Hey oompa, glad to see you're not giving up!
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"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke IN TIME PAST to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us BY [HIS] SON, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds..." - Hebrews 1:1,2
The SON = The WORD, written, spoken, and Alive as a Person.
The SON, in turn, sent the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit: "...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might THROUGH HIS SPIRIT in the INNER MAN..." - Eph. 3:16
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Granted, it takes practice to "hear" the Holy Spirit. But when you do, it is unmistakeable.
JWs and exJWs probably have a harder time that most since ALL the time we ever spent in WT-Land -- where such a thing was UNHEARD OF -- because the only "spirit" we were supposed to "hear from" was whatever came from the GB! ;-/
I've also heard that analytical people have a harder time hearing from the Holy Spirit in their "inner man" because they spend all their time in their heads. Are you analytical? ;-)
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Try putting on some worship music and praising God FIRST.... then offer up your prayer requests...
He likes that praise -- with or without music -- first! ;-)
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=dhKHIXPKIuE&b=2288445&content_id={3218E1C2-3E7B-4717-BB0F-49274CDE4F11}¬oc=1
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If you want to break a stronghold of not hearing from God, try fasting and praying... fasting will clean out your own spirit, attitude, and thoughts, so you are more receptive to hearing from His Spirit...
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Of course you have to BELIEVE He will answer you... it might not be right then on the spot, but be on the "lookout" for the answer... and when you see it/get the answer, you will KNOW He sent it just TO you, FOR only you... and it will knock your socks off when it happens! = JOY!
"But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him,] for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." - Hebrews 11:6
" If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [he is] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." - James 1:5-8
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I heard a preacher recently say, "When I can't hear FROM God, I R-E-A-D GOD!" Have you tried reading the Bible lately? Open it, read from it, sit, be still, be quiet. Before you start, pray that the Lord will speak to you through His Word... when He does, it, too, will knock your socks off! = JOY! Because you will KNOW it was you and Him alone, so what He gives you will be JUST FOR YOU. VERY personal touch!
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I heard another preacher say not too long ago if we will "make an appt. with God" -- same time, every day, for 30 days straight -- he said it will change your entire life. Just show up every day, same time, and do it, he said. And God will honor it. (I have a whacko sleep schedule, so I could never muster 30 days straight at the same time, but I am definitely intriqued by the idea...) He said even if nothing happens at first, don't give up. Play worship music. Read some scripture. Meditate. Wait. Give yourself whatever time limit you can every day, and just do it. Consistency is the key, he said. Just another idea for you. ;-)
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Charles Stanley, a great teacher/preacher, writes and preaches a lot about hearing from God. Start watching him on weekends... his show even airs on secular channels on the weekends...
Short article: "Hearing God": http://www.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2522791/k.8FA7/Life_Principle_13__Answers_to_Lifes_Questions__Hearing_God.htm
Book: "How to Listen to God":
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=64146&event=CF
Chapters:
1. Is God Still Talking?
2. God's Goal in Communicating
3. How God Gets Our Attention
4. Identifying the Voice of God
5. Factors That Determine How God Communicates
6. Are You Listening?
7. Sitting Before the Lord
8. Your Spiritual Mind Set
9. Hindrances to Hearing
10. Listening and Obeying
11. The Life That Listens - A Well-Built Life
Another book by Charles Stanley:
"Listening to God: Experience a Deeper Relationship with God by Learning to Hear His Voice"
http://www.amazon.com/Listening-God-Experience-Relationship-Learning/dp/0785272577/ref=pd_sim_b_1
And one more, same author: "Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit"
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product/940742663?item_no=65126&event=CFN
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In the reviews of the above books, I read a tip from a reviewer: Start out your prayers by first praying for an enemy...
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There's a lot of great articles online about Hearing From God... just do a google, "How do I hear from God?" -- or "Help! I can't hear from God!" -- etc. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=How+can+I+hear+from+God&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
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And if you've been saying or writing nasty things about God, you might want to put a whammie on that and lay off for awhile. Remember the Word says...
