I need help getting closer to god

[Jl734]

Hello. This is my first time posting on the forum. I’m gonna go through my story, just so that way everything makes what I’m about to talk about. Thanks for listening!

So, I’m younger. Not very young but an older teenager, still in hs. I transferred schools, and it turned out to be awful, being relentless bullying, it was bad too, I won’t get into how bad it was. After I left the schooo, after things got really bad, where I was getting physically hurt, I reflected, and I’ve seen videos, shorts and Facebook reels, about how what we go through has a purpose- and now especially, I believe that. Now, I’m starting down my walk with god.

Right now, I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future. I know what to do, matter a fact I know exactly what to do, pray. But I have no motivation- at all. I want to ask god for guidance, what to do, with my current situation. So I have a couple questions. I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence? Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance? I’m worrying about the future, and right now at least, I’m feeling like there’s no way out of it worrying about the future, right now I feel like even if I ask, and pray, I wouldn’t stop worrying, I know god is all seeing. Knowing and loving, but I can’t shake the feeling that even if I pray it won’t help with my anxiety. I know it will, but I don’t have any motivation. If been doing research, is this a spiritual attack, or is this normal? Also, I’d like to add… I started on this app callled through the word, I decided to start reading the word, and it’s a good app, it reads the Bible to you, and explains it. I ended up falling asleep to this, and in the middle of the night, I woke up, I remember something coming down on me, like something entered me, maybe it was just me… I’m not sure. I’d also like to say, I have prayed before, before a lot of this anxiety. I asked to see him in a dream, and once I was lucid dreaming, and I remember thinking lustful thoughts, and then all the sudden, I saw what I think was god, I saw a figure standing in front of light, and he looked the same way a traditional picture of god looks, and I remember feeling something come down on me, almost like being under a jet engine, almost like something was possibly going into me. I’m not sure what this all means.

Thank you listening. God bless

 

[ScottA]

Hello. This is my first time posting on the forum. I’m gonna go through my story, just so that way everything makes what I’m about to talk about. Thanks for listening!

So, I’m younger. Not very young but an older teenager, still in hs. I transferred schools, and it turned out to be awful, being relentless bullying, it was bad too, I won’t get into how bad it was. After I left the schooo, after things got really bad, where I was getting physically hurt, I reflected, and I’ve seen videos, shorts and Facebook reels, about how what we go through has a purpose- and now especially, I believe that. Now, I’m starting down my walk with god.

Right now, I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future. I know what to do, matter a fact I know exactly what to do, pray. But I have no motivation- at all. I want to ask god for guidance, what to do, with my current situation. So I have a couple questions. I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence? Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance? I’m worrying about the future, and right now at least, I’m feeling like there’s no way out of it worrying about the future, right now I feel like even if I ask, and pray, I wouldn’t stop worrying, I know god is all seeing. Knowing and loving, but I can’t shake the feeling that even if I pray it won’t help with my anxiety. I know it will, but I don’t have any motivation. If been doing research, is this a spiritual attack, or is this normal? Also, I’d like to add… I started on this app callled through the word, I decided to start reading the word, and it’s a good app, it reads the Bible to you, and explains it. I ended up falling asleep to this, and in the middle of the night, I woke up, I remember something coming down on me, like something entered me, maybe it was just me… I’m not sure. I’d also like to say, I have prayed before, before a lot of this anxiety. I asked to see him in a dream, and once I was lucid dreaming, and I remember thinking lustful thoughts, and then all the sudden, I saw what I think was god, I saw a figure standing in front of light, and he looked the same way a traditional picture of god looks, and I remember feeling something come down on me, almost like being under a jet engine, almost like something was possibly going into me. I’m not sure what this all means.

Thank you listening. God bless

Welcome J!

First...God has us all in the world as a time of decision. All that happens in life is like a series of forks in the road. If we make good or bad decisions, eventually we will determine which we prefer--good or evil. The scriptures/the Bible says that God has "set before us life and death, blessing and cursing", saying "therefore choose life" and live. In doing so, we show ourselves to favor what is good. God in turn, then guides us through life--which is still full of good and evil--but promises us safe passage if we continue to seek Him and all that is good.

