Why doesn't God return my calls?

[spokenword]

Did you call Him collect? Just kidding!! The Word of God says ""Who can ascend upon the Holy Hill of the Lord? Only those with clean hands and a pure heart. We need to examine ourselves to see that we are in right standing with the Lord.Only then will the Lord hear our prayers.

 

[salida]

Sunrunner--

God sure does exist- but sometimes he doesn't "appear" to exist because our concept of God is very different than the God that really does exist. For example, who do you think God is? What is His nature? Where is God found? First, God is found in the Bible (Word of God). The bible is His living Word - because of the overwhelming evidence and the nature of the evidence - it could only be a god who wrote it that used men. God is found in the Bible and the Holy Spirit - they work together. Your prayers are being answered but you may not recognize it. Emailing us in this forum is probably an answer to all or part of your prayer now. Also read the Evidence that Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell (this evidence would stand up in court concerning bible).

What were you praying for? If your praying for a new car and a yacht to go with it - God most likely won't give you this because its self serving and He isn't our butler. He isn't a materialistic God because these things arn't eternal but temporal. He will give you an answer that glorifys Him and one that helps you spiritually grow.

 

[Jerrell]

You cannot call who you do not know. God does not speak to anyone without a mediator. God does not respond to the requests of sinners unless it is a call for salvation- by the blood of Jesus. When you pray- pray sincrely, and pray in the Name of Jesus- for it is by his name that man has access with the Father. Without Jesus, no one has the Father.

 

[Sunrunner]

You cannot call who you do not know. God does not speak to anyone without a mediator.

I don't understand. In the Bible didn't the Jews speak directly to God without an intercessor?

 

[R3quiem]

I don't understand. In the Bible didn't the Jews speak directly to God without an intercessor?

I understand why you are asking this, but you're not going to get the answer you're hoping for.

I've given you the best advice I can think of- read the first four chapters of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It'll only take a couple hours, and honestly, how could those couple hours be spent any better?

 

[Whitestone]

I don't understand. In the Bible didn't the Jews speak directly to God without an intercessor?

They had Moses and the priests. They did not get to speak directly to the Lord.

 

[ContentInHim]

In fact, they were terrified of him. Read how he came down from Mt. Sinai in fire and smoke and earthquakes and the blowing of shofars (making a really really loud noise). The result was they asked Moses to speak for them and tell God that they were too frightened to meet with him personally.

Our High Priest is Jesus!

 

[aiki]

That is interesting, you use those 2 verses as a reason this person didn't hear from God.

This is what the Bible says, not just what I say. Sin is the number one reason God does not respond to our attempts to relate with Him. We must be "holy as He is holy" to relate with Him personally and intimately.

Once again, blaming the person for the failure of God's appearance.

God is ready and waiting to relate with us -- but on His terms, not ours.

It's interesting that the bible has tons of examples of people who were in iniquity who God could still hear.

Oh, God is fully aware of what all of us, unrepentant sinners or not, do and say. The idea of God not hearing us has more to do with the nature of His response to our calls upon Him to act favorably on our behalf while we are living in rebellion to His will. When we are "sinning willfully", or living in sin as the norm of our behaviour, He will not bless us or answer our prayers positively, nor will He walk with us into the darkness of our sin.

Even Judas who supposedly betrayed Jesus talked to Jesus and Jesus talked back.

This is a different circumstance to the one the OP of this thread has described. Unlike the OP of this thread, Judas wasn't looking to connect with God; he was conspiring to betray Jesus.

Same with Peter who denied Jesus.

Did Peter grieve over his denial of Jesus? Yes, he did. This distinguishes him from the unrepentant person who expects a holy God to ignore his/her unholiness and just be friends.

Same with the woman caught in adultery.

Whose sin Christ told her she must abandon.

Same with Adam and Eve who caused the "sin" mess in the first place.

Whom God judged with pain, labor and death.

Same with their son Cain who murdered his own brother. God heard and talked directly with those people in "iniquity", so don't use special pleading as your MO.

As I've pointed out, the "hearing" God did in the instances you've cited isn't the kind of hearing I'm talking about. In every case, the sin of the people in question was the prime interest of God.

So, an all powerful God has a version of kryptonite named "sin"? I thought Jesus took care of the problem on the cross supposedly?

Sin isn't God's "kryptonite"; its ours. And yes, Jesus did provide a way for sinners to be made acceptable to God. But the effect of Christ's work on the cross is only applied to those who believe in it and trust in Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

I guess he didn't do as good a job as christians have confessed? I mean, what you are basically saying is that people BEFORE and DURING Jesus' time and death could talk to God and he would talk back regardless of how BAD they were, but for some reason after Jesus "paid the price", it somehow made it worse for people.

See my clarification above.

Is that how you define "good news", but making it even harder to talk to God?

We make it hard to relate with God. He has gone to great lengths to create a means by which we may live in loving peace with Him. He could've in holy, righteous anger destroyed all of mankind but, instead, He has shown us mercy, grace and love. If someone finds it hard to interact with God it is because they make it so.

