Conversations with God

For those of you who pray and who believe that you are having a conversation with God (an entity that you believe is living and aware and that is outside of your conscience,strictly speaking)perhaps you could share some of the dynamics of the prayers, mantras, and conversations. I realize that for some of us this is an important and personal thing, so lets keep the jokes limited to ourselves.

What do you ask and/or talk about?

Do you hear answers or feel inner confirmation in any way?

Does the action of communication with God change you in any way?

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Faith/Belief, please.

First of all, I am guilty of taking God for granted, similar to how one may treat a familiar family member. I am getting better at talking in good times as well as bad, but in the past I often found myself asking for things and cozying up only when I needed something! I have changed, but in essence I am who I am, anyway. I hope that I am growing and learning how to be a better person.

Me too. God is nor something (or more properly someOne ) to be proven.

And if you feel an unction that it is speaking to you, do you accept it on faith or do you go to a shrink and get medication?I suppose that much can be gleaned from silence, but even in my quiet moments, my mind hums in the background with a myriad of thoughts, emotions, memories, and sensations. I have yet to experience total silence. (perhaps when I die.... )Edited by Phat, : emoticon

The belief is not a waste of time, in my opinion. I believe that the relationship is real irregardless of feelings. Often, I feel nothing. Often there is no rush of chemical woo woo's as Schraff likes to call them! Often I am having a conversation that an observer would say is with myself. It would be nice to share my friend with others...but perhaps the idea is to let my friend impart into me a nice spirit so I myself can be his representative to others and so I don't have to hit them over the head with King James!Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

I once had a Pastor that was like that. The aura of exclusivity and power that he had made him powerful even as he was unapproachable.Once he was caught by the press exposing his flaws, however, the aura vanished, and he was never again held in high regard.

He specifically had a parishioner who had a young child who needed insulin to live. During one stirring hyper-emotional service, he allegedly told the woman to throw all of her medications away and that her son would be healed. Needless to say, the boy died. The Pastor never took responsibility for his actions, the police had no strong case, and the bewildered Mother was another victim of unscrupulous church dogma.I found an old link in the news about the story here but I knew that the church was also responsible.

There are certain systems that are recommended for effective prayer. One of them is known by the acronym ACTS.

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A.C.T.S. is an easy way to remember key elements of prayer. It’s simply prayer in four parts:

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Adoration — Praise be to God! -Psalms 68:35
Tell God how much you appreciate Him. Express your love for Him. Praise His power and majesty. This is a great way to begin your prayer time. Sometimes I watch the sun rise, and praise God for the beauty of His creation. You should never run out of praise. How awesome are your deeds! -Psalms 66:3

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Confession — If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9
Tell Him where you have fallen short. Be specific. I thank Him for the forgiveness I have in Christ, and ask for help and strength to turn away from future temptations.

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Thanksgiving — Always glorify him with thanksgiving -Psalms 69:30
You have plenty of reasons to be thankful. Thank God for His love, His faithfulness, His patience and a million other things. Express gratitude for what He’s doing in your life. Thank Jesus for dying on the cross for you. Thank the Holy Spirit for indwelling you, and never leaving. Thank Him for being your conscience, your counselor and that still small voice.

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Supplication — Make your requests known to God. -Philippians 4:6
Tell God what you want, no matter how small it seems to you. Do you really think any of your requests are big to God the Creator? You should have lots of intercessory prayer here. Remember: As a Promise Keeper, you are committed to pray for your pastor and your church every day.

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That all being said, I think Ringo has a point in that sometimes its better to listen. Meditation can help. For many Christians, the mind of God can't be known except through scripture...at least not the God we (think) we understand. Any other comments?

Oswald Chambers(My Utmost For His Highest) said

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To say that prayer changes things is not as close to the truth as saying, Prayer changes me and then I change things. God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.

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How do you know?

when it comes to God, absence of evidence does not equate to evidence of absence. Far too many people have subjective evidence.Granted, Christianity has many con men and many hyper-emotional followers.There are far too many sane people that believe for me to dismiss it all as wishful thinking...in fact, the Bible says that you (and the likes of you) already have evidence that you choose to ignore and rationalize away.

Im not fully convinced by your so-called "facts." I have heard other rationally minded people explain the origins in different ways from the ones you have put forth.One example is this man--(an attorney, by the way) Bible On Trial Of course, my point is that these issues are far from settled in the court of public inquiry. For instance,

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We know that the books of the NT were written many decades after the period of the events, not by their purported authors, but by anonymous others who never witnessed said events. And that one misogynistic self-appointed "disciple" a century afterword reformed the progenitor of your religion in his own image around the embellished myths popular in his time.

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No...no we don't know this.The so-called (and self proclaimed) "experts" from Internet Infidels are not impressive....on the contrary, they are on a mission to deify human wisdom. (Go ahead...test the spirits)Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Ok to start with...how do we know that the books of the NT were not written by their purported authors? And even if this can be proven, can we prove the intent of the writings?(I dont see evidence...but I see scholarly disagreements over the authors)

I read a great article this morning which mirrors the way that I believe. The article, titled Help Thou My Unbelief was written by Ryan Ahlgrim, lead pastor of First Mennonite Church in Indianapolis. He says: The difference between me and you is not thaqt you have embraced any facts which I have clearly missed. The difference, as I see it, is that you cant or wont trust uncertainty and in fact have no desire to believe to begin with...whereas I do. You have sought to find proof in order to disbelieve...I have sought proof in order to believe.

How gracious of us! Perhaps I should clarify, so as to satisfy your sanity requirements.There are far too many sane people whom believe and do for me to question their sanity or their conclusions. I guess that my point is that belief does not get the respect that it deserves these days.