September 2, 2009
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Finding God
Finally, the post you have all been waiting for…
Finding God a guest post by Simbathe2nd
“To find God is really a rather simple matter although religion has made it quite elusive. Religion says that God is a being way up in the sky, who looks down on his “children” and helps them from afar.
I cringe when I hear people asking God to “meet with them” or people saying that we go to a church buildings to “Meet with God.” Both these, and many other terms are far from the truth.
The truth is Immanuel “God With US.” We don’t need to meet with God and he doesn’t need to meet with us, God is our constant companion, always with us through the good times and the bad. He knows everything about you, lives with you each and everyday, and where you are He is too.
For a while I struggled with having a close relationship with God, but suddenly I came to the realization that He’s already as close as he could possibly be to me, all I had to do was become aware of His constant presence. Too many people are running around, trying to find God, wether by facts and proofs, or by a strong religious bind, but what they really need is the realization of God with US.
Finding God is only a matter of awareness. God isn’t some distant being the watches from His far away throne in Heaven. He’s a companion, a friend, a comfort in time of need, someone to laugh when you laugh and cry when you cry. He even resides in those who aren’t aware of His presence. The Bible says in John 1:9 that he is the light that lighteth EVERY MAN that cometh into the World.
He is always there, but unfortunately in our busy lives, we have failed to be aware of this fact. We continue our search for a closeness with God, when he is already as close as He could possibly be.”
Comments (35)
Often He was RIGHT there & we just didn’t know How to see or Hear Him or What He was doing.
There is a saying in Irish that “God is closer than the door”. Sorry I can’t actually remember the Irish for it though.
I think there are different types of closeness. Otherwise, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8, NIV) would not make sense. God may always be near in the physical sense, but in the relational sense, we can be nearer or further from Him.
I like the point this post is making. Good job.
Yeah, I think you’re spot on with this. It was a bit surprising when I found out that God was right beside me. I just needed to stop looking for him everywhere else.
So very true! I just finished reading The Shack by William P. Young… and a lot of the focus of the book is on this very issue. Well said!
The truth is that God is very near to everyone, but that is only good for a person if they see God for who He is. God is holy, God is sovereign, and He will not tolerate sin nor will He change. We must be changed and only Christ’s atonement for sin can change us so that we can be near to God in the sense of relationship as His children.
Romans 10
1Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them (Israel or anyone) is that they may be saved. 2For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God,but not according to knowledge. 3For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Yes, “he is the light that lighteth EVERY MAN that cometh into the World.” and that Light is Jesus and what He shows us is that we must believe and be born into His family in order for that “closeness” to be a good thing….
I love this. I was blessed to be raised by people who always lived the belief that God was really with us all the time. They taught me that he was my best friend and that I could talk to him about anything anytime. They also lived that in their own lives. I grew accustomed to hearing their little conversations with God throughout the days of my life and when he called me it was easy to hear him because I knew his voice so well already. They also taught me that we don’t find God because he is always with us we simply need to listen when He speaks and answer when He calls.
Very good post!
*sigh* Thanks for this. I didn’t really want to hear it, but needed to… :p
You just have to open your heart and realize ”he’s always here”.
God is true of life to believe.
Great post about finding God!! I couldn’t agree with you more!! But may I ask you this, there have been many cases where people claimed that Jesus, in a bright shining light, came to them unexpectedly in dreams, visions and at times in real physical manners where they have been spoken to, touched and lead by his hand as he said “Follow me”. Do you think this Jesus is really the Son of God??
Hindus have a “personal relationship” with vishnu. It’s not real outside of their heads though, and you can know this because hindus don’t agree on what their bestest friend believes or wants them to do.
If a hundred christians claim to have a personal relationship with christ, communicate with him regularly, and have a strong sense of what he wants and believes, and all of them disagree on what he wants, believes etc, is that a credible, logical belief?
I say Amen to this post
May God bless you.
