This is one of my big problems in this whole thing ,i do not Know how to get closer to God whatsoever ,everytime i try its like i hit a brick wall ,or im talking to a brick wall ,its like the Relationship goes nowhere........to the point where i feel stagnant in one spot ,kinda depressing if you ask me ,so i want to know others input on this ,please speak from experience.....because that helps the most....
Quote from: wolverine11989 on June 09, 2009, 05:27:30 AM
This is one of my big problems in this whole thing ,i do not Know how to get closer to God whatsoever ,everytime i try its like i hit a brick wall ,or im talking to a brick wall ,its like the Relationship goes nowhere........to the point where i feel stagnant in one spot ,kinda depressing if you ask me ,so i want to know others input on this ,please speak from experience.....because that helps the most....
Well, each of us are different of course. But may I ask what you expect? I mean no offense, but if you feel you hit a brickwall then you must have an expectation that you feel has been blocked or you have not achieved.
If I do a mixture of prayer and just trusting Him, not depending on my efforts to please Him, but spending time with Him. Thanking Him for specific things, telling Him "praise You"... He knows our thoughts, even our prayer in thoughts...we don't have to be screaming, yelling, or reading perfect prayers. Just spending time with Him. No struggle. "Be still and know that I am God".
Joshua 1:8, Isaiah 58, John 15:7, 1Corinthians 11:23-26, Colossians 2:6-7, Colossians 3:12-17, 1John 2:5.
It's not a carnal relationship and His Spirit will minister to the spirit of man rather than with any kind of direct focus on human emotions. His Word and His Spirit are after developing the Galatians 5 fruit of the recreated human spirit rather than directly stimulating the intellect.
I always say to not try to fit the Written Word into your busy schedule, but to build your schedule around the Written Word. Lots of time is involved in confessing the promises of God's Word until they stimulate enough faith and expectation for you to be able to ask whatever you will from your spirit rather than your mind, will, and emotions.
Really pursue Him about being baptized with His Holy Spirit. That's a major one that'll enable the empowerment of all of the above activities that I'm describing, and of really opening up all of the ears and all of the eyes of the real, spirit, you. Colossians 2:6-7 is majorly involved with that as you walk by faith and not by sight with really developing a thanksgiving life.
A thankful heart for all of His provisions and for the work of His Holy Spirit in causing the Word of Christ to dwell in you richly in all wisdom tends to inevitably eventually create much clarity about what's Him speaking with you and what's not. Everything you've needed in your life, spend the rest of your time in thanksgiving for His bountiful provision of all of those things -- i.e. walking by faith and not by sight -- and His Holy Spirit will begin to come upon you and make your thoughts conformable to His Will as you stay in the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament epistles from Romans to Jude, as you're developing your faith.
Time in the Word, fasting, and superabounding/overflowing/being ridiculous with thanksgiving for all of His provisions for your life will inevitably make His Voice abundantly clear in intimacy with Him, discipline by Him, and wisdom for every single situation you face in life.
:cloud9: Prayer and fasting, studying the Word, talking TO Him like He's a natural live person in the room with you.
When I first realized that there really was a God, and you could actually talk to Him and He heard you (and best of all, ANSWERED back), I was ecstatic and like a kid in a candy story. I thought that I'd have to physically die to get to ask Him questions and talk to Him. :mblush:
I asked Him if I could talk to Him like a real "father"; that if I was upset with Him, I wanted to be able to tell Him so, without fearing a lightning strike or something, LOL. :mshock:
No kidding; I had this actual conversation. :laughing7: What I didn't realize at the time was, what I was asking for, was real RELATIONSHIP.
And then as I learned more of Him and about Him, I found that one thing was missing; I didn't love Him the way I wanted to, and I beat myself up over this. Then it was quickened to me one day that Jesus said we can do NOTHING without Him, and that included have the love to love Him with. So I asked Him to give me HIS love to love Him with. What a difference! Blessings....
