What do Christians mean by "God revealed himself to me"?

[beastmaster]

I hear all the time from Christians who claim to have had their faith affirmed by personal revelation, personal "religious" experience, or a so-called "feeling," but I've noticed they usually have a hard time describing their experience in words. Moreover, they use ambiguous phrasing when referring to their experience like "God revealed himself to me." Take for example this statement made by one Christian woman: "I was only a passive Christian until I was unexpectedly touched by the Holy Spirit, now I know for sure that God exists" etc. When I asked this women how she knew she was "touched by the holy spirit" and how it felt, she simply couldn't or refused to provide me with an answer other than "you just know, you have to experience it yourself." Naturally, I wasn't satisfied with this answer and it only served to make me more skeptical. There are countless people from all religions who claim to have had a personal revelation or inexplicable "feeling" of some sort affirming their religion. Have you had such a feeling and can you describe it? Did/do you audibly hear or see God or Jesus? Did you start getting a sort of euphoric high since becoming a Christian? Did God manifest/reveal himself to you in some other way?


I've been promised by Christians and advocates of various other religions that despite them not being able to provide a rational justification or evidence for their religion, once I try it for myself my doubt will be abolished. What should I expect? Why didn't I get this "feeling" or personal revelation despite being a devout Christian for several years? Members from different denominations claim that I simply didn't choose the right denomination and that I need to join theirs in order for God to "reveal himself" to me.

This question is not meant to be instigative- I'm genuinely interested. Also, please put your response it in terms an agnostic can accept- not just quoting passages from the bible.

 

[Elioenai26]

God revealing Himself to me was me receiving His Spirit inside of my physical body when I asked Jesus to come inside of me and save me. The best way I can describe it is as if I were kneeling down on my knees and a warm flood of indescribable peace, warmth, and security came flooding over my whole being from above. You must understand that what takes place inside of a person when they are born from above is something that is supernatural and therefore has to be spoken of analogically. I have to use words that you and I can both understand to convey that which is mysterious and awesome! True peace, and assurance are good words to describe this state.

 

[oi_antz]

I hear all the time from Christians who claim to have had their faith affirmed by personal revelation, personal "religious" experience, or a so-called "feeling," but I've noticed they usually have a hard time describing their experience in words. Moreover, they use ambiguous phrasing when referring to their experience like "God revealed himself to me." Take for example this statement made by one Christian woman: "I was only a passive Christian until I was unexpectedly touched by the Holy Spirit, now I know for sure that God exists" etc. When I asked this women how she knew she was "touched by the holy spirit" and how it felt, she simply couldn't or refused to provide me with an answer other than "you just know, you have to experience it yourself." Naturally, I wasn't satisfied with this answer and it only served to make me more skeptical. There are countless people from all religions who claim to have had a personal revelation or inexplicable "feeling" of some sort affirming their religion. Have you had such a feeling and can you describe it? Did/do you audibly hear or see God or Jesus? Did you start getting a sort of euphoric high since becoming a Christian? Did God manifest/reveal himself to you in some other way?


I've been promised by Christians and advocates of various other religions that despite them not being able to provide a rational justification or evidence for their religion, once I try it for myself my doubt will be abolished. What should I expect? Why didn't I get this "feeling" or personal revelation despite being a devout Christian for several years? Members from different denominations claim that I simply didn't choose the right denomination and that I need to join theirs in order for God to "reveal himself" to me.

This question is not meant to be instigative- I'm genuinely interested. Also, please put your response it in terms an agnostic can accept- not just quoting passages from the bible.

Hi Beastmaster, nice to meet you! You have asked a good question and I have a lot to say in response

About two years ago I watched that film "Religulous" by Bill Mahr as a sort of dormant Christian, which at the time I would have told you I was anti-Christian. It left me so angry that there is so much energy in religion bent on harming or destroying outsiders. It so happened that within a few days Google Buzz sent me a link to a discussion about God where there were a few Christians discussing along with other believers and non-believers.

Well I was so riled I got stuck right in, throwing all the common insults that you find among those who hate Christianity. But there was one thing about me, that has been deep in my heart from even as a small child: that I love life so much in all its forms, I had always loved God despite that I had grown calloused toward a certain Christian representation of Him. So when one of those Christians challenged me to read "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" I replied that I'm not atheist but instead I love God. Then it dawned on me: If I loved God and appreciated His gift of life so much, why is it that I didn't know God, and why could those Christians say without any doubt at all that they do?

