Is consistent daily prayer the way to go if I'm seeking an encounter?

TruthSeek3r

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If I want to go beyond theoretical ideas and anecdotal stories of other people, and have my own testimony and personal encounter with the Creator, is consistent daily prayer the way to go? Should I concentrate my efforts on developing a solid habit of daily prayer, before and after bedtime? What advice would you give to someone who is seeking an encounter with God?
 

Maria Billingsley

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If I want to go beyond theoretical ideas and anecdotal stories of other people, and have my own testimony and personal encounter with the Creator, is consistent daily prayer the way to go? Should I concentrate my efforts on developing a solid habit of daily prayer, before and after bedtime? What advice would you give to someone who is seeking an encounter with God?
We experience God through His Holy Spirit. We walk with His Spirit daily. Encounters are different. It would be His will and not ours if He chooses to engage with us in a different way. That being said, He also sends delusions. Be blessed.
 
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TruthSeek3r

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We experience God through His Holy Spirit. We walk with His Spirit daily. Encounters are different. It would be His will and not ours if He chooses to engage with us in a different way. That being said, He also sends delusions. Be blessed.

So you are saying that the focus should be placed on seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit instead, right? That begs the question: how can we be filled with the Spirit?
 
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Dave G.

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Look outside in creation, look at any living thing. Nothing has life without Him. Scripture says He directs their paths, living things, creatures, the sea, the weather.

We are told to pray without ceasing, not just twice in a day. Prayer can be simply acknowledging Him in everything we do. Live in His ways, love Him and love those around you. Understand your failings and bring them before God before He brings them before you. In short, walk with God in agreement. And worship Him. I've had encounters in scripture, in church, in creation especially, in prayer, in leading bible study, in receiving in bible study. Suble encounters that you need to watch or listen for and profound ones. They usually come when you least expect them. I've never asked for one. I've asked for answers to things in life, they tend to materialize by way of open doors unto your path. You may not even realize it till you look back 20 years later that it was all God and you just responded..
 
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Dave G.

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Honestly the only thing I ever got from fasting is hungry. Ok, that takes clarification lol. It's program of fasting and prayer combined. I can decide to nix coffee and cookies for a month but if that's all the program is that you use you might just do soda and crackers instead. You need to couple it to prayer.

What are the new testament scriptures to fasting ? That's a place to start. And anyway to the OP, what kind of encounter are you talking about ? We don't manipulate God.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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So you are saying that the focus should be placed on seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit instead, right? That begs the question: how can we be filled with the Spirit?
All belivers have the seal of His Holy Spirit. This is the indwelling and the regeneration. From there we do not quench the work He does in our life. This is walking with The Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gifts us when it is in His will to do so. If you doubt you are quenching Him. He will never forsake those who believe. Be blessed.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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You might like to expand on that - it could be confusing.
Those who do not belive in the truth ,God will send a delusion. This includes itching ears, requiring proof, false doctrine, believing in signs and lying wonders etc.
 
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TruthSeek3r

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And anyway to the OP, what kind of encounter are you talking about ? We don't manipulate God.

To be honest, I have no idea. I do not feel competent enough to dictate the conditions and characteristics of an encounter. I am nobody to prescribe to God exactly what He should or should not do. But roughly speaking, essentially anything other than a constant state of nihilistic silence would be great. Anything other than a silent treatment would be awesome. God can surprise me with whatever He wants, as long as it is something other than a long silence.
 
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Tolworth John

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If I want to go beyond theoretical ideas and anecdotal stories of other people, and have my own testimony and personal encounter with the Creator, is consistent daily prayer the way to go? Should I concentrate my efforts on developing a solid habit of daily prayer, before and after bedtime? What advice would you give to someone who is seeking an encounter with God?

Grow up and get a life.

But you won't accept sensible advice so there is an old hymn:-
I asked the Lord that I might grow.
I'm not going to type it out, use Google to find the lyrics and read them.
You will se why I put what I did in reply to you.
 
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Dave G.