The other thing that we are here for, is to get to know God. So--get to know Him! Read about Him--the Bible is a collection of recorded witnesses who have had personal encounters with Him. This stuff is real. I know because I am one who has personally encounter God. It's not that everyone does though, and that is where faith comes in. Faith is a mechanism for God to know that we are in tune to Him--and not against Him and evil. If we get glimpses of those Godly moments coming together enough to be convincing, we're on the right track. When that occurs--keep doing what you are doing--that is you making that decision for good, the end of which is eternal life--all the good stuff, with no more pain or sorrow or anxiety. It sounds like you are already on your way--keep it up!

As for why things are now the way they are: Something needed to stir you, to get you to thinking. That was God. Someday, you'll thank Him for it

Happy Easter (Resurrection Sunday)!

 

[Debp]

It's good you are reading and listening to the Word of God. That can bring healing to your troubled mind. As can prayer, of course.

Read Ephesians chapter 6 about spiritual armor.
Have a blessed Easter.

 

[Debp]

P.S. Get into a good Bible teaching church. You will find love and support there. Also, pastors give counseling for free.

 

[quietthinker]

Hello. This is my first time posting on the forum. I’m gonna go through my story, just so that way everything makes what I’m about to talk about. Thanks for listening!

So, I’m younger. Not very young but an older teenager, still in hs. I transferred schools, and it turned out to be awful, being relentless bullying, it was bad too, I won’t get into how bad it was. After I left the schooo, after things got really bad, where I was getting physically hurt, I reflected, and I’ve seen videos, shorts and Facebook reels, about how what we go through has a purpose- and now especially, I believe that. Now, I’m starting down my walk with god.

Right now, I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future. I know what to do, matter a fact I know exactly what to do, pray. But I have no motivation- at all. I want to ask god for guidance, what to do, with my current situation. So I have a couple questions. I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence? Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance? I’m worrying about the future, and right now at least, I’m feeling like there’s no way out of it worrying about the future, right now I feel like even if I ask, and pray, I wouldn’t stop worrying, I know god is all seeing. Knowing and loving, but I can’t shake the feeling that even if I pray it won’t help with my anxiety. I know it will, but I don’t have any motivation. If been doing research, is this a spiritual attack, or is this normal? Also, I’d like to add… I started on this app callled through the word, I decided to start reading the word, and it’s a good app, it reads the Bible to you, and explains it. I ended up falling asleep to this, and in the middle of the night, I woke up, I remember something coming down on me, like something entered me, maybe it was just me… I’m not sure. I’d also like to say, I have prayed before, before a lot of this anxiety. I asked to see him in a dream, and once I was lucid dreaming, and I remember thinking lustful thoughts, and then all the sudden, I saw what I think was god, I saw a figure standing in front of light, and he looked the same way a traditional picture of god looks, and I remember feeling something come down on me, almost like being under a jet engine, almost like something was possibly going into me. I’m not sure what this all means.

Thank you listening. God bless

G'day J
Glad you joined us. Confused or not, ignorant or not, young or not, we all stand before our Creator equally who has an affection for us which is difficult to understand. Difficult in the sense of, how can people with an antagonism towards him be loved to the point of giving his life for ours.
The understanding of this grows as you allow yourself to get to know him, so do that. You can ask him the questions you have and in particular, to guide you to people who will help and encourage you to grow.

 

[Windmill Charge]

I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future

May I suggest that you seek counselling from either your church minister or from a register councillor.
As has been suggested get involved with a biblical based church.

 

[Bob]

Thank you for joining us, and welcome.

To begin, you are headed in the right direction—toward God—but it sounds like you do not fully trust Him yet to care for you and care about you. Bible study can help assure you that is true.

Here are a few other suggestions, which complement what others have recommended.

Prayer: start by giving thanks to God everyday, several times a day. Examples: when you awake, something like, “Thank you God for giving me this new day full of hope and promise. Be with me in my struggles,” etc. (help with difficulties, etc.) Before each meal, give thanks for the food. Give thanks for home, family, etc. (All that blesses your life.)

Helping others: ask yourself who in your life needs help. Be a friend, be a solid member of your family. “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself” is a central commandment because that is one of the reasons you exist. So look for ways to be kind, caring, sharing.

