Does God literally speak to people today?

Back in the early 70's when I was a very new believer in my early twenties, I had decided to see if what the bible says is true about hearing His voice, seeking and finding, and asking and it being given. I did not want to believe in a God who was not real, and who could not talk to me. His word said that He would talk to me. So this was what I focused on. I had learned from other believers and from the Word, that He answers prayers that are in line or according to His will. So I choose to ask Him which denomination or church I should join. I knew that it was His will for me to hear and know the answer to this, and I was VERY determined. I prayed for over four months solid. One day, I was loading the dishes into the dishwasher and I stopped right in the middle of putting a dish in and said, impatiently..."Lord ..you said that you would answer and I have not heard" and my thoughts were interrupted and I heard in my head these two words...."Peoria and Philadelphia"...those words meant nothing to me. I was just a kid and I knew nothing about those places as I was born, raised, and still live on the west coast. I knew that I knew these words do not come from my own mind...it just didn't make sense...yet!! I was and always have been a researcher, so I got out my National Geographics and tried to find out what I could about them. We didn't have computers back then, and I didn't own a set of encyclopedias either. I searched through these magazines until I became weary. I asked the Lord "what do I do with these places, what do they mean"? He said very clearly again in my head, "call Bethlehem". I thought for a few minutes and decided that I would look up churches in the yellow pages that had the name Bethlehem. The first page I turned to in the book showed a church that was just blocks from where I lived and it was called Bethlehem. I decided to be brave and call the pastor...I wanted to see if this was the right church and to prove (even though I already knew) that this was all from God. I called him and simply asked him (without telling him my story) if Peoria and Philadelphia meant anything to him, and he said "why yes, I was ordained in Peoria and my first church was in Philadelphia, why do you ask"? I told him my story. He was amazed,and frankly, in my niave ignorance, I thought it was odd that a pastor would be so amazed. I did not yet know that there were some Christians, pastors, and churches that held the belief that God does not speak to us anymore. God used a niave young person like me to tell the pastor that He does indeed still talk to His children. Much later I found out that after the pastor spoke to me on the phone, he went to his next standing appointment he had with a young couple that had an interest and questions regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He explained to them our phone conversation, as he was still amazed. I later became friends with that same young woman. It wasn't long after that this couple moved to Arizona to start a Charismatic church. God can do amazing things through anybody that is willing. I just wanted a church home and to believe in a God that was really real...and He took care of my needs, taught the pastor something very valuable, and also confirmed what a young couple was wanting confirmation in....all at the same time. God is alive and well, and He speaks to you if you ask and then listen....and keep on listening no matter how long it takes.

As I really in need and want to hear/speak with God or Jesus, i'd like to bump this thread to hear more stories. So don't hesitate to share your stories pls!

At some point in my childhood I was reading my older brother's picture book of bible stories in my bedroom.
I never liked the stories from the New Testament because Jesus, the good guy, got killed. I much preferred the OT stories because it had real warrior figures for a boy, like Moses and David,
One day I read about the Lord calling the child Samuel by name. As I did so, I became aware of an overwhelming presence of love in my bedroom.
I wanted that love, so foolishly I got on my knees and said, "please don't forget me" to a God I didn't really know.
I came as a child, and that was over 50 years ago, and God has never forgotten me since that time.

One of my earliest encounters with God speaking came after my parents started going to an Anglican Church when I was 11.
From the preaching I remember it seems they had no clue who Jesus was or why he died. I can remember an Easter sermon about the crucifixion which was so obviously erroneous that I completely rejected the whole story as utter nonsense, even though I didn't understand the subject.

Anyway, I recall a time when I was in the street opposite the church building with a gang of kids from the youth club,. I was asthmatic as a child and always a loner so tended to be on the edge of any gathering. I was sitting on the railings watching what was going on when someone suddenly asked aloud, "OK then, who goes to heaven and who goes to hell?"

Immediately all eyes turned around to Tony for an answer. Tony was the altar boy, nearest to the vicar, and therefore nearest to God, he would have the answer, and he did.
"That's easy, good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell!"

As Tony spoke those words, it was as if a blanket of truth descended upon me, and I heard these words deep within me.
"He is totally wrong because everybody's bad, I am bad, but God has made a way........"