Well that question really rocked the boat and after just a day or two of that tearing through my mind I brought myself to concede: If the bible is true then I would give God one chance to prove it. So I went to those Christians and asked them for a verse that would prove it to me. When they gave me that verse, literally within a split second everything that I had ever thought suddenly made sense in a Christian perspective. Instantly I knew the truth about Christianity such that I couldn't deny any more that the story of the bible was true!

Do you understand what happened just then? The Holy Spirit came along and showed me the proper context of everything I had been told about God and it all made sense! I tell you that even arguing with an atheist for years will not achieve that, it can only happen by the power of God.

Once I knew that God speaks through the bible I just got stuck into it and read and read and God would keep showing me more and more truths. So what happened afterwards, a colleague approached me and helped me to pray for Jesus to come into my life. That night The Holy Spirit fluttered down from heaven like an angel and said to me "I will never leave you". Then He proceeded to train me over the next few days, gradually building up my consciousness to a point where I could recognize what God was saying without hearing words in my mind. Even the random playlist would speak to me!

Even to this day, occasionally I will be occupied with something and all of a sudden my ear is drawn to some words or lyrics and I know that God is speaking to me. The Spirit of Christ has appeared to me four times through three different people since that time, thrice to rebuke me and once to use me. It's an incredibly wonderful blessing, to know that God loves us and that He's watching over us as we love one another. I hope you get that gift one day too

 

[beastmaster]

I had always loved God despite that I had grown calloused toward a certain Christian representation of Him. So when one of those Christians challenged me to read "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist"

It sounds like even when you were anti-Christian you were never really an atheist.

I've read tons of creatonist and apologetic literature and found it utterly unconvincing.

Does Christianity require faith as a prerequisite to experience this "feeling"?
I ask because faith isn't something a person has control over-either he believes in something based on the available information or he doesn't.

What I presume the aforementioned evangelists were asking of me is that I go through the motions for an indefinite period of time until I had a religion-affirming "feeling" of my own. Why didn't I get this feeling despite being a devout Christian for several years?

 

[ALoveDivine]

I'm speaking from my experience here. I actually was an atheist, a rather militant one at that. To make a long story short I got into an accident, was in intense pain and losing my consciousness, and I just called on Jesus to help me. My pain subsided and my consciousness returned to me. After a few days of wrestling with this experience, and investigating the gospel, I was overwhelmed by a sense of conviction.

This is hard to describe, but it was like a sharp intuitive recognition that I'd been believing a lie all my life. I just knew that God was real, Jesus was who he said he was, and I was in trouble. It was so powerful it brought me to tears. I drove to a church, talked with a pastor, repented of my sins and put my faith in Christ, and got saved.

Right after I repented and accepted Christ a profound and powerful joy fell over me, to the point where I was now crying tears of joy. That was the start of it.

I know what you're thinking. These are just feelings. Well they were more than that, but feelings alone do not describe what happened. God proved himself to me in many ways, most notably by what I'd call providential timing.

I wanted a bible but didn't have any money. I just so happened to 'randomly' run into a person who gave me a free one. I went to church on Sunday and the pastor (not the one I talked to) preached about God using hard experiences to draw people to himself. I had my arm in pain and in a sling at this point, then other Christians prayed for me, afterword I had almost full mobility of my arm and no pain. After going wayward for a little while I asked for forgiveness and prayed for fellowship. The next day I was led into a room at my school, at just the right time, and met some good Christians who were gathered together. They had also earlier prayed to meet someone.

I've had other times were I had no food, no money, and was hungry. I prayed trusting God would take care of me. I got into work and they had a bunch of food prepared for everyone (which NEVER happens). Another time my phone was dead, I had no charger and no alarm clock. I was up late and didn't think there was anyway I'd be able to wake up early for work. I prayed and asked God to wake me if it was in his will. I ended up waking up an hour earlier than I even needed to.