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To be honest, I have no idea. I do not feel competent enough to dictate the conditions and characteristics of an encounter. I am nobody to prescribe to God exactly what He should or should not do. But roughly speaking, essentially anything other than a constant state of nihilistic silence would be great. Anything other than a silent treatment would be awesome. God can surprise me with whatever He wants, as long as it is something other than a long silence.
You need to gain the skills of seeing Him in the daily things of life. Because He is surely in them, you're just missing it. Thank Him that you woke up today ! Because that's Him, when He stops your life you won't wake up. He can take your life in an instant.

If scripture comes to your mind or a book in the bible comes to your mind and it seems to nag at you to read it ? Again that's very likely Him not just your imagination working. It's advisable to read that and it's references because there is a nugget of info waiting to be seen by you.

A hunch comes to you to place an inquiry about a local job. That's Him. I did that here back in 1969 and it turned into a 44 year career that raised 5 kids. Every ten years some cracker jack boss would come along and tell me my job was going to end and every one of them never made it. Trusting God I made it to a 2 year early out with full pension. I credit God because I just wasn't that great at my job but God knew I needed it. Every time I prayed the load was getting to be too much the load increased, so I stopped complaining to Him and just thanked Him.

After my dads death I was beating myself up over various things surrounding that and him. A couple years later I spent 5 weeks in the woods of Maine on 5 separate trips that year fly fishing and being with my wife. God showed up in so many profound ways and showed me He is in charge. I learned that He isn't just within reach but is providing the very air we suck in with us. He is that close at hand, He is right here right now in every key stroke I'm typing.

You need to know He sees you butter your toast, brush your teeth. And He wants you to have faith in Him and have the simplest faith just trusting in Him. Our atmosphere literally surrounding us is affected by Him. We align with Him and we have hosts of angels around us. We get away from Him and demons sneak into our atmosphere through that crack in our armor. Look at the flowers and see life in all those colored cells and know it's God doing that. And when judgment comes all the earth will groan. It's only here by the grace of God for as long as He allows it to be.
 
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TzephanYahu

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Hi @TruthSeek3r

If I want to go beyond theoretical ideas and anecdotal stories of other people, and have my own testimony and personal encounter with the Creator, is consistent daily prayer the way to go? Should I concentrate my efforts on developing a solid habit of daily prayer, before and after bedtime? What advice would you give to someone who is seeking an encounter with God?

You seek a worthy thing. If its truly your heart's desire to commune with the Creator, then you will find Him.

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13

So how to go about it?

Yes, prayer is the number one way to reach the Father. If you pray with all honesty and in the name of the Messiah, your prayer will ascend to Him. But again, full honesty is needed. So there is no point in praying what you think sounds holy and righteous or what you have heard someone else say. No, you must pray honestly from the heart with exactly what's on your mind. Yahweh can see your heart and your motives as clear as day. So any prayer that doesn't reflect this is pointless really and in danger of becoming pompous.

As it making it a habit, this is actually a good idea to get you into the routine of doing it. In the West, prayer doesn't typically feature as a core component of our every day life and so it can often be difficult to get into doing it regularly. But by setting a certain time, this will help it become habitual and soon your prayer life will soon become very important and precious to you. In the morning and evening is a great time. I personally do three times a day, which is what I see in the Bible, in the morning, midday and before sun down. But there are no rules you need to follow really, as long as you do it and keep it up. Honestly, it becomes much less of a chore and less rigid with repetition, so stick with it.

But prayer isn't the only way to commune with Him. Reading the Bible is a way to connect directly with Him in a way you probably don't realise. The Bible isn't just His book of guidance left conveniently for us, but rather a door way to Him. In reading it regularly, we are opening our minds and hearts to hear from Him. Sometimes He will speak through the words directly to you (they appear to jump off the page to you, so to speak), sometimes indirectly (helping you to understand an incident in your life), but at all times this is a way to hear from Him. The book will eventually seem as if it's alive and you'll understand it's purpose in communion with Him. Only be careful not to limit your reading to the NT only.

