God of wonders.

Some people wonder why others like myself feel that there is a reason to belive in God.
I have observed unbelievers telling others that faith has no substance and is not evidence of things unseen, that faith is something that can be made manifest without any evidence whatsoever, while on the other hand they judge Christianity as fraudulent by the evidence they have not seen for themselves. Well, I believe that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. IMO faith, true faith, consists of evidence, it has substance, and without it, it is impossible to please God.
To me, faith is not merely believing that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit exist, it is the act of agape love towards God. According to the bible, there are levels of faith. There is faith that is small as a mustard seed, and there is "great faith", and like Smith Wigglesworth, I believe that the faith we have now is meant to be "ever increasing".
I'm going to share my experience with speaking in tongues, it's somewhat saddening, imo, I hope you can learn something from it.

I was attending a boarding school and in the eleventh grade. One day I walked into my room, I was happy and thanked God for bringing myself into existence, then my eyes fell upon a christian rock cd that my dad thought I'd be interested in that he put together himself, so out of respect for him and the time he took to make that cd for me, I gave it a listen. I was getting into the music, thinking about how good God is and then the Holy Spirit entered the room and convicted me of sin.

So I decided to pray, I don't know how long that lasted but before the cd ended I was speaking in tongues. I figured the cd would stifle my prayer being heard from anyone in the halls because the bible said that God prefers prayers to be done in secret, so I really let loose and prayed the longest most tearful and heartfelt version of the "sinner's prayer" I ever prayed, thanks to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Years after this experience I'm about to share, I read Romans 2:4 Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
And I read: 2 Corinthians 7:9 Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.
I see the correlation, in that I was happy and thankful to God, which led to my conviction, which led to my prayer of repentance.

I moved to stand up and while standing and still praying I was cut short by the intense tangible feeling of something liquid-like pouring into me from the top of my head and hitting my stomach then filling up, bubbling up my esophagus and when it reached my jaw and tongue, I felt, literally, tangibly felt as though God were paying special attention to my jaw and tongue, like they were being held. I felt prompted to open my mouth and when I did I started speaking in a different language, but I knew that if I didn't want to cooperate, if I didn't want to speak in tongues I had every right to stop. I walked to the full scale mirror and in awe, I watched myself speaking, and while the Holy Spirit was speaking through me, the cd stopped and words were still coming out, loudly.

While I was infront of the mirror, not fully understanding the implications of what I've committed myself to, a demon showed up and said to my spirit, "You sound soooo stupid." I knew that to be a lie from the devil and understood that the demon was there to try to get me self-conscious and scared of what others think of myself, so I resisted that by allowing God to keep speaking. In hindsight, bilingual people do not "sound sooo stupid" either.
After some time I stopped, I was full of joy and love, brotherly love, though I do hope to attain agape love for God.
God led me to my bed and told me (spoke to my spirit) to put my hand over my blanket and tell it to move. In hindsight I see that he wanted me to see that being filled with the Holy Spirit comes with power. I did. I just put my hand palm facing downward over the blanket and said, "Move". And it did. I was waving my hand in general directions and it was following suit. A demon came and planted the thought that I must be crazy, "Am I going crazy?" I said to myself, and when I did that, it stopped and I could sense that such a thought did not please God, so I said, "No, I'm not." and resumed moving the blanket with my hand in awe.

Then, I felt as though I should leave my room and interact with others, so I did, I opened my door and walked out, there was a girl I did not know, who went out of her door at the same time I did. God spoke to my spirit and said, "Tell her I love her." Let me tell you something, demons do tempt new believers into believing lies.
After Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon him like a dove, he was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. People who are given the Holy Spirit are not immediately immune to temptation and lies simply because our understanding is limited and therefore should not be leaned on as though our definition of a perfect person is better than God's definition of a perfect person when he says, "But you are to be perfect.."
Wigglesworth, in his book 'Ever Increasing Faith' said something along the lines of, a person is perfect in asmuch as his faith and love are perfected.

