God no longer talks

[Prodigal Son]

so God really used to talk to people? when he spoke to Moses there was a voice that could be heard, i suppose? why doesn't he still do this? is there a point in the bible where he explains why? was it because he became so fed up with us?

[Dan]

so God really used to talk to people? when he spoke to Moses there was a voice that could be heard, i suppose? why doesn't he still do this? is there a point in the bible where he explains why? was it because he became so fed up with us?

Moses was a prophet, as was most who heard God's voice. God only spoke to reveal something that the world needed. He would reveal it to one person or a group of them, and then they would spread the word. God speaks to people who really need His help or have been assigned the task of spreading a specific revelation given to them by the Lord.

So yes, He still does talk with us, but don't expect it to be the audible kind of voice. It is better to listen with your spirit (don't expect me to tell you how, it's one of those things... it's like instructing someone on how to breath) because in that respect, God talks to us all and He talks to us whenever we need to hear Him or whenever we need to listen to Him.

[kateliz]

I keep feeling like I have to repeat my own experiences with God speaking to me audibly, but don't want to. I'll just say this for now: it was two times, one of which He communicated to me I'm to teach about Him, and the other was a call to my knees where He gave me peace beyond understanding. The first mentioned was apparently to benefit the world, but the second was I believe mostly for myself.

But in addition to the Spirit's prompting that's so hard to explain, God uses a lot of "coincidences" in my life to talk to me about things. One of the last very obvious set of "coincidences" was about me socializing a tramautized parakeet, and you should see her progress! After a week she was bascially begging me to work with her some more on getting her comfortable with being on someone's finger, when at the start she'd fly around for an hour trying to avoid you!

[Prodigal Son]

do you really think he spoke to you audibly? why? what did his voice sound like? ...(not poking fun; in complete/total seriousness).

[Kurieuo]

Actually, the person I ended up marrying God gave me a soft spoken word I would be with. And to clarify, I do not advocate seeking God's purpose for one's self through a soft inner voice, although I know many Christians do. This was different in that it was inwardly clear, and the word included a sign to back it up without my asking.

I was going to the movies with my brother and his friend. It was around a time I had come to the decision I'd live my life out rather than think I could end it any time I felt necessary. Talking with God in the back seat of the car (as you do ) I was told I'd recognise a person from university (which I been attending for just a few weeks) who I'd end up being with. Sure enough, I saw my now wife at the movies, only she was with a guy who at the time I didn't know was only a friend.

Now some might say I perhaps purposely sought her out after this word, but I see that nothing could be further from the truth. For one, it was backed with a sign, which although sent shivers down my spine, I took with a grain of salt when I saw her with a guy. And since I actually got the impression she had slept around, and she was the type of person I'd back then classify as stupid, naive, and even tarty when it comes to relationships... she wasn't particularly someone I wanted a serious relationship with. Funnily enough I had made a friend with a guy who also knew her brother, and so knew her. So whether I liked it or not, I was made to hang around long enough to see though naive, she actually hadn't been taken advantage of by anyone, and also wasn't as bad as I first thought...

Kurieuo.

[kateliz]

do you really think he spoke to you audibly? why? what did his voice sound like?

He did, but inside my head. It was a male voice, (not deep like people like to think of God's voice as,) and it was as if I was thinking, but the voice was unquestionable separate from myself and felt more natural listening to than hearing my own self think. It felt so natural that both times I didn't even think about it during the whole episode. It wasn't like, "Oh my gosh God is speaking to me!" Or, "Oh my gosh I'm hearing voices!" I just instantly responded to them and didn't think about the importance of the event untill the next day. I knew it was God automatically, but again wasn't able to tell myself, "God just spoke to you," untill the next day when I could analize the situation from an objective view.

