.

[sunlover1]

Dups...

 

[2Timothy2:15]

I like this scripture.

James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

 

[Rick Otto]

A mustard seed of faith?
I got three seeds, who has a cow?

 

[sunlover1]

A mustard seed of faith?
I got three seeds, who has a cow?

throw those seeds into the dirt and let's see what happens!

 

[Blade]

After being involved in a few threads about knowing God through the spectacular e.g. hearing His voice, miracles, etc. I began to wonder about those of us who have followed our Lord with no signs and wonders. We have lost friends and family because of our faith, yet we have never heard the voice of God speak directly to us (other than through His Word, of course).

I was left with this question: Who actually has more faith, those who see (or hear) or those who don't?

Edit to rephrase the question.

Which requires more faith?

Who do you look at for the answer? Who do you look to when a problem comes up? For me its strange how so many believe John 3:16 yet just in Matt-John..look at all the rest He said..not Him the Father. He is REAL! When your read HIS word..its it GOD speaking or man? Is He speaking to ALL or just some? The sweet sweet Holy Spirit is where? Ever ask the Father for it? Is YESHUA (Jesus) real? Who so ever..what so ever.. ask the Father in my name.. After Jesus rose.. Peter and John at the gate beautiful. Said to the man that was NOT looking for healing but for anything. They said.. no silver no gold but what I do have. Ok what do they have that YOU DONT? WHAT ever they had ALL that believe have. Then they said.. give I unto you ..in Jesus name. See not once did they have to ask Jesus GOD ..nothing. So many most have no clue what GODS will is.

They walk by what they see hear and feel and then apply that to God and that becomes Gods will. We all have flesh. Yet we dont have to bow to it. We all sin but we all can confess our sin and HE will WILL cleans us from ALL not some but ALL unrighteousness. So how does GOD see you? What is righteousness? Its right standing with God. How does one get righteousness? By believing in Jesus. Yeah WOW AWESOME! YOU are in right standing with GOD because you simply believe in HIS only son. This is the ONLY way the Father can see us..through Christ.

So try reading the word and NOT looking around you.. there is wisdom in asking others questions but if HE SAID IT..He will do it. We see those that seem to have no faith.. then those that have awesome great faith then those that seem to have more then they should? Now ME? I dont touch that. I praise GOD for them..all. I see the good in them not the fault. Then not knowing them not praying with them not speaking face to face and yet they dont answer to me nor ever will. So I treat them like Jesus treats me. And He for me has never said posted one bad thing to ANYONE about me. No He says great things about me.. and DUH I have to remind Him.. a ..a you really ..your not seeing the same person I am lol. So love them ALL.. forgive all. Always repent..always pray. And just be like a child. When you read...just believe if HE said it He will do it.

No matter how it looks feels sounds like.. hearing GOD. IF this would have taken one MIN to one YEAR.. I will NEVER doubt! Why? HE SAID...just like being saved.. HE said..my sheep (YOU and ME) KNOW ..hear my vioce the voice of a stranger they will not follow. What can any one say to that? NOTHING! You dont go to GOD and say.. but I dont hear you. Doubt will STOP GOD. He said again.. if you doubt your like a ship being tossed all over the place and let not that person think they will get ANYTHING from God. Its FAITH. He said it HE will do it. To many wait till and GOD forbid something bad to happen and then try to pray then try to believe. Doubt stopped a whole town from getting mighty works from Christ only lay hands on a few.

Its all in WHO you going to listen to. MAN or GOD? Proof? Gifts.. for today..not for today and some are of the devil. Tongues yes of God...no of the devil. Once saved always saved...nope you can lose your salvation.. have to work out your salvation. Shall I go on? Look at this site here. How many different groups.. sorry which one has the real truth? Each one will say they do. Yet His word says we are ONE body.. and only HE is the head. To many trying to be the head. Where confusion is.. He is not there sorry. So we love them. They know Jesus as lord.. praise GOD amen and all glory to Jesus.