And as I had turned around to face Tony, my eyesight had panned over the church building and the words continued with, ".........and I don't live in that church, I live in your heart!"

Now for a child who knew no doctrine, that was a revelation. As I heard those words, a great peace came on me, although I didn't tell anyone about it.

I did not hear the gospel till more than 10 years later in my mid 20s when I decided to leave engineering and become a teacher. At college the God Squad were very evangelistic with every new student, me included. For some time they tried very hard, but I wasn't interested as I was into many other things that stood in the way. Not only that but I had already heard God speak directly saying that he lived in my heart, not the church, and I was not about to let myself get hooked into a church.

But there was something about these people I had never encountered before, and the Holy Spirit was working on me. I began to realise that the God they were talking about was the God I already knew, even if I had no clue about the who what why of Jesus.

Eventually I relented and made a confession of Christ as my saviour. They told me that I was now born again.
However I knew that my eternal life had started a long long time before that. It was going to be a while before I could explain it to their churchy minds.

The words God spoke in my spirit as a child were true to scripture, even though I never got them from church.

I knew that I was bad, as was everybody else, but God really had made a way for me in the death of Christ Jesus. Even if as a child I didn't have the theology to match, I had had enough to call on the Lord.
And he really did live in my heart and not in a building, but it took me over ten years to know his name was Jesus.

It's most amazing, and grieving to me that anyone that is a born again Christian would even question that God speaks to His children. Otherwise why would Jesus say;

John 10:27 KJVS
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Is the Bible read - and believed?

If you are one of His sheep why then do you not hear from Him? Somehow the doctrine of God no longer doing today what He did then. As if he'd changed. I am the Lord I change not the scripture says. Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever.

Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit your spiritual ears are stopped with fleshly thoughts. Jesus also said;

Matthew 10:19 KJVS
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

In order to be given what to speak you must be able to hear.

I can go on with many scriptures but surely everyone reads these.

Isaiah 30:21 NASB
Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Jeremiah 7:23 NASB
But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'

I've been a Christian for forty years and baptized in the Holy Spirit a few weeks afterwards. God speaks on a regular basis to His children. So many times.

Through spoken scriptures in your spirit man, through spoken words in your spirit. God rarely speaks audibly. God is a spirit and speaks to our spirit.

AFTER 14 years childless he spoke to me and told me my wife was with child. On this occasion I was praying in tongues - in the spirit - and the Holy Spirit gave me the interpretation which I have on a plaque that hangs in our home. He told me our child was to be a son. He was born about 9 months later and is a man of God.

God saved me outside of church walls and I was not indoctrinated with all the denominational teachings of;

1. God no longer dies those things.
2. God no longer gives those gifts
3. Those things are not from God etc.

AFTER forty years I've heard and seen every argument against the things so clearly set forth in the Bible. I depend on the voice and guidance of God in everything, every day.

That professed born again Christians do not hear his voice is appalling.

John 8:43 KJVS
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Why does anyone think he is O longer speaks? I'm perplexed and horrified. I'm aware of some things here but will not bring them up. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit after being saved in order to CLEARLY hear His voice.

Frank Jennings said:

It's most amazing, and grieving to me that anyone that is a born again Christian would even question that God speaks to His children. Otherwise why would Jesus say;

John 10:27 KJVS
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Is the Bible read - and believed?

If you are one of His sheep why then do you not hear from Him? Somehow the doctrine of God no longer doing today what He did then. As if he'd changed. I am the Lord I change not the scripture says. Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever.

Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit your spiritual ears are stopped with fleshly thoughts. Jesus also said;

Matthew 10:19 KJVS
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

In order to be given what to speak you must be able to hear.

I can go on with many scriptures but surely everyone reads these.

Isaiah 30:21 NASB
Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Jeremiah 7:23 NASB
But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'

I've been a Christian for forty years and baptized in the Holy Spirit a few weeks afterwards. God speaks on a regular basis to His children. So many times.

Through spoken scriptures in your spirit man, through spoken words in your spirit. God rarely speaks audibly. God is a spirit and speaks to our spirit.

AFTER 14 years childless he spoke to me and told me my wife was with child. On this occasion I was praying in tongues - in the spirit - and the Holy Spirit gave me the interpretation which I have on a plaque that hangs in our home. He told me our child was to be a son. He was born about 9 months later and is a man of God.