@Pickwick12 - Amen to you. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” He is near to us unless we draw away from Him, and we do this by sinning (before salvation) or continuing to sin (on purpose – after salvation). He is righteous and cannot dwell with unrighteousness; He truned from His Son, who bore our manifold sins upon Himself, upon the cross; and He also turns away from us who, though having received his spirit, continue in our worldly ways, disregarding the still soft voice of his Holy Spirit prompting us into a life of righteousness, as He is righteous. Though He loves us and desires to be with us, He cannot abide in sin and corruption. And for this reason He gave us his Son to take all of that away from us.
@agnophilo - No, it is not credible, or logical. What God wants is for His children to BELIEVE in His Son (EVERYTHING about His son) (1 John 3:23-24).
And the fact that there is confusion in the “church” today proves that many “Christians” are not SEEKING the face of God in His Word (Jer 29:13), or ASKING (knocking) for understanding that they might FIND His truth in His word (Jer 29:13, Matt 7:7-8).
God is ever faithful to those who love Him in spirit and in truth. He has NEVER broken a promise that He has made. The Word of God (Jesus/Yeshua) is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8).
Men change the word of God to suit their selfish and perverted needs and desires, thus corrupting and confusing those who truly seek His truth but don’t seek from the source of life and all grace.
@mpwarren - You just post a bunch of incoherent bible verses that have nothing to do with what I said.
@agnophilo - Sir, are you so against God that you would even attack someone who agreed with you? If the truth in Gods word offends you then you don’t have to read it or listen to it. God gave every man a choice; you made your choice and I made mine. We both will have to deal with our choice in due time; one of us is right and the other is wrong, we can’t have it both ways. By trusting in the Word of God my eternal life is on the line that what I hold to is right.
Agnophilo: does that mean Agnostic Philosopher? Interesting concept.
May you find true peace and joy that will last for all eternity. Amen
@mpwarren - I am not “against god”, that is not possible. Nor did I attack you. I disagreed with you.
And you responded by spamming me with irrelevant scripture and didn’t pay me the common courtesy to listen to what I said, think about it and respond.
@ThePraisedOne - I don’t believe Jesus shows Himself in visions, especially physically, in this day and age. If He were to show Himself to someone in order for them to believe, know what He wants, ect., He would be talking the job of the Holy Spirit. The reason the Holy Spirit was sent was to convict of sin, and speak to believers in that still, small voice, giving us peace about the right choices or direction to take.
Since we have the entire Bible, in out own language even, we should not need a vision to convince us of what God wants. I sincerely believe the answer to every question can be found in God’s Word. Not specifically, but the principle of it. This is what the Holy Spirit uses to help us. Because we have both Holy Spirit and the Bible, Jesus would not need to show Himself to us.
If someone were to say he saw Jesus, vision or otherwise, then he has one of three things is most likely: He is crazy; he is lying; or he has witnessed demonic activity. The Bible tells us Satan cn appear as an angel of light, so hey may have been decieved. They may also be one of the “false prophets” Jesus warned about.
@agnophilo - Well, only God and that person know if they are a true Christian. And Christians, true ones anyway, should not be arguing over what God wants in ones life, since that too is between God and that man.
If you are talking about arguing over what God says is right, or what He wants Christians to do, then it may be a logical belief. Everyone has a different opinion, they all see things differently, whether it has to do with the Bible, God’s will, or if New York has better pizza then Chicago.
The only way one could know if it is a credible, logical belief is by checking up on what the Bible says about it. As I say in my reply above, the answer to any question can be found in the Bible, if not specifically, then the principle will be there.
Hope that answers it.
@Made2sing4Jesus - @The_second_x - @Pickwick12 - @jeremiahstears - @webofsimplicity - @quest4god@revelife - @echois23 - @mr_randyc - @TheMarriedFreshman - @fading_roses19 - @embrown88 - @mpwarren -
Kudos to Simba, eh? He did an awesome job.
@Like_A_Tigah - Okay maybe you don’t get what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLBDFe3mDtk&feature=channel_page
Please watch this and tell me if you see what I mean.
He sure did!
@agnophilo - I see. Well, like I said, the Bible has the answers to every question, so that would be able to sort it out; but the problem is that different religions have different versions if the Bible, different beliefs, ect., so you will get a different answer from every denomination/religion.