Do you see one group better then the other? Baptist then all the way to Word of Faith? I can listen to all and hear my Father I just dont agree with everything some preach. Now talking about the ones that believe Jesus is the only way died was buried and rose the 3rd day. See just thinking evil bad about HIS Children can stop things coming from God. Not forgiving all loving all. Always praying so forth so on.

So all that to say.. WE all must take HIM at Him at His word. I have seen and heard things. All I can say is.. what I do.. is I take HIM at HIS word. If I ask man he can give me every reason under over the son for why this or that will or will not happen. They say..look at this story in the bible what GOD was really saying.. what GOD really meant.. so for so on. JESUS IS REAL! If HE said it.. HE will do. Dont go by what you feel or see or hear. Walk by faith. And start SMALL! Well to many again wait till something bad happens to try to believe. PRAY BELIEVE NOW! There is no time with Him. He is ALWAYS ON! He ALWAYS GIVES! HE already did it said it. I am not a good speaker. Man I can be all over the place.

Just repent and love all forgive all. KNOW that you know that you know your Father is FOR YOU not against you. Everything He said..is for YOU also. If you wonder about something ASK HIM! Then when you ask.. KNOW that He hears you and HE will answer..HE WILL ANSWER! Your His! Its really really really simple.. just what can you believe for? As long as its written and goes in line with the word.. He will do it.

Faith.. to many of US have to see or hear or feel. How WOW and I mean this with all my heart.. there are those that follow Christ never seeing hearing ANY Kind of wonders... and they still believe! WOW! They do it not to get anything..yet there reward IS HUGE! SO much greater then ours MINE that have to see or feel or hear to believe sometimes.

You think you walk behind others..yet you have no clue how great your faith is...when HE sees you and .. says WOW.. what else is there

 

[sunlover1]

Who do you look at for the answer? Who do you look to when a problem comes up? For me its strange how so many believe John 3:16 yet just in Matt-John..look at all the rest He said..not Him the Father. He is REAL! When your read HIS word..its it GOD speaking or man? Is He speaking to ALL or just some? The sweet sweet Holy Spirit is where? Ever ask the Father for it? Is YESHUA (Jesus) real? Who so ever..what so ever.. ask the Father in my name.. After Jesus rose.. Peter and John at the gate beautiful. Said to the man that was NOT looking for healing but for anything. They said.. no silver no gold but what I do have. Ok what do they have that YOU DONT? WHAT ever they had ALL that believe have. Then they said.. give I unto you ..in Jesus name. See not once did they have to ask Jesus GOD ..nothing. So many most have no clue what GODS will is.

They walk by what they see hear and feel and then apply that to God and that becomes Gods will. We all have flesh. Yet we dont have to bow to it. We all sin but we all can confess our sin and HE will WILL cleans us from ALL not some but ALL unrighteousness. So how does GOD see you? What is righteousness? Its right standing with God. How does one get righteousness? By believing in Jesus. Yeah WOW AWESOME! YOU are in right standing with GOD because you simply believe in HIS only son. This is the ONLY way the Father can see us..through Christ.

So try reading the word and NOT looking around you.. there is wisdom in asking others questions but if HE SAID IT..He will do it. We see those that seem to have no faith.. then those that have awesome great faith then those that seem to have more then they should? Now ME? I dont touch that. I praise GOD for them..all. I see the good in them not the fault. Then not knowing them not praying with them not speaking face to face and yet they dont answer to me nor ever will. So I treat them like Jesus treats me. And He for me has never said posted one bad thing to ANYONE about me. No He says great things about me.. and DUH I have to remind Him.. a ..a you really ..your not seeing the same person I am lol. So love them ALL.. forgive all. Always repent..always pray. And just be like a child. When you read...just believe if HE said it He will do it.