He was a God of little words, but He didn't have to say more than He did. When He called me to my knees to give me peace beyond understanding all He said was, "Get on your knees." Then when He spoke to me about teaching he first asked me, "What's the opposite of ignorance?" I then responed with, "Well, that be knowledge." He then went, "Mmm hmmm," (humming a yes.) I instantly responded to that with, "Well then someone has to go out there and teach them!" That conversation was in direct response to a devotional I had just read that stated that the basis of your relationship with God is your knowledge of Him, and then there was a thing on God's sovereignty. So God basically called me to teach people, (Christians in particular, I believe,) about who God is and how He works, with a special emphasis on His sovereignty.

God has been schooling me on His sovereignty for many years now and I believe that is a large reason why He prefers to speak to me through "coincidences." He sends direct and indirect messages through obvious sets of "coincidences. The direct messages are ones I can understand right away and then act on or wait for Him to act on, and the indirect ones are messages I understand He's giving me but are as yet incomplete and ones I won't be able to understand 'till later.

The more He schools me on this the less "speaking" He has to do to communicate something to me because I can decipher His voice easier and have learned to trust that it is indeed His voice and I'm not delusional. It's awesome because He speaks to me, I like to say, "constantly" through everything around me. I have even begun to learn from Him how to infer things through situations so that He doesn't even have to speak directly on some things. I've seen Him express His will this way, and He also guides me with my spiritual growth like this. But I've only just begun to do this so I don't know much about it at all; it's all pretty vague as of yet.

He's spoken to me through the Holy Spirit's prompting many times as well, but not as often as He uses "coincidences." I'm not sure I'm ready for more of that yet, but I believe I will be one day. When He does this I have a bad habit of not listening to Him or obeying Him because I'd rather have my own way with things. He'll prompt me to do something, which I'll eventually agree to, but when the prompting stops I like to chock it up to "chance" and do my own thing. My Father has to chastise me on that before I'll listen, I'm sure! Just still too selfish and untrusting. And sometimes He'll use both situations and the Spirit's prompting to communicate to me, (I'm much better at listening to this then the Spirit alone.) In these cases I have double assurance on what He's telling me.

And then sometimes He does things in such a way so that I'm purposely left wondering about it and as a result learn many lessons. He's the best Teacher there is and He knows what He's doing! He chooses different ways to communicate with His different Children because on this they all need different things. He works with people the same way at the core of things but He speaks in slightly different ways according to the person. For me He uses mostly "coincidences," for others He may use mostly the Spirit.

I don't doubt that He would use a million different ways to talk to people, but we shouldn't begin to look for Him speaking or we'll become paranoid, obbsessive, superstitious and very misled or deceived. Like I believe He'd only choose to communicate through things like fortune cookies after a heck of a lot of training, and even then I don't believe He'd choose that method but very, very rarely. He doesn't want us deceived, so wait on Him to teach you how to hear His voice.

A lot of people like to try to randomly point to a verse in the Bible and get a word from God like that, and I was definetely one of those, but He showed me that He'd only do it, (this was when He just began to teach me how to listen for His voice,) when I had no trace of superstition in me and was in dire need. Now I know that if I'm not in the right mindset or in abject need, (or even then He'll say, "No, let's do this another way," especially now that I've learned how to listen other ways,) that He will definetely cause me to point to something where there's no way to twist it into fitting my situation! He's taught me to not look for His voice but to only let Him give it to me. When He wants me to have a word from Him in an obvious way then He'll take care of it Himself- I have no need to look for it.

Kurieou, that's awesome, (my new word for the forum,) that God chose to give you a word from Him on your then-future wife! What a beautiful beginning, and how great that you can share that with others!

