My daughter and I took a walk yesterday. I had noticed she had a lot of spiritual guidance, so I told her mind reading is possible. I then played a game with her. I asked her to tell me what I was thinking of.
I then imagined the color "green" very strongly and kept it in my mind. She made a wrong guess, maybe a few, then I said, "Okay, wait", and accidentally thought of the color orange for a brief second. She immediately said, "Orange".
We did this a bit more and found some unusual things. We then walked on, and I felt a thought come up, which I told her. She asked me if I really could read her mind because that was exactly what she was thinking on.
I then explained to her that some people test these things. They get two people and a deck of cards and try and read each other's minds. I explained to her that the real thing comes from God working through us and is not of ourselves. So to test it is not testing a person, but God from whom the gift comes. We are but as vessels, conduits.
Sometimes, God accepts tests, but not without punishment. For instance, Moses at the rock tested God. Water still came out of the rock, but Moses himself was punished sorely for this. God had told Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses did not do this.
It was said Moses did this because of the demands on him from the people. He broke.
God pointed out that his spirit was not right enough to lead the people into Israel, and He would choose Joshua, instead. We do not know a lot about Joshua. But, we know this really speaks of Jesus, ultimately.
I have had a lot of dreams in my life, visions and miracles, pointing up to some big events. Those events started to come to pass with uncanny accuracy. But, I was still left with a lot of questions. Questions God had left to people to answer. He would not give me the answer.
I prayed, and asked, and prayed, and sought. Little by little the answers came. As Jesus said, 'seek and you will find'. Some, who do not understand, would not realize that I was not seeking on personal issues, but spiritual issues hidden in personal issues. So, I could have complete faith my seeking would be answered.
For a time, a lot of the answers seemed to be one thing. Then, they seemed to be another. Nearly every possible scenario was put before me. I have found through this that we never settle on "possible scenarios" if we seek truly, but rather we may consider such "possible scenarios" but continue seeking still until we find more information.
That is the half-truths and lies we are given as "answers" may become very compelling. It may be what we are accepting. But, we can not truly accept it if it is not truly "of God". We simply have no other answer, no other possibility.
How to tell if this is the case? If the "answers" one has do not stop the questions.
It is, like many things, like Solomon's baby parable. Both women claimed the baby was theirs with their mouths. But the baby was only one of the woman's. Solomon could not figure out who was telling the truth. So, he decided to pretend he was going to cut the baby in half.
Then, he saw which mother was the real one.
The one who fought for the baby.
A few weeks ago, I heard a quote on a movie called Citizen X which seemed similar to my situation, and this quote stood out to me. The detective said to his superior - a man given to manipulation and deception, a political man - "you think a man is what he says. But this is not right. A man is what he fights for".
The woman fought for the baby. Both "said", but only the one who fought for the baby really loved the baby.
I find these manner of things important because we "say" a lot in our hearts and outside. We do a lot. Everyone claims they have love, but do they show it. Do we, ourselves, show it? Saying it does not make it so. Fighting for it proves it.
That is how I examine myself, not trusting anything. Ultimately, what I can trust in such an examination is evidence not by what I say or think, but what I see myself fighting for. What I see myself genuinely caring about.
This matters to me, because the truth speaks of love highly. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul". "Love your enemies". "Love your neighbor".
If we wish to be truly sure we walk in God's will, we must look at what we fight for.
I have found in this quest, this seeking, a number of people judged me. They feel one should not seek. And if they do this shows they are not content or somehow imperfect. That the seeking itself is sinful. That not knowing something is sinful.
I understand that viewpoint, but disagree. I would not want a world where everyone knows everything. What kind of world would that be? It would be a horrible world. There would be no punchlines, no conversations, no need for others at all.
There would never be studying, because everyone knows everything. There would never be learning. There would never be striving to make better in one's arts, because everything would already come out perfect.
When Jesus spoke of perfection of the Father, He spoke of it in terms of the Father loving and doing good to very evil people.
That, anyway, I have found to be my ideal. Love. Not the other gifts.
If one notices, this is also how the Lord is presented in Heaven.
Another big thing which ties into all of this is faith. Faith without love is dead. I do not know how great someone can believe if they are apart from God, but I have observed people believe something and work towards it, keeping their confidence, and finally achieve that thing. That, how, is human.
They can not say to a fig tree, "you will bear no more fruit" and it literally shrivel up and die because they do not have that kind of faith. They do not have the faith such as the angel did who cursed John the Baptist's parent.