No matter how it looks feels sounds like.. hearing GOD. IF this would have taken one MIN to one YEAR.. I will NEVER doubt! Why? HE SAID...just like being saved.. HE said..my sheep (YOU and ME) KNOW ..hear my vioce the voice of a stranger they will not follow. What can any one say to that? NOTHING! You dont go to GOD and say.. but I dont hear you. Doubt will STOP GOD. He said again.. if you doubt your like a ship being tossed all over the place and let not that person think they will get ANYTHING from God. Its FAITH. He said it HE will do it. To many wait till and GOD forbid something bad to happen and then try to pray then try to believe. Doubt stopped a whole town from getting mighty works from Christ only lay hands on a few.

Its all in WHO you going to listen to. MAN or GOD? Proof? Gifts.. for today..not for today and some are of the devil. Tongues yes of God...no of the devil. Once saved always saved...nope you can lose your salvation.. have to work out your salvation. Shall I go on? Look at this site here. How many different groups.. sorry which one has the real truth? Each one will say they do. Yet His word says we are ONE body.. and only HE is the head. To many trying to be the head. Where confusion is.. He is not there sorry. So we love them. They know Jesus as lord.. praise GOD amen and all glory to Jesus.

Do you see one group better then the other? Baptist then all the way to Word of Faith? I can listen to all and hear my Father I just dont agree with everything some preach. Now talking about the ones that believe Jesus is the only way died was buried and rose the 3rd day. See just thinking evil bad about HIS Children can stop things coming from God. Not forgiving all loving all. Always praying so forth so on.

So all that to say.. WE all must take HIM at Him at His word. I have seen and heard things. All I can say is.. what I do.. is I take HIM at HIS word. If I ask man he can give me every reason under over the son for why this or that will or will not happen. They say..look at this story in the bible what GOD was really saying.. what GOD really meant.. so for so on. JESUS IS REAL! If HE said it.. HE will do. Dont go by what you feel or see or hear. Walk by faith. And start SMALL! Well to many again wait till something bad happens to try to believe. PRAY BELIEVE NOW! There is no time with Him. He is ALWAYS ON! He ALWAYS GIVES! HE already did it said it. I am not a good speaker. Man I can be all over the place.

Just repent and love all forgive all. KNOW that you know that you know your Father is FOR YOU not against you. Everything He said..is for YOU also. If you wonder about something ASK HIM! Then when you ask.. KNOW that He hears you and HE will answer..HE WILL ANSWER! Your His! Its really really really simple.. just what can you believe for? As long as its written and goes in line with the word.. He will do it.

Faith.. to many of US have to see or hear or feel. How WOW and I mean this with all my heart.. there are those that follow Christ never seeing hearing ANY Kind of wonders... and they still believe! WOW! They do it not to get anything..yet there reward IS HUGE! SO much greater then ours MINE that have to see or feel or hear to believe sometimes.

You think you walk behind others..yet you have no clue how great your faith is...when HE sees you and .. says WOW.. what else is there

It IS 'really really really simple'.

 

[Vicomte13]

"High and hazy; low and lazy."

I thought it was "High and crazy, Low and lazy, Middle and hazy."

 

[sunlover1]

In another thread on this topic in which I posted recently, I tried to get one charismatic poster to tell me how he discerned between real and counterfeit demonstrations of the gift of tongues, and prophecy, and healing. These are the gifts that are most frequently shown to have been counterfeited. The charismatic poster simply responded by explaining there is no need to discern in this area. All glossolalia, prophecies, and healings must be of the Spirit. And so there was no means he had in place to tell the fake from the real. As far as I'm concerned, this is a sure way to find yourself deceived.

A non-Christian friend of mine was invited to a Christian ladies weekend event out at a farm. They spent an entire Saturday on the second floor of a renovated barn enjoying fellowship with one another. At the end of afternoon just before the ladies were to return home, the door to the room in which the ladies were gathered was closed - and locked. The event leader then informed all the ladies that no one would leave the room until everyone had spoken in tongues. She thought this would be an exciting and emotional way to end the day but to my friend who was not a believer and never had - nor wished to - speak in tongues, this was a nightmarish idea. My friend maneuvered to be the very last of the ladies to speak in tongues, hoping some way to escape the situation would present itself before it was her turn. When finally everyone had spoken in tongues but her, my friend decided to make up a bunch of nonsense speech and hope it would pass muster. She "spoke in tongues" for about ten seconds and all the ladies were thrilled. Not one of them had the slightest doubt my friend's "tongue" was genuinely a sign of the Spirit. This experience horrified my friend on a number of levels and she has remained deeply cynical and skeptical toward Christianity ever since.