During and after prayer and reading the Bible, attune yourself to listen within. The voice of the Holy Spirit can be very gentle. So take time to listen within yourself. You will soon hear the difference between your own voice and the voice of the Spirit, but if you don't take the time to listen you may not hear at all. Now, the Spirit won't always talk or respond, and it will be for a reason. But don't get downhearted. But if you seek wisdom from Yahweh and the Spirit will find you.

I hope something in that ramble helps.

Peace.
 
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FutureAndAHope

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If I want to go beyond theoretical ideas and anecdotal stories of other people, and have my own testimony and personal encounter with the Creator, is consistent daily prayer the way to go? Should I concentrate my efforts on developing a solid habit of daily prayer, before and after bedtime? What advice would you give to someone who is seeking an encounter with God?

Yes, daily prayer, is the key to encounters with Jesus. But it can take years of faithful prayer to begin to see them. It is not always instant.

But Just be careful when trying to encounter God. I will share with you some mistakes I have made to show you how you can get on the wrong track. When I first came back to Jesus, there was a wave of thought in the church that I was involved in that believed, whether rightly or wrongly, that the Holy Spirit was manifesting in people's laughter. I tried so hard to have this experience, that I worked up false laughter, that ended up being an expression of my own heart, and was nothing to do with God. It became mocking and derogatory. Latter on, I was in a church where prophecy was seen as very important, and I tried to prophecy, I just thought that if I had enough faith I could ask God for it and I would get it, so I started to listen to just anything that came into my head, much of what I heard was coming directly from demons. Then there were times latter when I was ministering that I had what appeared to be Spiritual Dreams, they were so vivid, I started to think they came from God. But theye ended up pushing me in a wrong direction in my ministry, and would have bought embarrassment to some.

Now having shared some mistakes, let's share some good things too, God has used me in prayer for healing, the sick have been healed in Jesus name, as I have ministered his Word. He has given me a huge number of Spiritual Poems, creative writing. And He has spoken to me over the years to give me specific directions, that have helped me in my life.

But the spiritual comes with a warning label. Just be careful, you most likely will make mistakes. But seeking after God is important for us and others. Most importantly, study, the bible, so you know God's promises and Word.

1Ti 4:16 Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee.
 
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TruthSeek3r

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I will repeat my question...

ARE YOU BORN AGAIN ???

It is so easy to try and be a Christian without this necessary transformation and then complain that heaven is silent...

I think so? How do you know if you are born again?
 
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Carl Emerson

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Well being born again sets up a communion between you and Him within.

You speak of silence - if He is within you will know.

Life is like driving a car - we are in control - Often we haven't even consulted the manual let alone spoken to the manufacturer.
We do our best driving but things do not go well.
He invites us to move over and let Him take the wheel - He reminds us that reading the manual will help - best of all He will be right with us on the journey.
So we admit that we have made a botch of it and ask Him to come into our lives and take over. From then His reign is within and the direction is appointed. He teaches us how we should drive as we read the manual and obey His recommendations.
With all the religion around us, this simple act of surrender to Him can be missed.

Does this ring bells?
 
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Well being born again sets up a communion between you and Him within.

You speak of silence - if He is within you will know.

Life is like driving a car - we are in control - Often we haven't even consulted the manual let alone spoken to the manufacturer.
We do our best driving but things do not go well.
He invites us to move over and let Him take the wheel - He reminds us that reading the manual will help - best of all He will be right with us on the journey.
So we admit that we have made a botch of it and ask Him to come into our lives and take over. From then His reign is within and the direction is appointed. He teaches us how we should drive as we read the manual and obey His recommendations.
With all the religion around us, this simple act of surrender to Him can be missed.

Does this ring bells?

Hi Carl,

I would be a little careful, asking a person to, "know" they are born again. I spent 10-15 wasted years trying to figure out if I was born again. Eventually, I just had to accept the Word of God, that when I believed in the forgiveness offered by the cross, I was born again.

Since just accepting the fact by faith, not feeling, God has worked miraculously through my life. Not everyone will feel, know, God is with them.
 
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