Anxiety about the future: this can haunt us, if we let it, all our lives. The anecdote: remind yourself you are in God’s hands and He cares about you. Ask Him every day to guide you and mentor you.

Come again with again questions as they arise.


Peace.

 

[Debp]

Anxiety about the future: this can haunt us, if we let it, all our lives. The anecdote: remind yourself you are in God’s hands and He cares about you. Ask Him every day to guide you and mentor you.

Jesus said to take a day at a time...that helps me!

 

[Jay Ross]

If God can be found in all of the space around you then there are no suggestions that I can make that will get you any closer to God than you are already.

Perhaps you need to hold out your hand to God and let Him take it, instead of you trying to take hold of God's hand if you can see it.

 

[Jl734]

If God can be found in all of the space around you then there are no suggestions that I can make that will get you any closer to God than you are already.

Perhaps you need to hold out your hand to God and let Him take it, instead of you trying to take hold of God's hand if you can see it.

Wow I guess that does make sense.. how would I do that, should I pray for that?
Thanks

 

[Jl734]

May I suggest that you seek counselling from either your church minister or from a register councillor.
As has been suggested get involved with a biblical based church.

This might help. Thanks!

 

[Jl734]

Thank you for joining us, and welcome.

To begin, you are headed in the right direction—toward God—but it sounds like you do not fully trust Him yet to care for you and care about you. Bible study can help assure you that is true.

Here are a few other suggestions, which complement what others have recommended.

Prayer: start by giving thanks to God everyday, several times a day. Examples: when you awake, something like, “Thank you God for giving me this new day full of hope and promise. Be with me in my struggles,” etc. (help with difficulties, etc.) Before each meal, give thanks for the food. Give thanks for home, family, etc. (All that blesses your life.)

Helping others: ask yourself who in your life needs help. Be a friend, be a solid member of your family. “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself” is a central commandment because that is one of the reasons you exist. So look for ways to be kind, caring, sharing.

Anxiety about the future: this can haunt us, if we let it, all our lives. The anecdote: remind yourself you are in God’s hands and He cares about you. Ask Him every day to guide you and mentor you.

Come again with again questions as they arise.


Peace.

Thank you for your assistance.

 

[Lambano]

So I have a couple questions. I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence? Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance? I’m worrying about the future, and right now at least, I’m feeling like there’s no way out of it worrying about the future, right now I feel like even if I ask, and pray, I wouldn’t stop worrying,

Getting close to God is a noble pursuit.

How we pray varies from individual to individual. Start with talking to God as friend. (Jesus said, "I now call you friends", John 15:15.) If it turns out you're more comfortable talking to God as a father, or as your boss, or in more formal structures, try that. But don't stop, even if you don't feel it's working. Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

How does God respond? Sometimes (rare) in an audible voice, or in an internal voice where you "just know". Sometimes in circumstances. Sometimes in that peace and presence you mentioned. Some of our brothers and sisters on this forum see visions (not me, though). A lot of times, not at all, and you wonder if your prayers are going any higher than the ceiling. Sorry; I don't want lie to you about that.

About the anxiety and worrying: Sometimes it goes away; sometimes it doesn't. No guarantees; I don't want to lie to you about that either. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7. You'll just have to trust Him.

By the way, there are other ways to get close to God, but I haven't got it all figured out. I struggle too, just like you.

 

[ShineTheLight]

I started on this app callled through the word, I decided to start reading the word, and it’s a good app, it reads the Bible to you, and explains it. I ended up falling asleep to this, and in the middle of the night, I woke up, I remember something coming down on me, like something entered me, maybe it was just me… I’m not sure. I’d also like to say, I have prayed before, before a lot of this anxiety. I asked to see him in a dream, and once I was lucid dreaming, and I remember thinking lustful thoughts, and then all the sudden, I saw what I think was god, I saw a figure standing in front of light, and he looked the same way a traditional picture of god looks, and I remember feeling something come down on me, almost like being under a jet engine, almost like something was possibly going into me. I’m not sure what this all means.

Thank you listening. God bless

God can appear in a variety of ways. He can appear as people you know. He can appear as a family member. He can appear as those you are friends with or acquainted with. He can appear as a pet, like a cat or dog, and other animals. He can appear as a celebrity or someone famous. He can appear as someone you haven't seen. God can appear as many things.

