Why does God speak to some more than others?

Macchiato said:

I. Feel like an outsider when it comes to God. I dont feel or hesr God much even when I read or pray or fast.

I know it isnt supposed to be like this but idk what else to do.

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Psalm 66:18
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

1 Peter 3:12
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Macchiato said:

I want to hear God. Be led by his spirit but God seems so elusive yet reveals Himself for some others. Im starting to think perhaps its a gift Im trying to force. A gift I don't have bc Im doing everhthing to seek God idk.

Just getting disheartened. Help.

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James 4:3-10
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Macchiato said:

I. Feel like an outsider when it comes to God. I dont feel or hesr God much even when I read or pray or fast.

I know it isnt supposed to be like this but idk what else to do.

I want to hear God. Be led by his spirit but God seems so elusive yet reveals Himself for some others. Im starting to think perhaps its a gift Im trying to force. A gift I don't have bc Im doing everhthing to seek God idk.

Just getting disheartened. Help.

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Dear Macchaoto,

This is something that is difficult for a lot of Christians. My go to scripture for this is John 10. You must enter by the sheepgate and be tended by the Good Sheperd, which is Jesus. You come into the sheepgate by accepting the work He did on the cross to pay your sin debt after you have confessed your sin and repented. The scripture says “my sheep will know me by my voice. ‘ His voice comes in many ways as explained by the article at the end of this post. It is one of the best I have read on nthe subject. I am praying for you to find all that God has prepared for you. Be still and know that He is God, He cares, He hears and He will answer. God bless you.

“How can we recognize the voice of God? This question has been asked by countless people throughout the ages. Samuel heard the voice of God, but did not recognize it until he was instructed by Eli (1 Samuel 3:1–10).

Gideon had a physical revelation from God, and he still doubted what he had heard to the point of asking for a sign, not once, but three times (Judges 6:17–22,36–40). When we are listening for God’s voice, how can we know that He is the one speaking? First of all, we have something that Gideon and Samuel did not. We have the complete Bible, the inspired Word of God, to read, study, and meditate on. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). When we have a question about a certain topic or decision in our lives, we should see what the Bible has to say about it. God will never lead us contrary to what He has taught in His Word (Titus 1:2).

To hear God’s voice we must belong to God. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Those who hear God’s voice are those who belong to Him. They are those who have been saved by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. These are the sheep who hear and recognize His voice, because they know Him as their Shepherd. If we are to recognize God’s voice, we must belong to Him.

We hear His voice when we spend time in Bible study and quiet contemplation of His Word. The more time we spend intimately with God and His Word, the easier it is to recognize His voice and His leading in our lives. Employees at a bank are trained to recognize counterfeits by studying genuine money so closely that it is easy to spot a fake. We should be so familiar with God’s Word that when someone speaks error to us, it is clear that it is not of God. I have often used this illustration, but it clearly teaches a precise principle.

While people can say that God speaks audibly today, be careful, and know that He speaks primarily through His written Word. Sometimes God’s leading can come through the Holy Spirit, through our consciences, through circumstances, and through the exhortations of other people.

But, By comparing what we hear to the truth of Scripture, we can learn to recognize God’s voice.

Rafael Bastien-Herrera is a Selma resident and Pastor/Teacher of The Word Walk Fellowship Ministries. He has a B.A. in Pastoral Ministry/Counseling, and a M.DIV. in Theology. He is a Radio Bible Teacher on KGED 1680 AM "Christian Talk" Radio, every Sunday at 8:30 AM, in Fresno.

Please send questions to rbherrera@thewordwalk.org”.

Macchiato said:

I. Feel like an outsider when it comes to God. I dont feel or hesr God much even when I read or pray or fast.

I know it isnt supposed to be like this but idk what else to do.

I want to hear God. Be led by his spirit but God seems so elusive yet reveals Himself for some others. Im starting to think perhaps its a gift Im trying to force. A gift I don't have bc Im doing everhthing to seek God idk.

Just getting disheartened. Help.

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Good afternoon! I pray your doing well this day! (Its a beautiful one here)

The Triune God revealed Himself to me, it's ultimately what led to my acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior..

That revelation of Him is written all over the pages of His Word to us, the holy Scriptures, and He speaks to us all regardless of who we are in those most beautiful pages.

"Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away" 1 Corinthians 13:8

Don't worry about what your not, you don't need it - God has already given you what you need. Focus on how to be all that you were given to be, in Christ. He is leading you even now... keep walking the path.