[Believer]

I second what kateliz said but not the calling to something. Indeed God spoke audibly to me in a male voice last year and this year, it seemed almost like an aged mans voice. I was going through an uncontrollable blasphemy phase in my thought process for about a week or two and one day I was soooo scared that I lost my salvation, I asked for God's forgivness as I had EXTREMELY high anxiety all day and wanted to be forgiven. I took a nap, and I woke up to God speaking to me, he said "You're Forgiven", he doesn't say much, but I know it couldn't have been a delusion because I have NEVER had these types of things happen to me before. He spoke twice "You're Forgiven" last year and "You're Not Saved" this year, but the "You're Not Saved" was probably from the Devil even though the voice sounded EXACTLY as the first experience. My family has somewhat of a history of hearing God audibly. I have also been blessed with partial spiritual gifts that I DO NOT deserve, but I have them and I accept them.

[kateliz]

No one deserves their gifts, which is why they're called "gifts"!

[seedling]

I knew a girl once. She was schizophrenic. We were having a conversation and she told me, in all sincerity, "The doctors tell me these voices I am hearing are not real. I really want to believe them, but it is so hard. It is so hard." I could have cried. The human mind, the brain, is a powerful powerful thing. Do some scientific research, it's fascinating, since this is a scientific Christian board. One person doesn't want to hear voices anymore. Others are dying to hear voices, telling them what to do. It is insanity. Be whole in yourself. You have your own voice deep inside. Listen to yourself. He gave you YOU. You don't need to hear voices from above.

[Dan]

Ah! Im such a fool, by an audible voice I thought you meant an external voice, not an inner voice!

Silly me

[Kurieuo]

I think it certainly valid that we shouldn't rule out schizophrenia as an option, but then I think we'd see a more extreme circumstances here, and certainly more consistency to hearing voices. For me I wouldn't even call it a voice, but it rather came all at once.


Now there is something I'd like to clarify. I said the following: "since I actually got the impression she had slept around, and she was the type of person I'd back then classify as stupid, naive, and even tarty when it comes to relationships... she wasn't particularly someone I wanted a serious relationship with." Someone pointed out this was quite judgemental and hypocritical, etc. And I suppose this also comes across in the way I ended: "I was made to hang around long enough to see though naive, she actually hadn't been taken advantage of by anyone, and also wasn't as bad as I first thought..."

Now what I wrote about is going back almost a decade at a time when I had moved out of home, was in and out of depression, and beginning to take my beliefs on God more seriously. At this time, any girl who had slept with someone was in my opinion off-limits for a serious relationship. People are often attracted to looks, and a person's way of thinking and their actions are simply something that can really put me off attraction-wise, although I never mean to judge such a person. It is not something I can help anymore than you might consider something or someone ugly or beautiful.

Now in my life experiences there are many girls who think if they sleep with a guy or guys that they will get the love and attention they desire. Many guys love to prey on this and take advantage of such girls. So I do think such girls are naive, and that finding love in such a way is fairly stupid even to this day. However, I am also sympathetic as to why girls might be this way and feel for them, and would treat them with the respect they deserve for being a precious human being.

As for the "tarty" remark, it is true I consider people who sleep around as being "tarty", and I likely even wouldn't have hesitated from using this derogatory term back at the time in my life I recall above. It was just a way I perceived a certain type of people in my younger years. Now I tend to focus more on why people are the way they are, and trying to understanding rather than categorising them into one heap.

Finally, as for the "she wasn't bad as I first thought" remark, it comes back to tastes. To provide an example, you may see a photo of someone and think they don't look particularly attractive. Then when you meet them in person you think: "Gee, they're not as bad as I first thought." For me attractiveness is largely judged on the way people think and their actions. It might be sad people are judged or sized up in this way, but what attracts and unattracts us to people just seems to be a part of our personal tastes and is in fact rather judging. This does not mean that we would treat someone we're not attracted to without the dignity and respect due to every human, it just means we have personal tastes...

Anyway, hopefully I've clarified myself here, and I apologise to anyone whom I may have offended.

Kurieuo.

[kateliz]

I appreciate the concern about my voice having been heard inside my head rather than outside my ear. If I didn't believe in such a thing I'd also be concerned if not worried.