That angel said, to paraphrase from memory, "How dare you question what I say, I stand before the Living God. Therefore, you will be unable to speak." He believed because saw and lived before God. God is the Creator. He was before the fountain of living waters on earth talking to a man who struggled with the very basics of faith.
Jesus said, "if you believe and do not doubt". And He pointed out that faith could be as small as a mustard seed. What I have found is that the faith can be small, but it must be consistent against all doubt which rails against it. It must be kept in one's hand, like keeping a mustard seed in one's hand. The wind threatens to blow it. But, if one holds on to it and does not let it go, it comes to pass.
That is not idle speculation. I do that and have done it for years.
I often get people saying to this that these things are not true "because" one has to be in the will of God. I can not speak for them. This can not be for those who do not know the will of God and live in it.
I, personally, do not judge people in such a way, for people are mysterious and it is shown two may say "the baby is mine", but only one tells the truth.
This I also saw in Elisha. Elisha knew much, but he pointed out in one case, "God is blocking me from seeing what the problem is. Go and ask the woman." This happens. God through Jesus is the One who opens and shuts doors as He pleases.
We do, I have found, have the ability to take command of all situations before us. We are not robots. But, if we do take command, it is through God.
If one says, "Do this" thinking they will test the words of Jesus, and there is any testing or doubt in their heart, then it will not happen. Then, they get discouraged and believe it is not true.
We see this very often. People say, "I prayed, 'God, if you are there, then'". "IF"?
That is putting God to the test.
This does not mean faith is always strong, sometimes we must pray and fast, or pray much on matters. I am speaking here of where it is God's will. As stated, it is not always God's will that something come to pass.
The faith is there, it is not a test, but there is a cloudiness to it. So one must insist. But, these things are not strange to people for we deal with confidence or the lack of it everyday in all manner of things.
Finally, on hearing from God. We have to literally put ourselves in our heart before God. Does one go to God and ask a question, then continue to talk? Or babble on, "Oh, this is what you mean, this and that and this". Or, if we hear God in our hearts, do we go, "Well, see, I have a problem with that".
All of that shuts down God.
The problem usually is that we have not truly understood: that is God talking to us. We treat God as if He were a possibly incorrect spirit or our self.
We have to be silent before God as though before a Mighty King. If God says something, we need to listen. God is our Father, however, as well. So we have to truly believe these things.
That is God as our Father, if our Father is a Mighty King whom we can go to directly, then we can expect an answer. Sometimes, God is silent on a matter. Are we sure God is silent on the matter, or could it be the truth is not what we want to hear?
Truly believing that is truly seeing it. Sometimes we need imagination, thinking, to properly see how things are. That is we must stop, imagine how the situation must be, and if it is true -- keep to it.
The above is true. We all know this. So, one must keep to it.
If we find ourselves babbling on then while asking God a question, we have to ask ourselves, "Am I truly wanting the answer here? Am I truly prepared to hear absolutely anything?"
Because if one has noticed, in life, we are very often not able to hear the truth from others. Because we do not want to hear it. But, later, we realize we were wrong and they were right.
With God we must leave behind all bias, all preferences, and listen when we ask. Wait when we ask in stillness.
We can be persistent. Just as our children our persistent with us, God is real and responds to persistence. He is the One who puts the seeking in our heart in the first place. But we must believe God cares about our persistence, and to do so, we believe what Jesus said.
The more we believe that, the more powerful our prayers. And we must believe all options are open. For instance, if one is in prison unjustly, and begs God to get them out but does not believe God can do the impossible, then how can God do the impossible which is required to get them out of prison?
Two may walk together, but if one does not trust the other, how can they ever get along?
It would be wrong to reward someone who does not trust you. They may get second chances. But, ultimately, it is their own lack of trust which shuts them down.
We see this whenever we train or lead someone else. It doesn't matter how smart they are, if they do not trust you then your abilities are limited.
They can not intellectually understand everything you do. But, people try and do this, "intellectually understand everything" and replace that with trust. But, it does not work.
That is where people doubt and test.
If one person says, "My car is a spaceship" and it is, but another person does not believe it, they will test them, "Let me see it", "When did you buy it", "prove it".
Testing then is not necessarily evil, but it can be evil. It depends on the evidence someone has. If someone has already seen the spaceship, ridden in it, yet later still does not believe it, then that kind of testing is sorely evil for they have every evidence.
A more common example is when someone does not believe in someone because the odds are "impossible". That may not be a sin, as they may have no experience is seeing the impossible accomplished. But if they had seen the impossible accomplished often, then it is a sin because they have been overcome by the world and the myth of "possibility".