I could go on and on. The point is, God moves, he really does. This is not a matter of belief, I have seen circumstances come together in amazing ways in response to prayer. Further, any time I got rebellious and drifted a bit, God would bring people in my life to rebuke me. Other times my car would break down, my plans would consistently fail, I'd be overwhelmed with guilt and despair. Basically my whole life would be screwed up until I repented. After repentance I'd be overwhelmed with peace and joy and God would move in my life again. God says he disciplines his own and boy is that true.

These are just a few examples of how God has moved in my life. I was an atheist. Trust me, God is real, Christianity is the truth, I know this because God has proven himself to me beyond any shadow of a doubt. This has never been for me just a matter of "belief". I've experienced God move powerfully in my life and in my very soul.

I've read tons of creatonist and apologetic literature and found it utterly unconvincing.

Well I'm not a young earth creationist, so I'd agree with you. Look into Alvin Plantinga, Ravi Zacharias, Kenneth Samples, and Francis Collins. They've done great work proving the intellectual viability of the Christian worldview, while acknowledging the validity of modern science.

Does Christianity require faith as a prerequisite to experience this "feeling"?

It requires at least enough faith to humble yourself before God. If you can't do that, then don't expect anything. If you can make a little leap of faith, enough to acknowledge that God is real and that Jesus may be who he says he is, then humble yourself before God. Tell him you don't have faith, you don't know the truth, and that you are lost. Ask him to reveal himself to you because you want to know him. See what happens. Don't expect some immediate Apostle Paul type of experience, but be aware that God may well begin to move in your life and direct you to the gospel. Do NOT resist this, but go where he draws you.

Why didn't I get this feeling despite being a devout Christian for several years?

Don't take offense to this. But the bible declares that those who 'left' the faith never had it to begin with. God wasn't real to you because you've never known him. There's a difference between knowing theology and knowing God. There's a difference between saying a sinners prayer and repenting and believing from your heart. You were never a Christian. But I believe God's calling you know, why else would you be here asking these things? Seek him, and don't give up.

 

[razeontherock]

When I asked this women how she knew she was "touched by the holy spirit" and how it felt, she simply couldn't or refused to provide me with an answer other than "you just know, you have to experience it yourself." Naturally, I wasn't satisfied with this answer and it only served to make me more skeptical.

there is an exact parallel to this in Scripture:

"and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart."

You see, it was not the Lord's doing, but Pharaoh's. Same with you!

If I were to point out some other alternative you could actually do, it would be none other than what Moses did, which is the reason why G-d revealed Himself to Moses. Simply take the time to observe this. Wondering is ok, but making up your own answers? How is that even an option?

There are countless people from all religions who claim to have had a personal revelation or inexplicable "feeling" of some sort affirming their religion. Have you had such a feeling and can you describe it? Did/do you audibly hear or see God or Jesus? Did you start getting a sort of euphoric high since becoming a Christian? Did God manifest/reveal himself to you in some other way?

Your basic question "has my name all over it." While I never knew of the word until the last year or so, I have always been a mystic. G-d has revealed Himself to me in many ways, and there was a time when I placed great importance on the specifics of that. More mature Christians would consistently tell me that the more important things were reality available to all; both physical reality itself, and Scripture. At the time that was "boring" to me, but now I see the point, so I guess I've become boring?

I encountered one person on CF who went so far as to say that if you haven't heard an audible voice from G-d, that you aren't saved. Well I just hope he's wrong, because I've never heard an audible voice. I have heard the wings of the Cherubim though, and I can tell you that our word "up" doesn't even convey the idea of the "upness" involved here!

If you're paying attention, you would ask how did I know these were the wings of the Cherubim I was hearing? the same could be asked of a vision, or dream, from G-d. And like that lady whom you hardened your heart against, "you just know, you have to experience it for yourself before you can understand."

Let me give you an example of this difficulty:

when my Faith first started taking hold, G-d was showing me how Jesus' shed blood so long ago, can affect us today. I understood it! I mean, I really, really got into the nuts and bolts of this. And yet not once could I ever pass that understanding along to a non-believer. Can you imagine how frustrating this is?

G-d doesn't send us out to be arguers, convincers, nor provers. Some things are reserved for "fellowship;" i.e., the sharing among like-minded Beings, mortal or Divine. And the revealing of some things, G-d reserves for Himself!

Why didn't I get this "feeling" or personal revelation despite being a devout Christian for several years? Members from different denominations claim that I simply didn't choose the right denomination and that I need to join theirs in order for God to "reveal himself" to me.

