Insight/advice

BelleMem said:

Thanks, I am human and flawed and don't try to hide that haha- I have unknowingly done occult practices because they disguise themselves to be 'for fun' or of/for the light. I of course always seek to learn, and adapt from what I've learned. -I will say some of them are very powerful, and do feel genuinely of Christ though, which is why I want to not dismiss Him out of fear, but also don't want to entertain evil occult spirits. (I don't know how this site works, is there a way to privately send one of the 'words' I've gotten and you can see if they are like one's you saw before?)

Click to expand...

I'll send you a conversation.

And to give you another word of encouragement here, don't be discouraged if you give up what could be a "gift" by suspecting it might not be of God. There is a principle in God's kingdom that if you give up something for Him, He will replace it with something even greater (Mark 10:29-31).

So if you do decide to set it aside, just be encouraged that you might end up some day with far greater gifts; ones that truly help people, and deliver them from bondages and deceptions, and draw them closer to the Lord Jesus Christ in the process.

BelleMem said:

I do pray over them, and some of them make more sense to me when I go back and read them later, as well as dreams that have stuck with me, that make more sense now than they did years ago. I am not incredibly familiar with the Bible and have a selective memory, so I am usually stunned when verses I ask for to confirm the writing or the times we are in, are so spot on. If I have ever asked the Holy Spirit for anything- He d e l i v e r s, and usually in a way I wouldn't have imagined. He will speak to me in every day outings etc but it is because I also speak to Him. I believe He gives us all gifts, but at the same time, we must ask for Him to show them to us, and be vulnerably open to Him. So yes, I would say they have strengthened my relationship with Jesus immensely.

Click to expand...

I agree that we are all given different gifts. You express yourself quite well, which is one of yours. To get the gift of discernment, or to improve your ability for it, I think it would be helpful to read more of the Bible. Maybe start with one of the gospels. Whatever is going on here, whether it is something you need to give up or not, it seems that God has let it happen to bring you closer to Him in the long run.

BelleMem said:

I started practicing meditation and all the new age bologna, and it very quickly brought me right to God. "knock, and He will answer" indeed. So in the meditations, or prayer, He sometimes shows me great images, or teaches me amazing lessons. It is hard to explain to people, when I try, it's almost the way we try to explain a dream, which in our world most of it sounds nonsensical, or there is communication without words used. This is how I know the difference, there is this communication in the Spirit. One afternoon I felt God tell me "get ready to write" I felt this surge about it- randomly. I assumed it was in general, I write short stories and poetry. However, I began writing whatever He told me. It was a lot and somehow He will give me a name, or words I've never heard, or words in other languages. I have to look them up and am stunned when they actually are something, because when I read it, it looks like gibberish. I feel that is confirmation, as well as I will ask for Bible verses to confirm. Usually they are spot on, sometimes I am not so sure. I was wondering if anyone else has had experience like this, or knows how to tell it is really Him- there have been times He firmly tells me it is, and to stop doubting, so then I feel guilty for doubting- I think I just doubt myself, and my understandings.

My other question was to do with physical sensation. I often will feel chills, change in the atmosphere (usually in a good way) ears intensely will ring, and most commonly, and most intensely, my wrists get a strange sensation- almost weak, or ticklish, it is hard to explain, but it is intense and it always grabs my attention, I'm just not sure what it means?

Click to expand...

Blessings in Christ Jesus! All of this, I have seen before. This is not The Lord, but an imitator. Hidden in Him should be able to help you out. This door needs to be closed and locked before things turn really bad. The good thing is I see you on the other side of this. Have a Blessed Day!