The lack of discernment among charismatics is sometimes quite shocking! Ever heard of Todd Bentley and his kick-you-in-the-face healing? He'll not only slap, punch, or kick you into a healing but he has claimed to have raised dozens of people from the dead! Morbidly curious about this guy, my brother took in one of Todd's meetings where he claimed he was only half-filled with the power of God (he could feel the power had only reached his waist) and needed more money from the audience in order to be entirely filled and capable of raising someone from the dead. And the money flowed in!

This profound lack of spiritual discernment is my biggest beef with the charismatic folk. God can and does act miraculously. But the devil is able to mimic the miraculous. Remember Jannes and Jambres? (Ex. 7:8-13; 2Ti. 3:8) Remember, too, Paul's warning?

2 Corinthians 11:13-15
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

As soon as people start claiming God did this or that and are not required to prove what they claim is truly of God, then falsehood and deception soon follows. This has been demonstrated again and again by the rise to popularity of religious charlatans like Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Dayna Muldoon, Beth Moore, and on and on. What is perhaps strangest of all is that even when these people are shown to be in error doctrinally, and false in their prophecies, and fake in their healings, they are still supported by frenzied crowds of people hungry for a show. Apparently, the lack of discernment runs very deep among those who embrace this sort of "experience of God."

Selah.

Indeed it is very important to know the fake from the real, like you said.
Did i miss the part where you explained how to do that?
If not, please share "the rest of the story"
Thanks in advance.

 

[Albion]

I thought it was "High and crazy, Low and lazy, Middle and hazy."

Maybe some people do say that, but it's not familiar to me (nor is the term "Middle" in this lineup, which causes me to wonder about the origin of this particular version).

 

[Vicomte13]

Maybe some people do say that, but it's not familiar to me (nor is the term "Middle" in this lineup, which causes me to wonder about the origin of this particular version).

I think I heard it from a Quaker. "High" for her would mean Catholic or Orthodox or "High Church" Anglican. "Low" would be something like the Quakers or the Baptists. "Middle" would be Episcopalian or Methodist or the like.

 

[Vicomte13]

Indeed it is very important to know the fake from the real, like you said.
Did i miss the part where you explained how to do that?

I cannot speak for any other, but I will tell you how I do it.

Some miracles are self-evident by their very nature. Three examples I have experienced are the instant healing of broken-neck paralysis and the rising from the dead of two very deceased animals. The facts of the cases - that the paralysis existed and the animals were very dead - I knew directly. That the miracles were real was therefore absolutely indisputable. That they were divine in origin was obvious. Man cannot raise the dead or heal the spine. Can an evil spirit? Why? Why without a message? Would an evil spirit do such a thing because a man asked God "Please". Just that, "Please", knowing that God COULD, and asking him to please use his power to do it.

Those are cases of undeniable divine intervention.

To that I will add a fourth - where a man who had seen two animals rise asked the same Father to raise a child, another's, in the same earnest fervor, but where God said No, not by simply not doing the miracle, but by explaining why: That he acts on his nature through his nature, that the child had made a choice (it was a suicide), that he would not reverse that choice at the request of another, and that he would not impose upon the mourners.

Impose?

Yes, because were a boy who killed himself to rise, the undeniable reality and presence of the divine would be forced upon all of those hundred people in that room right there, right then, would have compelled every person in that room to make a choice right there, right then, and many of them were not prepared to make the right choice. It was not their time, and He would not therefore reverse the decision of the boy to make some feel better, and thereby bring doom upon others present who were not ready.

The problem with real, direct, obvious miracles is that they force you to choose God or to reject God right there, right then. There is no hiding. Many people who are trapped in their vices need to be able to think they hide from God (and parents) for a time while they work it out. Forced into a direct confrontation with God, or parents, when they are not yet strongly enough knit to be able to make the right choice, will cause some to throw their future away in rage. God knows this, and he knows who, which is one of the reasons that he doesn't lightly grant miracles.

But when he does grant a major miracle, the very nature of it makes it self-evident who it is doing it.

When spirits speak it is a different thing, for they can lie, and that which is foul can appear fair, especially to us blind, flesh-adumbrated spirits. Does the spirit ask anything? If it does, does it ask something evil? If it does, don't trust it.

Of course, this can err on the side of refusing to listen to God. God did indeed ask Abraham to slay his son Isaac, and Abraham proceeded to do just that, though God stopped it in the nick of time. If God asked me to do the same thing, I would not believe that it was God asking me. I would test that spirit by demanding to see a series of major miracles: heal every blind person and every paralytic in New York, for instance. And if He did that, ask for the raising from the dead of the children recently murdered by their parents. And once all that was done, ask God WHY he would ask such a thing of me. And then regardless of the answer, tell him No, if you want my child, take her yourself. I love you, but I love you less for asking me to do this evil thing, and I don't love you enough to do that.

That's the truth.

God knows that, which is why he would never put me to that test in the first place.

The world would be a better place had Son of Sam demanded that the spirit who spoke out of his neighbor's German Shepherd telling him to kill people had first put that spirit to the test.

There is good and there is evil, and you already know what they are. Faced with a spirit that asks something, like obedience, put it to the test. If it demands evil of you, reject it and disobey it. It's possible you're rejecting God, I suppose, but if so, you're rejecting God BECAUSE OF God, and God knows that. And if God is really good, he will credit that to your faith. If he's not really good, then we're all hosed anyway so why worship him at all?

 

[Albion]

I think I heard it from a Quaker. "High" for her would mean Catholic or Orthodox or "High Church" Anglican. "Low" would be something like the Quakers or the Baptists. "Middle" would be Episcopalian or Methodist or the like.

Ah, yes. That's quite a bit different from that we'd mean by these terms.

 

[sunlover1]

I cannot speak for any other, but I will tell you how I do it.

Some miracles are self-evident by their very nature. Three examples I have experienced are the instant healing of broken-neck paralysis and the rising from the dead of two very deceased animals. The facts of the cases - that the paralysis existed and the animals were very dead - I knew directly. That the miracles were real was therefore absolutely indisputable. That they were divine in origin was obvious. Man cannot raise the dead or heal the spine. Can an evil spirit? Why? Why without a message? Would an evil spirit do such a thing because a man asked God "Please". Just that, "Please", knowing that God COULD, and asking him to please use his power to do it.

I agree, the thief comes not but to KILL, steal and destroy.
But folks like to say that the devil did it.

Those are cases of undeniable divine intervention.

To that I will add a fourth - where a man who had seen two animals rise asked the same Father to raise a child, another's, in the same earnest fervor, but where God said No, not by simply not doing the miracle, but by explaining why: That he acts on his nature through his nature, that the child had made a choice (it was a suicide), that he would not reverse that choice at the request of another, and that he would not impose upon the mourners.

Impose?

Yes, because were a boy who killed himself to rise, the undeniable reality and presence of the divine would be forced upon all of those hundred people in that room right there, right then, would have compelled every person in that room to make a choice right there, right then, and many of them were not prepared to make the right choice. It was not their time, and He would not therefore reverse the decision of the boy to make some feel better, and thereby bring doom upon others present who were not ready.

Interesting story.

The problem with real, direct, obvious miracles is that they force you to choose God or to reject God right there, right then. There is no hiding. Many people who are trapped in their vices need to be able to think they hide from God (and parents) for a time while they work it out. Forced into a direct confrontation with God, or parents, when they are not yet strongly enough knit to be able to make the right choice, will cause some to throw their future away in rage. God knows this, and he knows who, which is one of the reasons that he doesn't lightly grant miracles.