I had a dream 3 years ago, back in 2022. I didn't realize it until now. I saw a cartoon character I didn't watch yet at the time. I didn't know what I was seeing there. Now I realize that was God. He appeared as that character. I think God was showing to me that he was jealous.

 

[The Gospel of Christ]

The fastest way to get closer to God?
Run — don’t walk — from these Scofield-spouting, Zionist-flag-waving lunatics.

If you see them on TV, change the channel immediately.
If your pastor sounds like them, get up, walk out, and don’t look back.
God is not in that circus.

Escaping and/or avoiding that counterfeit system might be the most important step you ever take toward truly knowing Christ.

 

[St. SteVen]

Right now, I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your great questions.

I used to keep a hand-written card in front of my computer keyboard as a reminder.
It simply said:

Turn it over to God.

This served as a good reminder concerning things I was anxious about.
When I turned them over, the anxiety lifted.
If the anxiety returned, I remembered to turn it over again.
Thus refusing the anxiety.

I woke up, I remember something coming down on me, like something entered me, maybe it was just me… I’m not sure.

Seems to me that bathing yourself in the scripture brought the Holy Spirit down on you.
Like a Holy Spirit baptism. See Acts 1:4-5

I saw what I think was god, I saw a figure standing in front of light, and he looked the same way a traditional picture of god looks, and I remember feeling something come down on me, almost like being under a jet engine, almost like something was possibly going into me. I’m not sure what this all means.

The Spirit of God can come to us with some seemingly physical weight.
At times my knees have buckled and I was unable to stand under the awesome heavy presence.

[

 

[Kokyu]

So, I’m younger. Not very young but an older teenager, still in hs. I transferred schools, and it turned out to be awful, being relentless bullying, it was bad too, I won’t get into how bad it was. After I left the schooo, after things got really bad, where I was getting physically hurt, I reflected, and I’ve seen videos, shorts and Facebook reels, about how what we go through has a purpose- and now especially, I believe that. Now, I’m starting down my walk with god.

It stinks that you've been bullied. In the small city where my Dad pastored while I was a teen, violence was a daily thing. I wasn't a big, tough guy so I did what I could to change that. I got a bit gym-crazy, working out lots, but gained about 50 pounds in three years (most of it muscle) which put made me a far less attractive target for bullies.

The apostle Paul wrote:

Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Some Christians think the "good" Paul is talking about here is some mysterious good that may or may not be discovered by the individual Christian. God's ways are unknowable, they think; He's working on a level of complexity in His ordering of events in the world that we can't possibly understand what He's doing; and so, when we suffer, we console ourselves with the thought that God is bringing some good, somewhere, at some time, for someone from the misery that's happening to us.

But, you know, Paul didn't stop at verse 28. He actually went on to explain what the "good" is:

Romans 8:29
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

In everything we face, good or bad, God is working out this one great good, which is that we all become more and more like Jesus. So, when you're being bullied, turn to God and ask Him to show you how you might be more like Jesus and to give you the ability to do so.

But, you know, many Christians don't find what Paul wrote very satisfying. Be like Jesus? That's it? That's the "good" that God wants to produce from my suffering? My suffering should bring about a better "good" - especially for me - than this! So their thinking goes, the prospect of Christ-likeness in and through their suffering a rather underwhelming "good."

When Christians respond to this awesome good in this way, they expose the sorry state they're in spiritually, and how little they actually know God. Until this changes, they can't see how being like Jesus is a particularly good thing. Nonetheless, this is the good God would bring out of all of our experiences - if we'll let Him.

Right now, I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future. I know what to do, matter a fact I know exactly what to do, pray. But I have no motivation- at all. I want to ask god for guidance, what to do, with my current situation. So I have a couple questions. I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence? Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance? I’m worrying about the future, and right now at least, I’m feeling like there’s no way out of it worrying about the future, right now I feel like even if I ask, and pray, I wouldn’t stop worrying, I know god is all seeing. Knowing and loving, but I can’t shake the feeling that even if I pray it won’t help with my anxiety. I know it will, but I don’t have any motivation. If been doing research, is this a spiritual attack, or is this normal?