BelleMem said:

I started practicing meditation and all the new age bologna, and it very quickly brought me right to God. "knock, and He will answer" indeed. So in the meditations, or prayer, He sometimes shows me great images, or teaches me amazing lessons. It is hard to explain to people, when I try, it's almost the way we try to explain a dream, which in our world most of it sounds nonsensical, or there is communication without words used. This is how I know the difference, there is this communication in the Spirit. One afternoon I felt God tell me "get ready to write" I felt this surge about it- randomly. I assumed it was in general, I write short stories and poetry. However, I began writing whatever He told me. It was a lot and somehow He will give me a name, or words I've never heard, or words in other languages. I have to look them up and am stunned when they actually are something, because when I read it, it looks like gibberish. I feel that is confirmation, as well as I will ask for Bible verses to confirm. Usually they are spot on, sometimes I am not so sure. I was wondering if anyone else has had experience like this, or knows how to tell it is really Him- there have been times He firmly tells me it is, and to stop doubting, so then I feel guilty for doubting- I think I just doubt myself, and my understandings.

My other question was to do with physical sensation. I often will feel chills, change in the atmosphere (usually in a good way) ears intensely will ring, and most commonly, and most intensely, my wrists get a strange sensation- almost weak, or ticklish, it is hard to explain, but it is intense and it always grabs my attention, I'm just not sure what it means?

Click to expand...

When were you born again?
What was the process?

Sidon said:

When were you born again?
What was the process?

Click to expand...

Blessings in Christ Jesus! Since you have questions, I have a question for you. Have you been called back from Israel to Florida, or do you have a dwelling in both places. Thank you in advance, and have a Blessed Day!

BelleMem said:

It's hard to pin point, I never actively or decidedly denied Christ or turned away from God. I have always wanted to be on the side of love, honesty, light, goodness, etc. I think my own fear, naiivete, and some denials/confusion are what slowly led me astray over time without realizing it. New Age practices are disguised as light, the occult has seductive qualities, and has an answer for every question- however it is not the always the right answer, or the Truth. It is all manipulation taking away from the One True Living God.

I have always been curious, I love learning about anything- it's exciting, and is something that continues to show me just how unfathomably amazing God is in this endlessly wondrous way. So the New Age 'culture' doesn't deny Jesus, or angels, it seems harmless- but without firm understanding of God or knowing the Bible (which I didn't) the culture is incredibly self focused, not Christ focused. It leads you down a darker and darker pit.

Through constantly living in confusion between what the 'New Age' deemed acceptable, or encouraged, vs what I didn't know was the Holy Spirit ( at the time called my 'personal intuition' ) - I kept praying, I kept asking for guidance, I kept seeking Truth. I guess the born again moment, was after a situation with a friend, and I just felt so lost and finally humbled myself to the "I need you Abba" cry , I opened my Bible and He took me to Song of Songs, and after reading it I just fell. What He specifically led me to, brought me to my knees in shock with it's relevancy, and basically was Him directly telling me, "I hear you, I see you, I love you."
It has been a continuous and imperfect journey since then. I have to remind myself that just because I am Christian does not mean I am immune to mistakes ( I feel guiltier at the thought of disappointing Him ) but it means Christ paid for them, and it shows how much we can only rely on His perfection- not our 'self help' 'guided meditations' 'chakra clearing' . . . No, what most people are looking for in that bottomless pit of the New Age, is what is found only with the unmatched beauty of Jesus Christ.

Click to expand...

Thank.
I appreciate your detailed reply.

You are seeking truth....and there is only One.
This is Jesus, who said of Himself..>>"i am THE Truth"....

Truth exists because God exists.
This is the reality concerning ..... Love, goodness, hope, kindness, compassion, grace, .....See all that? Those exist because GOD Exists. And if He didn't then none of those would exist.

The NT teaches that : JESUS = "in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge".

I have many Threads on this Forum that detail what it means to be born again, what it means to be "in Christ", what it means to "walk in the Spirit".
You are welcome to them all, and God give you Grace for your continued Journey.

One thing tho.....very important.....the most important.
Jesus said this....."you must be, born again".

