Conversations with God

And if you feel an unction that it is speaking to you, do you accept it on faith or do you go to a shrink and get medication?I suppose that much can be gleaned from silence, but even in my quiet moments, my mind hums in the background with a myriad of thoughts, emotions, memories, and sensations. I have yet to experience total silence. (perhaps when I die.... )Edited by Phat, : emoticon

If you feel a pain in your stomach, do you interpret it as an "unction that is speaking to you"? Do you accept it on faith or do you go to a doctor and get medication?We happen to understand our digestive system better than we understand our psyche. Does that mean we should medicate one and put a spooky interpretation on the other? If you tune out the static, the rest is silence.(Pop quiz: whose last words are those? )

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The belief is not a waste of time, in my opinion. I believe that the relationship is real irregardless of feelings. Often, I feel nothing. Often there is no rush of chemical woo woo's as Schraff likes to call them! Often I am having a conversation that an observer would say is with myself. It would be nice to share my friend with others...but perhaps the idea is to let my friend impart into me a nice spirit so I myself can be his representative to others and so I don't have to hit them over the head with King James!Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Not much of a point, I guess. The whole book revolves around a young man who was raised by the parental method of silence. His father never ever talks to him directly. Whenever his father wants to tell him something, he always tells another person to relay the message even though the young man is standing right there. The "chosen" is another young man whom this young man's father thought was sent by god to fill in the whole he has created in his son's life.Anyway, a pretty darn good book.

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AKA G.A.S.B.Y.George Absolutely Stupid Bush the Younger

"Do you hear answers or feel inner confirmation in any way?"No, I receive the answers and ask for a miracle to occur to confirm. Alternatively, I prophecise and He will make it come true.That will happen when you are able to talk with God. And that should be what miracles and prophecies are for.Hehe...

I once had a Pastor that was like that. The aura of exclusivity and power that he had made him powerful even as he was unapproachable.Once he was caught by the press exposing his flaws, however, the aura vanished, and he was never again held in high regard.

Phat It is hard to hold someone in high regard after they expose themselves eh?

He specifically had a parishioner who had a young child who needed insulin to live. During one stirring hyper-emotional service, he allegedly told the woman to throw all of her medications away and that her son would be healed. Needless to say, the boy died. The Pastor never took responsibility for his actions, the police had no strong case, and the bewildered Mother was another victim of unscrupulous church dogma.I found an old link in the news about the story here but I knew that the church was also responsible.

I have always believed that God somehow manifests himself through our own faith. Taking into account the big picture, where God is the root of all matter, and all of the accounts presented in the scriptures. It would make sense that as humans, we can connect with God based on our standing or conditioning with Him. In other words... if you have faith, you can /will connect with God.The entire concept seems in no way linear or structured either since emotions can drive ones levels of faith as well. Fear, desire, love etc. They all seem to play a part in our state and capacity to connect with God. This phenomenon is synonymous of God's way, where one acts in order to achieve something.Having said this, I rarely pray to God for nothing. It is usually something I do with a cause or purpose. I'm not criticizing others, I just don't see the sense in praying if your going to rattle off some recital and expect to accomplish anything.Whenever I approach God, I always seek Him out. I usually meditate in a quiet environment first to get my thoughts lined up and then focus on connecting with God. One of my own methods is to empty my mind(black) and call out or reach for him in the darkness. Usually within minutes a feeling of a presence will begin to manifest itself. Once this has been established, I begin my prayer.Sometimes, the feeling of a presence does not remain and I have to go out and seek it again. Sometimes, depending on the consistence of the feeling, I begin to accept that my topic is most likely of no interest to God. While other times, I receive an overwhelming sense of wellness or approval and conclude that my prayer and request was accepted.Such experiences do alter my own faith and perception of God.

There are certain systems that are recommended for effective prayer. One of them is known by the acronym ACTS.

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A.C.T.S. is an easy way to remember key elements of prayer. It’s simply prayer in four parts:

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Adoration — Praise be to God! -Psalms 68:35
Tell God how much you appreciate Him. Express your love for Him. Praise His power and majesty. This is a great way to begin your prayer time. Sometimes I watch the sun rise, and praise God for the beauty of His creation. You should never run out of praise. How awesome are your deeds! -Psalms 66:3

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Confession — If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9
Tell Him where you have fallen short. Be specific. I thank Him for the forgiveness I have in Christ, and ask for help and strength to turn away from future temptations.

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Thanksgiving — Always glorify him with thanksgiving -Psalms 69:30
You have plenty of reasons to be thankful. Thank God for His love, His faithfulness, His patience and a million other things. Express gratitude for what He’s doing in your life. Thank Jesus for dying on the cross for you. Thank the Holy Spirit for indwelling you, and never leaving. Thank Him for being your conscience, your counselor and that still small voice.

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Supplication — Make your requests known to God. -Philippians 4:6
Tell God what you want, no matter how small it seems to you. Do you really think any of your requests are big to God the Creator? You should have lots of intercessory prayer here. Remember: As a Promise Keeper, you are committed to pray for your pastor and your church every day.

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That all being said, I think Ringo has a point in that sometimes its better to listen. Meditation can help. For many Christians, the mind of God can't be known except through scripture...at least not the God we (think) we understand. Any other comments?

One of my uncles was a Methodist minister and another was a fundamentalist preacher. Used to have some great discussions. But the one thing they both agreed on was that this laundry list nature of wants in prayer (Joan Baez syndrome) was near blasphemy.Your "C" above says that you (the prayer giver) think god is blind or not paying attention; that he doesn't already know what you've done and why, and what you're going to do next.Your "S" above says you think you have some power over god that you could demand from him and expect to receive. This god (supposedly) already knows your wants, your needs, what you would ask for and what you're going to get. He doesn't need any help or coaching from some lowly little worm. It's already set and there's not a damn thing you can do to change anything.The only reason for prayer, they agreed, is to praise and thank, to show submission, which should be done several times each day. My Methodist uncle insisted on dedicated prayer with time to give sufficient praise and adoration. My fundamentalist uncle insisted that prayer could be as simple as a heart felt "Thank you" sent gods way. Of course I insisted that prayer of any kind was useless since there was nothing at the other end of the line to care.They both forgave me my atheism though Uncle Mitch, the fundamentalist, just knew I was in the grasp of the devil and would pray to god to save my soul. He was not amused when I thanked him for adding me to his prayer laundry list.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Oswald Chambers(My Utmost For His Highest) said

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To say that prayer changes things is not as close to the truth as saying, Prayer changes me and then I change things. God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.

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It is amazing how much you quote and type means actually nothing. The rest is just recitation of assertions. Where does the bible say this? Why should what this preacher has to say mean anything? Seems he was good at pithy sayings. So what?Edited by Theodoric, : qs issue

Thum of uth like pithy thayingth. (You can't believe how long I've been saving that line.)But I like this one:

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To say that prayer changes things is not as close to the truth as saying, Prayer changes me and then I change things.

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Even Noah had to build his own ark.

On this basis prayer sounds like meditation with some unnecessary theistic stuff thrown on top.