I am against denominationalism on its face. I don't believe G-d has one heaven for Catholics, and another for Protestants. (etc)

Your basic question here is something I am interested in also. This issue has come up with a few people, but mostly unbelievers. Usually that involves hurt feelings on their part, as though I were somehow condemning them or something. At least a few have come to realize that was never the case, and that I would like to learn what the difference is. I think it is valuable!

 

[hedrick]

Not all Christians have the same experience. While I think I've seen God's influence in my life, I've never heard voices or experienced anything dramatic. Feelings can be caused by all kinds of things, not just God. Yeah, I've felt comforted a few times. A few things have happened in my life at convenient times. But there's no way to prove anything.

I think God speaks primarily through Scripture and other people. And I have to say that I'm pretty dubious about things that many people here think God has told them. The weirdest experience was in grad school, when one of my more charismatic friends tried to heal my car. (Didn't work.) My view is pretty common among Reformed Christians, and probably other groups.

 

[razeontherock]

one of my more charismatic friends tried to heal my car.

ROFLOL

 

[hedrick]

ROFLOL

Complete with laying on of hands (on the car, not me). I hung out with a motley crew there: everyone from these guys to Catholics and fairly staid Reformed.

You know Luther's reference to some of his rivals as having swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all.

That doesn't make them bad Christians, or make their relationship with Christ invalid. It's just not my tradition.

 

[razeontherock]

Complete with laying on of hands (on the car, not me).

Yeah, that's the mental image I got

OTOH, when the fridge went out, my 3 year old proclaimed "God can fix that!" And it started working again ... (I certainly didn't feel any need to correct him)

You know Luther's reference to some of his rivals as having swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all.

No, do tell?

 

[Proverb2717]

The weirdest experience was in grad school, when one of my more charismatic friends tried to heal my car. (Didn't work.) My view is pretty common among Reformed Christians, and probably other groups.

Hedrick, I love those types of Christians.

 

[oi_antz]

It sounds like even when you were anti-Christian you were never really an atheist.

No I have never been atheist, but I have been anti-Christian. I understand why too, that's another thing God has shown me.

I've read tons of creatonist and apologetic literature and found it utterly unconvincing.

Why do you suppose that is?

Does Christianity require faith as a prerequisite to experience this "feeling"?

A "feeling"? No what I described is an "intuition". Feelings are emotions, chemicals flowing through the body. Thoughts can trigger emotions, that is how experiences with God can be emotional. Yes I believe it does require faith.

I ask because faith isn't something a person has control over-either he believes in something based on the available information or he doesn't.

Quite right, but why do you suppose some people believe the information while others don't?

What I presume the aforementioned evangelists were asking of me is that I go through the motions for an indefinite period of time until I had a religion-affirming "feeling" of my own. Why didn't I get this feeling despite being a devout Christian for several years?

God obviously has a different plan for you. My advice for you if you think God is worthwhile, just roll with it. If He wants you to change you will know it, and it's probably not even unreasonable to assume you already know of something worth changing. But faith in God is a mutual relationship, both parties must be willing. Notice what Ray said about God hardening Pharaoh's heart. If God wants you to perform unChristian duties then you will just behave that way because that's the way He has made you. If you are dissatisfied with that then you know what to do don't you?

 

[razeontherock]

I ask because faith isn't something a person has control over-either he believes in something based on the available information or he doesn't.

This is a true statement, but it also suggests that you are confusing mental assent with Biblical Faith. The 2 are not synonymous! Faith is far more ...

And as to the mental part, we are capable of learning.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Hi,

I have experienced the touch of God around three times. The first time it was very powerful, this was after I was first saved. The last time was just a few days ago but was only for a few seconds, this occurred while I was praying. The most prominent feeling was one of electricity or power. The last experience I just felt like crying.

However as for experiences I have had many and most involved only a small amount of feeling. I have included one of my favorite God experiences here for you to read and provided a link to my website which details all my experiences with God.

