God does answer prayers but I still think our main source is the Bible.
Since we are on the topic I'll throw in a few experiences I had.
When I was just about to become a Christian, I wasn't sure if it was all going to work, I wasn't sure if God would listen to my prayers, etc etc etc. I prayed that God would give me a sign. I was reading the Bible those days, mostly the gospels. On a sunny day with no clouds around, I prayed that God show me a sign. I said in my prayer "God, if you are listening, I pray that you make it rain, just a little to show me you are listening". I prayed in Jesus' name. Guess what? Within half an hour on the clear sunny day some misty clouds appeared & we got some drizzle.
Ok, coincidence is it? That's what I thought too.
After the clouds cleared up, I prayed the same thing again, and again the clouds came in within a couple of hours & we got another drizzle.
Coincidence? The next day I did it again. I thought 3 times on a sunny day is a miracle enough.
This happened about just over a year ago.
And God has spoken to me in other ways too.
I was considering changing Churches, I was unsure about denominations. I was praying a lot for a couple of months, I was unsure, I was reading up, and I was almost ready to change Churches. My Church was excellent, they tought the Bible well, the people were great & genuine.
One night towards the end of making my final decision about changing Churches, I had a dream. But a bit of an explanation about where I was, I was on my birthday and my wife took me away on a short trip. We were in a hotel and we arrived at night. I wasn't very aware of the surroundings. I saw a Church across the street but thats about it. This will make sense in a moment.
You know those vivid dreams we remember as soon as we wake up? Thats the kind of dream it was. In my dream I was in a green field and there was a rainbow. I was told that what I was looking for was right there under the rainbow. I went there and there was nothing. I was looking directly up and the rainbow was pointing directly down at me. And there was nothing else. I said "what am I looking for? there is nothing here." and the voice again said "what you are looking for is right here". I then woke up.
I walked out of the hotel that morning and there was a beautiful rainbow, with the end pointing right down at the cross on the Church across the street. It was of the same denomination as the one I go to now but I don't think that was the message. I think the message was the cross and that where I am now is exactly where God wants me to be right now and now is not the time for a change.
This happened 4 months ago.
Also there are little things. There was something said in a forum here on CF just a few days ago that got me really concerned and got little doubts in my head festering about 2 subjects. I prayed about them. THat night before I went to bed I picked up a book I hadn't looked at much before in the bookshelf, it was a Christian apologetics book. I flicked through some bits and found something I was interested in. Then I looked across the page and whamo the answer to one of my questions was right there. The next morning in the car I was praying about the 2nd question I had. Then I turned the radio on to listen to my daily devotional as I do each morning. Guess what the topic was?
My second question answered right there on the spot.
I'm not sharing these with you so you go searching for answers in places. I believe when God wants to communicate with you He will. THe Bible tells us not to test God. So the standard method of hearing God's word is still definitely the Bible.
PS: These are all real, hope you don't think I'm crazy.
