lord putting things on you're heart...

[Major]

When I turned to Christ about a year ago, I somehow knew that I had been saved in the nick of time. I even prayed to Jesus 'Please take me with You as soon as possible' - and I had never even heard of the Rapture or end times back then!

Thank God for your testimony.

My brother, knowing about the Rapture or any Escotology does not save you any more than being dunked in water does. YOU were saved by the grace of God plus nothing. "Knowledge and Understanding" of the Word of God comes AFTERWARD.

 

[Major]

Thank you for the question. And of course I forgive you. I can see by it that you did not grasp my point.

You said..........." scripture tells us by His still small voice inside of us and it is called the Holy Spirit".

That in itself is may be the reason you did not understand. You see there are no Bible verses that say the Holy Spirit speaks to us in a small still voice. That means your comment is YOUR opinion and you are of course entitled to it just as I am to mine.

That is why it is so very important to stick with the Scriptures as a basis for what we say when it comes to these kinds of conversations. So then lets see what you are referring to by commenting on what I said.

The truth is that there is only one place in Scripture where God is said to speak in a “still small voice,” and it was to Elijah after his dramatic victory over the prophets of Baal and that is in 1 Kings 18:20-40; 19:12. When he was told that Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, king of Israel, was seeking kill him, Elijah ran into the wilderness and collapsed in exhaustion. Then the Lord sent a mighty wind which broke the rocks in pieces; then He sent an earthquake and a fire, but His voice was in none of them. After all that, the Lord spoke to Elijah in the still small voice, or “gentle whisper.”

So then, does my comment seem to contradictory in any way??? Is it absurd or is in fact based in the Scriptures?
What is the point then?

The point of God speaking in the still small voice was to show Elijah that the work of God need not always be accompanied by dramatic revelation or manifestations. Divine silence does not necessarily mean divine inactivity. Zechariah 4:6 tells us that God’s work is “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” meaning that overt displays of power are not necessary for God to work.
We as believers are that by faith in God's promises not by displays in power or super natural abilities

Because He is God, He is not confined to a single manner of communicating with His people. Elsewhere in Scripture, He is said to communicate through a whirlwind in Job 38:1, to announce His presence by an earthquake Exodus 19:18, and to speak in a voice that sounds like thunder 1 Samuel 2:10; Job 37:2; Psalm 104:7; John 12:29.

In Psalm 77:18 His voice is compared to both thunder and a whirlwind. And in Revelation 4:5, we’re told that lightning and thunder proceed from the throne in heaven.

Nor is God limited to natural phenomena when He speaks. All through Scripture, He speaks through His prophets over and over. The common thread in all the prophets is the phrase, “Thus says the Lord.” He speaks through the writers of Scripture. Most graciously, however, He speaks through His Son, the Lord Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews opens his letter with this truth: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” Hebrews 1:1–2.

The difference between God speaking through the thunder and the whirlwind, then through the still, small voice, can be also considered as showing the difference between the two dispensations of law and grace. The law is a voice of terrible words and was given amidst a tempest of wind, thunder, and lightning, attended by an earthquake Hebrews 12:18–24, but the gospel is a gentle voice of love, grace, and mercy, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and the free gift of salvation through Christ. The law breaks the rocky hearts of men in pieces, shakes their consciences, and fills their minds with a sense of God’s fiery wrath and the punishment they deserve, and then the gospel speaks gently to them of the peace and pardon available in Christ.

It is less important how God speaks to us than what we do with what He says. God speaks most clearly to us in this day through His Word. THAT WAS AND IS MY POINT JIM. The more we learn it, the more ready we will be to recognize His voice when He speaks, and the more likely we are to obey what we hear.

The question that must be asked now of you is how are you so sure that any silent voice you hear is God? How do you know it is not your own mind playing tricks on you? How do you know it is not your own mind retrieving some piece of information that you read somewhere or heard sometime? One person I know thinks that what he hears is from God because he hears it during his prayer time - he was praying when he heard it, so it has to be God. Really???
Suffice it to say that Jesus while He was fasting for 40 days when the devil came to him.
Please read : http://www.bibleissues.org/smallvoice.html.

God speaks to us through His Spirit, by the reading of His word, through the ministrations of His people, through circumstances, and simply by His own still, small voice to our spirits---all timely and perfect promptings for us, sometimes to act, or speak, or pray, doing His will in the lives of others.

1 Kings 19:12
And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.

Yes.
The verse in 1 Kings is the same one I used to comment on. It is the only one in the Scriptures where we find "a small still voice".

Now the question still must be asked now is how are we to know that any silent voice you hear is God if we do not know what the Word of God says? Doesn't any thing we believe said by God to us also have to correspond to the written Word of God??