Peace to you.

 

[Jerrell]

I don't understand. In the Bible didn't the Jews speak directly to God without an intercessor?

The Jews did not speak, nor pray directly to God. Instead they went to Preist, and the preist did the sacrifeces for them, and the High Priest went into the holies of holies (where God was in the Temple) for them. So Jews (besides certain Jewish Leaders) never spoke directly to God by prayer. When Jesus died, he died as a mediator and a savior. When he died the Viel of the temple tore from top to bottom, this symbolized God being availible to everyone, not just the preists. Now, being saved in Christ makes us Chistians a Holy Preisthood- we all can go to the Father by the High Preist Jesus Christ, in Prayer. And Jesus will mediate for us.

 

[Dorothea]

Here's what the Bible says about "getting no response" from God:

- Isa 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear."

- Psa 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me..."

When people who have never repented of their sin approach a holy God they will always find that their sin serves as a barrier between them and God. Our sin, in a sense, makes God deaf to us. Before anything else can transpire relationally between the creature and his Creator, the stain of sin must be removed from the creature.

Peace to you.

OMGosh! Thanks for this information. It is a small revelation to me. I already knew things changed when I let go of my control and let God lead and I became His servant. The way you explained this explains the brick wall I got for years before I gave in, so to speak....let the wall of control down and prayed earnestly to God and told Him basically, "All right. I give up. Whatever I need to do, please show me. Whatever is Your Will, I will follow." And the next day, things changed and have since then.

 

[ArchaicTruth]

I would recommend the Book called The warrior of the light: A manual by Paulo Coelho to anyone who feels lost in their life. It is a book of parables taking wisdom from lots of philosophies, and is certainly something to read.

 

[ContentInHim]

OMGosh! Thanks for this information. It is a small revelation to me. I already knew things changed when I let go of my control and let God lead and I became His servant. The way you explained this explains the brick wall I got for years before I gave in, so to speak....let the wall of control down and prayed earnestly to God and told Him basically, "All right. I give up. Whatever I need to do, please show me. Whatever is Your Will, I will follow." And the next day, things changed and have since then.

This is the key to the new birth, birth in the Spirit! Isn't it just amazing?

 

[WarEagle]

I've prayed to God many times and told him that I'm open to talking, but every time I get no response. So I'm forced to conclude that either God is incapable of/doesn't want to talk to me or (more likely) he doesn't exist.

If God is allegedly so interested in forming a relationship with me why is he so elusive?

Have you repented and put your faith in Christ?

Have you humbled yourself before God? The tone of your posts say "no" and that would explain the silence.

 

[Sunrunner]

Have you repented and put your faith in Christ?

Have you humbled yourself before God? The tone of your posts say "no" and that would explain the silence.

You can't repent and put your faith into someone you don't believe in. Anyways, it doesn't matter anymore as I've chosen to go back to Deism.

 

[WarEagle]

You can't repent and put your faith into someone you don't believe in. Anyways, it doesn't matter anymore as I've chosen to go back to Deism.

You've sinned and your sin seperates you from God and has made you an enemy of His.

Why would you expect God to answer the prayers of His enemies?

 

[Sunrunner]

You've sinned and your sin seperates you from God and has made you an enemy of His.

Why would you expect God to answer the prayers of His enemies?

That's like standing in front of bridge and not being able to cross it until you press the button on the other side.

 

[dumpsterdiver]

I don't know. I guess I'm just waiting for something spectacular to happen - like a vocal response or dream. I really don't know what to look for. I was hoping it would find me.

That's the problem. We're too busy looking for burning bushes and we miss His answer entirely. I say that assuming you were really praying and not going through the motions. I feel the latter is more likely though, mainly because you don't believe in God. You're not going to talk to someone you don't believe is there. You'd just be talking to hear yourself talk. To my understanding the first prayer that you'll pray that is actually you talking to God is when you submit to Him and accept His forgiveness. Until then just know that I'm praying for you and hope sincerely that you'll finally come to know and love Him.

 

[Sunrunner]

That's the problem. We're too busy looking for burning bushes and we miss His answer entirely. I say that assuming you were really praying and not going through the motions. I feel the latter is more likely though, mainly because you don't believe in God. You're not going to talk to someone you don't believe is there. You'd just be talking to hear yourself talk. To my understanding the first prayer that you'll pray that is actually you talking to God is when you submit to Him and accept His forgiveness. Until then just know that I'm praying for you and hope sincerely that you'll finally come to know and love Him.

Why would I even bother going through the motions if I adamantly believed I was just talking myself?

 

[aiki]

Why would I even bother going through the motions if I adamantly believed I was just talking myself?

I dunno'. Why would you?

 

[R3quiem]

You've sinned and your sin seperates you from God and has made you an enemy of His.

Why would you expect God to answer the prayers of His enemies?

I don't think that is a valid argument. While I agree that sin separates us from God, he still can reach out to people.

What about Paul from the bible? He was a Pharisee, he didn't believe in Jesus and yet Jesus came to him in visions.