) It is up to the individual to study out which one is true. And if that individual doesn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus (no that doesn’t mean you can have an actual, face to face conversation with Him, but through prayer, and reading His Word), then that person may be sucked in by lies.
It goes back to everyone’s own, personal belief on what the Bible says, and means. (and by Bible, I mean the King James Version, but that’s a whole different topic.
So the only way one could know if a belief is credible and logical is by searching it out himself, and coming to his own conclusion, perhaps with the help of a spiritual leader.
Did I get it that time?
@Like_A_Tigah - No, not even close.
Neither you nor mpwarren have actually listened to what I said (or watched the video I sent) and responded to the content of my comment. It’s like you read the first few words and then reply to what you think I might have said.
@agnophilo - How about if you clarify your point in a straight forward and orderly manner. It would save time and space..
@Like_A_Tigah - I have no objection to your very wise answer
@agnophilo - Well, I certainly have tried. And I did watch that movie. I agree with jeremiahstears: perhaps if you clarify your question, we can sort this thing out.
@jeremiahstears - I did.
If a hundred people claim to know someone intimately and none of them can agree on anything about that person it is far more likely that none of them know him and they’re just talking to themselves.
It’s not a difficult idea to grasp.
@Like_A_Tigah - If you read my comments and watched that video I don’t see how you can possibly not get my point.
@agnophilo - You don’t have to be a jerk about it. It’s just a misunderstanding, so just chill out.
I was not too off the mark.
“If a hundred people claim to know someone
intimately and none of them can agree on anything about that person it
is far more likely that none of them know him and they’re just talking
to themselves.”
1. I’m not sure if I’m answering a question, or addressing your statement, but either way, don’t freak out if I don’t give you the exact answer you want.
2. How do you know it’s far more likely that none of them know this person? What if one of them really does know him, and the rest are lying. Out of a hundred people, I think it would be more likely that at least one of them knew this person, and the rest are making up things, or maybe repeating what they heard about that person.
In the video (you know, the one I ddin’t watch?), there were three people, each from a different religion, all claiming to know Jesus. I get the point of it. There are probably hundreds of religions, each claiming to have a personal relationship with Jesus, and yet they all say different things about Him. So, since they all don’t agree, then none of it’s true?
Since there are so many denominations, all of which claiming to know something about this Jesus,isn’t it far more likely that at least some of it is true?
@agnophilo -
Actually, you didn’t. You stated your opinion, LAT replied. You stated that you thought that he missed your point and gave him a video link to watch. LAT got back to you and asked if his take was correct. You stated that he was “not even close”. That’s when I suggested that you clarify and state what your point was in a straightforward manner. Thank you for doing so. I watched the video and for the most part I see your point. If a group of people say that they are in communication with Jesus yet can’t agree on anything, do the really know him or are they just talking to themselves?. Whenever there is a dispute between people over a matter, the usual course of action is to take it to a higher authority. In sports, you can check with the ref or the rulebook to see if a play is legal or if you are allowed to do a particular action or not. If a person says that Jesus told them to do something, I would say checking it against what Jesus and the apostles taught. If it runs counter to that, then I think it’s safe to say that the person is just talking to themselves in their head.
@Like_A_Tigah -
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it. It’s just a misunderstanding, so just chill out.
I was not too off the mark.”
I’m not trying to be a jerk. I just didn’t know how else I could possibly explain my point.
[If a hundred people claim to know someone
intimately and none of them can agree on anything about that person it
is far more likely that none of them know him and they're just talking
to themselves.]
“1.
I’m not sure if I’m answering a question, or addressing your statement,
but either way, don’t freak out if I don’t give you the exact answer
you want.”
I have yet to freak out at all.
“2. How do you know it’s far more likely that none of them
know this person? What if one of them really does know him, and the
rest are lying.”
So you really talk to jesus and the next hundred christians that say they do are just making stuff up?