Here is another thought I just had......" Is it Biblically appropriate to desire more revelation from God?"

2 Timothy 3: 13-17 gives a warning about false teaching as well as an admonition to hold to the scriptures which were given to us by God:..........................
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

If we can be “thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” then don't you think that the scriptures are sufficient for our relationship with Christ. It seems to me then that we should study them diligently and be transformed by “the renewing of our minds.” We should certainly yearn for more understanding of the scriptures, and more transformation of our hearts and lives, but I see no biblical admonitions to yearn for more than the Bible.

Additionally, Acts 20:20 states: .............
“You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.”

Of course no one has to agree with me. Every single one of you on this forum can disagree one with another. Many have and many more will just as I have with them.

But when you do please do not take a personal motive!!!

 

[Euphemia]

We can know whether it is God's voice or not. He makes Himself known to His own. Nothing He speaks to us will harm us and is only good and agreeable to His word. Often He speaks to us to implement the word in prompts of acts of obedience and lovingkindness, or succour of those in need of His ministrations---all through us, from Him, and by the urgings of His Spirit, spoken to us by His voice.

 

[Major]

We can know whether it is God's voice or not. He makes Himself known to His own. Nothing He speaks to us will harm us and is only good and agreeable to His word. Often He speaks to us to implement the word in prompts of acts of obedience and lovingkindness, or succour of those in need of His ministrations---all through us, from Him, and by the urgings of His Spirit, spoken to us by His voice.

I know without a doubt that you believe what you are saying. I know that you are sincere in what you believe. I have no reason to debate you on this whatsoever. The truth is that how can we recognize the voice of God is maybe the number one asked question of all the ages.

When we dig into the Scriptures we find some interesting things. For one thing, Samuel heard the voice of God, but did not recognize it until he was instructed by Eli in 1 Samuel 3:1–10.

Gideon had a physical revelation from God, and he still doubted what he had heard to the point of asking for a sign, not once, but three times as seen in Judges 6:17–22,36–40).

When we are listening for God’s voice, how can we know that He is the one speaking?

May I say first of all that to hear God's voice we must belong to God. Jesus said in John 10:27..........
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me”.

That tells me that those who hear God’s voice are those who belong to Him—those who have been saved by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. These are the sheep who hear and recognize His voice, because they know Him as their Shepherd. If we are to recognize God’s voice, we must belong to Him.

Then IMO, secondly we hear His voice when we spend time in Bible study and quiet contemplation of His Word. The more time we spend intimately with God and His Word, the easier it is to recognize His voice and His leading in our lives.

Employees at a banks and retail stores are trained to recognize counterfeits by studying genuine money so closely that it is easy to spot a fake. We likewise should be so familiar with God’s Word that when someone speaks error to us, it is clear that it is not of God.

Third and last it is my opinion that while God could speak audibly to people today, He speaks primarily through His written Word. Sometimes God’s leading can come through the Holy Spirit, through our consciences, through circumstances, and through the exhortations and leading of other people. Then when we compare what we hear to the truth of Scripture, we can learn to recognize God’s voice.

 

[Euphemia]

I know without a doubt that you believe what you are saying. I know that you are sincere in what you believe. I have no reason to debate you on this whatsoever. The truth is that how can we recognize the voice of God is maybe the number one asked question of all the ages.

When we dig into the Scriptures we find some interesting things. For one thing, Samuel heard the voice of God, but did not recognize it until he was instructed by Eli in 1 Samuel 3:1–10.

Gideon had a physical revelation from God, and he still doubted what he had heard to the point of asking for a sign, not once, but three times as seen in Judges 6:17–22,36–40).

When we are listening for God’s voice, how can we know that He is the one speaking?

May I say first of all that to hear God's voice we must belong to God. Jesus said in John 10:27..........
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me”.

That tells me that those who hear God’s voice are those who belong to Him—those who have been saved by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. These are the sheep who hear and recognize His voice, because they know Him as their Shepherd. If we are to recognize God’s voice, we must belong to Him.

Then IMO, secondly we hear His voice when we spend time in Bible study and quiet contemplation of His Word. The more time we spend intimately with God and His Word, the easier it is to recognize His voice and His leading in our lives.

Employees at a banks and retail stores are trained to recognize counterfeits by studying genuine money so closely that it is easy to spot a fake. We likewise should be so familiar with God’s Word that when someone speaks error to us, it is clear that it is not of God.

Third and last it is my opinion that while God could speak audibly to people today, He speaks primarily through His written Word. Sometimes God’s leading can come through the Holy Spirit, through our consciences, through circumstances, and through the exhortations and leading of other people. Then when we compare what we hear to the truth of Scripture, we can learn to recognize God’s voice.