I feel badly for you that there is no senior man in the faith, a spiritually-mature guy who can help you enter into deep, daily fellowship with God. For a number of reasons, proper discipleship (which is what I've just described) has largely disappeared from the Church, replaced by an endless stream of Bible studies. Anyway, let me see if I can't offer you some biblical answers to your questions here.

Fear is always an indication that we don't love and trust God. When we do, we have no cause to fear, you see. This is what the apostle John meant when he wrote "perfect love casts out fear." (1 Jn. 4:18) When we not only know about God's love for us, but really believe it, too (1 Jn. 4:16), fear begins to dissolve away.

Romans 5:6-11
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

We know the God who loved us enough to die for us when we were His enemies, when we didn't deserve His loving sacrifice, always has our back. We can completely trust a God who loves us this much and the promises He's made to us as His children. God's not out to get you; He's not out to harm you; He's not out to make your life as difficult and miserable as possible in order to "teach you a lesson." No, instead, He wants to give you the very best that He can give you, which is Himself. When you are convinced of this, your fears and anxieties will subside.

Why do you think you have no motivation to pray? Imagine having a girlfriend that you grew disinterested in talking to. What would this indicate about your relationship with her? Now, God's not in a romantic relationship with us, but the disinterest you have in talking with Him reveals something about your love for Him.

How, if your love for God has cooled, can that love be re-ignited? Just forcing yourself to pray isn't God's answer. Instead, He tells us again and again in His word, the Bible, that He gives to us everything we need to be who He wants us to be. We work out only what He has first worked into us.

Philippians 2:12-13
12 ...work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

See? God works into us what we then work out. What does it mean for God to "work into" you what you need to live as He wants you to? How does He do this? By giving to you the Holy Spirit who lives within you.

Romans 8:9-11
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

In the Person of the Holy Spirit, you have everything you need to live as God wants you to. In particular, in the Spirit, you have all the love God can give to you (with which you are to love Him). If you want to love God more, if you want a desire for God to grow hot in you, then, it will have to be the Spirit who makes it happen. And he will, on one very important condition: You submit yourself, "lock, stock and barrel" to his will and way.

James 4:6-7
6 ...“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God...

What does submitting to God look like? Well, Jesus gave us his example:

Luke 22:42
42 ...“Father... not my will, but yours, be done.”

The apostle Paul put it this way:

Romans 12:1
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Why's submitting to God - and staying submitted - so important to knowing and walking with God? Because God won't fill any of His children with Himself, with all the good things He is, when they are rebels toward Him, living out from under His direct and constant control. And rebels we are (even though we are His children) so long as we neglect to consciously submit to God throughout each day. Only when we yield to God and let Him have the "steering wheel" of our hearts, minds and lives does He move in us to change us and reveal to us the awesome God that He is.

So, when you're submitted to God and as a result the love of His Spirit fills you more and more, it will, among other things, dissolve your fear and fan the flame of your desire for (your love of) God.

1 John 4:18-19
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...

Romans 5:5
5 ...the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

[Kokyu]

I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence?

God isn't like anyone else, right? Yes, He's offered to be our Friend, but He's unlike any other being and this means He will be our Friend in a completely unique way. It also means when we approach Him in friendship, we have to do so according to who He is. God isn't our Buddy; He isn't some human dude we can punch on the shoulder and tease, or with whom we can jest, who is basically our equal and can be treated like He is. God is "high and lifted up," His "ways are not our ways," He is the Creator and Sustainer, not just of the universe, but of YOU. Check out the vision of the glorified, heavenly Jesus in the apostle John's Revelation:

Revelation 1:12-18
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.
16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

How, exactly, will you be a friend with a Being like this? Will you treat him with casual familiarity? Will you joke foolishly with him? Will you act with your awesome, shining Creator as you do with your fellow humans? When John encountered his Friend, the risen and glorified Jesus, John collapsed at his feet like one who was dead. No casual joking around, no "letting his hair down" with Jesus, no interacting with Jesus as a near-equal, just John being knocked off his feet by the awesomeness of his flaming-eyed, star-holding Creator.

