God spoke to me and the voice of the Lord said.......

[Lori]

BillyM,

I think you'll find that the experience overall is different for everyone. I also feel that everyone pretty much agrees that God's Word is the final say so on convictions and inner voices.

For me I have also experienced the sheding of tears. Once while driving home I was looking out at the sunset and had a song come on my radio "He's Alive, by Dolly Parton" and I just wept. It was such a beautiful feeling to know all that Christ did for me. In that case I know that God was reassuring me and reminding me of what He did and where He is.

azwyld
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[BillyMac]

Originally posted by Lori:
BillyM,

I think you'll find that the experience overall is different for everyone. I also feel that everyone pretty much agrees that God's Word is the final say so on convictions and inner voices.

For me I have also experienced the sheding of tears. Once while driving home I was looking out at the sunset and had a song come on my radio "He's Alive, by Dolly Parton" and I just wept. It was such a beautiful feeling to know all that Christ did for me. In that case I know that God was reassuring me and reminding me of what He did and where He is.

azwyld
<*}}}><

And THAT Lori is exactly the kind of experience that I have attempted to pose as an example. I think that we believe in our spirit that a conclusion can be drawn in our minds whenever we feel moved by an outside and otherwise unexplainable event or message. Sharing that experience draws more critcism than solves any doubts that it was of God and not of ourselves needing something to believe in.

 

[Lori]

"Sharing that experience draws more critcism than solves any doubts that it was of God and not of ourselves needing something to believe in."

Hi there BillyM, can you please clarify the above sentence for me...I'm not sure that followed what you were trying to say. Lol

Thanks,
azwyld
<*}}}><

 

[BillyMac]

Sure.

Posting many of my own beliefs here on this board has drawn some criticism rather than acceptance that it is the right thing for me.

Some would say that I am leaning too much on my own understanding since I am "feeling" something that is outside myself or assigning a certain symblance of significance to that event/feeling.

(Oh and BillyMac is one word. As a child I was called BillyMac. I thought it to be appropriate to come here as a child. The scripture speaks of coming to Jesus as little children, but I suppose that is another topic. Some might call that loose association, but it makes perfect sense to me.)

 

[Lori]

Lol well I like your name it is unique to you.

Thanks for clarifying that thought for me.

To me it makes sense to have an understanding of something first before you finalize your beliefs re it. If you can't understand where a feeling is coming from how can you test it?

I think overall most people aren't trying to criticize, but maybe help guide you in knowing what God wants for you. I have posted on some things that have bothered me and was gently reminded that it's not all about me. I get the general feeling from you that you know and understand this too and that God is what's important. I believe he does speak to us through our feelings, and the more in tune with Him we are, the better we are able to discern what's real and what's not.

I dunno if any of that I said made sense or was helpful to ya, but I hope so.

azwyld
<*}}}><

 

[Paul of Eugene]

Let me repeat an incident that happened to me. I was employed as a caseworker for the State of Oregon, I would have to spend a lot of time going over charts, justifying payments, etc. After one such day, was putting papers back in the briefcase, talking with the staff, and the administrator mentioned he was being transferred by the corporate headquarters to another nursing home in another town he didn't want to have to move to. He was feeling insecure, and said his job wasn't like my job, because "you state workers have better job security". I said "I suppose that's true . . " and went on home.

Doesn't that sound like an ordinary, harmless conversation? Imminantly forgettable? I certainly thought I forgot all about it at the time.

That night, when I was in bed sound asleep, the Lord placed these words in my mind: "You go back and tell that man I am your security, and not the State of Oregon."

Naturally, I had to do it. You should have seen the shocked look on his face when I told him! I have no idea what spiritual struggle the Lord was having me intervene with in that way, never saw him again, but I have since made a little sign with the words "I AM YOUR SECURITY" and put it up on my refrigerator.

There was no audible voice, but the impression was unmistakeable that it came from God. He has communicated with me in such a direct fashion only a very few times in my life, they are all precious to me.

 

[James_Newman]

Paul, that is a good testimony. We should always remember that we are to give God the glory for everything! If we have any security in this world, it is Him. Amen, brother.