Here, I'll add fuel to the fire- my dad was mentally ill. At the end of his life he told me, (though he was a compulsive embellisher/liar,) that it was suggested he had a little bit of schizophrenia. I know that he had deppression, obbsessive compulsive disorder and paranoia. I went to visit him for years while he was living in a residential house for mentally ill adults. I met many people there with serious mental illnesses. One of the few girlfriends he had there, (my parents got divorced when I was four,) drank Drain-o, (plumbing declogger,) and spent quite a while in a couple different hospitals recovering physically and mentally. I don't think I ever saw her again after that. He had this other girlfriend who thought the CIA was after her and that it had something to do with Jesus. I couldn't figure out what that was all about, it was very illogical altogether. I talked with lots of people there; my father was charismatic and had lots of friends his whole life. I've spent many hours with mentally ill people.

In highschool I was going through something that people were concerned about, (I stopped doing homework for a certain reason I'd rather not get into.) I was referred to the school psychiatrist for testing just to make sure that I was okay like I said I was. They were looking for signs of deppression and maybe social issues. The test covered everything, even pyromania. They gave this test to other people who didn't have serious issues, but just to get a good picture on things. Anyway, my test came back as clean as the psychiatrist's own. I have not had anything concerning happen with my mental health since, (I wasn't concerned back then either, other than general worry my dad passed something on to me.) I heard these voices only a year or two before the test. As of yet, I'm clean.

And this is something more important to think about. The first voice, (I'm calling them "voices" just to not push that it was God's,) called me to my knees in the middle of worshipping at camp. I instantly refused to by saying, "No! I don't want to look stupid." Everyone was standing, and I didn't want to be the only one curled up on the floor. A split second after I refused like that the lead worshipper stopped the song in the middle and said, "If anyone feels that God is calling them to their knees do so now." Most everyone went down at this, (I think they didn't want to be the only ones not called, I was the only one who had the experience that followed.) So with everyone else around me I got down and curled up. Then I was given a divine peace beyond understanding. I can't descibe it any other way because that's exactly what it was, and how do you describe something that big? My eyelids started to move very quickly, tears just poured out my eyes and I started to sweat pretty good. I noticed, however, that despite these things my heartbeat was just the same as before them. When it was all over the lead worshipper called us up, and I had to leave to the bathroom right away to deal with the tears and to regain my composure.

The second time I heard God's voice it was in direct response to the devotional I read. I will not repeat that whole thing because I did in my long post above.

I also had another experience I should include in this thread because of the doubting of those first two ones. I was at my grandmother's house sleeping when I was awoken by the Holy Spirit. I felt like I had already been up and was led to my knees beside the bed to pray. I didn't have any idea what I was to pray, but I followed the Spirit's lead again automatically. I got on my knees and rested on the side of the bed to pray. The Spirit then prayed through me, causing me to speak the words as it gave them to me. It had me petition God with complete faith, (a kind of faith I've never experienced any other time,) for a few things that were weighing very heavily on me at the time. When the prayer was finished the Spirit led me back into bed, allowed me to check the clock while doing so, and then I fell asleep instantly, (which I never do.) It was three o'clock in the morning when I looked at the clock. I think that was part of letting me know it really happened. When I woke up the next morning I was able to go, "Oh my gosh, the Spirit prayed through me last night!" Just like it was when God spoke to me.

I assure you, as much as I can by telling you these things and giving my word, (which you can choose to not trust of course,) that I am not, currently or previously, mentally ill, and that these experiences were divine ones that God Himself gave me. They are completely biblical. The Holy Spirit helping you pray with groanings words cannot explain was what that prayer was. The groans were the leading of the Spirit. It was like an inward pull or call, but that's all I can really say of it. Words can't describe it!

I do hope that none of you let unbiblical worries or biased opinions get in the way of believing that God works like this with His Children when He so chooses. These moments are the most precious jewels in my life so far, and I hope that at least some of you reading this get to experience it for yourselves.