I'm not really sure I could tell you any 3-step method to getting closer to God, but for me I always feel closest to God when I'm doing something that brings me alive. When I'm listening to music, reading a good book, feeling the comfort of a friend, soaking in the beauty of the outside. As far as talking to him and hearing his voice, well, I talk to him, and generally He replies through real life circumstances (things that happen to me) or through other people speaking or their actions. Sometimes I feel He speaks to me through my thoughts, but that's so hard for me to distinguish from my own and/or whatever other thoughts are coming to my head that I can't really rely on these sorts of "replies" from God. Sometimes it's hard to describe it as a relationship, but I certainly feel like I'm getting to better know the God of the universe. I guess that's what a relationship is. :bigGrin:
Find worship music that works for you. And though that can include praise music if you're going to have much of a collection, I'm slightly being picky here. Christian music tends to be theological/devotional (i.e. Cross centered), "can do" music, praise, worship, Postmillenialist "take over the world" music, and unfortunately sometimes either wallowing around in the defeat of sin like someone with no real knowledge of the Cross, and equally unfortunately sometimes a political agenda of some type in the music. Try to find as much Cross centered, praise, and worship music in the genres of music that you experience the Presence of God the most from -- which answers the questions about preferences or traditional, in that what's mattering is if you genuinely experience God in those songs irrespective of the musical genre -- and allow that to be background music to your thanksgiving.
God's blessed our generation with particularly being able to capture the anointing with recorded music and recorded sermons and healing/deliverance meetings, and you can "experience" His Presence any time you're willing to turn something on. Previous generations could really only "capture it" via their writings or cloth, such as in Acts 19:11-12. But much modern technology can genuinely preserve and impart Precious moments with Him. Really building your thanksgiving during that will help you to keep that "Presence" after the music's off or the sermon's off. So, we do have some advantages that previous generations haven't had along those lines. I think I've heard Benny Hinn and quite a few others of the major healing evangelists [that you would think that if anybody experienced His Presence, then...] and it tends to be a recurring theme as they go into specifics of their personal prayer life that very often they'll have some worship music lightly playing as they're in praise, thanksgiving, and seeking God's wisdom and provisions about this or that.
Quote from: Paul Hazelwood on June 09, 2009, 06:12:08 AM
Quote from: wolverine11989 on June 09, 2009, 05:27:30 AM
This is one of my big problems in this whole thing ,i do not Know how to get closer to God whatsoever ,everytime i try its like i hit a brick wall ,or im talking to a brick wall ,its like the Relationship goes nowhere........to the point where i feel stagnant in one spot ,kinda depressing if you ask me ,so i want to know others input on this ,please speak from experience.....because that helps the most....
Well, each of us are different of course. But may I ask what you expect? I mean no offense, but if you feel you hit a brickwall then you must have an expectation that you feel has been blocked or you have not achieved.
Yeah i think its high expectations but i mean Its God we are talking about tho.lol maybe im going about it wrong...
Thanks for the replies everyone ,imma try and stomach this information and go about things a different way....
Quote from: wolverine11989 on June 09, 2009, 06:59:14 AM
Quote from: Paul Hazelwood on June 09, 2009, 06:12:08 AM
Quote from: wolverine11989 on June 09, 2009, 05:27:30 AM
This is one of my big problems in this whole thing ,i do not Know how to get closer to God whatsoever ,everytime i try its like i hit a brick wall ,or im talking to a brick wall ,its like the Relationship goes nowhere........to the point where i feel stagnant in one spot ,kinda depressing if you ask me ,so i want to know others input on this ,please speak from experience.....because that helps the most....
Well, each of us are different of course. But may I ask what you expect? I mean no offense, but if you feel you hit a brickwall then you must have an expectation that you feel has been blocked or you have not achieved.
Yeah i think its high expectations but i mean Its God we are talking about tho.lol maybe im going about it wrong...
Nothing wrong with high expectations, but do not gauge your closeness with God as a result of not obtaining those when you would hope you would.
God is right there through all circumstances and our trials can deceive us into thinking he is gone. Remember, even Jesus in his worst moment wondered how his father could forsake him, but as the story goes that was far from the case.
for me...when I let things go.The pressing needs of the day or week that rob my life.I will stop and say Father you do your work ,your will...as soon as I get out of the way He washes me with peace and I get to sit on His lap and let Him do what He does best.
It continues to build my faith each time...I know this pleases Him too
blessings :icon_king: