Have you ever......

[Migdala]

Have you ever felt God's Presence, or just felt closer to Him right before something bad happens?

I had a horrible day today-got up and found out I have a bad case of termites, and no money that I can spend on getting it fixed. Then, as I'm upset and rushing out the door, I heard a loud noise behind my washing machine...went over to investigate, and some random animal comes flying out from behind the dryer, up the wall. I screamed and ran, and have no clue what it was, or if it is still in my house, or how it got in. Went to work and it was a stressful day at work, and I seemed to get all the grouchy customers.

Then at the end of the day, I seemed to sense God's Presence.....then went in the office and got a write up. My third in 2 weeks....not sure if this is my final or not. So I'm trying to praise the Lord and tell Him I still really love Him.

But has anyone else noticed that you feel closer to the Lord right before something bad happens?

I could use some prayers for my job please.....thanks!

 

[forGod1]

God loves you.. it's during stressful times that you must lean on him.

 

[Migdala]

Yes, I know He loves me, but do you ever feel closer to God right before something bad happens?

 

[whale8jonah]

Hi Migdala,

I remember a minister from some time ago once saying that pain and difficulties are God's megaphone to us to get our attention. This is probably more of feeling God's presence after something bad happens...although I see no reason why it can't happen before. The presence you felt before you got your write-up might have been God saying "don't worry, I know what's going to happen and I'll be with you through it" - or I wonder if it was a reassurance following your miserable morning?

Praying for you about your job...

 

[Migdala]

Hmmm....I didn't think of it that way, but it makes sense either way. I remember last year, about a week or so before my husband of 11 years walked out on me, I was at work, and I felt the Lord's Presence very strongly,and He spoke to me and said "Do you trust Me to take care of you?" and then all hell broke lose in my life with my husband leaving me, getting sick and having to go in the hospital, everything breaking down in my house and with my car, etc. It was the worst testing ever! And I have to admit that I did not think of how the Lord had spoken to me, saying "Do you trust Me to take care of you?" Instead, I panicked completely. I hate failing tests, that's for sure.

 

[whale8jonah]

I'm really sorry to hear about your really tough times there

Maybe it's better to see things as learning opportunities rather than as tests? Do you mind me asking...do you trust God to take care of you?

 

[briareos]

I have found that as you seek him you will find him and sometimes that can come with a feeling of his presence or glory. I have not experienced it happening in relation to a coming event but if that is what you need God could certainly provide that.

 

[BFine]

Psalm 34:18
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Yes, I know the Lord is near when troubles are approaching...I know He is even closer when I'm basking in the sunshine and enjoying the fruits of my labor...so I will not think in my heart that I do not need Him since all is good and I have more than enough.

 

[Migdala]

I'm really sorry to hear about your really tough times there

Maybe it's better to see things as learning opportunities rather than as tests? Do you mind me asking...do you trust God to take care of you?

I'm trying to. In other words, I know that He will take care of me, but I may not always like how it happens.

In other words, Job knew that God was taking care of him, but I'm sure that he didn't want his kids to die. Granted, God gave him more kids, but I'm sure Job still didn't LIKE the fact that he lost his other kids-he probably still missed them.

Job didn't LIKE the fact that he was covered in boils and miserable-he cursed the day he was born! But as much as he was upset, he still knew God was in control.

It's like that with me-I may freak out and be upset with things that happen in my life, but I still know that God is doing it for a reason-I may not like it, like at the time, I did not like the fact that my husband left me, but I still knew God was allowing it to happen for a reason.

I still don't know why I have to be alone for the rest of my life, and I'm sad about that, but I know that it's God's will and I have to live with it and trust Him, no matter what.

 

[BFine]

I still don't know why I have to be alone for the rest of my life, and I'm sad about that, but I know that it's God's will and I have to live with it and trust Him, no matter what.

*You are not alone. Jesus is with you.

My friend in NC had her husband(a minister) to leave her for another woman, they divorced and she had to raise their 2 sons and work really hard because he was "enjoying" his new life with the other woman and the baby they were expecting and making marriage plans. Those plans didn't get any further than the planning stages.

More than 5 years later she and her ex patched things up and remarried.
You have no idea how things may turn out in your life.
Like you, my friend had no clue what her future held...she looked at the outward appearance and thought --"It's over and I have to raise the children alone".
My friend has been married 5 years at this time...their oldest son graduated from high school back in June.

A relative of ours never married until she was over fifty... she too thought I have to go it alone. They have been married for 30 yrs. and are doing well, the Lord has truly blessed them!

 

[briareos]

Why would you feel like you have to be alone?

 

[Migdala]

*You are not alone. Jesus is with you.

My friend in NC had her husband(a minister) to leave her for another woman, they divorced and she had to raise their 2 sons and work really hard because he was "enjoying" his new life with the other woman and the baby they were expecting and making marriage plans. Those plans didn't get any further than the planning stages.

More than 5 years later she and her ex patched things up and remarried.
You have no idea how things may turn out in your life.
Like you, my friend had no clue what her future held...she looked at the outward appearance and thought --"It's over and I have to raise the children alone".
My friend has been married 5 years at this time...their oldest son graduated from high school back in June.

A relative of ours never married until she was over fifty... she too thought I have to go it alone. They have been married for 30 yrs. and are doing well, the Lord has truly blessed them!

Thank you for the encouragement, but that's a totally different scenario. I just divorced my 3rd husband. The Bible teaches that remarriage is adultery in God's eyes. I hate it, but I have to do what God wants me to do, and be totally alone the rest of my life.

 

[Migdala]

Why would you feel like you have to be alone?

Because remarriage after divorce is adultery. (Matthew 19:9, Luke 16:18, and several others)

 

[Quasicentennial]

Always there for my health and safety, Jesus within me is spiritually uplifting when things suddenly go wrong. Day after day, I wished life would be better. Boredom, pain and other emotional-attacking words in the dictionary that I can't think of right now - kick-start my fantasy-producing imagination where I live life with joy, love and excitement: feeling wealthy, healthy and popular as if I am the most perfect money-and-person magnet in the galaxy right now. I work hard for the money and if I didn't then poverty would become the wealthiness of my laziness. The Word of God has cautions and precautions to keep us safe from this spiritual disease of poverty that can make a person suffer homelessness and malnutrition. I am a survivor even though I am not rich. If God's wisdom is the spiritual wealth that is far superior than all the riches from gold, diamonds to shares in the sharemarket combined then I agree: when Jesus returns sometime soon in the future, that spiritual wealth of God's wisdom is downloaded into our new minds of Christ so that all the positive fruits of Jesus become an emotional fruit-salad of absolute joy that never fades away for a split second. I believe that every single Christian in God's kingdom will be multi-talented, such as singing songs beautifully, or playing a sport athletically. I just can't wait what hugeness of wealth of experience that we will engulf mentally, physically and spiritually when Jesus transforms us like him. Really awesomeness our Lord savior, praise Jesus.:*:.

 

[briareos]

Well consider these verses also

1 Cor 7.15
But if the unbelieving partner separates let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace

1 Cor 7.27-28
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you you free (loosed, divorced) from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned..."

Just consider those verses for yourself and see what you think they mean. I think you misunderstand the verses of Jesus you mentioned but I will not get into that.

Also consider that Paul said in the end times there would be demonic teachings and one of those teachings is "forbidding to marry" 1 tim 4.3

 

[Migdala]

Well consider these verses also

1 Cor 7.15
But if the unbelieving partner separates let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace

1 Cor 7.27-28
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you you free (loosed, divorced) from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned..."

Just consider those verses for yourself and see what you think they mean. I think you misunderstand the verses of Jesus you mentioned but I will not get into that.

I believe the first verse is talking about divorce in general. I know that divorce is permitted in the case of adultery,and if the unbelieving spouse leaves (which is what happened in my situation with my third husband I just divorced-he is now living with his girlfriend though), then I believe it is saying that divorce is permitted. I'm not talking about divorce though, but remarriage. It clearly implies that remarriage is adultery-we are to have one spouse, and that's it.

Maybe that is why my second and third marriages were so bad-maybe they were cursed because I had remarried.

So many people bring up the verse in 1 Corninthians 7:9 about how it is better to marry than to burn with lust. True, but Paul was specifically talking to the unmarried, not the divorced. Verse 10-11 says not to remarry.

It was interesting, but last year after my divorce, before I read those verses, I signed up for a lot of online dating services, as well as expressed interest in guys I had met in real life. And every single one of them fell through. Then one day, the Lord specifically told me to take my dating profiles down. I did, and every time I tried to put them up again, or let a guy know I was interested in him, I was all but kicked in the face. I'm not Miss America, but I've never had a problem dating when I was single.

So I know that God is telling me that I am to be celibate and miserable the rest of my life. I have to be obedient.

 

[briareos]

Consider that Paul said the sister who's unbelieving husband leaves her, is not enslaved. What do you feel enslaved means?

And consider this verse also since I did not see you respond to it

1 Cor 7.27-28
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free (loosed, divorced) from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned..."

Paul was saying he did not think they should marry but he clearly said if they do they did not sin, he asks if they are "free" the same word he used to describe the married who should not divorce in the same statement.

The King James uses the word "loosed from a wife" other translations say it in a way that more clearly means the divorced.

 

[Migdala]

Consider that Paul said the sister who's unbelieving husband leaves her, is not enslaved. What do you feel enslaved means?

And consider this verse also since I did not see you respond to it

1 Cor 7.27-28
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free (loosed, divorced) from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned..."

Paul was saying he did not think they should marry but he clearly said if they do they did not sin, he asks if they are "free" the same word he used to describe the married who should not divorce in the same statement.

The King James uses the word "loosed from a wife" other translations say it in a way that more clearly means the divorced.

Enslaved means that you have to stay with that person. Again, I am not saying that I believe divorce is a sin. I do not, in certain circumstances. I believe the verse you mentioned is talking about a person who is not already married when it says if you are free to not seek a wife.

After Jesus discusses divorce and remarriage in Matthew 19, He makes an interesting statement in verse 11. He says....
"All cannot accept this saying but those to whom it has been given"

In other words, to some people it means that it is a sin, but if that saying has been given to someone who understands remarriage to be a sin, then that is given to them. Those people are monks, or celibate for the Kingdom.

I'm obviously one of those people to whom that saying was given.

 

[briareos]

Well if you have accepted this, it is not my place to run you down and try to prove you wrong. Good luck my friend and much grace be with you!

 

[whale8jonah]

I think you've hit the nail on the head - bad things happen to us which we don't like, but God knows that in the long run we will be better off for it. It can be excruciatingly difficult to accept! When I read your original post I really think that you have a closeness with God - that you can discern his voice and feel His presence. That is a very special gift!

I agree with BFine says - you are not alone as Jesus is with you, although I can appreciate that sometimes it is hard without a 'physical' companion so share things with. (I mean to buy you flowers, go to restaurants with, etc.). As with all things though, we can always present our requests to God and He will grant them according to what He knows is best for us.

Patience is hard, but when we know that we're trusting an everlasting God who exists outside time, it is perhaps a little easier to understand!