" I believe there are three important things to talk about in regards to that question.

First, you (meaning you as in everyone) have to take all the evidence into consideration. Like you were saying, God speaks to us through everything in our life. To ignore one way that God is trying to speak to us isn't smart. The Bible, prayer, logic, feelings, people, nature - all of it has to be taken into account if you're seriously trying to hear God's words to you. This point can be summed up as: "listen hard".

Second is the supremacy of the Bible. This is difficult to talk about because you can't just objectively read the Bible and go from there, checking all the other things you think God's saying to you against what the Bible's saying (which you've determined with 100% objective accuracy), and then throwing out everything the Bible's not saying, and going from there. But who can interpret the Bible in a purely objective way? Everything in our lives and (hopefully - and we have to pray for this because only the Holy Spirit can truely give insight) the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and gives us real insight into what the Bible's saying. And that insight might not be the same as someone elses', since everyone's life is different and the Holy Spirit certainly reveals different things to different people over time. It has to be said that there are definite limits to this variety, but that's not the point I want to focus on. All of this comes together to say that we can rest on the Bible as God's words to us and use (what must admittedly be our interpretion of) those words as a check to make sure we're hearing God right.

Third is something I touched on in the paragraph above, and that is that you have to listen to the Living Word, the person Jesus Christ, as the final word. That is, regularly communing with God and seeking to hear His voice is of the greatest importance if you expect to hear His voice. Without the presence of His person in your life, you have nothing solid to base your choices on.

Matt

What God is saying to us, and what we "think" He is saying to us...

I have had this question for ages. And sometimes it feels like I just about have the answer to it, and then I realize I'm human. What a surprise.

My girlfriend and I do share the same thoughts though. Of almost having it right, coming up with reasons to make ourselves feel better about what it is we think we are doing that would be right in God's eyes.

Now this isn't really one particular topic per say. ( And yes David I know this is not the topic I intended to post that I had told you earlier about. ) But this could be anything. From making a simple decision for the weekend, to an even more serious situation regarding life...

Whatever the case maybe. We [sometimes] logically think it out. And this is we as in most if not all. We try and think what it is thats important at that particular moment in time. Thinking of the best possible solution to any decision we might have to make. Sometimes it can come down to, "What will my parents think ?", "What will God think ?". Now, watching a movie recently called, 'Boondock Saints', a line was said, "God's Law is higher then mens law." So in between what our parents think is right, and whats right in God's eyes can rarely be different. Our parents would want the same thing as God would want for us. Surely. But what happens when you come across somethin you really desire. And you think it over. You know your parents made it a rule, for the sake of rule making, but it's ok in God's eyes.

In this case, how do you know that its God's law that we are following, or what we "think" is God's law, because of the fact that we desire it ? How do you know that God talks to you about situations like this ?

I have come up with reasons such as, that He talks to us through the people around me, through my music, through everything I do, and through everyone I love. Sure, that sounds great. But how do I know its not the sin within me thats only leading me to believe that ?

Talking with my girlfriend, she came up with reasons, not so different then my own. What are your thoughts on it ? How do you take it in, and how do you think that God maybe be talking to us...

And I think I know for a fact you have asked this question before...

Excitement Made Complete

Nitish, I really appreciate your honesty. Not everyone has the guts to be that blunt, it's admirable. You are not alone though, I have been there before, for sure. In fact, I'm not doing too much better myself at the moment (but more to come on that later).

First things first.

God did not create us to be creatures with our noses in a book 24/7.

The beauty of nature - a Texas sunset, the luscious Columbia gorge, the snowy slopes of Mt. Hood, gazing up at the universe on a clear night - are all meant to be experienced and enjoyed. The awe inspiring examples of God's supreme creativity sparks a rush of creativity within me, being created in His image. The beauty of his creation fills me with joy and peace knowing it is a hazy reflection, or merely a shadow of a reflection, of God's country and our true home.

Our relationships in community - the quickening of our heartbeat in the presence of someone we adore, the joys of trust and camaraderie in friendships, the adrenaline rush of teamwork - are meant to be ceased and treasured. The trust and companionship that I seek is a sign post pointing to the one relationship which fills the hole within me that years to be filled.

The experience of everything around me is made complete in light of my relationship with Him. God continues to reveal this to me as I continue to seek Him in and through the living of my life. However, God ceases to speak to me if I am not listening. Trying to experience God in my life, apart from his Word, is living a life in vain.

I find the timing of your post extremely interesting. I have been living the last 6 months with a lack of passion. I become frustrated and confused with my relationship with God and what His plans were for me. I realized last Wednesday afternoon that the biggest correlation between this dissatisfaction in my life was not being in God's word on a regular basis.