God saved me outside of church walls and I was not indoctrinated with all the denominational teachings of;

1. God no longer dies those things.
2. God no longer gives those gifts
3. Those things are not from God etc.

AFTER forty years I've heard and seen every argument against the things so clearly set forth in the Bible. I depend on the voice and guidance of God in everything, every day.

That professed born again Christians do not hear his voice is appalling.

John 8:43 KJVS
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Why does anyone think he is O longer speaks? I'm perplexed and horrified. I'm aware of some things here but will not bring them up. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit after being saved in order to CLEARLY hear His voice.

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I heartily concur with all you have said!!!!!!!

Back in the 70s, the UK was going through a dire economic crisis and interest rates had rocketed sky high. The whole of my salary, plus a goodly portion of my wife's part time salary went on paying the monthly house mortgage. We were broke.

The alarm clock stopped working, and for some reason it was the last working clock in the house.
We received a mail order magazine through the post each month with our credit card account, and I happened to notice a free clock if we spent money on our card. I discussed it with my wife, although given our finances, I didn't really want to put anything on the credit card.
Then I distinctly heard God speak, ".............prove me now says the Lord if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing.."

I knew it was part of a scripture in Malachi 3

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

That was our answer as far as I was concerned. No credit cards, we must just trust God, even if its only for something as daft as a clock.

The following Sunday, we were due to visit my mother in law for dinner. Shortly after we arrived, she showed us that she had bought herself a new clock from her catalogue, and she decided that she would buy another exactly the same for us, even though we hadn't mentioned our need.

When the Lord promised me that he would pour out a blessing, I didn't expect him to be so pedantic.
Written over the face of the clock was the makers name, "Blessing"!

Mother in law was a determined atheist who despised our faith. She was not too impressed when I told her what God had said. Nevertheless it shows how, when we move in faith, God can use anyone to meet our need even if they despise God.

About 15 years ago, I was driving back from a Christian businessmen's meeting late at night in the rain. I had come up behind a line of about 6 cars and was looking for an opportunity to overtake.

Although we were on a winding country road, (all roads wind in the UK!) it was a regular route for me and I knew it like the back of my hand, so I was waiting for a particular spot before shooting past.

Suddenly I heard the voice of the Lord with a very imperative triple command, "Pull back, pull back, pull back!"
I am familiar enough to recognise the voice of my Daddy God, so there was no hesitation in my response. My foot instantly came off the accelerator and now hovered over the brake pedal instead, with me perplexed but very alert as I watched the line of cars pulling away from me.
Then suddenly, right in front of me a massive black silhouette lunged out of the hedge which was hard against the road at that point, and straight into the path of the car.

I instantly slammed the brakes hard and skidded, with the animal smashing onto the bonnet and being swept completely over the roof and landing behind me with much bellowing. Thankfully I managed to keep control and safely swing back into the side.

The offending animal was a very black cow which had literally leapt through the hedge, breaking it down as it did so. That had then caused the remainder of the herd to push through after it. The narrow road was now completely blocked with cars and cows everywhere.
I was driving a Renault Espace, which has a very wedge shaped front, and that minimised the impact by sweeping the cow up and over rather than crumpling up.

The mud from the cow went right over to the far side of the car and over the roof, proving that it wasn't just a glancing blow.
The little window on the passenger door was smashed where the mirror had been violently swept back and snapped off.

The remaining herd was all black and white except for the one completely black animal which first leapt the hedge.
I immediately knew that this was an attack on my life by Satan, one that had been thwarted by the Lord.
I also knew from the Lord that a major demon had been waiting behind that cow, armed with a goad to prod it over the hedge when I came by. Had I been doing my original 60mph, we would have been surely killed.
At that time I was very involved in spiritual warfare and in developing spiritual life among businessmen. I knew Satan hated what we were achieving in this area.

Frank Jennings said:

It's most amazing, and grieving to me that anyone that is a born again Christian would even question that God speaks to His children...........
.............Why does anyone think he is no longer speaks? I'm perplexed and horrified. I'm aware of some things here but will not bring them up. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit after being saved in order to CLEARLY hear His voice.