One morning I got up and walked into the hall and I heard a voice that I believed was God say "How would you like to be stabbed in the Valley". The Valley was known as the rough end of town, and the voice scared me a little, I wondered if I had done something to offend God. I had planned to go down to the Valley to ask people out to church as was my habit at the time. In the end I went anyway regardless of the fear. I walked up to the first person I met and asked him if he would like to go out to church. He said to me "I am an atheist, I don't believe in God". I just said "fine", but hoped to change his mind. He then proceeded to unbutton his shirt and showed me scar marks up and down his chest and stomach. He said to me, "I was attacked by a knife wielding man in the Valley some time ago and spent months recovering in hospital, How could God allow that to happen to me". Then I knew why God had said in the morning "How would I like to be stabbed?". God understood this man, but had a good plan for him. Some weeks latter this man came out to church and became a Christian.

My website is Know God Personally

 

[beastmaster]

I've read tons of creatonist and apologetic literature and found it utterly unconvincing.

Why do you suppose that is?

I found apologetics guilty of a host of intellectual offenses including but not limited to: evidence so incredibly poor that even the apologists using it wouldn't accept such evidence as proof of anything in any other argument than for that of their personal God, horrific straw man representations of true scientific theories, convoluted metaphysics that ultimately have no real world underpinning, and the distortion of historically documented events and evidence in a fashion similar in degree and irrationality to holocaust denial.
I also scrutinized the "professional" philosophical arguments for the existence of God - ontological argument, Transcendental argument, Kalam- and found them to be deeply flawed.

Ironically, it wasn't my Bio-Chem college major that provoked me to reevaluate my religious beliefs, but rather the critical thinking skills I acquired as result of my philosophy minor. I realized my beliefs could neither be justified rationally nor had evidentiary support.

My main hobby for the past few years has been the study of theism as a subject- specifically the Abrahamic religions, but mainly Christianity and all of the relevant subfields- biblical history, biblical historicity, biblical literature, theology, epistemology, history of Christianity and philosophy. I think I've done my due- diligence on the topic.

I ask because faith isn't something a person has control over-either he believes in something based on the available information or he doesn't.

Quite right, but why do you suppose some people believe the information while others don't?

To be absolutely frank, I don't think most people critically question their religious beliefs. It seems most people inherit their parent's religion and naively accept as fact what they are told by religious leaders. This applies to all religions.

God obviously has a different plan for you. My advice for you if you think God is worthwhile, just roll with it. If He wants you to change you will know it, and it's probably not even unreasonable to assume you already know of something worth changing. But faith in God is a mutual relationship, both parties must be willing. Notice what Ray said about God hardening Pharaoh's heart. If God wants you to perform unChristian duties then you will just behave that way because that's the way He has made you. If you are dissatisfied with that then you know what to do don't you?

I desperately want the Christian God to be real, but wishful thinking alone isn't enough to bring me back to Christianity. Not only did I find apologetics and creationism utterly unconvincing, but also that they serve to discredit Christianity by using pseudoscience and blatant lies. At this point I "fear" the only thing that will definitively turn me back to Christianity is a personal experience or personal revelation of my own.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I hear all the time from Christians who claim to have had their faith affirmed by personal revelation, personal "religious" experience, or a so-called "feeling," but I've noticed they usually have a hard time describing their experience in words. Moreover, they use ambiguous phrasing when referring to their experience like "God revealed himself to me." Take for example this statement made by one Christian woman: "I was only a passive Christian until I was unexpectedly touched by the Holy Spirit, now I know for sure that God exists" etc. When I asked this women how she knew she was "touched by the holy spirit" and how it felt, she simply couldn't or refused to provide me with an answer other than "you just know, you have to experience it yourself." Naturally, I wasn't satisfied with this answer and it only served to make me more skeptical. There are countless people from all religions who claim to have had a personal revelation or inexplicable "feeling" of some sort affirming their religion. Have you had such a feeling and can you describe it? Did/do you audibly hear or see God or Jesus? Did you start getting a sort of euphoric high since becoming a Christian? Did God manifest/reveal himself to you in some other way?


I've been promised by Christians and advocates of various other religions that despite them not being able to provide a rational justification or evidence for their religion, once I try it for myself my doubt will be abolished. What should I expect? Why didn't I get this "feeling" or personal revelation despite being a devout Christian for several years? Members from different denominations claim that I simply didn't choose the right denomination and that I need to join theirs in order for God to "reveal himself" to me.

This question is not meant to be instigative- I'm genuinely interested. Also, please put your response it in terms an agnostic can accept- not just quoting passages from the bible.

