What happens when you ask God for advice?

[togekiss]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

 

[Sarah G van G]

When I pray I talk to Jesus and I also try and spend time in stillness to listen. I do feel that Jesus gives me advice. Short, simple answers. The answers a wise and loving teacher would give a struggling student. Or maybe a loving father would give a (grown up) child.

It can feel a bit strange to pray if God is an abstract concept to a person. I used to find it difficult because I got various religions all tangled up in my mind. To overcome that I started praying to Jesus as a guru or teacher because Jesus was a teacher, regardless of whether He was born to a virgin or was resurrected, Jesus did exist, teach and was crucified. So, I started with that and then the Holy Spirit touched my heart and the rest (not everything yet?) was revealed to me.

 

[RC1970]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

His answers usually come by reading His Word or from other people. If you're paying attention, you'll know when it happens.

 

[4x4toy]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

You try to live spiritual in the world but apart , you ask in prayer and look for inspiration . It could be a dream even unrelated that steers you towards a way you hadn't thought of before , it could come as observing something or someone, sometimes just inspirational thought which is why knowing the Word more and more helps a bunch . Sometimes if you're determined enough and patient you can get an actual direction or answer straight forward in prayer or soon after . Keep searching and you will find answers .

 

[CoolDude68]

Yeah, you'll need to develop a relationship with Jesus. I know this sounds strange to a lot of folks because we can't comprehend the spiritual world living in a fallen world in our mortal bodies. But that relationship is key to being able to "hear" the advice given. I try to find a quiet place out in nature, completely away from distractions and meditate and pray. It's hard to clear your mind and it takes a lot of practice but keep at it and you'll be amazed what comes before you. It's hard to even explain, you'll just know.

Remember, Jesus went to a "secret" place to pray. I also wanted to add that you can pray to Jesus to allow you to hear Him.

 

[PropheticTimes]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

I would imagine there may be some who misinterpret something as an answer simply out of wanting one so badly, and some who know they have not been given an answer and yet claim they have so that THEIR will may be done under the guise of it being God's will.

Yes, we get answers from Him. We get them when we seek Him in prayer and keep our hearts open to His answer. It can be through Scripture, it can be through another person, it can be something you see in nature, or a thousand other ways.

Understand that it will be through knowledge of His Word and will and through experience that you will come to know His voice. Also understand that the answer may be "no" (this wouldn't be good for you in the long run, I am working on something better for you) or "not yet" (you are not ready for this at this time).

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8

 

[paul1149]

the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet.

James has some counsel directly related to your question:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all people liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, because, he who wavers is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
For do not let that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord;
a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. -Jas 1:5-8​

You can see that faith is a requirement. If your faith isn't perfect (and for most of us it seldom is), remember the words of the father of the demonized boy:

And Jesus said to him, "If you are able to believe, all things are possible to him who believes."
And immediately crying out, the father of the young child said with tears, "I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!" -Mark 9:23-24​

It's also related to Jeremiah's words to the ancient Israelites who had been sent into captivity:

“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. -Jer 29:10-14
​

God wants intimate relationship with us, and wants to do good for us. For that to happen, though, we have to seek Him and exercise faith in Him on an ongoing basis. Reading the Word, prayer, meditation, etc. are ways we can approach Him and grow in knowledge and faith.

 

[Friend-of-Jesus]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

Jesus said, you have to be born of the Spirit. And those who are born of the Spirit, are like the wind, which you can't see but you know of its effects in tree leaves moving etc. Same thing with any aspect of relationship with God - it's not a voice in your head telling you things or an angel flying down to you with a message. You pray, you ask about anything, not necessarily for a piece of advice. And you get a response. It can be in words of other people, in your own thoughts, in a dream, whatever. You just know it's an answer from God. But the most important thing is, to follow the advice and to see if it works or not. Then, day after day and year after year, you learn to follow and trust God. It becomes more apparent and automatic. You learn to discern the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God from all the noise of your own brain and the informational bombardment from the world around you. It's experience. It's smth you have to practice. It's not smth you read about and only have an idea in your head

 

[crossnote]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

Much of the Christian walk is a walk of faith, meaning we look to God, ask, depend on and trust that He will work things out for our good whether He answers us the way we want Him to or not.

BTW, to understand the Christian faith, one must first be born again.