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The most frightening idiocy of the claim that God no longer speaks to his children, is that Satan and his demons regularly speak to anyone and everyone around, including silly Christians.

Where else do they think doctrines of demons come from if demons can't speak to us?

1Tim4v1. Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons;

So there we have it. Giving heed to seducing spirits first of all requires that demons have the power to speak into human thoughts.

So the deniers maintain that God doesn't speak to his children, whilst at the same time God warns his children that demons do speak to us.

Just incredibly bizarre stupidity.

If I was Satan, one of the best doctrines I would sow among Christians is that God no longer speaks to his children.
Once they fell for that silly idea, their spiritual discernment would be completely shut down, and then I could do anything I wanted in the church.

Look at it this way,when you read the bible for a time you get to know God and Jesus in the Bible.

,that's religion.
When you feel Jesus knocking on the door of you heart,do you let him in and let Him be Lord of your life.
When you did this, things changed for me big time. I just meet the author of the Bible and now I have moved into a personal relationship with Him.
You have now moved from religion to relationship and that is what true Christianity is all about. That day for me was the day I could here his voice. I have been talking to Him for over thirty years. Like many of the other stories before me, He has warned me many times that have saved my life.
The sad thing about all this is that many people have died when a though came across there mind to stop or turn left,Oh its just my imagination.
Many times I talk to him all day. Jesus likes to have fun. Try having a fun day with Jesus,you will never forget it. I could write a book called fun with Jesus.
I will tell you one of Favourites. One night the Lord woke me up at 3 in the morning. He said get up and take that dollar you have there on the table. How did he know there was a dollar there. He known everything.
I got dressed ,stood outside the door,said which way Lord ,He said left,came to intersection after awhile,left or right Lord ,right. Walked for awhile then He said stop. I was standing in front of a closed gate of a commercial building. A minute had not gone buy when a security car pulled up and the drive got out and I recognized Him. He was a new christian I meet a few weeks before, he had asked to pray with him fore a job. He told me while he was driving there he had asked the Lord if some how He could supply him with a dollar so he could buy a pop. I smiled after I told him why I was here a this gate at 3 o'clock in the Morning. We both jumped up and down praising Jesus.
In the past He has lead me by the Spirit to people who where just about to commit suicide and with His help turn things around. He has done this 3 or 4 time the past twenty years. I am no different than you. He can do this in you life walk with Jesus.
There is a spirit out there called a religious spirit and its not part of God's Kingdom,it one of Satan's bunch. Oh the religious spirit does not like that. If something rose up in anyone reading this, you have one. Turn it over to Jesus he will help you get ride of of it and them you will hear his voice.

John 10:27

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Get baptized in The holy Ghost,If they told you you got that when you got saved,wrong.Check it out in the bible for yourself. Do not believe what other people say and that includes me. The Holy spirit is a person,Get to know Him and build a relationship.

Schrodinger's Hat said:

I haven't had any experiences myself relating to the subject,but I've read of many people who have and I think the subject is very interesting.Many people say God doesn't speak to people anymore,except figuratively,whereas many people say they themselves have heard God speak to them.I'm not sure which side to believe.Anyway,I'd love to hear from anyone who has had experiences relating to the subject.If you don't believe God speaks to people today and have Biblically-based reasons reasons for not believing so,then I'd love to hear your side of the story as well.God bless everyone.

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God started speaking to me on a personal level in 1969. I have written my account of how that happened in my book, "If God Speaks to Me, He Will Surely Speak to You!" It charts my experiences of the voice of God to me in my good times and my storm and stress years when I wasn't living according to His standards. It is an honest testimony and shows that we don't have victory all the time during our lives. I was 20 years of age when God started speaking to me, and now I am 70, and He is still there within earshot of my voice, and He is able to talk back to me and keep me on the straight and narrow. If you are interested, PM me and I will give you the link to Amazon where you can download a Kindle copy for a very reasonable price. I have kept the price low because it is more important to me to get the message out there. There is also a paperback version if you can obtain one without the shipping costs being too expensive.

I awoke laughing once my wife asked me what it was. I told her Jesus just said something funny. As I slept he said "that hair shirt gets itchy when it gets dry doesn't it"?

He was referring to John the Baptist and that I was also witnessing Jesus. I remember the obvious mirth in His voice.