BelleMem said:

thank you! I had gone through a mentally abusive relationship, and a dark period of time so I hit a rock bottom/ fork in the road moment and turned to taking care of myself through these new age recommendations, which helped a lot to lure me out of it. I also did yoga daily, and have always had very vivid intense dreams full of symbolic references. (that's for another thread haha) - Anyway, yoga led me to meditation, and like you said it more naturally filled my very active mind.
My favourite meditation that sort of re awakened me in Christ, was that I was brought to a peaceful field and was met by a man. He showed me a little stream and had me pay attention to the stones within it. He reminded me visually and conceptually of Luke 21:6. I watched each stone, all different sizes, shapes, colours etc. Some stayed on the bottom, the heavy ones, and the light ones flowed along with the water. He let me see that we are the stones- Some are stuck, weighed down and fighting the current. Some are light and floating right with it easily. My eye followed the stones that were moving and noticed they were headed toward a cliff, which made me tense and panicked for a moment. My very human response was met with the man smiling tenderly, he said "what's usually on the other side of falling water?" and immediately I said and saw "Paradise" Waterfall, flowers, beauty, peace, all of it. It was this message that the heavier we let ourselves become, the more we fight the current of the Holy Spirit- the longer it takes us to make that imperative 'leap' of faith. Although we can't see it from this end, the leap leads to paradise.

It was one in a series of moments God spoke to me about taking a full 'leap' into faith, and to Trust in Him FULLY. To let go of my guilts, worries, and the like because now I follow Him. Now, below someone said the words I'm getting are demonic. I am not saying they aren't, however I pray over them, and although I'm confused, I don't feel like they are. At least not all of them. I obviously don't ~know~ which is why I ask in the first place. I am trying to learn, and praying for a strong spirit of discernment as these things are seemingly easy for me to tap into.

Thank you for your warm welcome, and the Psalm, much appreciated !!

Click to expand...

Dear one,
I understand that we can be vulnerable when we were victims of abuse in relationships.
It can be mentally and emotionally challenging but we cannot stay oppressed.
We need to look for deliverance.

Pray, dear one:
Lord Jesus Christ, my Shepherd.
I bless the circumstances that bring grief and sorrow into my heart. I bless it. I receive the peace of Jesus Christ and the inheritance blessings— that is coming to me; from blessing it.
Amen.

Dear one, it may not make sense to bless the circumstances but just believe that God allows all things to happen for our good. Trust in Him, despite physical senses. Yes, trust that He gave you peace not as the world gave, that is, the peace that surpass knowledge that guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Dear one, I understand that we may not fully comprehend or understand what happened but just trust in the Lord.

For we heard:
I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. -Jeremiah 32:40

Dear one, just trust in the everlasting covenant that our Lord Jesus Christ made with us.

Then, dear one, pray for your emotional healing:

My dear Heavenly Father,
I have been mistreated, hurt, disappointed and upset but I want to remain in Your steadfast love.
Lord, though it is difficult to release forgiveness to those who wronged me.
I believe in You, my Heavenly Father that you grant me the strength to release forgiveness.
Now, I release forgiveness to those who offend me.
Thank You, my Heavenly Father that You forgave the guilt of my sins.
Lord Jesus, let me healed through Your mighty name.
Let me be whole and in peace.
Amen

Dear one,
Stay in the Father’s love, for this is what we have heard:

Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, -2 Corinthians 2:10
so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. -2 Corinthians 2:11

Dear one, when we were victims of abuse in relationship, we can easily be trapped in unforgiveness. Unforgiveness makes us unable to enjoy our Heavenly Father’s love, as our Lord Jesus commanded us to love one another.

Dear one, let us not trust our strength to love one another but trust in the strength of the Lord, that we can love one another through the love of Christ.

For we heard:
“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth;”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭5:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
“And this One shall be peace.”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So dear one, let us be strengthen in the grace of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear one, won’t you be strengthen when you are loved by Christ ?
Dear one, stay in the love of Christ, you will be strengthen to cast away the demons in His mighty name.

To God be the glory. Amen.

It's definitely a demonic spirit, i think it mainly attacks women because of how trusting we are. It's definitely demonic

BelleMem said:

I started practicing meditation and all the new age bologna, and it very quickly brought me right to God. "knock, and He will answer" indeed.

Click to expand...

This rings warning bells instantly, accessing God through New Age. God is not accessed through New Age practices. The fact that it was so speedy, again is an indication that it is most likely demonic activity.

I have spent years trying to hear from God, one thing I conclude, is God is not accessible via human will, you can't just ask God questions, and expect Him to answer instantly. Communication with God is most times initiated by God and on very few occasions. To accurately hear from God, one must be very persistent and be prepared for silence.

We can't just say "I have faith that I will hear from God", been there, tried that. It just does not work. Demons often reply to such communication. Yes, that is the attitude we must have to hear from Him, but again we can not demand an audience to God, not even via faith. God may answer such a question, but it is rare in my opinion.

God will speak and lead. But we must be super careful with spiritual experiences.

BelleMem said:

I started practicing meditation and all the new age bologna, and it very quickly brought me right to God. "knock, and He will answer" indeed. So in the meditations, or prayer, He sometimes shows me great images, or teaches me amazing lessons. It is hard to explain to people, when I try, it's almost the way we try to explain a dream, which in our world most of it sounds nonsensical, or there is communication without words used. This is how I know the difference, there is this communication in the Spirit. One afternoon I felt God tell me "get ready to write" I felt this surge about it- randomly. I assumed it was in general, I write short stories and poetry. However, I began writing whatever He told me. It was a lot and somehow He will give me a name, or words I've never heard, or words in other languages. I have to look them up and am stunned when they actually are something, because when I read it, it looks like gibberish. I feel that is confirmation, as well as I will ask for Bible verses to confirm. Usually they are spot on, sometimes I am not so sure. I was wondering if anyone else has had experience like this, or knows how to tell it is really Him- there have been times He firmly tells me it is, and to stop doubting, so then I feel guilty for doubting- I think I just doubt myself, and my understandings.

My other question was to do with physical sensation. I often will feel chills, change in the atmosphere (usually in a good way) ears intensely will ring, and most commonly, and most intensely, my wrists get a strange sensation- almost weak, or ticklish, it is hard to explain, but it is intense and it always grabs my attention, I'm just not sure what it means?

Click to expand...

I'd like to recommend the book Understand ing Prophetic People by Sanford R Loren. It is written by a pastor and prophetic type. I wish all past pastors would at least skim it and especially prophetic type people. It makes you feel less awkward and able to build on your gifts. It also reveals the strengths and weaknesses of pastors and/or prophetic types ( I hate saying prophet. It's a loaded word that tends to give people a big head.)

I don't agree with the ultimate spiritual heirarchy advocated for in the book but I do from a church administration heirarchy stand. Then I totally get it. God is not a God of chaos/disorder. Amen. Let pastors be pastors and prophetic types be prophetic types. May the Lord bless you on your faith journey in this area! It is sure to get more interesting if you embrace it.

HappyHope said:

I'd like to recommend the book Understand ing Prophetic People by Sanford R Loren. It is written by a pastor and prophetic type. I wish all past pastors would at least skim it and especially prophetic type people. It makes you feel less awkward and able to build on your gifts. It also reveals the strengths and weaknesses of pastors and/or prophetic types ( I hate saying prophet. It's a loaded word that tends to give people a big head.)

I don't agree with the ultimate spiritual heirarchy advocated for in the book but I do from a church administration heirarchy stand. Then I totally get it. God is not a God of chaos/disorder. Amen. Let pastors be pastors and prophetic types be prophetic types. May the Lord bless you on your faith journey in this area! It is sure to get more interesting if you embrace it.

Click to expand...