Macchiato said:

I. Feel like an outsider when it comes to God. I dont feel or hesr God much even when I read or pray or fast.

I know it isnt supposed to be like this but idk what else to do.

I want to hear God. Be led by his spirit but God seems so elusive yet reveals Himself for some others. Im starting to think perhaps its a gift Im trying to force. A gift I don't have bc Im doing everhthing to seek God idk.

Just getting disheartened. Help.

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I completely relate to this. There have been moments in my life where I felt like God was speaking constantly. I could see Him in everything. Then there were times where I was convinced he'd packed up and went home without me. These days, it's a mixed bag. I have to try really hard to see and hear God in everyday things and I think that's part of the challenge. We have to want to hear God and to be receptive to what He's telling us. Even then, we run the risk of not hearing or understanding and can get frustrated.

My advice would be to continue reading scripture, praying, and don't give up. Keep listening and watching for signs. I don't believe that God ever stops talking to us, but we as humans in this fallen world have to find ways to retune our hearts and minds to hear.

Blessings,
Ex

Macchiato said:

I. Feel like an outsider when it comes to God. I dont feel or hesr God much even when I read or pray or fast.

I know it isnt supposed to be like this but idk what else to do.

I want to hear God. Be led by his spirit but God seems so elusive yet reveals Himself for some others. Im starting to think perhaps its a gift Im trying to force. A gift I don't have bc Im doing everhthing to seek God idk.

Just getting disheartened. Help.

Click to expand...

Why do you think you are supposed to "hear" God at all?

I think that your anxiety over this stems from a deeply flawed understanding of the Christian life and Christian spirituality. In which case the solution is to understand that you are not missing out on something here, you are not being deprived of anything.

You aren't broken. You aren't faulty. You're just a Christian--and the joy of that is hearing God's word which tells you that you are forgiven, that you are loved, that you are free in your conscience to love God and love your neighbor.

God isn't found somewhere inside of ourselves, He is not found in the booming thunder upon mountain tops, and He is not just some voice deep inside ourselves either.

God is found in Jesus Christ, and wherever Christ meets us, there is God. Christ is present, always present, here with us, in His word, in His Sacraments, in His Church.

Hearing God is not about turning ourselves inward, but turning our ears outward to the Gospel. When the Gospel is preached, that is God's word, He is the One who speaks to you, speaks His word to you, speaks His love and grace and forgiveness to you that is in Christ. That faith, by which you trust His word, that is the work and power of the Holy Spirit.

The danger in trying to "hear God's voice", is that the natural man desires signs, wonders, and experiences; and so it can be the very thing of trying to "hear God", or "feel God", or "experience God" that actually moves us away from hearing Him. Because our attention moves away from what God has done for us in Jesus, away from what God says to us in Jesus, toward ourselves.

I speak from experience on this. I grew up in a church environment that placed a great level of emphasis on personal experiences of God. When I wasn't "feeling" God--or rather, certain emotional experiences which I falsely attributed to God--I believed God had walked away from me, abandoned me. And so much of my spiritual life was consumed with trying to do things to impress God, things that I thought I needed to do to win God's favor and love back. I frequently fell into deep pits of despair, my mind clouded with the fog of intense doubt--doubt about God's love, grace, and my own salvation.

It's a terrible place to be.

It took some people, earnestly talking to me about what the Gospel truly, really, and wonderfully means for me to wake up, as it were, from the long dark night of my soul, to the sound of God's great big mercy:

Christ died for you.
God loves you.

It's not about us, or our experiences, or trying to hear or feel God, or any such things.

It's about Jesus of Nazareth, who dined with prostitutes and tax collectors, hung out with sinners, went among the lepers and treated them like human beings. God's love breaking into the world, Jesus Christ feeding, healing, and serving the poor, the least of these, and dying for the worst of us, for all of us. Breaking the chains of death, rising from the dead. This is His word to you: Good news, your sins are forgiven; good news, hell is defeated; good news, the devil is in chains; good news, death shall be no more; good news, God is going to make all things new; good news, you are a new creation in Jesus Christ; good news, you belong to Jesus, and if you are Christ's, then you are belong to God.

Good news: Christ is here, unavoidable, in His word, in His Sacraments, in His Church.

Be seated at the Table, His words to you, "Take and eat" and "Take and drink" He is yours.


-CryptoLutheran

God is quiet, not silent. But we can miss His personal communication because of how we are giving attention to the noisy stuff in us . . . and around us.