I then imagined the color "green" very strongly and kept it in my mind. She made a wrong guess, maybe a few, then I said, "Okay, wait", and accidentally thought of the color orange for a brief second. She immediately said, "Orange".
We did this a bit more and found some unusual things. We then walked on, and I felt a thought come up, which I told her. She asked me if I really could read her mind because that was exactly what she was thinking on.
I then explained to her that some people test these things. They get two people and a deck of cards and try and read each other's minds. I explained to her that the real thing comes from God working through us and is not of ourselves. So to test it is not testing a person, but God from whom the gift comes. We are but as vessels, conduits.
Sometimes, God accepts tests, but not without punishment. For instance, Moses at the rock tested God. Water still came out of the rock, but Moses himself was punished sorely for this. God had told Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses did not do this.
It was said Moses did this because of the demands on him from the people. He broke.
God pointed out that his spirit was not right enough to lead the people into Israel, and He would choose Joshua, instead. We do not know a lot about Joshua. But, we know this really speaks of Jesus, ultimately.
I have had a lot of dreams in my life, visions and miracles, pointing up to some big events. Those events started to come to pass with uncanny accuracy. But, I was still left with a lot of questions. Questions God had left to people to answer. He would not give me the answer.
I prayed, and asked, and prayed, and sought. Little by little the answers came. As Jesus said, 'seek and you will find'. Some, who do not understand, would not realize that I was not seeking on personal issues, but spiritual issues hidden in personal issues. So, I could have complete faith my seeking would be answered.
For a time, a lot of the answers seemed to be one thing. Then, they seemed to be another. Nearly every possible scenario was put before me. I have found through this that we never settle on "possible scenarios" if we seek truly, but rather we may consider such "possible scenarios" but continue seeking still until we find more information.
That is the half-truths and lies we are given as "answers" may become very compelling. It may be what we are accepting. But, we can not truly accept it if it is not truly "of God". We simply have no other answer, no other possibility.
How to tell if this is the case? If the "answers" one has do not stop the questions.
It is, like many things, like Solomon's baby parable. Both women claimed the baby was theirs with their mouths. But the baby was only one of the woman's. Solomon could not figure out who was telling the truth. So, he decided to pretend he was going to cut the baby in half.
Then, he saw which mother was the real one.
The one who fought for the baby.
A few weeks ago, I heard a quote on a movie called Citizen X which seemed similar to my situation, and this quote stood out to me. The detective said to his superior - a man given to manipulation and deception, a political man - "you think a man is what he says. But this is not right. A man is what he fights for".
The woman fought for the baby. Both "said", but only the one who fought for the baby really loved the baby.
I find these manner of things important because we "say" a lot in our hearts and outside. We do a lot. Everyone claims they have love, but do they show it. Do we, ourselves, show it? Saying it does not make it so. Fighting for it proves it.
That is how I examine myself, not trusting anything. Ultimately, what I can trust in such an examination is evidence not by what I say or think, but what I see myself fighting for. What I see myself genuinely caring about.
This matters to me, because the truth speaks of love highly. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul". "Love your enemies". "Love your neighbor".
If we wish to be truly sure we walk in God's will, we must look at what we fight for.
I have found in this quest, this seeking, a number of people judged me. They feel one should not seek. And if they do this shows they are not content or somehow imperfect. That the seeking itself is sinful. That not knowing something is sinful.
I understand that viewpoint, but disagree. I would not want a world where everyone knows everything. What kind of world would that be? It would be a horrible world. There would be no punchlines, no conversations, no need for others at all.
There would never be studying, because everyone knows everything. There would never be learning. There would never be striving to make better in one's arts, because everything would already come out perfect.
When Jesus spoke of perfection of the Father, He spoke of it in terms of the Father loving and doing good to very evil people.
That, anyway, I have found to be my ideal. Love. Not the other gifts.
If one notices, this is also how the Lord is presented in Heaven.
Another big thing which ties into all of this is faith. Faith without love is dead. I do not know how great someone can believe if they are apart from God, but I have observed people believe something and work towards it, keeping their confidence, and finally achieve that thing. That, how, is human.
They can not say to a fig tree, "you will bear no more fruit" and it literally shrivel up and die because they do not have that kind of faith. They do not have the faith such as the angel did who cursed John the Baptist's parent.