"Do not quench the Spirit." - 1 Thess. 5:19
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God..." - Eph. 4:30
If you're badmouthing God, it's not likely He's going to be in the mood to respond.
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Not picking on you here, but I ran across these as I was looking up the verse #'s for the above... Just little reminders...
1 Cor 12:3 -- "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit."
1 Cor 2:14 -- "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know [them,] because they are spiritually discerned."
There's a LOT of verses re: the Spirit, Holy Spirit, check them out at a Bible search engine, such as Olive Tree:
http://www.olivetree.com/cgi-bin/EnglishBible.htm
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One other thing I read recently in some reviews of Audio Bibles... one lady said she and her hubbie began having the Audio/Bible on 24/7, non-stop! They just go about their business all day, and even sleep at night, but leave it on 24/7! -- I was like, Wow. How do they do that? Wished I could have written the person and asked, as I don't think I could sit and "think" -- like now -- and have someone narrating in the background (ADD-brain). But she said it absolutely changed their lives. I wanted to know more, but oh well, no way to contact the person to ask, but I won't forget the idea. I want to try it out sometime.
Best narrator ever: Max McLean -- The Listener's Bible. Wow!
Next best: Alexander Scourby.
Both of those guys are better than Stephen Johnson's narrations... he's too fast for my brain.
Of course there's also many 'dramatized' Bible narrations.
Also James Earl Jones narrated the NT, as did Johnny Cash, if you like "country twang." ;-)
Depends on whose voice and reading-speed you like best.
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To wrap this up... here's my prayer for you, oompa...
"... that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to YOU the spirit of wisdom AND revelation in the knowledge of HIM..." - Eph. 1:17
--and--
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit [be] with YOU... Amen." - 2 Cor. 13:14
"Draw close to God, and he will"....never speak to you.....
by oompa 74 Replies latest watchtower bible
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abbagail
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Witness 007
Jehovah is in his "rest day" so he is probably having a nap....as time means nothing to him, he may have been sleeping for 6,000 years....so when he wakes up he's going to be so pissed off with you Apostate scum!
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oompa
Abbagail, that was a very kind and I believe sincere post....thank you. I know that took a good amount of time to do, and I would bet that writing it strengthened your faith even more. I will think about what you wrote today, a may conclude to try some of your ideas. There are some problems I face. You wrote:
1.The SON = The WORD, written, spoken, and Alive as a Person.....and.... 2.Of course you have to BELIEVE He will answer you...and... 3.Granted, it takes practice to "hear" the Holy Spirit........and..........4.Are you analytical?
1.Abigail, I have lost faith in the Word...the written one. Having been taught my whole life it was accurate and that God would never allow his Word to be corrupted and changed by man, I unfortunately put that teaching to the test and have discovered that man has changed many, many things in today's modern Bibles. And these changes are only changes from "copies of copies of copies" of old manuscripts, not even one original. If God wanted to communicate to man, he would have used the finger of god and written to man in a way that no one could ever doubt that the words were indeed from God.
2.Your second point requires faith, and I am low on that and not sure how to get it back. I only believe that there had to be a designer...a creator of all this incredible world and universe. Since I am spoken about here in James as a doubter, he makes it very clear that i will not receive anything from God:
(James1:6-8)6 But let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting at all, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown about. 7 In fact, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from Jehovah;8 he is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways.
And I fill another niche in the Bible: (2Thessalonians3:2) . . .for faith is not a possession of all people. . .
3. Practice hearing...now this intrigued me. I envision myself deep underground in a hollowed out salt mine. There are no sounds at all. So I sit there quietly and practice hearing. After months of this I am now not even sure if I can hear anymore or what hearing is....because unless a sound is made you CAN"T hear anything. So clap my hands once every few months jst to remind myself what hearing is. We need SOUNDS to practice hearing don't we?
4. Yes...I am very anlytical. The logical Spock was my hero on Star Trek. This is probably why is started having doubts about my JW religion starting at 19, and they increased over the years until I proved to myself it was also a false religion.