My faith was nowhere near perfect, I believe that I am about to show you why Jesus said "but do not begin until you count the cost." because I believed a lie, the lie that says that one ought to consider how others feel or how we ourselves feel more than how God feels. God told me several times in my small window of opportunity to tell that girl that he loved her and I was too scared, the girl looked scared of me, like she was about to run away any second, it's like God set me up to walk alongside that girl telling me and prompting me to tell that girl but I was a coward about it, and I sincerely regret that.

Cowards to not inherit the kingdom. I wasn't afraid to pray, I wasn't afraid to admit that I'm a sinner, I wasn't afraid to allow the Holy Spirit the use of my tongue, I wasn't afraid to keep it up after the music had gone, I wasn't afraid to tell the blanket to move, I had such an upbringing that I was afraid of people, of what they think.
It took me going through extreme humiliation to get to this point of not being afraid of the things people will say.
Anyway, when my opportunity had passed, I saw a girl I didn't like for any particular reason, and God showed me how wrong I was to misjudge her.

I stopped by her, not knowing what to do, and she started talking to me, saying that "everyone" on the floor heard me and were talking amongst themselves about what was going on in my room while my door was shut. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about, but she said she'd heard people speaking in tongues before and that I didn't need to be afraid and didn't need to lie. I was so distraught, yes, right after that experience I felt so defeated and I asked God something along the lines of "Take the Spirit away from me", sorry I don't recall the exact wording. And he did. I was back to my normal sinful animal-like nature and I deeply regret taking God so lightly.
This I hope you learn, that God is not here merely for our entertainment, he is here to heal the broken hearted, set the captives free, remind us of everything Jesus has spoken, and SO MUCH more.
To all the believers out there, please say a little prayer for me, I surely need it.

Have you reopened yourself to the Spirit? Are you accepting it again? And yes, of course, I'll pray for you. As you know, you'll be attacked again, maybe even in this thread. Run the race.

reply to post by Wonders


I recently had a similar experience of not obeying God. He told me in my heart to pray for healing on a guys leg who just got in a car crash and I as well was a coward. Shame describes pretty well how I felt. As though what people around would think is more important than what God thinks.

You are prayed for and I definitely encourage you to be receptive to the Spirit. As you know God desires what is best for you and you will find what is best for you through faith and obedience.

reply to post by Wonders

While I was infront of the mirror, not fully understanding the implications of what I've committed myself to, a demon showed up and said to my spirit, "You sound soooo stupid."

You saw a "demon" while looking in the mirror?

Is it possible that you might have been taught demons and "evil spirits" exist from a young age?

Perhaps also a strong belief in Hell?

Originally posted by charles1952
Have you reopened yourself to the Spirit? Are you accepting it again? And yes, of course, I'll pray for you. As you know, you'll be attacked again, maybe even in this thread. Run the race.

edit on 22-1-2013 by charles1952 because: add

I don't know. I have asked, and will keep on asking. Thank you.

Originally posted by iSHRED
reply to post by Wonders

 

I recently had a similar experience of not obeying God. He told me in my heart to pray for healing on a guys leg who just got in a car crash and I as well was a coward. Shame describes pretty well how I felt. As though what people around would think is more important than what God thinks.

You are prayed for and I definitely encourage you to be receptive to the Spirit. As you know God desires what is best for you and you will find what is best for you through faith and obedience.

Thank you, I'm very glad to know that God speaks to his children and that there are indeed people filled with the Holy Spirit.

Originally posted by Akragon
reply to post by Wonders

 

While I was infront of the mirror, not fully understanding the implications of what I've committed myself to, a demon showed up and said to my spirit, "You sound soooo stupid."

You saw a "demon" while looking in the mirror?

Is it possible that you might have been taught demons and "evil spirits" exist from a young age?

Perhaps also a strong belief in Hell?