There is also a free devotional available on the YouVersion Bible App by the same author, I think it's based on the same book too. It's really good.

I love your story Belle. It's amazing how God works like that. As far as the automatic writing. I am always personally very wary of any practice that is not specifically in Scripture. A lot of folks that are for it argue that it was during the 1st century and many people couldn't write or read so Paul and the other writers wouldn't have spoken on it. If it comes from God, our talents don't matter ultimately. I'm not saying that the practice is specifically demonic or anything but as I said to another on here regarding the practice of automatic writing, if it is of God, what comes out will always line up with scripture.

If you are no longer using New Age practices, and genuinely seeking the LORD. Then there is room for you to hear from Him (As Agabus did in the New Testament), but just be cautious.

Act 11:28 And one of them, named Agabus, said publicly through the Spirit that there would be serious need of food all over the earth: which came about in the time of Claudius.

But again this is a specific gift from God. It is not wrong to experiment with the Supernatural, as long as our experimentation is done in such a way that it is "safe". By safe I mean we should not generally go around saying "The LORD says", although I am guilty of having done this. But the LORD may have a more open way of communicating to you.

I also write Christian poetry, and some of that has come as a result of direct revelation, words given to me. I would not say it is sin to write what we feel is of God. But then again, like with any revelation, we must be careful, and prayerful. I have included it below so you get an idea of what was given.

CHORUS

God come down
Fill our town

Show us your way
Reach all today

God come down
Fill our town

Do not leave one
without the son

God come down
Fill our town


Men are going to and fro
Yet few of them truly know
Hearts are lost hearts are hurt
Only you can bring new birth
Wash away our guilty stain
Come into our hearts again

CHORUS

Many war and many fight
Yet oh lord this is not right
Some take what is not theirs
Oh God come and take our cares
Others cry when no one knows
Their life on the edge and so it goes

CHORUS

Some in passion some in lust
Make rushed decisions lacking trust
Children born to broken homes
If only they were not alone
God provides and God does give
If only men could to him live


Yet after that was given, I tried to do it again, and just got jibberish. So I was unable to repeat the action. Inspiration may come to us, but I think we must be careful not to try to "direct", or control God.

Note after 20 years of being a Christian I still struggle with the ability to know "what is God" in terms of spiritual communication. My last post may have been too strict, for it seemed to choke out the ability to hear. I don't have the gift of hearing from God. It does not mean God may not communicate to you in a way you respond to.

BelleMem said:

Thank you for sharing that!! I love writing, and I love poetry!! - I didn't feel it was strict, I seek honesty whenever I am seeking answers. I did feel some words I got were very powerful and of good source, but some were very all over the place- I liken it to words coming through on different radio stations in a way, I don't know how else to describe it. I will pray over them, but for now I will stop until I feel certain He wants me to continue with that, and in this moment I don't feel compelled to do so. I feel more called to be a pillar within personal relationships, and to love on 'hard to love' people ( I know we are all called to do so, but there are definitely seasons where I feel He puts focus on certain things). I do believe the Holy Spirit hits us with that 'stroke of genius' when it comes to artistic abilities. He is THE Creator and we are in His image, so naturally we long to create, and I think it's incredibly healthy and important, bringing us closer to Him when we use art with good intent, and let Him help so to speak.

I was born in LA, and He puts it on my heart to pray for The City of Angels quite often. It's in a very sad condition right now. Here is one of mine -

Tough to be a princess in Los Angeles
In a city where beauty is there to posses
Alley ways become shortcuts to the mind
Telling them their smog filled sky is blind

My heart beats against burning concrete
In that place where ash and miracles meet
Music and museums make eyes water
What a place to be for a kings daughter

Tough to be a princess in Los Angeles
In a city with little beauty left to posses
If you drive down the 101, blow a kiss
For that Holy lost city, of Los Angeles

Click to expand...

All good. Nice poem, very contemporary and fitting.