But when he does grant a major miracle, the very nature of it makes it self-evident who it is doing it.

When spirits speak it is a different thing, for they can lie, and that which is foul can appear fair, especially to us blind, flesh-adumbrated spirits. Does the spirit ask anything? If it does, does it ask something evil? If it does, don't trust it.

Of course, this can err on the side of refusing to listen to God. God did indeed ask Abraham to slay his son Isaac, and Abraham proceeded to do just that, though God stopped it in the nick of time. If God asked me to do the same thing, I would not believe that it was God asking me. I would test that spirit by demanding to see a series of major miracles: heal every blind person and every paralytic in New York, for instance. And if He did that, ask for the raising from the dead of the children recently murdered by their parents. And once all that was done, ask God WHY he would ask such a thing of me. And then regardless of the answer, tell him No, if you want my child, take her yourself. I love you, but I love you less for asking me to do this evil thing, and I don't love you enough to do that.

That's the truth.

God knows that, which is why he would never put me to that test in the first place.

The world would be a better place had Son of Sam demanded that the spirit who spoke out of his neighbor's German Shepherd telling him to kill people had first put that spirit to the test.

There is good and there is evil, and you already know what they are. Faced with a spirit that asks something, like obedience, put it to the test. If it demands evil of you, reject it and disobey it. It's possible you're rejecting God, I suppose, but if so, you're rejecting God BECAUSE OF God, and God knows that. And if God is really good, he will credit that to your faith. If he's not really good, then we're all hosed anyway so why worship him at all?

I enjoyed your post very much!
And i agree with your logical conclusions.
But i don't think this will be "good enough"
for the person I originally asked.
The folks are asking for something more
concrete, not sure what.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

For $200, this guy will hook you up.

 

[Vicomte13]

Ah, yes. That's quite a bit different from that we'd mean by these terms.

For my part I thought it was just a great expression, and a very funny one. Accurate too. I liked the "High and crazy" part, thinking about the Catholics and Orthodox with all the smells and bells, celibacy, confession, no divorce and remarriage, no contraception (!). Crazy.

I liked the "Low and lazy" part, because she was mocking herself a bit. I myself perceive Baptists in particular as being "Low and crazy" - a different flavor of crazy from Catholic crazy, to be sure, but still certifiable (No WINE? No DANCING? SERIOUSLY?)

And I liked "Middle and hazy", because that's just exactly how I look at the worldliness of some of those middle church groups, so earnest and relevant, and so very much unlike a 3 hour long Easter vigil in the semi-dark with smells and bells and Latin chanting all over the place...

Her point was that there's a place for everybody , and I suppose she's right. But then, Quakers are such nice and agreeable people that I felt churlish disagreeing with them on anything.

 

[Albion]

For my part I thought it was just a great expression, and a very funny one. Accurate too. I liked the "High and crazy" part, thinking about the Catholics and Orthodox with all the smells and bells, celibacy, confession, no divorce and remarriage, no contraception (!). Crazy.

I liked the "Low and lazy" part, because she was mocking herself a bit. I myself perceive Baptists in particular as being "Low and crazy" - a different flavor of crazy from Catholic crazy, to be sure, but still certifiable (No WINE? No DANCING? SERIOUSLY?)

And I liked "Middle and hazy", because that's just exactly how I look at the worldliness of some of those middle church groups, so earnest and relevant, and so very much unlike a 3 hour long Easter vigil in the semi-dark with smells and bells and Latin chanting all over the place...

Her point was that there's a place for everybody , and I suppose she's right. But then, Quakers are such nice and agreeable people that I felt churlish disagreeing with them on anything.

Well, I can easily appreciate that, and my only reservation (if it's even deserving of being described that way) is that the saying is one that is famous among Anglicans and about Anglicans.

While I don't care that a Quaker used a version of it to describe a wide range of denominations, there's very little that the two versions have in common.

 

[Vicomte13]

Well, I can easily appreciate that, and my only reservation (if it's even deserving of being described that way) is that the saying is one that is famous among Anglicans and about Anglicans.