 

[Craigbythesea]

God is sovereign and he can speak to anyone, anytime, anyway He chooses.

How do we know when it is God who is speaking to us? My experience has been that when God has spoken to me in a manner that I clearly understood what He was saying, the fact that it was God who was speaking was self evident. The authority of the voice was such that there was no question as to who was speaking, and there was no question but what the voice must be obeyed.

I first heard God speak to me very clearly when I was twelve years old. I was not a Christian, and had no Christian upbringing, and I was very much caught by surprise. But the voice was so firm and authoritative that my decision to do as he told me was a very easy choice to make.

On another occasion, after I had been saved, I was riding a city bus with a friend, watching my watch, because my friend and I were hoping to get to the buffet before 4:00 p.m. because at 4:00 p.m. they stopped serving lunch and began serving dinner, and dinner was much more expensive than lunch and neither of us could afford the dinner price. But the bus kept stopping to load or unload passengers and I was getting very frustrated, very annoyed, and very hungry. And then it happened—God pointed out to me a young man on the bus and told me to talk to him. But this time, perhaps because of my frustration and annoyance over the slow progress of the bus, the voice was not really clear and I had no idea what God wanted me to say to the young man whom I had never seen before and knew nothing about. And besides that, I was with a friend and we had our hearts set on eating lunch at the buffet and I did not want to get involved in a conversation that might cost us the opportunity to eat at the buffet.

Each time the bus stopped, I hoped that the young man would get off, so I could put him out of my mind, but he didn’t. The buffet was at the end of the bus route, and God seemed to be getting a little insistent, so I decided that if the young man did not get off the bus till the end of the line, I would talk to him.

The bus came to the end of the line and the young man and I and my friend got off the bus. And then it really happened—God told me very firmly to talk to the young man, but alas! He did not tell me what to say to him. I walked up to him and, just like that, God told me exactly what to say to him. The words were, “I want to show you something.” I spoke those exact words to the young man, and he replied, “OK.” God then told me to take him to a building three blocks away and show him the second floor that I had leased in the oldest surviving building in downtown. The young man walked with me to the building and I took him upstairs and showed him the second floor.

To make a long story short, this young man returned to that building everyday for the next six days, and on the seventh day he accepted Christ as his savior and became my closest friend.

Obeying the voice of God cost me my lunch at the buffet, but the reward was more than worth it. As for my hungry friend on the bus, he and I subsequently served God together side by side for the next six years.

 

[BillyMac]

Originally posted by Paul of Eugene:
Let me repeat an incident that happened to me. I was employed as a caseworker for the State of Oregon, I would have to spend a lot of time going over charts, justifying payments, etc. After one such day, was putting papers back in the briefcase, talking with the staff, and the administrator mentioned he was being transferred by the corporate headquarters to another nursing home in another town he didn't want to have to move to. He was feeling insecure, and said his job wasn't like my job, because "you state workers have better job security". I said "I suppose that's true . . " and went on home.

Doesn't that sound like an ordinary, harmless conversation? Imminantly forgettable? I certainly thought I forgot all about it at the time.

That night, when I was in bed sound asleep, the Lord placed these words in my mind: "You go back and tell that man I am your security, and not the State of Oregon."

Naturally, I had to do it. You should have seen the shocked look on his face when I told him! I have no idea what spiritual struggle the Lord was having me intervene with in that way, never saw him again, but I have since made a little sign with the words "I AM YOUR SECURITY" and put it up on my refrigerator.

There was no audible voice, but the impression was unmistakeable that it came from God. He has communicated with me in such a direct fashion only a very few times in my life, they are all precious to me.

I read your response last night (24 hours ago) and thought it to be heartwarming. The Lord wanted you to plant a seed with that man and you obeyed. You neither watered it nor did you tend it, but it was planted for someone else to nurture it along. There was a divine reason behind you sowing that seed. That means you are in God's plan.

I ask my questions because I just don't want to miss God's direction in my life. I want to know for sure the first time he speaks to me that it is Him and it is the right thing to do no matter how odd it may seem at the time.

Craigbythesea also gave a stirring example that seems so simple and pure and good, but I am so afraid that I'll miss His voice or hear my own thinking rather than His voice.