The Holy Spirit and religous experiences discussion...

[derrick09]

Hey guys this has to do with all the other previous discussions I've done regarding the Holy Spirit. Specifically what I want to do here is ask anyone here who claims to or believes they have either had dreams, visions, hearing voices, or have had any kind of deep religious experiences or communication that you think was from the Holy Spirit. I ask this because the only experiences I've had or might have had that could have been the Holy Spirit were times where I've felt feelings of warmth and love while praying. Now those experiences could have just been my own feelings, emotion, or mind just reacting to what I was praying about or God may have had a hand in causing the experience, I"m unsure. But other than that and the fact that when I display certain good traits toward people, it's a indication that the Holy Spirit is producing the Fruit of the Spirit in my life, that's the closest encounters I think I've had with the Holy Spirit thus far. And if any of you know of a way to get closer to God to cause more of these experiences or even better experiences let me know. I'm very interested in seeing what you know. Thanks for your time guys, God bless.

[Seraph]

Back in late 2005, I remember going through a time when I was often in a very surreal state of mind, lasting for several weeks. It was a feeling thats very hard to describe with words. Throughout the days I would often feel like I was in a state of Euphoria, had a very strong connection with God, and appreciated everything in life to an exponential degree. It was hard to describe but for whatever reason it felt like it was what Heaven would be like. I would associate it with the Holy Spirit because it had a transforming effect, like I had an image in my head of an attractive perfect being, exactly like the being that God is described as in the Bible, and that I wanted to be more like it. It seemed to fit perfectly with the God of the Bible, but was very different than how people usually describe Him.

Oddly enough, in retrospect I can see that this began shortly before and persisted as I went through the worst period of my life. I still wonder today if that was me being filled with the Holy Spirit, or if I was delusional due to other factors in my life at the time.

[B. W.]

Back in late 2005, I remember going through a time when I was often in a very surreal state of mind, lasting for several weeks. It was a feeling thats very hard to describe with words. Throughout the days I would often feel like I was in a state of Euphoria, had a very strong connection with God, and appreciated everything in life to an exponential degree. It was hard to describe but for whatever reason it felt like it was what Heaven would be like. I would associate it with the Holy Spirit because it had a transforming effect, like I had an image in my head of an attractive perfect being, exactly like the being that God is described as in the Bible, and that I wanted to be more like it. It seemed to fit perfectly with the God of the Bible, but was very different than how people usually describe Him.

Oddly enough, in retrospect I can see that this began shortly before and persisted as I went through the worst period of my life. I still wonder today if that was me being filled with the Holy Spirit, or if I was delusional due to other factors in my life at the time.

How are you today?

Most liklely you were blest by the Holy Spirit - such times as these - treasure: fore there are always other times of testing and trials that come and go and such experinces help you through these that come in the future.
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[Gman]

Hey guys this has to do with all the other previous discussions I've done regarding the Holy Spirit. Specifically what I want to do here is ask anyone here who claims to or believes they have either had dreams, visions, hearing voices, or have had any kind of deep religious experiences or communication that you think was from the Holy Spirit. I ask this because the only experiences I've had or might have had that could have been the Holy Spirit were times where I've felt feelings of warmth and love while praying. Now those experiences could have just been my own feelings, emotion, or mind just reacting to what I was praying about or God may have had a hand in causing the experience, I"m unsure. But other than that and the fact that when I display certain good traits toward people, it's a indication that the Holy Spirit is producing the Fruit of the Spirit in my life, that's the closest encounters I think I've had with the Holy Spirit thus far. And if any of you know of a way to get closer to God to cause more of these experiences or even better experiences let me know. I'm very interested in seeing what you know. Thanks for your time guys, God bless.

The best way to get closer to God is through prayer... I make it a point to pray every day. But be warned that unconfessed sin can get in the way and delude your prayer life 1 Peter 3:12 or even wrong motives can block it James 4:3. I have personally have had answered prayers through dreams which usually happen at night or early morning. I then have to ask for discernment in the morning what it means.

So how do you hear back from God? Various ways.. Through other people, through dreams, or the small still voice in your heart.

[Seraph]

How are you today?

Most liklely you were blest by the Holy Spirit - such times as these - treasure: fore there are always other times of testing and trials that come and go and such experinces help you through these that come in the future.
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I'm doing pretty well today for the most part. I covered a lot of the darker parts in my post in the Prayer Requests section but overall I'm still fighting the fight.

Just like you said, during the deepest trenches I would hold on and treasure experiences like the one I described.

[derrick09]

Hello Seraph, I was curious, what did you do before hand if anything to get God to allow you to experience those things or did it just happen without you either praying more, doing more good deeds, reading the Bible more, or other things related to those? Thanks for your time. GB.

[Seraph]

I don't remember doing anything really. If it was in fact an encounter with God or anything like that, I would imagine it was all on God's end. I doubt that a person's actions could trigger God to act in a certain way.

I somewhat suspect that God allowed me to have an experience like that so that I would have strength to get through the events that followed, like my parent's divorce and ultimately the death of my dad.

[7777777]

Back in late 2005, I remember going through a time when I was often in a very surreal state of mind, lasting for several weeks. It was a feeling thats very hard to describe with words. Throughout the days I would often feel like I was in a state of Euphoria, had a very strong connection with God, and appreciated everything in life to an exponential degree. It was hard to describe but for whatever reason it felt like it was what Heaven would be like. I would associate it with the Holy Spirit because it had a transforming effect, like I had an image in my head of an attractive perfect being, exactly like the being that God is described as in the Bible, and that I wanted to be more like it. It seemed to fit perfectly with the God of the Bible, but was very different than how people usually describe Him.

Oddly enough, in retrospect I can see that this began shortly before and persisted as I went through the worst period of my life. I still wonder today if that was me being filled with the Holy Spirit, or if I was delusional due to other factors in my life at the time.

My experience is very similar to yours. About 10 years ago I was going through an addiction problem. It was a constant day-by-day battle. But, on the days I won and didn't give in to Satan, it would seem like the Lord would reward me because I would feel so euphoric. It felt so incredible. I can even remember praying to the Lord asking Him, "Lord, you better tone this down. Man, I think I can fly!!!!". To this day, I still feel like this sometimes. Usually after communing with the Lord.