And Abbagail...thank you for your prayers...really. Because I am pretty sure God has not listened to my prayers....thousands of them...nor has he ever answered one.....so if one of yours gets through and gets the job done for me....that would be really nice.....................................................oompa
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oompa
I just had to respond first to Abbagails loving and kind post first....but don't think I was gonna let ROBDAR go!
ROBDAR: Gee Oompa. Tell us how you really feel. No, really, don't hold back.
Sorry buddy, but God isn't the only one that doesn't want to talk to you tonight.StartingOver:
Robdar:
Right now, I have places to be and people to do.
Now that's an interesting statement. This really isn't an embittered thread, IMO, did you have a place to be and not get done?LMAO...I find it ironic that the only thing embittered on this thread are comments from ROBDAR!........I take it you did not like my clear and concise reply to your post ROBDAR....and yes I did tell you how I really felt......and oops....I must have struck a nerve if you and God don't want to talk to me.....please do not re-read that post to you.....it could make you think..................oompa
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WTWizard
He will also never lift a finger to help you. He might, however, decide to keep good things out of your life just so you can depend on Him and give Him all your devotion.
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VM44
If I drew closer to a immovable rock, then one could say that the rock has also drawn closer to me simply because the distance between me and the rock has decreased.
The action taken was all on my part, the rock remained as it was and didn't actually move.
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Robdar
..I must have struck a nerve if you and God don't want to talk to me.....please do not re-read that post to you.....it could make you think..................oompa
OOmpa, you have struck no nerve with me. I had a great night last night and should have known better than to open another one of your Eeyore threads but couldn't help myself. What a bummer you are.
BTW, your threads have never caused me to think much more than you must be a very sad and unhappy person. This is why I rarely read your threads.
If you want to think that God doesn't love you, knock yourself out. And be sure to piss and moan about it to all who will listen. I guess a little bit of attention beats no attention at all.
Want some hot sauce to go with that bowl of worms you've been munching on for months now?
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oompa
What a piece of work Robdar....you do not deserve to be called a Supreme One....but i coninue to love the irony in your posts....and notice you were unable to respond to the actual content of my post that set you off so...here is another irony:
ROBDAR: BTW, your threads have never caused me to think much more than you must be a very sad and unhappy person. This is why I rarely read your threads.
awwww ROBDAR....you closet oompa fan you.....which is it?...you have read so many of my threads that they have "never caused you think" and enough to know I am often" a very sad and unhappy (isn't that redundant?) person".....or is it that you rarely read my threads??......thanks for another LMAO!.......................oompa
now try to get back on topic
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Robdar
awwww ROBDAR....you closet oompa fan you.....which is it?...you have read so many of my threads that they have "never caused you think" and enough to know I am often" a very sad and unhappy (isn't that redundant?) person".....or is it that you rarely read my threads??......thanks for another LMAO!.......................oompa
Actually Oompa, I am a fan of your's. And I am sad that at this time you choose more of the bitter than the sweet.
I do, occasionally, check your threads in the hopes you will be feeling better.
Yesterday you touched my heart and I tried to answer you and give you hope. All it seems to have done is piss you off. Since there is nothing I can do to help shake you out of your sad and lonely mood, I, instead, decided to call you on it. This also has pissed you off. I had hoped it would piss you off enough that you would get recharged a little bit and maybe it has. I don't know.
However, if you want to be sad, I leave you to it. I do hope that soon we will have the old Oompa back. Or, maybe a new and improved Oompa.
I do care. And I do apologize for adding to your stress. I just wanted to give you a dose of cyber shock therapy. I hope you understand.
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oompa
Robdar: Actually Oompa, I am a fan of your's.
Well thank you Robdar...now you are out of the closet! And now you can re-read my initial reply to your post....you know humor is the only thing keeping me going at times....and all I was doing was taking your post and finding common ground in a humorous way....so obviously it did not piss me off...but I really like this last post of yours compared to some of your other comments on this thread....now when can we go have a beer and some laughs!!........................thanks............oompa