 

[togekiss]

BTW, to understand the Christian faith, one must first be born again.

What does that even mean?

 

[crossnote]

BTW, to understand the Christian faith, one must first be born again.

What does that even mean?

It is discussed in John chapter 3. We are born again (born from above) when we come to see ourselves as a sinner before God and in need of His salvation, embracing Him as our ONLY Savior one is born again. It is needed to understand many spiritual truths of Scripture.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
(Joh 1:12-13)

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
(1Co 2:13-14)

 

[aiki]

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

God gives to us all we need to live well in the wisdom, spiritual principles and truth, and commands of His word, the Bible. Asking God for advice is a bit silly when you've got an entire book of advice from Him available to you.

Some Christians like to talk about God speaking to them directly in their mind but there isn't a single instance of this in all of the Bible and not one command urging us to seek this sort of communication from God. Read the Bible instead. There's no confusion about who is really speaking, then (and no slipping around or twisting what God has said by way of "special revelation").

 

[zephcom]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

Most people are pretending. The current state of the religion really promotes the idea that 'God' talks to people. I have a friend who is probably the best Christian ever. His preacher kept encouraging him to become 'prophetic'. He also told me that the the people in his church would talk gibberish and the preacher would 'translate' what they said. Now he has become 'prophetic' and talks gibberish.

None of that works. Asking 'God' doesn't work no matter what someone tells you. Hearing voices in one's head does NOT mean God is talking to you. And this is despite my friend who immediately said, "Yes it does."

Jesus provided all the information you will ever need to resolve any dilemma. Is your response to that dilemma the most loving response you can imagine? Is it the response YOU would have wanted someone to give to you?

Jesus taught a higher level of spirituality than the world had known. People don't need to have 'God' tell them every little thing they they do. People don't need to know that God wants them to worship on such and such a day.

All they need to know is that God wants them to conduct their lives in a manner which makes the lives of others better.

You are not going to get instructions for every situation you face. You are capable of a higher level of spirituality than that. Jesus wants you to attain that level of spirituality. That is -why- you are here. It is to learn and grow.

 

[Sarah G van G]

Yesterday I had the realisation (or remembrance) that Jesus knows my heart before I sit down to pray. He already knows what I'm going to say. When I pray I pick up the insights and answers I need (not always, sometimes the insights come from other sources than prayer). No doubt it was always in me and is being revealed slowly and steadily or Jesus puts it there as I need it. Therefore sincere, open-hearted prayer is essential to me.

 

[JacquelineDeane]

I will pray for you if that helps.

 

[1watchman]

In trying to understand Christianity and what it means to be in a Christian relationship I keep seeing people asking what they should(n't) do.. the one answer I keep seeing pop up is to ask God for advice. Here is my problem. I want to believe, but I'm not 100% there yet. I don't know if I ever will be but I'm doing my research.

Here's my question for any Christians reading this..
Is this a valid answer or people just not having an answer pretending that they do?
I don't understand. You're having a dilemma, you ask God. It's not like you get an answer from Him?

Please explain.

Thank you.

Some good replies were given to this post, and the essence of them is that no one can expect to talk with God as with one on the telephone, but first submit self to God fully as He has shown :
> first by being thankful and respectful to the Creator-God, and trusting God for His mercies to mankind;
> asking God to lead and teach you by His Word, and reading His clear messages as He has shown us to become a real "child of God", which is by the new birth as John 3; and appreciating also such as John 1, John 14, and 1 Jn. 5:10-12 for an overview, which requires one be reading the messages in the New Testament of the Bible, not just reasoning about verses here and there;
> when one humbles self, acknowledging self as sinful before our holy God, and receives God's "...so great salvation" in His "...beloved Son" ---the Lord Jesus, that one is sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God (carefully read John 14:23) ---this speaks of true faith and not intellectual reasoning;
> asking God for important things, must be in the right spirit of humility, honor, and earnest seeking to obey and please God, etc.; and it comes after one receives God as He has ordained in the Gospels of His Word. We ask of God, then wait fully expecting Him to show in a clear way what is "the way, the truth, and the life". He will reward one who is faithful, not just making demands of God.

Well, there is more I could share from God's immutable Word (the Holy Bible), but this might help you get on the right track to stand before God. Look up always, for God cares always!