I don't know what others might mean, so I suppose the only thing I can do is try and explain the only experience I've had that I can properly call mystical or numinous. Though as a disclaimer, I don't present this as proof of my religious convictions, and I don't regard it as a proof even for myself in my own faith--it remains what it is, a powerful experience that I can't fully understand or explain myself.

As some background:

I grew up Christian, initially non-denominational Evangelical but later we switched to a Pentecostal church (the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, or "Foursquare" for short). That said, our church didn't place a great deal of emphasis on "signs" or ecstatic experiences, it looked and felt like any other "generic" American Evangelical church.

When I was sixteen I had become a regular member of our church's youth group, and during the summer we partnered with YWAM and another church to spend a mission in San Francisco's tenderloin district, working primarily with the homeless. Our activities were primarily aimed at feeding hungry people and putting on fun activities for inner city children, so we had clown acts and puppet shows and what not. As part of this we spent a week at a YWAM camp located near Salem, OR.

To be perfectly honest, while I was religious at the time it was primarily something I took for granted. This isn't to say I just "went through the motions", but was only sixteen and had never felt any great impulse to examine my faith in great detail or to any great lengths.

At some point in the course of that week they put on an impromptu passion play. Something I'd seen at least a dozen times before over the years, so nothing new.

What happened to me personally, however, is something I'm still not particularly adept at explaining, but I'll try.

It was standard procedure, the person playing Jesus was loosely tied to the cross, and we were all invited to close our eyes and spend time in silent reflection. So I did what I always did, I closed my eyes and internally prayed a fairly standard prayer.

I remember a cool breeze blow across me, and then a sensation of stark, absolute, perfect silence. There wasn't a vision, there wasn't a voice, there wasn't even an identifiable feeling, neither emotional or sensible. No chill down my spine or warm fuzzies. Just a profound, inaudible quiet. Followed by the deep, ineffable, incomprehensible sense that I had just encountered the Living Jesus. Again, I heard nothing, I saw nothing. There wasn't a voice saying anything to me, no light or anything. Just an intense silence, and the incomprehensible sense that I had encountered Jesus, that something holy had transpired and I was unable to understand it.

Yes, that was a profound turning point in my life and my faith. I can honestly say that following that I did start taking my religion more seriously and ultimately led me to study and examine my faith more deeply. Compelling me to ask questions, challenge myself, and it ultimately set me down a road that I'm still on.

I do want to reiterate though, that this experience isn't why I believe, it's not the most important thing to me in my life of faith. I like to let it be what it is, a highly unusual, strange, and profound experience that I can't completely wrap my head around.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[GrayAngel]

I hear all the time from Christians who claim to have had their faith affirmed by personal revelation, personal "religious" experience, or a so-called "feeling," but I've noticed they usually have a hard time describing their experience in words. Moreover, they use ambiguous phrasing when referring to their experience like "God revealed himself to me." Take for example this statement made by one Christian woman: "I was only a passive Christian until I was unexpectedly touched by the Holy Spirit, now I know for sure that God exists" etc. When I asked this women how she knew she was "touched by the holy spirit" and how it felt, she simply couldn't or refused to provide me with an answer other than "you just know, you have to experience it yourself." Naturally, I wasn't satisfied with this answer and it only served to make me more skeptical. There are countless people from all religions who claim to have had a personal revelation or inexplicable "feeling" of some sort affirming their religion. Have you had such a feeling and can you describe it? Did/do you audibly hear or see God or Jesus? Did you start getting a sort of euphoric high since becoming a Christian? Did God manifest/reveal himself to you in some other way?

God has many ways to reveal Himself. He may speak audibly, but this seems to be rare. Sometimes God orders certain life circumstance to happen in such a way as to remind you that He's there. He might grant visions, give enlightenment through scripture, use other people as His mouthpiece, or anything else you can imagine. Heck, He even appeared as a burning bush once.

Sometimes, the emotional feeling can be a part of it, but I'm afraid that to a lot of people it is nothing but their imagination. However, when Christians pray, they often find themselves more at peace, ready to take on the day. Part of this can be just us reordinating ourselves toward God, but one of the Holy Spirit's many roles is as Comforter.

