Hearing from God

[Crossfire]

Originally Posted by Catlynn

Honestly, the more I get to know God, the more time I spend in the word and in prayer, I find it easier to recognize Him and see Him moving. A LOT I think comes from the Holy Spirit in my thought life and through the word. ^_^ Like Jb said, the more I've practiced a relationship with God and living a holy life in Him, the easier it's been to hear Him and see Him moving in my life.

Good word. About as plain and simple as it can get.

[CC_Bride]

Originally Posted by CBM82

I believe God may speak to me through dreams but sometimes they can be so ambiguous and cryptic that I dont know what he is trying to say. I think some people go overboard though and they think every dream has a meaning and I dont know that I believe that.

Gods messages through dreams are never ambiguous in purpose.

When Joseph dreamed of 12 planets bowing down to his planet and 12 sheafs of grain bowing down to his sheaf - We all know its cryptic right, but none of us need to be "psychics" to figure out what those dreams meant.

I think our dreams also are way just for our brains to finally take a rest and process stuff so of course you get the random dreams, they may not be from God but since God created our brains with billions of atoms in them they are of God.

Heres a question,

Without, any weirdo nutjobs who claim their a prophet of a whole new denomination answering,
Has anyone had a genuine vision, or know of someone who has had a genuine one or two?

[violakat]

I've actually on had one dream that I personally believe was from God. It's the reason I am saved. I also have had another dream that I'm not sure if it was from God or if it was Satan trying to attack me. The dream in and of itself was probably not scary. But at the time, when I woke up, I was really freaked out. If it was from God, then it was a warning to me that things in the church were not going right. Either way, it caused me to pray more and read my Bible even more at that time.

[Jullianna]

Originally Posted by violakat

I want to do a poll to see what everyone on here believes how they hear the most from God. This is actually research for something that I'm going to be working on based on something I saw here recently.

I'm asking because in another forum, someone was talking about not being able to hear from God. And it struck me, that what she thought meant hearing from God, may not actually be the way God was communicating to her. So, the Poll question is:

How does God speak the most to you:
The Bible
The Holy Spirit
Through Other People
Through Dreams
God personally speaks to Me
Other
&

How often do are you reading your Bible: (Listening to it on tape also counts as a form of "reading")
All the Time
Often
Not as much as I should
Rarely
Never

Mostly by the Spirit and the Word, all day long. Many times through other people, even children.

I have heard Him audibly three times in my life:

1. I was planning to attempt suicide in my teens (I mentioned in another thread that I was away from God for a time because I was stupid then) and He told me that if I did it I would go to hell. I laid the razor down and went to bed.

2. When my stepfather died I was sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag. I had prayed that God would let me be the one to find him if he passed away because my mom had never been around dead people before. Early in the morning, He spoke to me and told me to wake up. When I did, my stepfather had passed. God is faithful in answering prayers.

3. I had a kidney stone at 24 and was in the hospital connected to an IV. Early in the morning He spoke to me and told me to wake up. When I did, I saw that the IV bag was running dry and the machine to alert the nurses wasn't working properly.

Dreams are another story...I think I'll post that on Gabe's thread about such things

[Allin]

AsIf, thanks for reminding me that God is always near us. That can be sobering. He's always speaking and all we need to do is speak to Him and listen to Him, etc. That's encouraging, because it's not easy to remember this from day to day. I'll probably need to be reminded tomorrow.

Jordache, you said, "God will speak in anyway that we will listen. God will not say just anything, but He will speak THROUGH anything." I think that's just well put. He's spoken to me in the past while I was smoking cigarettes. He's spoken while I was watching movies that had nothing to do with God. He really can speak through anything but won't say just anything. I haven't been reading my Bible daily for a long time. Man, getting back into it is not simple.

I used to have lots of dreams and visions, but most of them weren't from God; probably at least 90% weren't from God. The people at my church told me they were, but the visions were always intruding on my prayer times, and the dreams didn't make much sense. I think what AsIf and Jordache said is what makes putting God in a box as far as hearing Him impossible today: He is always speaking, and He can speak through anyone or in any situation.