Until about 6 months ago, I had been consistently in the Word for over a year straight. Honestly, there were nights during that time when reading the Bible was a 10 on the ol' excitement meter. I would lay in bed at night for hours thirsting for more, mediating on Gods Word, desiring to know Him better. But this doesn't come without putting in effort on our side, and it starts with being disciplined. The second night after renewing my commitment to be in the word on a daily basis, I was reading through 1 Timothy (I decided to start with 1 & 2 Timothy because God always seems to speak to me powerfully specifically through those two letters from Paul). A cross reference sent me to Hebrews 12:11.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (I highly suggest reading the whole section; verses 4-17)

This provides such encouragement to us when we are convicted of an area in which we need to discipline our flesh. I can testify to the fruits of being disciplined in studying God's word. It resulted in my mind being centered on Him, my actions were more closely aligned with Christ, and I was filled with a passion despite the menial aspect of daily life.

While I have been speaking directly to the discipline of studying God's word, I found a list of other essential disciplines for personal reflection:

Disciplines of Abstinence: solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice (doing good deeds without letting others know you have done them).

Disciplines of Engagement: study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission.

My prayer is that somehow through the discussion of my struggle, it could be an encouragement to others in the midst of the same.

How does/doesn't your relationship with God complete your excitement in life?
What has been your experience in the discipline of studying God's word?
What are other areas of life made complete in light of our relationship with God?

Define Excited.

I know this post was posted a very long while ago. But its 12:33AM, and I'm bored to hell, because my mind won't rest.

Dictionary.com defines "excited" as:

–adjective
1. -stirred emotionally; agitated: An excited crowd awaited the arrival of the famed rock group.
2. -stimulated to activity; brisk: an excited buying and selling of stocks.
[Origin: 1650–60; excite + -ed2]

—Related forms
ex·cit·ed·ly, adverb
ex·cit·ed·ness, noun

—Synonyms
1. ruffled, discomposed, stormy, perturbed, impassioned.
2. eager, active, enthusiastic.

Oooooooooooooooooh...so thats what excited means. Yeah, I know that feeling. Thats the feeling I got, when I played HALO for the first time. Excited is what I felt when I found out there was more to come.

Excited was when I went on a two month vacation, after just having moved to Oregon. We went to Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand, traveled almost the whole of the Pacific. After long tiring flights, I was excited to be home.

Excited was when I got arrested. Because I was a fool when I thought I was cool for being a dumbass. I did regret it, but it was still an experience that reminds me of my mates to this day. I still get excited talk and thinking back on it like a fool.

Excited was when I knew the girl I liked was going to kiss me in her nice, red Camero at 3:00AM in the freakin' morning. (That was a nice V8. I got excited every time she made that car roar.)

Excited was when I scored my first two goals, in the same damn game, on a game that didn't matter anymore, because the first 10 games we played we lost. The 11th game we decided to play for fun.

Is this how I feel when I read the, Bible ?

NO.

I don't even need to put this on a damn scale.

Case closed.

Excited?

How excited are you guys when you go to read the Bible, on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being "Very, I'll put aside other, important things to do it", 1 being "not at all...it's a duty")?

At this time, 4.

How excited are you guys when you go to read a fiction book, on a scale from 1 to 10?

At this time, 8.

Why is there a difference between your scores?

Is that difference a significant indicator of where your relationship with God is at? Why or why not?

What do you think?

Conclusion (Let's move on)

So I guess to finish this topic off I'd just like to say that, while there are some mighty good reasons to fight (stopping genocide is a good one), so often those aren't the reasons that we go to war...it's only when we look back that we add those reasons in.

WW2's probably a good example. We didn't join the fight to stop the holocaust (at least that's my understanding of events), but looking back we focus on stopping the holocaust as one of the the main benefits of joining the war, don't we? We added that reason in. It was a good reason. But it was still an afterthought...a mild example of an afterthought, I hope...I hope that was honestly one of our main reasons for fighting. I don't think it was but I hope so. Maybe the war in Afganistan's another, better example. Before we went in we didn't hear much talk about liberating people from the Taliban, but we sure did after the fact...

Didn't we?

I hope our country...or any country for that matter...will one day just fight wars to selflessly benefit others.

Staying in Iraq, leaving Iraq, doing whatever in Iraq just for the sake of the people who live there would be a good start. As for those of us who don't have much of a say in that sort of thing, maybe we could just start questioning the way the military uses its people and the way our country uses its military...rather than just submitting to and encouraging our country to get involved in fights for reasons that aren't pleasing to the Lord.

There's no honor in that.

matt

Blog Description

What would you guys think of adding some sort of description/caption to the blog? Maybe a long the lines of:

"A conversation between guys together on the journey of life and spirituality."