He's also called our Counselor. Someone to come to for guidance. In my case, I have received a vision along with a persistent thought (something I've heard referred to as a "word of knowledge"). It was when I was at a Christian retreat led by this unusual group that claimed to be able to heal, prophecy, etc.

I was skeptic at the time, as I was already taught that the supernatural gifts like the gift of healing no longer existed. (Yes. It's true. Christians are not always superstitious about everything.) But I went along anyway because my last retreat the previous year was a very good experience.

They asked us to pair up on the first night. I got paired with someone I knew from church, though I really didn't know him especially well. On the same night, we were asked to right down responses to three questions, one of them being, "Who is one person I know who needs prayer?" We kept our responses to ourselves. On the following day, we were asked to form two lines, facing the person we were paired with, and we were asked to take turns praying. The pray-er would pray with his/her eyes open (paying attention to what was going on with the other person) and ask for a "word of knowledge" to share with the other person.

As I was doing this, a picture came to mind of a woman on sitting in a chair in a dark room. The word "mother" was also stuck in my head. After I asked if their was an issue with his mother, he told me that her husband had recently deserted her, and she had shut herself out of the church community because she didn't want anyone to ask her about him. He also told me that his mother was the person he had written down as the person he knew who needed prayer. God had clued me into something I knew nothing about, and at the same time gave my friend assurance that He was still there.

I've been promised by Christians and advocates of various other religions that despite them not being able to provide a rational justification or evidence for their religion, once I try it for myself my doubt will be abolished. What should I expect? Why didn't I get this "feeling" or personal revelation despite being a devout Christian for several years? Members from different denominations claim that I simply didn't choose the right denomination and that I need to join theirs in order for God to "reveal himself" to me.

Not necessarily. I do not believe that if any unbeliever tried to speak to God, they'd find undeniable evidence that He exists. God usually speaks with His chosen people (the saved), but just being a Christian doesn't mean you're saved. If you're saved then even if you leave Christianity for a while, you will eventually come back. But if you're not, then when you leave you may never return.

If you are saved, then your attempt at trying to find God will be fruitful, but even then God rewards diligence.

 

[Lukaris]

As others have said, it depends on the individual. Personally, I had reached a point where I realized my overall conscience towards humanity was not right (& I still struggle). I could not resolve this within any self sense of righteousness & I have always had an unshakeable belief in some sort of spiritual reality. Jesus Christ in the Gospels tells the truth that does not come from man but God & brought my conscience to the truth that to truly live one must love God with all their heart, soul, & mind & their neighbor as themself & treat others as you would want to be treated. There are kind people who are not Christians of course & I believe that these have a disposition that God gives grace to. There are unkind people who may be Christian or non Christian. We must strive to love all.

 

[candle glow]

I think God really can give us emotional experiences to enjoy or to encourage us in our faith, but genuine faith really should not be based on an emotional experience. As the saying goes, smile now, cry later.

I was partially raised by a surrogate family who taught me about Christianity when I was 10. I appreciated some aspects of it like the love and good feelings. Through my teenage years I went through a lot of back and forth between trying to fit in to the churchy idea of faith and struggling with it's shallowness.

I eventually became almost totally disillusioned with all the emotional game playing.

Then I read a Bible study which described the teachings of Jesus as something all Christians should do, and not just some special few, like priests and pastors. This Bible study emphasized Jesus' teachings on forsaking material possessions, preaching the gospel, helping the poor, and working for love vs working for money and the things money can buy.

It explained his teachings as a practical expression of God's love here on Earth which any of us can and should apply.

Jesus/ teachings are God's proof to this world, but it's set up in such a way that this proof can only be experienced by people who choose to act on those teachings. How brilliant is that! It's a fantastic way of weeding out the sincere from the insincere, by asking us to put some effort into finding the truth as opposed to expecting God to do all the work for us.

 

[talitha]

For a long time there has been a debate between people who say that you must have a mental understanding of Christian doctrine and others who say that you must have an experience of feeling God's love. While those are important, I think this debate is leaving something out. The mind cogitates and understands, the heart feels, but the spirit knows. This "knowing" is really hard to describe. The Bible says that it's impossible for the fleshly mind to understand the things of the spirit - the mind is not designed to connect with spiritual things. I think I like oi antz's wording: "sharp intuitive recognition" - that is the closest I've heard to a workable description of the spirit-function of "knowing".