The strongest He ever spoke to me He said "every generation I have to start all over".

I'd never thought of the gospel that way before.

I have heard from the Lord, not with my ears, with my Spirit. Once, was when I put a number of home-school books aside and asked God to show me who I should give them to. Within a month, a friend of a friend, I did not know needed them. I was quick to deliver them promptly.
At least twice, I heard corrective words to my spirit, words of instruction, straight from the Bible.
Once, I heard from the Lord, to read the Bible three times a day to my dying mother. I obeyed.
On several occasions, when I had asked Jesus for guidance ahead of time, I received it in ways that were symbolic and/or from other Christians. Praising His name. Thankful for his care.

Schrodinger's Hat said:

I haven't had any experiences myself relating to the subject,but I've read of many people who have and I think the subject is very interesting.Many people say God doesn't speak to people anymore,except figuratively,whereas many people say they themselves have heard God speak to them.I'm not sure which side to believe.Anyway,I'd love to hear from anyone who has had experiences relating to the subject.If you don't believe God speaks to people today and have Biblically-based reasons reasons for not believing so,then I'd love to hear your side of the story as well.God bless everyone.

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Yes, God speaks to all Christians. The voice of God may be different to individuals, however, I find that it is always the thought in your head which encourages any form of Godly benevolence and gives Divine warnings for troublesome situations.

The voice of God is your conscience. It is the Holy Spirit giving you wisdom and knowledge. You do not necessarily have to see, feel, think, taste, smell or hear anything.

I find that, when people claim to ‘hear’ God speaking to them, they are actually receiving telepathic messages from the Holy Spirit.

When one constantly waits and wants God to talk to them, they begin to receive His Word. This is usually how Spiritual gifts are cultivated.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reply.

Yours Sincerely~
~Purity Clarity Parkes

P.S - God Bless You AND I will be praying for you.

Purity Clarity Parkes said:

Yes, God speaks to all Christians. The voice of God may be different to individuals, however, I find that it is always the thought in your head which encourages any form of Godly benevolence and gives Divine warnings for troublesome situations.

The voice of God is your conscience. It is the Holy Spirit giving you wisdom and knowledge. You do not necessarily have to see, feel, think, taste, smell or hear anything.

I find that, when people claim to ‘hear’ God speaking to them, they are actually receiving telepathic messages from the Holy Spirit.

When one constantly waits and wants God to talk to them, they begin to receive His Word. This is usually how Spiritual gifts are cultivated.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reply.

Yours Sincerely~
~Purity Clarity Parkes

P.S - God Bless You AND I will be praying for you.

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Plainly and accurately stated, yea and amen!
Most times I hear his voice deep within me, my conscience bearing witness.
There are occasional times however when it is so clear in my ear that I have to describe it as the audible voice of God, even if nobody else can hear it.

But back to conscience, many years ago I was talking to a young man who worked for me who openly stated he hated Christians and church. He did however qualify that with, "but you're different, not like all the others," he knew.
By that he meant we didn't ram the bible down his throat all the time or make him feel condemned. We were just open and clear that we were walking in a personal relationship with someone who loved us.
This man was what we Brits would call a real "Jack the lad". He would get drunk on Friday night or after a football match and often fell the wrong side of the law.

On this occasion we were having a deep discussion of how I had started my business. At every question I just said to him, "We just did what God told us to do!"

As we sat over coffee in my office and I repeated it again, he suddenly burst out with, "Why do you keep going on about what God said, how do you know what he says?"

I suddenly realised the predicament I had put myself in. Here is an unbeliever asking about the voice of God, when my experience of trying to get Christians to listen to that voice is mostly futile, churchianity having hardened their hearts to the notion of God speaking today. According to most Christians, God gave the bible and that's all we need to know what God says now. Countless posts on his forum is testimony of that false belief.

So how can I answer this anti Christian's question about God's voice.
I paused, leant right back in my seat, took a deep breath and silently cried out to God for his words.
Of course, wisdom is promised to those who ask, and wisdom for that particular moment immediately flooded in.

I leant forward and looked him in the eye. "Tell me Dave, you know when you are in a place where you didn't ought to be, and you're doing something you didn't ought to be doing, do you hear a little voice inside you saying, 'Dave, you didn't ought to be here, and you certainly didn't ought to be doing this!'"