We all can know the voice of God. As His sheep, we must! It comes with experiencing Him and listening for Him, and also in testing out and obeying what He says. He will never lead us astray.

I have heard the voice of God calling me just like Samuel did. When He did that, I actually answered the same way as Samuel did! As the events unfolded out of that encounter, I discovered the wonderful reality of God knowing us, His children, so intimately that His calling out to us is unmistakeable.

This said, I am in total agreement with you, Major, that God speaks primarily through His written word, our minds, and through our spirits (where he dwells within us), and through the words of others, circumstances, not to mention even nature.

We have no reason for disagreement.

 

[Penion]

Glory to God brother penion....God had that written for you and any others that will receive it!

Blessings

The Strength of Weakness


There aren’t too many things in this world that have the power to dramatically change your life. We feel defeated and powerless. We know things could be better if we could just change ourselves…but we can’t. Some have tried for years to corral impure thoughts and pursue holiness with no real progress. But our weakness is an opportunity to experience GOD’s power.


He told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness…for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9,10) It does not come through trying harder, that our weaknesses are overcome. But by admitting them and getting out of God’s way, allowing Him to demonstrate His power through those very weaknesses. The power is NOT our own. And we are the weak things that God has chosen (1 Cor 1:26-29)


As long as we assume that we can handle a task—any task—by ourselves, God may step back and let us have a go at it. The first thing we need to learn (and remember) is that weakness is not failure. But if we feel strong in ourselves, we will come up empty when we look for the power of God in our lives. This isn’t easy; it means we need to unlearn some behaviors and learn new ones.


Each of us has a default reaction in most situations. Some of us are positive, “we can beat this”; others are negative, “I’ll never beat this”. Some react with confidence in their own abilities; others react with skepticism and trepidation. Oddly neither response is correct. Either way we are focusing on ourselves, not on God and what He might want to do in the situation. In both situations we are finding the answer to the test or challenge within ourselves—forgetting God and His power that is available to us. We need to change! What is the new behavior we need to learn (and remember)? Whatever our first reaction is to weakness or challenges, we must be seeking Him and His power first and foremost.


By Dan Schaeffer


[Next: Recognizing God’s Power—if requested]

 

[Penion]

Read what?

Hi pancakes! See my latest post it's very close by.

 

[Cturtle]

Thank you for agreeing in that............."And yes you are right that we have to make sure it lines up with the Word of God".

If you will read again comment #9 that is exactly what I said.

THAT is my whole point sister.

I believe that God’s voice is the written word. As we study and meditate on that word, it becomes more and more in us and part of us. I believe that God thinks to us more than he speaks to us. Often the Holy Spirit would just bring a scripture or something in the Bible to you, and that is a sure indication that God is leading you in a certain direction.

You may call that a small still voice if you like. My only point here is that I would be careful about telling people to listen for small still voices. God does not want us to be lead by voices. His word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our pathway as told to us in Psalm 119:105. I believe that God wants us to listen to His voice through His word.

Always a blessing to read your thoughts!

Oh my goodness i should have said that i agree with you instead of saying that you were right and as i can certainly agree with most of what you said i don't agree 100% with your saying that God does not want us to be led by voices. If He didn't want us to know His voice He would not have said that My sheep know My voice. However that being said i do agree that we must be very attentive to what "voices" we are hearing, because those that are not from God, need to be taken captive and cast down. And as you have said and i agree with is that the more we study God's Word the more we have it in our spirits in abundance and the easier it is to recognize when God is speaking to us, through The Holy Spirit, by His Word

Blessings

 

[Major]

Oh my goodness i should have said that i agree with you instead of saying that you were right and as i can certainly agree with most of what you said i don't agree 100% with your saying that God does not want us to be led by voices. If He didn't want us to know His voice He would not have said that My sheep know My voice. However that being said i do agree that we must be very attentive to what "voices" we are hearing, because those that are not from God, need to be taken captive and cast down. And as you have said and i agree with is that the more we study God's Word the more we have it in our spirits in abundance and the easier it is to recognize when God is speaking to us, through The Holy Spirit, by His Word

Blessings

No problem my sister. No problem at all. No one agree 100% with anyone.

Except when you are in the Army! Your drill sergeant is always RIGHT!

 

[Major]

That is a real blessing. I too have heard those same kinds of testimonies. I have had men tell me that they had a "need" to move over a foot to get a better view of the battleground scene and in the next instant a shell hit exactly where they were.

That is the grace of God even when we do not recognize it at the time.

Absolutely RIGHT! See..........I said it tooo. You are RIGHT!