That angel said, to paraphrase from memory, "How dare you question what I say, I stand before the Living God. Therefore, you will be unable to speak." He believed because saw and lived before God. God is the Creator. He was before the fountain of living waters on earth talking to a man who struggled with the very basics of faith.
Jesus said, "if you believe and do not doubt". And He pointed out that faith could be as small as a mustard seed. What I have found is that the faith can be small, but it must be consistent against all doubt which rails against it. It must be kept in one's hand, like keeping a mustard seed in one's hand. The wind threatens to blow it. But, if one holds on to it and does not let it go, it comes to pass.
That is not idle speculation. I do that and have done it for years.
I often get people saying to this that these things are not true "because" one has to be in the will of God. I can not speak for them. This can not be for those who do not know the will of God and live in it.
I, personally, do not judge people in such a way, for people are mysterious and it is shown two may say "the baby is mine", but only one tells the truth.
This I also saw in Elisha. Elisha knew much, but he pointed out in one case, "God is blocking me from seeing what the problem is. Go and ask the woman." This happens. God through Jesus is the One who opens and shuts doors as He pleases.
We do, I have found, have the ability to take command of all situations before us. We are not robots. But, if we do take command, it is through God.
If one says, "Do this" thinking they will test the words of Jesus, and there is any testing or doubt in their heart, then it will not happen. Then, they get discouraged and believe it is not true.
We see this very often. People say, "I prayed, 'God, if you are there, then'". "IF"?
That is putting God to the test.
This does not mean faith is always strong, sometimes we must pray and fast, or pray much on matters. I am speaking here of where it is God's will. As stated, it is not always God's will that something come to pass.
The faith is there, it is not a test, but there is a cloudiness to it. So one must insist. But, these things are not strange to people for we deal with confidence or the lack of it everyday in all manner of things.
Finally, on hearing from God. We have to literally put ourselves in our heart before God. Does one go to God and ask a question, then continue to talk? Or babble on, "Oh, this is what you mean, this and that and this". Or, if we hear God in our hearts, do we go, "Well, see, I have a problem with that".
All of that shuts down God.
The problem usually is that we have not truly understood: that is God talking to us. We treat God as if He were a possibly incorrect spirit or our self.
We have to be silent before God as though before a Mighty King. If God says something, we need to listen. God is our Father, however, as well. So we have to truly believe these things.
That is God as our Father, if our Father is a Mighty King whom we can go to directly, then we can expect an answer. Sometimes, God is silent on a matter. Are we sure God is silent on the matter, or could it be the truth is not what we want to hear?
Truly believing that is truly seeing it. Sometimes we need imagination, thinking, to properly see how things are. That is we must stop, imagine how the situation must be, and if it is true -- keep to it.
The above is true. We all know this. So, one must keep to it.
If we find ourselves babbling on then while asking God a question, we have to ask ourselves, "Am I truly wanting the answer here? Am I truly prepared to hear absolutely anything?"
Because if one has noticed, in life, we are very often not able to hear the truth from others. Because we do not want to hear it. But, later, we realize we were wrong and they were right.
With God we must leave behind all bias, all preferences, and listen when we ask. Wait when we ask in stillness.
We can be persistent. Just as our children our persistent with us, God is real and responds to persistence. He is the One who puts the seeking in our heart in the first place. But we must believe God cares about our persistence, and to do so, we believe what Jesus said.
The more we believe that, the more powerful our prayers. And we must believe all options are open. For instance, if one is in prison unjustly, and begs God to get them out but does not believe God can do the impossible, then how can God do the impossible which is required to get them out of prison?
Two may walk together, but if one does not trust the other, how can they ever get along?
It would be wrong to reward someone who does not trust you. They may get second chances. But, ultimately, it is their own lack of trust which shuts them down.
We see this whenever we train or lead someone else. It doesn't matter how smart they are, if they do not trust you then your abilities are limited.
They can not intellectually understand everything you do. But, people try and do this, "intellectually understand everything" and replace that with trust. But, it does not work.
That is where people doubt and test.
If one person says, "My car is a spaceship" and it is, but another person does not believe it, they will test them, "Let me see it", "When did you buy it", "prove it".
Testing then is not necessarily evil, but it can be evil. It depends on the evidence someone has. If someone has already seen the spaceship, ridden in it, yet later still does not believe it, then that kind of testing is sorely evil for they have every evidence.
A more common example is when someone does not believe in someone because the odds are "impossible". That may not be a sin, as they may have no experience is seeing the impossible accomplished. But if they had seen the impossible accomplished often, then it is a sin because they have been overcome by the world and the myth of "possibility".