He looked at me and threw his head back with a great guffaw, "Of course I bloody well do!"

I then said. "Imagine that voice saying to you, 'Listen to me Dave, come walk with me.'"

Clarity dawning on Dave's face, his very hesitant, but deliberate response was, "Now......... I ..........understand!"

This is an anti Christian, non believer speaking, with more receptivity that many Christians!

As we continued, I talked about the nature of God and encouraged him to listen to that voice, fiercely nodding his head he promised he would, but at the same time making it clear that he would never become a Christian. His distain towards the church very clear.
I didn't care as long as he started to listen to the Lord, what happened later on was between him and God.
My parting words were to remind him that if God was God, then he was Dave's creator and not his football mate, and he needed to respect that difference. A little humility was due if he wanted to talk to God.

What happened later is another story, but God did speak to this non Christian, he listened, and his path was directed with profound results.

Hi
Very interesting. I believe God does speak to us. Just in non verbal ways. He directs us.
On one very pivotal occasion i experienced the Holy Spirit and knew what He was saying. 'I am with you always' but communicated rather than spoken.
As we mature as christians we learn how to listen for and hear God's words. That still small voice. To hear it we hsve to quieten the clamour of this world, quieten the nonsense that we are bombarded with and that goes on in our heads. Meditate on God's presence. Then we can know his word.

This is a lovely thread! I truly believe God speaks to us in a variety of ways, sometimes as "coincidences" and sometimes in that still, small voice.

For me personally there is one time in particular that I believe He spoke to me directly. It was at a turning point in my life when I decided I really wanted to get serious about my faith, and I didn't want to fall away from Him. So I sat down and prayed, asking God what I needed to do to be a "good Christian." I quieted my mind, and eventually two words came to me, and I truly believe they came from Him. I didn't exactly hear them audibly, but they came like a thought out of the blue, and gently shook me inside.

He said, "love me." Pretty obvious and simple, in hindsight, but at the time this was a revelation to me. Of course everything would fall into place if I really love Him! Since then my walk with Christ has become much more personal than it was all throughout my childhood.

Again, I believe God speaks to us in different ways. We don't necessarily have to hear Him with our ears in order to receive His word. Sometimes He uses others to deliver messages to us, and sometimes we just need to pay attention as we go about our lives and He will use something else to bring us guidance or comfort: His written word, a song, a well-timed message from a friend, etc...

How good your reply. It is an honour to hear your account of God's message to you. You put it so well and i feel inspired.

The Holy Spirit, who is God (the 3rd person of the Trinity) talks to us

You have the Holy Spirit living inside you, If you are born again. One of His names is Counsellor, and He would not be counsellor if He did not talk to you. He is talking to you all the time. When was the last time you stopped talking long enough to listen?

Denadii said:

You have the Holy Spirit living inside you, If you are born again. One of His names is Counsellor, and He would not be counsellor if He did not talk to you. He is talking to you all the time. When was the last time you stopped talking long enough to listen?

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That is such a good point.

It reminds me of a time, years ago, when my contract was not renewed, which left me unemployed. So, after praying and asking the Lord for help and direction, an interview came up, and I got the job. I bubbled over with gratitude, and thanked the Lord repeatedly. A few days went by, and then my manager came up to me to inform me that he's going to drop my hourly rate. This totally stunned me. Thoughts raced through my mind, which left me wondering whether this was God's will or not. That day felt like it dragged by so slowly.

Finally, it was time to go home. After arriving back home, I found myself walking around the house, praying and asking for advice. Right then, it was like a wave of peace came over me, and the Spirit started talking to me. He used an analogy of an earthly father giving a gift to his child, watching her open it and enjoy playing with it. Then, the father takes the gift back and gives her something smaller. He asked me "What kind of father would do that?". "No one" was my reply. He finished, saying "My child, how much less then would your Father in heaven do such a thing?". That confirmed it for me, giving me the courage to retract my acceptance of the offer and plunging back into the job market. I ended up getting a more handsome offer.

Jesus did say that if we knock, that He would open. I love that analogy, because it is so practical. Think about it - if you go to visit someone, you don't knock on the door and run away. You knock, and wait - knocking again and again if you really want the door to open.

All glory be to God in heaven.