I didn't see a demon, I percieved one, and the mirror had nothing to do with it.
Yes, I went to "kids church", and yes, I have a strong belief in hell. Please spare me your "hell doesn't exist" garbage, I've seen your threads, so if I wanted to discuss that, I'd have posted there, thank you.
Please don't attempt to sabatoge this thread, if you do not believe that demons exist or that hell is real, then say so and move along.

reply to post by Wonders


Woah easy man!

Why so hostile, I was just asking a question....

Im interested in peoples experiences with "encounters" of demons and such...

I didn't see a demon, I percieved one, and the mirror had nothing to do with it.

Quite the contrary... mirrors have a lot to do with these things...

do you mean you Felt a demon?

Please don't attempt to sabatoge this thread, if you do not believe that demons exist or that hell is real, then say so and move along.

Why would I sabotage your thread... if anything im bumping it...

When someone says they saw a demon in a mirror i'm always curious as to what he/she saw or the meaning behind such things...

put down the weapons man, I come in peace....

Originally posted by Akragon
reply to post by Wonders

 

Woah easy man!

Why so hostile, I was just asking a question....

Im interested in peoples experiences with "encounters" of demons and such...

I didn't see a demon, I percieved one, and the mirror had nothing to do with it.

Quite the contrary... mirrors have a lot to do with these things...

do you mean you Felt a demon?

Please don't attempt to sabatoge this thread, if you do not believe that demons exist or that hell is real, then say so and move along.

Why would I sabotage your thread... if anything im bumping it...

When someone says they saw a demon in a mirror i'm always curious as to what he/she saw or the meaning behind such things...

put down the weapons man, I come in peace....

Percieved, it's somewhat like how people get a creepy sense that someone is watching them and then they turn out to be right. Is "sensed" the word that you feel I should have used? I didn't see it with my eyes, I didn't feel it tangibly, but I know that there are some people who know what I'm talking about.
I don't know why you asked those questions and your explaination for the reason you did is... what exactly?...your main interest is in how demons interact with people?
I did not say I saw a demon in a mirror, please do not put words into my mouth. And weapons? how so?

reply to post by Wonders


Similar to how im sensing nothing but hostility...

I'll bump you again as I remove myself from your thread...

reply to post by Akragon


I'm not sure how to say this, but I don't believe that hostility is always a sin, I think it depends on what one is intensely angeredy by, what they strongly oppose, and what they do about it.

bing.com · Bing Dictionary
hos·til·i·ty

1.intense aggression or anger: a feeling or attitude of hatred, enmity, antagonism, or anger toward somebody
2.strong opposition: strong opposition to somebody or something
3.hostile act: an act of hatred, enmity, antagonism, or anger against somebody

James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

By the way, do you seriously think that you are incapable of sabotaging a thread merely by commenting, no matter the content whether it be irrelevant or demeaning? I was not speaking in terms of stars and flags when I asked you not to sabotage this thread, though I'm not surprised you took it that way.


John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Romans 8:7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

James 5:20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins

Please, somebody, how do you suppose one turns a sinner from the error of his way? Is it by disregarding what Jesus said about weeping and gnashing of teeth in order to heed people's sensibilities? Is it by telling them that you're a sinner too? Should we go around telling people that they are perfect just the way they are? Does telling them that no matter what they do they'll always be a sinner? NO.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

Since I live in the day and age where there are some people that are incapable of connecting the dots for themselves, I'll explain. I sin, I am a sinner, does that mean that I'm going to hell? Yes, IF I don't turn from the error of my way. Do I think that my sinful actions are justified merely by pleading guilty? No.
I need to be transformed and am in the process of renewing my mind since the Holy Spirit reminds us of everything Jesus said and guides us into all truth instead of dropping truth on us in one lump sum.
Ecclesiastes 1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.
Isaiah 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by others, and a man of sorrows, intimately familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces; and we despised him and did not value him.

Jesus was a man of sorrows, but he told the truth and he was fully aware that he would be despised for what he said.