What does it mean when Anglicans use it about Anglicans? (And are Episcopalians "Anglicans" to Anglicans?)

 

[Albion]

"Episcopalian" and Anglican are nearly synonymous. In countries where things "Anglo" were not so popular--USA and Scotland, for example--the church took a less England-connected name. However, they're often used interchangeably these days. Anyway, "High Church" means a lot of ceremony, along Roman Catholic lines. "Low Church" means a lot less of it (although still ritualistic), more in the Reformed manner. And "Broad Church" or Classical Anglicanism has come to mean something in the middle, although it used to refer to an Enlightenment-era kind of approach to the faith.

 

[godsgoond]

After being involved in a few threads about knowing God through the spectacular e.g. hearing His voice, miracles, etc. I began to wonder about those of us who have followed our Lord with no signs and wonders. We have lost friends and family because of our faith, yet we have never heard the voice of God speak directly to us (other than through His Word, of course).

I was left with this question: Who actually has more faith, those who see (or hear) or those who don't?

Edit to rephrase the question.

Which requires more faith?

God speaks to each of us in different ways, e.g. audible voice, Holy Spirit, Bible, dreams, and people around us.

There are Christians who can hear God clearly have the gift of prophecy. Many of them started out spending significant amount of time (1-2, some 5-8 hours) before God each day. All of them do pray in tongues.

I had God spoken to me audibly about two times in my life; one time was warning; the other time was chastisement. Until this day I still have vivid memories of them. God had also spoken to me through visions and dreams in answering my prayers. The most common way I hear from God is through the Holy Spirit.

I don't think whether or not one can hear from God defines his/her faith level; however, it's the personal relationship with the Lord. James 4:8 "Draw closer to God, and He will draw closer to you". We all live busy lives. Most Christians spend 15 minutes a day in prayers and reading Bible. A relationship takes time to build. God has plenty time for us but most of us don't spend enough time with Him.

Couples don't communicate often usually don't understand each other; one can listen and yet fail to hear.

If you have the desire to hear from God, I'd advise you to check out spirit filled church or conferences but don't leave your current church till God tells you to. I grew up in a traditional church until I was miraculously healed by God after a car accident. I experienced baptism of Holy Spirit at a spirit filled prayer meeting where 90% people prayed in tongues. The experience took me to a whole new level of spirituality and out of religious indoctrination. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with trinity God.

 

[Rick Otto]

God speaks to each of us in different ways, e.g. audible voice, Holy Spirit, Bible, dreams, and people around us.

There are Christians who can hear God clearly have the gift of prophecy. Many of them started out spending significant amount of time (1-2, some 5-8 hours) before God each day. All of them do pray in tongues.

I had God spoken to me audibly about two times in my life; one time was warning; the other time was chastisement. Until this day I still have vivid memories of them. God had also spoken to me through visions and dreams in answering my prayers. The most common way I hear from God is through the Holy Spirit.

I don't think whether or not one can hear from God defines his/her faith level; however, it's the personal relationship with the Lord. James 4:8 "Draw closer to God, and He will draw closer to you". We all live busy lives. Most Christians spend 15 minutes a day in prayers and reading Bible. A relationship takes time to build. God has plenty time for us but most of us don't spend enough time with Him.

Couples don't communicate often usually don't understand each other; one can listen and yet fail to hear.

If you have the desire to hear from God, I'd advise you to check out spirit filled church or conferences but don't leave your current church till God tells you to. I grew up in a traditional church until I was miraculously healed by God after a car accident. I experienced baptism of Holy Spirit at a spirit filled prayer meeting where 90% people prayed in tongues. The experience took me to a whole new level of spirituality and out of religious indoctrination. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with trinity God.

Lol, that's so cool, me too. Only a few times have I heard His still, quiet voice come from sort of above and right behind me, not unlike the sound of my own thoughts, but of a different spirit. The last time was about fifteen years ago, and it was while feeling close to him, but lol, it was simply about the best directions for driving to a bible study I was driving to in an adjacent state.