Yes, God loves us dearly - far, far more than any human loves us - but He's GOD and this means He has protocols of approach to Himself that we have to observe. If we don't, if we "come boldly unto the throne of grace" in prayer but forget it's to a throne we come, we will find God is unwilling to interact with us. If we come to Him with a life full of sin, He won't hear us, either:

1 Peter 3:10-12
10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Psalm 66:18
18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;

And worse, our sinfulness makes God our opponent, He resists our sinful life and will continue to do so until we repent of our sin (Ja. 4:8-10), confess it to Him (1 Jn. 1:9) and submit ourselves to His control once again (Ja. 4:7; 1 Pe. 5:6; Ro. 6:13-22).

How will God respond when we talk with Him according to His protocols? That depends upon what we talk to Him about. But when we're walking with Him in the way He tells us to in His word, the Bible, He promises to do a number of things:

- convict us (Jn. 16:8)
- teach us (Jn. 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:10-16)
- strengthen us (Phil. 2:13; 4:13; Eph. 3:16; 6:10; Ro. 8:13)
- comfort us (2 Cor. 1:3-5)
- change us (Ro. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Ga. 5:22-23)
- glorify Christ in us (Jn. 6:14)

 

[Kokyu]

Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance?

You "hear" from God primarily in and through His word, which the Holy Spirit causes you to understand deeply and in the truth of which He enables you to live all the time.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

John 14:26
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The Holy Spirit doesn't speak to you as a "still, small voice" in your head. This is nowhere stated in the Bible. What he does instead is "bring to remembrance" the things Christ has spoken to all of his disciples - including you and I today - in Scripture. All of the Bible is the inspired word of God, all of it teaching to us the words of Christ, who is God and thus the Author of all of the Bible. If you want to hear from God, then, get into the Bible and read it, your "ears" open to what it is the Holy Spirit wants to teach you from it.

In the Bible, God's given to you spiritual principles, moral commands, instructive examples and practical wisdom that he expects you to know and then apply to your life. It's primarily through these things that He guides you, helping you to properly apply them in your particular situation, not by a hard-to-hear, easy to mistake "voice" in your mind.

 

[Behold]

Hello. This is my first time posting on the forum. I’m gonna go through my story, just so that way everything makes what I’m about to talk about. Thanks for listening!

So, I’m younger. Not very young but an older teenager, still in hs. I transferred schools, and it turned out to be awful, being relentless bullying, it was bad too, I won’t get into how bad it was. After I left the schooo, after things got really bad, where I was getting physically hurt, I reflected, and I’ve seen videos, shorts and Facebook reels, about how what we go through has a purpose- and now especially, I believe that. Now, I’m starting down my walk with god.

Right now, I’m struggling with anxiety, and fear, and worrying about the future. I know what to do, matter a fact I know exactly what to do, pray. But I have no motivation- at all. I want to ask god for guidance, what to do, with my current situation. So I have a couple questions. I read online that we can talk to god as a friend, is this true, and would he respond, or would we just feel his peace and presence? Also, how could I hear him? Would he respond to me in anyway if I asked him for guidance? I’m worrying about the future, and right now at least, I’m feeling like there’s no way out of it worrying about the future, right now I feel like even if I ask, and pray, I wouldn’t stop worrying, I know god is all seeing. Knowing and loving, but I can’t shake the feeling that even if I pray it won’t help with my anxiety. I know it will, but I don’t have any motivation. If been doing research, is this a spiritual attack, or is this normal? Also, I’d like to add… I started on this app callled through the word, I decided to start reading the word, and it’s a good app, it reads the Bible to you, and explains it. I ended up falling asleep to this, and in the middle of the night, I woke up, I remember something coming down on me, like something entered me, maybe it was just me… I’m not sure. I’d also like to say, I have prayed before, before a lot of this anxiety. I asked to see him in a dream, and once I was lucid dreaming, and I remember thinking lustful thoughts, and then all the sudden, I saw what I think was god, I saw a figure standing in front of light, and he looked the same way a traditional picture of god looks, and I remember feeling something come down on me, almost like being under a jet engine, almost like something was possibly going into me. I’m not sure what this all means.

Thank you listening. God bless

If you want to get closer to God, then get closer to God.

Make TIME for Jesus, Make time for GOD.......every day.........all the time.