Does God really "speak" to you or is it you?

I expect you will get many different answers to this. I can only answer for myself.

No, God does not speak "words" to me.

Instead, the Holy Spirit washes over me when I "am on the right track."

For example, one time I was in line at a market and the elderly lady in front of me was seemingly poor (ratty coat, torn pocketbook). She was buying oatmeal and toilet paper. It was about 9 bucks.

She had a couple of singles and had begun to count through a small handful of change, which wouldn't possibly get her close enough.

I had, in the past, pulled a twenty out of my pocket and handed it to people in her situation, telling her "i think you dropped this - it was on the floor."

And yes, i had warm feelings before . . .

But this one time, I recalled "That what you do for the least of them, you do for me."

And the Holy Spirit really washed over me. This is far beyond the normal warm-fuzzies i get when i help out others in need. It is so vastly different that I count it as being touched by the Spirit. It is wholly amazing.

I've been touched a few times, but i thought i'd tell you about that one time because it is provably (to me) distinguishable from other charitable moments in which I was not touched in that way. In other words, there is a control test.

God said He is the Word.

I think he has proven His point (to me, at least).

Prayer, well that's a different story. I'll leave it at that.

someonestupid said:

Do people honestly believe that their subconscious internal dialogue is actually God speaking to them? When I hear things like "God spoke to me through his word" it doesn't make any sense whatsoever anymore. Whenever you read any information that you deem important you process it and make it applicable to whatever situation you're in. That doesn't mean that what you read is actually telling you do something.

Back when I was a fundamentalist Christian I never really ever felt comfortable praying. In "prayer meeting" it always seemed, to me, like a contest to see who was the most verbally eloquent and Biblical.

I guess the point of this thread is to ask what goes through your mind when you pray? Is it maybe a meditative experience or more or less a regimen that goes with being religious? Has God actually "spoken" unto you and guided you?

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QFE

but anyways

conscious, holy spirit, santa clause...

its all the same stuff.

I think experiences vary. I've never experienced anything verbal. In fact "God spoke to me though his Word" seems like the one base experience that all Christians should have, and I'd consider it the check on the others. The Reformation is based on the concept that God speaks through Scripture, and that the Holy Spirit helps us understand it. I don't think that means that the Holy Spirit directly reveals Greek grammar or the historical background of the passage, but rather helps us accept it as not just intellectual content but something that concerns us.

No, which is why I ended up leaving the church. Everyone shunned me for not having visions or feeling mystic things reading the Bible so I gave up. Maybe some people experience that stuff but I think it was just an excuse to get rid of me.

Zoness said:

No, which is why I ended up leaving the church. Everyone shunned me for not having visions or feeling mystic things reading the Bible so I gave up. Maybe some people experience that stuff but I think it was just an excuse to get rid of me.

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I know right?

I mean obviously I an wrong. I'm 22 and can't speak in toungues like the 12 year olds in youth group...

/sarcasm

someonestupid said:

Do people honestly believe that their subconscious internal dialogue is actually God speaking to them?

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I think that's what's called a loaded question: 'Have you stopped beating your wife yet?', 'How can you believe in a God who allows millions of innocent people to die?' etc.

I'm not even sure what a 'subconscious internal dialogue is' - if it's subconscious, and I'm therefore not aware of it, then who is in dialogue with whom? If I'm unconscious of it, I'm obviously not going to be able to interpret it as God speaking, because I won't even know anyone has spoken at all.

So the answer to the question, such as it is, is 'no', but it's not the right question.

There is a deeper experience, call it being born again, filled with the Spirit, Baptism in the Holy Spirit etc. For those who don't have this, it's better experienced than talked about. Does God speak? yes. In many ways. And what he says can literally save a life.

There are some Christians who look down on others who do not have it, which is wrong.

And yes there are some who pray for show, which is sad.

But a minority of bad people do not change what is real.

meliagaunt said:

I think that's what's called a loaded question: 'Have you stopped beating your wife yet?', 'How can you believe in a God who allows millions of innocent people to die?' etc.

I'm not even sure what a 'subconscious internal dialogue is' - if it's subconscious, and I'm therefore not aware of it, then who is in dialogue with whom? If I'm unconscious of it, I'm obviously not going to be able to interpret it as God speaking, because I won't even know anyone has spoken at all.

So the answer to the question, such as it is, is 'no', but it's not the right question.

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I think scientists who study this stuff agree that most of us talk to ourselves in our brain. I do hear my own voice in my head when I am thinking ... particularly when I am debating something with myself such as the advantages of X over Y. Considerably less if I'm just enjoying my food, and not at all when I am engaged in a lively conversation with another person.

I am so used to this and I have thought about it some that thinking of that voice as anything other than my own is strange. However, it wouldn't surprise me that some might identify that voice as conscience or even a god or God/Allah/Yahweh in western cultures.

As such, I would say most of us have an internal dialog. Inasmuch as we don't pay attention that it is there, it is subconscious, I suppose. But I think the use of the word subconscious here is misleading.

I guess I'm an oddity.

Yes, I believe I have heard God speak directly to me, on a number of different occasions. Most of these are just speaking scripture back at me to cause me to remember something that I need at the moment or to use in edification of others. I know it isn't myself; as I don't hear myself speak.

It may be different to others but when I hear him it starts as a gentle, distant thunder and turns into a powerful baritone.

The only exception I've had to the limit of what God says to me is the day after I met the man who is now my husband. God told me that he was going to be my husband, and that things would be very difficult for us, but to remain strong and have faith that He would carry us through it. I wasn't even infatuated with my husband when I was told who he was going to be.

The very semester we met, he had to go home because he almost died from lupus. We were in a four and a half year long distance relationship before we were able to be in the same area, and my family didn't approve of him because he was disabled. But I know that voice. And knowing that this was God's will for my life, I kept my resolve.

My family eventually kicked me out for remaining in the relationship. We started out our marriage homeless. But God brought us out of it and is providing for us today.

someonestupid said:

Do people honestly believe that their subconscious internal dialogue is actually God speaking to them?

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I don't know about others, but I don't certainly believe it's an actual dialogue. I would rather say that by recalling concepts and quotes from the Gospel for example, it works like God is speaking "to me" (rather than "with me") to remind me what is the right thing to do in some circumstances. But it's not a real voice, it's the same as when a writer "speaks to you" through the pages of his book, or a musician when you're listening to his songs.

Something more similar to a dialogue is what goes on between me and my conscience when I am reflecting. It's complicated, but I often feel like my conscience is not merely the result of my culture and life experiences, but rather something that predates those, and maybe all people's consciences are not really different from each other. If that was true, perhaps we could say that human conscience speaks as one, and could really be the Holy Spirit.

someonestupid said:

I guess the point of this thread is to ask what goes through your mind when you pray? Is it maybe a meditative experience or more or less a regimen that goes with being religious? Has God actually "spoken" unto you and guided you?

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Prayers are different. They often are just a regimen, but I am not happy when they feel like that. I think it would be better if I would pray less often, but then really mean it when I do. When my prayers succeed at being meaningful (at least in the sense that I succeed at being aware of the meaning of each sentence I pronounce, which should be a given but I know that instead I often just pray in autopilot...), it doesn't work like a dialogue but only from me to God, either to ask or to thank.

Zoness said:

No, which is why I ended up leaving the church. Everyone shunned me for not having visions or feeling mystic things reading the Bible so I gave up. Maybe some people experience that stuff but I think it was just an excuse to get rid of me.

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What kind of church? The Reformed tradition is wary of visions and voices, because they need careful discernment to know if they are really from God. So we wouldn't look down on someone without that. I dont deny the reality of more direct experience. I just don't think it is universal.

God does not speak to me like another human being would, but he does definitely speak. The work of the holy spirit is very real and I have experienced things in my life that I cannot explain apart from the power of God.

When I sin, I feel conviction, leading me to feel almost miserable. When I repent I feel renewed and I experience the awesome peace of closeness with God, which is hard to describe. This peace fills me more and more the more I seek him and lean on him to guide me in all my ways.

God has done many things in my life. I remember when I first got saved, I decided to go to church the next Sunday. I went and the pastor just so happened to be preaching about EXACTLY what happened to me, about how God sometimes uses hard situations, injuries, and suffering to bring someone to himself. I had others pray with me and I prayed with them, we all prayed that I would recover.

Almost immediately after the service, filled with joy, I took off my sling and my broken collar bone that tormented me no longer caused me anywhere near as much pain, and I recovered quickly. I also wanted a bible but didn't have money for one. I just happened to meet a brother in Christ that gave me one. I was also led to meet other Christians in the most random and unexpected circumstances, it was like a whole new life was being opened to me. God made himself known to me in ways I could not deny.

So to conclude, yes God does speak to me and to all of us in Christ, not in words per say, but in many varied ways. His presence is an undeniable reality in my life, and I praise God through Christ that he gave me such grace and mercy!

It sounds like a somewhat loaded question, but, I'll bite.

In my experience, our Creator communicates with us in all kinds of ways. Verbal is one of them, but so is dreams, thoughts, visions and so on. Heck, He can even take us to specific verses in the Bible.

Right now, an event comes to me that was a good example of Him speaking. It was an afternoon, driving back home from work. While in the fast lane, the idea came to me to move into the slow lane, since no slow traffic seemed to be present. So, my hand moved to signal my intention to change lanes. Right then, I could hear a voice, clear as a bell, that said "No, my child - why don't you wait until you are over there?" My head moved and my eyes focused on a spot further down the road. So, after obeying and deciding to wait, my eyes fell on a greyish truck - a 10 wheeler, moving very slowly. Then, the realisation came. Had I changed lanes, my car would have slammed into the truck, decapitating me, and sending me right out of this world. Can one's imagination save your life? Nahhh. Then it's no longer imagination.

There were a number of other occasions where verbal warning would end up saving me from either getting killed or maimed, once even preserving the lives of 4 road workers.

And the thing is, these things don't happen because I'm such a good Christian. Not by a *looonnnng* shot. But, God is faithful in keeping His promises. If we specifically ask for what we want, such as to experience His manifested presence, and we don't stop asking - He'll give what we ask.

God never spoke to me when I was a Christian, but everyone around me kept insisting that he was talking to me all the time. If they ever claimed to know what God was saying, it was almost always that he doesn't like my taste in music.

I get the comparison that God speaks through the Bible like an author can speak through their writing, but I don't think that's what most people mean when they say God speaks to them. I don't know that anybody believes that Shakespeare is a spiritual entity delivering personalized messages when we read his writings, or that Shakespeare's word demands that we outlaw Montague/Capulet marriage.

I think God does speak to me, but I've never heard a booming male voice giving me commands. I think he speaks through serendipitous experiences like seeing the right bible verse at the right time, or talking to someone. And yes, sometimes it's just a feeling that I am choosing the right path.

God's voice in me is the holy spirit giving me discernments, confirmations, feelings, ideas and visions.
There was one time that I clearly heard words, though. The words were a very sudden, gentle yet powerful, "I do." The words were accompanied by a flash image of Jesus on the cross. I had asked God a question about my level of suffering, if anyone could possible understand this pain. I was thinking of myself and the issues of my life (17 years old) my mom was ill with cancer, my life was falling apart. It thundered loudly right after I felt a quiet peace wash over me in awe realization of the w a y, the t r u t h, and the l i f e .... Perfect realization of God abiding in me.

someonestupid said:

Back when I was a fundamentalist Christian I never really ever felt comfortable praying. In "prayer meeting" it always seemed, to me, like a contest to see who was the most verbally eloquent and Biblical.

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Heh, I remember the prayer meetings I would go to during my Evangelical days. It was always the same people who prayed, and they always prayed essentially the same stuff week after week. And they would always use KJV-speak in their prayers; "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to be praised..." and stuff like that. Even as a young kid I believed that language and the use of flowery words did not seem to impress God.

As for hearing God's voice, I never did myself, when I was a Christian. I felt a bit left out at church (this was when I'd moved to the Charismatics) because I wasn't having revelations or visions or hearing God's voice like they all claimed to be. I mostly based my faith on what I could learn from the Bible, not on how I felt. Perhaps that's why I never fitted in quite well with the charismatics.