If that is true that virtually everyone who believes they are in contact with jesus, vishnu or whatever personal deity is wrong, exactly how do you know that you’re right? I think that the fact that the vast majority of them have to be incorrect shows that it’s extremely easy, especially with indoctrination, to confluse some aspect of your own intuition with god communicating with you.
Secondly, if there were an actual being more knowledgeable than you in communication with you, you would expect to from time to time get more information than you could posess from this person. If this being was in contact with you and loved you and was your friend, you would be told about natural disasters some time in advance, would you not? Christians would perhaps pray and receive instructions on how to treat cancer or fix the economy or do other things that will help humans out and make more people want to be christian.
But that never happens. Christians are sitting ducks for natural disasters the same as anyone else, and “god” ie their own intuition reassures them right up to when the bus creams them. Because your own mind can only communicate regurgitated scripture, moral edicts and reassurance, it cannot produce the kind of impossible knowledge a god would possess.
The writers of greek mythology believed themselves to be magically inspired by supernatural beings. People believed artists and soldiers were inspired by queen mab in the middle ages, and all inspiration was thought to be supernatural when the bible was written.
“Out of a hundred people, I think it would be more
likely that at least one of them knew this person, and the rest are
making up things, or maybe repeating what they heard about that person.”
Again, how can you demonstrate that to be true?
“In
the video (you know, the one I ddin’t watch?), there were three people,
each from a different religion, all claiming to know Jesus. I get the
point of it. There are probably hundreds of religions, each claiming to
have a personal relationship with Jesus, and yet they all say different
things about Him. So, since they all don’t agree, then none of it’s
true?”
Since they all disagree it’s extremely unlikely that any of them is true, since at least some believers in every group would be told the “right” thing if god actually communicated with people, so they would spontaneously gravitate toward the same philosophies. It’s just like how you can know the idea that everyone knows in their heart christianity is true is false, because the spread of christianity has been linear. If that were true, people would spontaneously become christian and worship the christian god everywhere.
“Since there are so many denominations, all of which claiming to know something about this Jesus,isn’t it far more likely that at least some of it is true?”
A claim must be substantiated, you cannot say that it is valid because of the number of people claiming it. 1.7 billion people claim to be in contact with allah, hundreds of millions have a “personal relationship” with vishnu. Why aren’t those therefore likely to be true as well?
@jeremiahstears - So you’re saying that it’s not possible that someone is just talking to themselves in their head if their intuition agrees with the philosophical teachings of christ?
@agnophilo - No, I’m saying that if they claim that God told them to do something that runs counter to the teachings of Christ, that it is resonable to say that their claim is false. BTW your original statement appears to be applicable any group of people with a similar belief system. For example, If a hundred atheists claim to know right from wrong and none of them can agree on anything about what is right and wrong it is far more likely that none of them know right and wrong and they’re just talking to themselves. Is this a logical belief system? Sorry about the delay in getting back to you.I managed to miss your reply
@jeremiahstears - ”No, I’m saying that if they claim that God
told them to do something that runs counter to the teachings of Christ,
that it is resonable to say that their claim is false.”
And I’m saying it’s likely their claim is false either way. If I say and do things in keeping with the teachings of socrates, that does not indicate that I am in touch with him from beyond the grave.
“BTW your
original statement appears to be applicable any group of people with a
similar belief system. For example, If a hundred atheists claim to
know right from wrong and none of them can agree on anything about what
is right and wrong it is far more likely that none of them know right
and wrong and they’re just talking to themselves.”
There’s no comparison. One is subjective, the other is objective. That’s the whole point. If 100 people claim to have regular contact with an honest being that exists objectively (meaning outside of their own minds) but all of them disagree with each other on the nature, morals, wants, etc of said being, it is very likely that they do not have contact with it.
Morality is no comparison because morality is a subjective philosophical concept, it exists in the mind, not outside of the mind.
“Is this a logical
belief system?”
What, morality without religion? Yes. In fact it tends to work better without the “god says so” wild card.
“Sorry about the delay in getting back to you.I managed
to miss your reply”
No worries.
Very effective piece of writing, thanks for your post.
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